iCampingAdventure.com

Hundreds of companies supply high-quality hiking gear. Hiking gear is extremely important for hikers and adventure lovers, because no outdoor trip can be possible or complete without the essential gear. With so many types and makes of hiking gear, it is extremely difficult to choose; however, proper research helps us to select the right type of gear.

Companies which provide hiking gear include Hiking and Backpacking, Altrec, REI, Patagonia, Campmor, Campready, Great Outdoor Depot, Northern Mountain Supply, Bent Gear, Just Hike, and The Camping Gear. Some popular brands of hiking gear include Big Agnes, Black Diamond, Mountain Hardware, Sierra Designs, the North Face, Kelty, Marmot, and REI, besides others.

An amazing collection of outerwear, such as waterproof jackets, can be found at Patagonia. Similarly, Bent Gear also supplies fleece jackets and other hiking gear like tents, sleeping bags, water treatment, and many more. Clothing, navigation tools, backpacks and bags, footwear, first-aid, kitchen and camp items, and other things are available at Northern Mountain Supply.

Besides hiking gear, REI offers excellent hiking footwear too. Brands such as Merrell offering backpacking boots are found here. Rokk backpacks, Brunton compasses, Gerber knives, Rokk tents, Slumberjack sleeping bags, and many more are all available at great prices at Just Hike. ‘Atwater Carey Backpacker First Aid Kit’ ($25.98), ‘Kestrel 3000 Weather Meter’ ($159.88), ‘Trangia 27-5 Camping Stove & Cookset’ ($99.90), and many other items are available at discounted rates.

The Camping Gear also supplies all types and kinds of hiking gear that any hiker might require. Top brands like Coleman, Kelty, Columbia, and North Face can be found here.

A wide range of hiking gear is also supplied by The Sportsman’s Guide. Offering gear at discounted rates, it provides products at affordable rates. Further, it also provides complete consumer satisfaction and backs its products with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Tents, backpacks, sleepers, and camp furniture, besides other gear, are available here.

Hiking Gear provides detailed information on Hiking Gear, Camping And Hiking Gear, Discount Hiking Gear, Hiking Gear Supplies and more. Hiking Gear is affiliated with Ice Climbing Gear.

[tags]Hiking Gear Supplies[/tags]

Thinking of buying a hammock to relax and unwind? With so many hammocks on offer, it is difficult to decide which one is best. Discover the pros and cons of different types of hammocks and which hammock will be the best for you.

Hammock retailers offer hundreds of different hammocks, but all of them can be divided into three groups according to material: fabric, rope and string hammocks. Each material has its pros and cons.

Fabric hammocks can be quilted, or made of cotton or mesh. A well-made fabric hammock is durable and doesn’t require much maintenance. Fabric hammocks are comfortable, and cotton fabric offers the most comfort. Unlike rope hammocks, there will be no prints on your body. Fabric hammocks are also very good for young children - their little fingers and toes won’t get caught in the holes. On the downside, fabric doesn’t provide much ventilation. So if you lie in a fabric hammock on a hot day, you might get a bit sticky. On the other hand, fabric is an ideal choice for cooler climates.

A rope hammock is the first thing most people think of, when picturing a hammock. Rope hammocks offer the most traditional look. They are usually made from cotton or polyester rope. They are very durable, don’t require much maintenance and cost less than other types. A big advantage of a rope hammock is that it “breathes”, letting you get the most benefit from breezes on a hot day. Rope hammocks are reasonably comfortable, but the rope might leave impressions on your skin. Hammocks with smaller spaces between the ropes are more comfortable.

The last type is string hammocks, which are also called Mayan hammocks. String hammocks are hand woven, and most of them come from Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua or El Salvador. They are reminiscent of tightly woven webs made of fine cotton, in a weave that might take more than a mile of string. String hammocks are the most decorative - they come in exotic, tropical colors, to create a relaxing holiday atmosphere.

Mayan hammocks are extremely comfortable and provide good ventilation, but don’t leave any prints on your skin. They are also very light-weight, so string hammocks can be used for camping or taken to the beach. There is one disadvantage though - it is easy to damage a string hammock. Any sharp object can easily cut the string, so they are not as durable as rope or fabric hammocks.

One more thing you should know is that rope and fabric hammocks can have spreader bars at the ends or be stave-less (traditional hammock without bars). You might think that spreader bars add comfort, but in fact it is the other way around - hammocks without the bars are more comfortable, because they wrap around your body better. If for appearance reasons you prefer hammocks with spreader bars, go for hammocks with 3 hanging points instead of just 2 - these have much less chance of tipping over.

How much a good hammock would cost?

You might be surprised to find out that a good hammock might not cost much at all. Rope hammocks are usually the cheapest, but you can also find a very good Mayan or fabric hammock for under a hundred dollars. That is of course if you already have suitable trees. If not, you will also a need hammock stand. In this case, you would be better off buying a package (hammock and a stand together). You can get a good-looking, safe and comfortable package for 200-250 dollars, even though some decorative wooden stands cost as much as 500.

The best way to shop for hammocks is to look at online stores that sell discounted hammocks.

Visit AllHammocks.info for tips on getting hammocks and hammock chairs, price comparison and reviews of trusted hammocks retailers.

[tags]hammock, hammock chairs, portable, camping, hammock swings, outdoor furniture, garden, porch, partio[/tags]

Baseball is the most studied and dissected and written about of all our sports. There is even a thriving Society For American Baseball Research But for all the work of these eager sports sleuths the origins of the two most basic elements of baseball remain shrouded in mystery; the game itself and, of course, the hot dog.

Baseball’s exact origin in the United States is a matter of ongoing debate. While
tradition holds that baseball was invented by a first-year West Point cadet named
Abner Doubleday in the small upstate New York village of Cooperstown in 1839, the
game has been noted as far back as 1778 by a Revolutionary War soldier in his diary
at Valley Forge.

Similarly there is no historical consensus for the mythical marriage of baseball and
the hot dog. The noble sausage has been kicking around since the time of the
ancient Romans but it didn’t become a hot dog until someone put it on a bun. That
apparently happened on the streets of New York in the 1860s, at the pushcarts of
German immigrants.

But how did they find their way to the ballpark? Legendary concessionaire Harry M.
Stevens is often credited with introducing the hot dog to America at the New York
Polo Grounds in the early 1900s. On a wintry April afternoon he was having trouble
pushing his usual wares of flavored ices and ice cream and ordered his vendors out
for as many hot sausages as they could find. He sold them to his shivering patrons
in the stands as being “red hot!” and the rest is, as they say, history.

But further broiling the controversy is none other than acerbic Baltimore
newspaperman H.L. Mencken, whose father was vice-president of the Washington
ball club. “I devoured hot dogs in Baltimore way back in 1886,” Mencken said, “and
they were then very far from newfangled. They contained precisely the same
rubbery, indigestible pseudo-sausages that millions of Americans now eat, and they
leaked the same flabby, puerile mustard.

Some sources state unequivocally that German immigrant Christopher Von der Ahe,
a buffoon-like beer baron who would have been at home with some of today’s
blustery team owners, was selling hot dogs in his St. Louis park as early as the
1870s. Von der Ahe was known to sit down by the dugout and blow a loud whistle
whenever he wanted to get the attention of one of his players on the field or
whenever he wanted another hot dog.

So there you have it. The first baseball game and the first hot dog served up at a
ballgame - both lost to history. But just like you don’t want to go investigating too
deeply into how sausages are made, there is no need to dig too deep into their
historical origins. Just sit back and enjoy them them both this season.

copyright 2006

I am the author of over 20 books, including 8 on hiking with your dog, including the
widely praised The Canine Hiker’s Bible. As publisher of Cruden Bay Books, we
produce the innovative A Bark In The Park series of canine hiking books found at
http://www.hikewithyourdog.com. During the warm months I lead canine hikes as
tour leader for hikewithyourdog.com tours, leading packs of dogs and humans on
day and overnight trips. My lead dog is Katie, a German Shepherd-Border Collie mix,
who has hiked in all of the Lower 48 states and is on a quest to swim in all the great
waters of North America - http://web.mac.com/crudbay/iWeb/Katies%20Blog/Katies%20Quest.html I am currently building a hikewithyourdog.com tours trailer to
use on our expeditions and its progress can be viewed at http://web.mac.com/crudbay/iWeb/Teardrop%20Trailer/Building%20A%20Tour%20Trailer.html

[tags]baseball,hot dogs,sausage,Von der Ahe,Mencken,Harry M Stevens,Cooperstown,Abner Doubleday[/tags]

One thing has become clear to me the more I do energy work. That is that we are all given the means & cues to change our energy patterns each day. Sometimes we can do it ourselves. Other times we need assistance. Energy workers are among us in many manifestations - I will call these people “Energy Shifters”.

The Universe is diligent in finding ways to get you to break limiting belief patterns that may be preventing you from moving ahead in your life. Amongst us each day are “energy shifters” who conspire with the Universe, most of the time unknowingly, to help another person shift from a limiting beliefs system of thought to one of light. Sounds pretty woo-woo doesn’t it?! Ok, so let me give you a practical example. This is actually something I’ve personally experienced recently.

I have been blessed with 2 wonderful personal trainers: Josh & Chris. My goal in working with them was to get my stamina up for the hiking vacation I took in January. The benefits have been so great that I’ve kept working with these “coaches”. Much to my surprise they now have me kick-boxing. Keep reading, there is a moral to this story.

The first time Josh handed me the gloves I scowled at him and said “uh huh, no way” 2nd time, he made me actually put the gloves on. I felt empowered but totally freaked out about this. He laughed & asked me to hit him, well, the pad he was holding in his hands. A million trillion screams (limiting beliefs) going through my mind -

You’re a girl you shouldn’t be doing this

You shouldn’t hit anyone ever

The last thing you need to be Maria is MORE aggressive

I punched according to instruction for 5 minutes almost bursting into tears. Nope, that was enough. I made him take the gloves off me. Running to the bathroom so he couldn’t see what a “wimp” I was. Later, Josh sweetly began to explain how healthy this would be for me. My cardio strength, stamina & endurance would improve. Not to mention tone my entire body. In my head all I heard was;

You’re a bully

You’re overdeveloping your masculine side

You’re too aggressive as it is

People will be intimidated by you

I switched to train with Chris the next time thinking he wouldn’t approach me with those smelly red gloves. Ah, not true. There he was, smiling as he strapped me into them. Even before the Velcro snapped closed the negative, limiting beliefs started playing in my head. This was a surprisingly difficult thing for me. But over 5-6 sessions Chris did some “energy shifting” by simply countering these illusions with the truth. I am someone who responds to loving kindness and not a drill sergeant screaming at me not only in the gym but in life as well.

I trusted him enough to tell him my fears. So here’s how it went:

My limiting beliefs/illusions

You’re a bully

I’m too aggressive as it is!

Girls don’t do this

I’m a spiritual person I shouldn’t be hitting anyone

I’m going to hurt you - I don’t want to get a nasty phone call from your mother or girlfriend

Chris’ Energy Shifting

Everyone is naturally aggressive

Misdirected aggression is unhealthy, learn to channel your aggression properly and it’s an asset

It doesn’t matter that you’re a girl you can do whatever you want.
You’re hitting a pad not a person who is defenseless in the street nor are you brawling in a bar

(laughter) No way! Now punch!

As you can see my excuses/ limiting beliefs just got more & more ridiculous! By the way, both Chris & Josh are massively solid men who I doubt would register any punch or kick I could muster.

Now, watch this. Here’s the Universe in action:

a) Limiting Beliefs - Me, Maria, freaking out. Old tapes of being a bully and overly aggressive come up.
b) Bait is Set - Josh explains the real benefits of this type of exercise. This is the lure.
c) Energy Shifter Goes Into Motion - Chris discounts the limiting beliefs & structures statements of TRUTH into our dialogue thereby gently helping to reprogram the outdated beliefs. He acts as a reality check point. Chris is literally moving my energy patterns from negative to positive. He is changing the “energy” of the limiting belief pattern.
d) Ultimate Benefit/ Life Lesson - believe it or not, it’s not necessarily the exercise. It’s the revelation more importantly I have come to accept that my natural aggression is an asset when channeled properly. Being an aggressive woman doesn’t make me a bully or less feminine. This is big stuff!!!! BINGO, the payoff! The Universe makes its point.

What I love about the way the Universe works is that people, the “energy shifters” usually have no idea that they are actually playing such an important role in a persons life. They are doing what comes naturally to them. Chris probably had no idea that his role in my life during this time was to move my energy to embrace this part of myself. But instinctively, intuitively he did. We’re all a whole lot more intuitive than we acknowledge.

The Universe provides us with people who can help shift our energy patterns and release FEARS. They show up in different ways. They are the folks who help you SEE past your limiting beliefs and lovingly show you the way to YOUR TRUTH. The KEY is that the “Energy Shifters” are enablers in the GOOD not the NEGATIVE. Please notice that Chris did not suggest that I use kick-boxing as a way to resolve disputes, nor was he training me to become the ultimate fighting machine. : )

Anatomy of an Energy Shifter

Tents may be termed loosely as extremely elementary makeshift arrangements for shelter with a basic frame, which is usually covered with a heavy canvas or similar material. No matter what the type, tents are all very transportable and locomotive accommodations built for the sole benefit of a very mobile traveler.

If we look back at history, tents had come into proper use with the advent of war. Used to shelter soldiers, able and injured, they were a very cheap option for temporary settlers. Other uses outside warfare have of course developed over the years. They are widely used by people who prefer a nomadic life style, die-hard campers, hunters, and so on. These days designer tents have come up, which look sophisticated and stylish enough to house a meeting, a banquet or any similar other public event. The top of the tent which is normally a little decorated, with a tiny flag attached to it, is known as the apex. The area following the apex is the apron, while the rope that is attached to the apex is known as the guy rope.

Tents may be broadly classified into two basic types. They are the marquee (a very large structure with multiple poles) and a pavilion (a structure with a pointed roof). These days, shapes vary from a cone and a bell to a lean-to and a wall.

Over the years, the types of tents available have gone much beyond the traditional marquees and pavilions. Of course, the traditional tents haven’t been wiped off completely. But they certainly have taken the back seat since the introduction of camper-friendly, lightweight synthetic tents that are now extremely popular.

Traditional tents usually signify the yurts and the wigwams (also known as tepees). Yurts are circular tents with strong wooden poles used mostly by Arabian Bedouins. Wigwams, on the other hand, are traditional homes for Native Americans and are usually made out of wood and hide.

Modern tents may be of various types. There are light, easy-to-pack ones, as well as heavy and durable ones. There are some which are suitable for cold conditions since they maintain a warm interior, while others are more suited to a warm climate. Tents which are suitable for single accommodation are known as pup tents and are perfect for lone travelers who treasure their privacy. Tents suitable for large accommodation are also easily available.

The point therefore remains that no matter what budget, what social need, what taste, there is a tent available for everybody in the market today.

Tents provides detailed information about tents, camping tents, party tents, and more. Tents is affiliated with Inflatable Boats.

[tags]tents, camping tents, party tents[/tags]

Your path to the successful accomplishment of your goals can be very thorny. Ups and downs, hardships and difficulties are inevitable components of success. Besides, difficulties add some spice to the groove of our life.

Some people think that difficulties only harden our character and overcoming them makes people more mighty and strong. Other people, on contrary, think that difficulties bring only disappointment and distraction. I personally think that difficulties are good and finding way to solve them better and faster is even greater.

The things that can make your way to your goals less painful and more pleasant are subsidiary tools. These tools can be divided in two groups: mind tools and technical tools. The mind tools are formed in the process of reading books and acquiring the information that will help you in accomplishing your goals. The technical tools are worksheets, forms, techniques and methods that can be applied in the process.

Technical tools make your goal path easier and show you a clear-cut direction to your dreams.

The kit of tools is to the same extent indispensable for building your goal path as the roadmap in the hiking tour. Irrefutable facts and statistics show that 90 percents of people using goal setting tools succeed in reaching their goals. After taking advantage of these goal setting tools just once people return to this technique of goal setting again and again, conquering new peaks.

There are lots of tools and techniques for goal setting, including audio training, special software, books, CDs, etc. One of the goal setting tools, which enjoy a great popularity lately are the goal setting forms. Researching the market and comparing them with other techniques and methods, I’ve come to the conclusion that they really work.

Special forms for setting goals help your brainstorm your dreams, organize all the obscure thoughts and ideas into clear goals, and write them down on the paper. They provide you with the opportunity to see where you were some years ago, where you are now and where you’ll be in 2, 5, 10 years from now, hence to keep the track of every step you are taking. You can clearly see where you are now in the relation to the end goal of yours. Using goal setting forms you can set deadlines for reaching your goals, write specific action plans and record your progress.

Whether or not the goal setting forms are the right tool for you, make sure you take a closer look at tools and techniques available, as they can make a path to your goals much easier and more enjoyable! Good luck with your goals!

Yuliya Muravey is a self-employed entrepreneur and co-owner of the http://www.GoalSettingForms.com. She believes passionately in the enormous power of the goal setting and its impact on the short-term and long-term success in life.

For more information, please go to: http://www.goalsettingforms.com

[tags]goals, goal setting, self help, personal development, goal setting forms, how to set goals, achieve[/tags]

Are you looking for fresh ways to spend time with your friends and family? Outdoor activities getting a little boring are they? With your fast paced life gaining speed all the time, it’s easy to stick to what’s familiar; but is that any way to live? Let’s take a few minutes and look at how easy it is to break out of the same-ole-routine and into the new with wholesome activities near home and out of doors. Read on to see why it’s tough to beat having fun with friends and family outdoors in the fresh air.

One of the first things we notice as we step outdoors and into nature is that we are not alone. Life surrounds us. So the first thing to do is to slow down and have a look around. While you’re looking, why not do some bird watching. It’s fun, easy to do and inexpensive. All you need are birds and they are everywhere. Make a family game out of it. Who can find the first bird with the color blue on it? How many ducks are on the pond? Are they all the same kind? You get the idea. But be careful, once you start bird watching you’ll find it difficult to stop. Before long you’ll have a good pair of birding binoculars and a field guide for your part of the country. Then you’ll be a bird watcher with birding fever. The best part of bird watching is spending time with others outdoors; and birding is a hobby you’ll love for the rest of your life.

If you need a sport that’s a little more high tech, give geocaching a shot. Geocaching is the sport where you use your handheld GPS receiver to find caches hidden by others using their GPS receivers. This is something you can do by yourself, with friends or with your children. Geocaching teaches outdoor navigation in a fun and interactive way while allowing you to explore your own neighborhood and beyond. You’ll learn new words and phrases such as cache coordinates, travel bugs, micro-caches, benchmarking and geoteaming. All you need is internet access and a GPS receiver; some GPS receivers retail for many hundreds of dollars but many models are available for around $100. Although the sport is active in over 200 countries, most geocachers enjoy playing the game in their own neighborhoods. It’s awesome!

If a GPS receiver isn’t in your budget right now, perhaps you might give Letterboxing a try. Letterboxing is similar to geocaching in that you are searching for a hidden treasure, but in this case it is called a box not a cache and you use clues versus coordinates to locate the treasure. There are other components to the Letterboxing game such as rubber stamps and log books. Letterboxing is inexpensive, loads of fun and addictive.

So what’s next? How about the oldest of all outdoor hobbies? That’s right, stargazing. If you live in a large city and spend all of your time there, it’s easy to forget about the night sky because you can’t see it. But it’s still there and provides breath taking views that are impossible to communicate. So grab a jacket, a pair of binoculars and a loved one and go somewhere nearby where you can have an unobstructed view of the night sky with as little light pollution as possible. With a pair of binoculars you should be able to see man-made satellites, the moons of Jupiter and craters on our own Moon. Once you catch the stargazing fever you’ll move up to a telescope where you can point it virtually anywhere in the night sky and be awe struck.

There is so much available to us outdoors. Try something new like bird watching, geocaching, letterboxing or stargazing. Each of these activities has a large on-line community ready to share its sport, its tips and its passion with you. Visit our on-line education center and we’ll point you in the right direction.

Not everyone has the skill or desire to climb Mount Everest, hike the Appalachian Trail or sail the world’s oceans. But there is something everyone can do near their own homes that will open the eyes and their minds to the beauty of nature. Take a few hours this week and spend it outdoors with someone you like. Use this information and you’ll Get It Right The First Time. Get Outdoors!

Chuck Fitzgerald is the owner of Arizona based BackCountry Toys, an online specialty store with the “Best Gear Out There” and dedicated to helping outdoor enthusiasts to “Get It Right The First Time” with timely educational information. Please visit http://www.BackCountryToys.com to find great gear and to receive the Fact & Tips e-newsletter, “FreshAir.” (800) 316-9055.

[tags]backcountry,camping,hiking,recreation[/tags]

I grew up in the south in the 1960’s. Married when I was 18 and joined the Army when I was 23. I traveled to Germany then back to the states where I lived in Connecticut for a while and then Tennessee for 10 years. I am now living in Maine.

Of all the traveling I have done in my life I have heard people asking one question constantly. It doesn’t matter if you are religious or not. We all want to know “What is the meaning of life?” I myself have asked that question a thousand times.

Socrates and Plato and a thousand other deep thinkers of their times have tried to define or explain the meaning of life. Each with his own perception and understanding and most times with a very complicated explanation.

It was not until I took up hiking in the mountains of Tennessee that I had plenty of time to ponder the complexities of this age old question. Being a Christian I was raised to believe certain things and to look at life in certain ways. But as I got older and began studying and searching for myself I began to realize that what I was taught as a child was not as complicated as some would have had me believe.

I always wondered why God would have put us here simply to suffer through this life. After all he does love us and of that I have no doubt. So why then? I studied and pondered and reflected in deep thought just like many have before me, and like them, to no avail.

Then one day while hiking the Appalachian Trail in Tennessee I came to a clearing overlooking a valley. It was a clear day with the sun shining bright. As I looked out across the valley I saw an eagle soaring on the wind. And as usual the thought crossed my mind that it would be really nice to be able to soar like that. Then I thought, do eagles look at us and wish they were like us?

That is when something inside me clicked. It was more like an explosion or an awakening of sorts. The meaning of life was so simple that I had looked right past it thinking that it would be some big discovery of some sort. Some words of wisdom that would make me look like a genius.
Instead three words kept going through my brain. Thundering as if God himself was speaking them directly into my thoughts.

We spend our entire lives from the moment we take our first breath til our last one is used up trying to be something we aren’t. Whether we are trying to get a job by seeming more experienced or trying to win someones heart by becoming the person they are looking for. We act differently in different situations. Why?

It is in our nature I suppose or at least the nature of the flesh. But God’s nature is to be the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. And since we are to strive to be more “God-like”, which I used to think meant to try to be perfect, then the meaning of life is nothing more than to “JUST BE YOU!”

Yep, it is just that simple. Be you no matter what happens or where you are or who you are with or what you are trying to achieve. If you can do this you will be something that the majority of people will never be. Good, bad or indifferent you will just be you.

John Dyer is the owner of: thisonlinepage.com

T.H.I.S stands for Truth Honesty Integrity Sincerity - something the author has found too little of online.

[tags]Life,meaning,purpose,hiking,mountains,God,believe,wisdom,eagles[/tags]

Pets also need personal sanctuaries and hideaways where they can relax and sleep in peace, away from harsh elements, unwanted commotion and noises. There is a wide variety of pet tents to choose from, so selection should be based on the size of your pet, how noisy is your neighborhood, the design and overall d

Spirit is constantly offering us signs and omens in our lives. But, we are often so blind to them. It is not necessary to be a professional psychic in order to receive information from Spirit. All of us, all the time are given signs from God, from the world of Spirit. These signs are usually ignored, or thought of as just a coincidence.

When you ask your Spirit Guides or Angels or God a question or for guidance, you WILL receive an answer. Do not feel that unless you have fantastic visions or hear a booming voice in your head that you plea has not been heard. All questions are heard and all questions are answered. It may not happen immediately, but it will happen.

When you ask a question of the Higher Powers, expect that you will receive an answer. But don’t sit around waiting for it. Go about your life, and be open to receiving your answer. Spirit works in many different ways to reach us. If Spirit knows that we are not ready to receive answers in a telepathic or clairvoyant way, they will find other means to reach us. The signs, the omens, the guidance is all around us, all the time. All we need do is open ourselves to receiving it. Look around your world, really look at it, pay attention. Do not go about your life blindly.

Some examples of the many different ways that Spirit gives us an answer or sign may be:

The first song you hear when you turn on the radio. Or a song that keeps repeating in your head over and over. You know that song that you can’t get out of your head You turn on the television and someone is speaking about the same concern that you are having. You overhear a conversation between other people that has meaning to your condition.

You may see or hear something repeatedly. An example is constantly seeing the number 11. You may see 11 on a clock, a label, a license plate. Seeing 11 many times means that something spiritual is happening or about to happen in your life.

You open to a page in a book and your eyes fall upon a paragraph that has meaning to your current situation.

Maybe you are fretting about a situation with another person, and you decide you are going to call them and have it out. But, every time you dial their number they are not home or the line is busy. This could be Spirit telling you that now is not the right time to talk about the situation. Or, perhaps you are not in the right frame of mind to talk to that person. Possibly you don’t know whether or not to talk to someone about an issue and the phone rings and it’s the person you were thinking about.

Signs often come from the animal world. Maybe every time you leave the house, a crow flies by and caws, or you constantly see two squirrels chasing each other.

You are about to buy something that you really desire, but don’t necessarily need. When you go to pay, your credit card mysteriously won’t work or you will have forgotten your checkbook. Spirit could be telling you that the item is not beneficial for you, or it could be that the purchase could put a stress on your finances.

You’re in a hurry to get somewhere, you’re racing along in your car, and every light you come to is red. You would probably start cursing and driving even faster. But, perhaps Spirit is telling you to slow down. Maybe you are being told to stop and think about your actions. Maybe Spirit is trying to prevent you from having an accident.

Once I was hiking in the woods and got very lost. I could not find a path back to the road. So, I asked Spirit to please guide me out. Moments later, a crow appeared in the sky above me and circled a few times. Then the crow flew in a certain direction. I knew this was a sign, I followed the crow and made it out of the woods quickly and with no problems.

Don’t have expectations and don’t read into things. Just ask for guidance and allow it to happen. Not everything you see or hear is a sign. But, if you are open and receptive, the signs will be clear. Through practicing the act of asking for guidance and following it, you will soon understand when you are receiving an answer from Spirit and when you are not. The more often you ask for guidance and follow the guidance given, the stronger the connection will be, and the guidance and symbols will become much clearer.

When I go to a bookstore, I ask my Angels and Spirit Guides to show me exactly what book would be best for me at the time. I have always received an answer. You’d be surprised how many times a book will literally fall of the shelf, or someone I don’t know recommends a book, or I just feel that I should pick up a certain book and flipping through it I see it contains exactly the knowledge I was seeking.

Many signs from Spirit will come in a way that you will easily relate to and understand. If you receive symbols that don’t instantly click with you or you are unfamiliar with, then get a good book on symbolism. For example, we often receive signs from the animal world, but if you are not familiar with the character of each animal you may miss the sign or misunderstand it. In this case, you could find a book on animal symbolism and look up the animal that is showing itself to you. After a while, you will develop your own personal symbolism. For example, if you constantly see a squirrel burying food in your yard and soon after you receive a little money, it could be your sign that when you receive extra money you should store it away for the future. Don’t always rely on a book to interpret a sign for you. Books on symbolism are good resources, but ultimately it is what the symbol means to you that is most important.

One of the oldest forms of divination or seeking guidance is bibliomancy. Originally, one would hold the Bible and ask for guidance on a personal issue. Then you would open the Bible at random, and without looking, place your finger on the page. Reading whatever passage you pointed to would provide the guidance you were seeking. You can try this any time and you don’t have to use the Bible. Pick any book that is inspirational to you. Hold the book in your hands, ask God, your Spirit Guides, your Angels to guide your hand to the right page and passage to answer your question. When you feel ready, pick a page, point to a passage and read it. See how it relates to your issue. You’ll be surprised how often the answer is right there, at your fingertips.

If you ask for guidance, if you ask for a sign, it will be given. Be patient and be open to receiving the guidance. So often, we ask for a message from Spirit and then are disappointed that we didn’t receive guidance in some fantastic way like flashing lights or neon signs. Be secure in knowing that if you ask for guidance, it will be given, always. But, you must be open to receiving the message in any form.

Remember that your guides and angels are always around you, ready to assist you. But, they can not and will not interfere with your life. That is not their role. You must invite them in, you must ask for their guidance, then they are more than happy to help you in any way they can. Start today. Communicate with your Spirit Guides and Angels, even if you cannot see or hear them. Ask them for guidance on an issue that concerns you. Ask them to show you a sign to guide your way, and then be open to receive their guidance.

Blessings and love,

Rev. Jeff

Copyright 2002, Reverend Jeff Bekasinski

Rev. Jeff is a Spiritual Minister, trained Clairvoyant, Reiki Master and Member of the Ethical Readers Association. He has worked as a professional psychic and teacher for over 18 years. For more information about Rev. Jeff and the services he offers, visit his website at: http://www.revjeff.com

[tags]angel, spirit guide, guidance, spirit, spiritual, signs, omens[/tags]