1.1 Open & Connect

Open and connect is the very first rib in this book. Its main purpose is to help you understand that you are always loved, held, and supported by spirit. This is the most important lesson you will learn in this book because allowing yourself to be open to receive and connect is central to this healing journey. Without it, you cannot continue. There are some lovely and essential exercises and reading sections that you will need to use to support you throughout your journey. Hopefully you have read the beginner’s guide to guardian angels. If not, please do so as it will give you an idea of what you are connecting to. The simplest way to connect is to say hello. Your guardian angel has been waiting a long time to hear you say those words! It is simple but effective and will make their hearts sing with joy!

Start your day

Angel prayer for connecting

As you build confidence in your connection to your angel, you will find yourself chatting away all through the day without any embarrassment, but for the first time it is nice if you can set aside some time and space to have a few moments undisturbed. The edge of the bed as you wake up or in the bathroom before you shower, anywhere is fine. Speak naturally just like an old friend you are catching up with after a long time. If you feel uncomfortable or silly speaking out loud in the beginning, you can write it down in a note, whisper or say the words in your head; they can see and hear everything! Do not worry about getting anything wrong, angels do not think in the way humans do, they do not concern themselves with right and wrong, they only work with the frequencies of love and therefore loving thoughts and intention, this is the barometer for measuring our emotional and spiritual needs. They are just so happy to hear from you, so, express anything that comes to mind, but this is a nice example for your first connection.

‘Hello, my guardian angel”It has taken me a while to be ready and open”But it is so lovely to speak to you today”I would like to invite you to spend today and every day with me”I am ready and open to listen to your guidance and allow you to love and support me in everything that I do”All my love Becca’

That is all you need to do for your first meeting; it is that simple!

Next, I am going to show you how to perform a simple but effective breath work exercise for any time you feel fearful and overwhelmed. I would like you to try this after you have connected to your guardian angel to help you relax for the day ahead.

Angel Breath work for fear

Although this is a breathing exercise for fear, this is first and foremost about love. In your mind, see your guardian angel with huge wings of love surrounding you. Now give them your fear. Breath out the fear and breathe in their love. They will recycle the fear and turn it into healing much like plants do when they change carbon dioxide into oxygen for you to breathe healthier air.

The technique

Our instinct when we breath in is to expand into our chests, but I want you to expand your belly like you are inflating a balloon.

Take a lovely, controlled breath in through your nose, taking the air and all the love surrounding you deep into your belly and feel it gently expand.

Then breathe out all the air slowly and controlled through your mouth, deflating your belly until there is no more breath – repeat until you feel relaxed. It may help to place your hands on your abdomen to feel it inflate and deflate whilst saying to yourself ‘I breath in the love and breath out the fear.’

Abdominal breathing is a more effective way to take in oxygen and relax the nervous system; it also takes a little bit more concentration, which distracts your mind. Spiritually this area is one of the seven chakras or energies points of the body known as the solar plexus. I won’t expand this too much at this point, as I want to keep things as simple as possible at the start of your spiritual journey, but if you are curious, you will find a helpful beginner guide to the seven chakras at the back of the book. Very simply the solar plexus point around the naval area is symbolised by the colour yellow and fire. It governs will power/determination and self-belief. The expression ‘fire in the belly’ is a familiar way to describe someone with passion and purpose. When this area is blocked, you will be feeling the opposite of this and experiencing more fear-based emotions. This was a light bulb moment for me because I have always experienced nausea, sickness and even pain in my stomach in the past when feeling anxious about something or anticipating an upcoming event. Is this something that you have experienced? The combination of deeper breathing into the abdomen whilst you visualise the angelic exchange of fear to love is a powerful tool in your kit bag. I use this on a regular basis even when I am not experiencing any negative emotions as a nice way to connect to my guardian angel and have a few moments of stillness.

Watch point

With any of the above exercises, do not spend too long thinking about what your guardian angel may look like, their colours or features. These details do not matter at all and will distract you. Light or wings surrounding you is a simple and familiar visualisation if you need one. The focus point throughout this book should always be on the feeling the exercise gives you rather than the details.

Learning tip

If you are a visual learner and prefer to use imagery over words to understand something, the use of colour is a quick and easy way to express yourself at any time. For this exercise instead of saying the words fear and love you can visualise a colour for each to represent the breath, see the colour wheel at the back of the book for ideas, for example, I would imagine pink as my angels love and grey, brown, or black as my fear depending on how intense the feeling was in that moment.

Day time

Keeping the connection open throughout the day

Now that you have made the connection, I would like you to try your best to keep the dialogue open throughout your day. Whether you are busy at work, shopping, cooking or just at home alone, take any opportunity to think about your guardian angel by your side, helping you with your tasks, enjoying a film together, the fresh air on a walk and a part of all your interactions. Always by your side sending you love and support. They smile when you smile, they laugh when you laugh and share your lows. If you need clarity on a problem, ask them for guidance. As you move through this book you will develop your intuition, and the signs will become clearer but to start with ask the question and take notice of the words and thoughts that pop into your head or that seemingly random but helpful suggestion from someone or somewhere else? Remind yourself periodically throughout the day that you are open and ready to be loved and supported. If the idea of angels is new to you, this may feel strange but do it anyway. The more you do it, the more you can normalise it until you no longer need to remind yourself. Remember you can talk aloud or in your head they can hear you even in a busy room. Use your ‘breath work for fear’ exercise if you need it today. There is going to be some time at the end of the day to reflect on your first day of open & connect so give it your best effort today so that you can reflect honestly!

End of your day

The Reset Button

The Reset button is your last exercise today. Combined, the three exercises you have learnt today are going to be a huge support to you as you move forward. You can use the Reset Button before sleeping, in the morning or anytime throughout your journey that you feel you need to restart with a clean slate. Your guardian angel and the universe are ready to acknowledge your intention to change and reset and support you at any moment that you choose.

The technique

The O in Open is your Reset button.

As a visual aid, look at the picture of the Reset Button and imprint this image on your mind.

To create this energetically, draw a circle in the air just like when you drew shapes and letters in the air as a child, draw it in your mind’s eye or touch the image in this book, whichever option feels comfortable for you.

Press the center and say ‘From this moment, I am ready and open to receive love, healing and infinite possibilities’.

It really is that easy! Human beings have a special gift for overcomplicating things that are very simple. Anyone that ever tries to sell you the idea that you need expensive ritual kits and complicated routines to alter the frequency that you vibrate on, is leading you down a false path. There is only one essential ingredient that you ever need and that is intention!

Say it, feel it, and believe it!

Your Reset button is a circle for a reason – let’s explore circles and synchronicity.

There are no coincidences in the universe. Everything is happening exactly when it needs to even the difficult things. The emptiness of rock bottom is the most emotionally, spiritually and physically open door you can ever be standing in front of; all you need to do is walk through it! Even though it may be hard to embrace this right now, this is the absolute right time to fill this empty space with infinite possibilities! This book is all about learning to look at your world with a different perspective and today you took your first steps but to help you in this new direction, let’s take a deeper dive into what being open really means from a spiritual point of view. Here is an example of some definitions of the word open in the dictionary; Allowing passage or a view through an empty space, not closed or blocked, to unfold or be unfolded, to leave a space allowing access and vision.

What links the Circle of your Reset Button, the letter O in Open and the Circle and value of Zero?

• Think of the shape of the letter O in Open and the number 0; both are circles. Circles represent oneness, something being whole, complete, no beginning or end, continuous.
• Seen in ancient paintings and drawings, circles represent the sun and the moon; both are powerful symbols of energy, mythology and spirituality, which we will explore later.
• Spiritually the number 0 is the reset button; we finish the spiritual journey and begin again on a new journey.
• In a Tarot deck, the number 0 represents the ‘Fool’ card which is the start of the spiritual journey to completion. Completion is called the ‘World’ card; this has an image of a circle on the tarot card.
• Think of the sound of the letter O when you say it. It sounds identical to the number 0 when you recite a set of numbers like a birth year or phone number.
• Linking the letter O to the number, when 0 is added to any number multiple times adds limitless value – 10, 100, 1000, 10000 and so on.
• Mathematically zero is an empty number, we know that emptiness is a void or space, and we also know that a space can be filled.
• To repair an electronic device, it is entered into a state of reset represented by the number 0.

Watch point

When doubt creeps in or you are struggling to feel open, look at the Reset Button, remind yourself that the circle represents infinite possibilities and even if you do not know all answers today, everything is connected and has meaning and purpose, take some angel breaths to release your doubts, press Reset and keep practicing!

Learning tip

As you open your heart and mind to this journey, synchronicities will appear everywhere. Take notice of songs, numbers, repeated phrases, and circles everywhere! Begin a journal, make notes of dreams and anything that you have seen or heard that you keep thinking about. It’s there for a reason and even if you do not know the answer today it will become clear as you Journey forward.

Why is open & connect an important first step towards healing?

Quite simply because you cannot do this alone! There are no gold stars for the person who never asks for help! As admirable as it is that you have made it this far by toughing it out alone, how has that really worked out for you so far? I can ask you this because for many years, I really believed that carrying my burdens alone made me a strong independent person and it did up to a point, but resilience can only carry you so far. I would look to the heavens and plea ‘I am so tired, I give everything I can to others, and I am still alone and failing at everything! Surely someone up there must notice and send me some love, comfort and a lucky break?’ The truth is they did notice, and the response had been standing by my side all the time! You should feel proud of what you have overcome in the past but now is the time to move on from just surviving to thriving and creating a better future with your guardian angel by your side!

Today’s spiritual goals

• To accept spiritual support from your guardian angel and comfort and guidance in loneliness/isolation
• Introducing new ideas of spirituality and synchronicity

I have already expressed through the book’s introduction and my own story what my experience of taking the leap towards this special connection felt like for me, but I want you to think about how it felt for you to start that conversation today and take the first steps towards reaching out for help from something you cannot see? Now that you know what today’s learning goals were, how do you feel about them? Did you find it easy, difficult, strange, uplifting? Take some time to look back on your day. Did the day go better than usual, the same? How often did you actively connect and invite angelic support? It is ok to be honest. The goal is for this to become a nourishing and supportive experience and how you felt during and after the exercises is feedback for where you are on the start of this journey. I really hope you found it a positive experience but if you didn’t It is important for you to know that this is ok because any baby steps made towards healing are always recognised and celebrated by the universe, your guides and angels.

Summary

• Open is a leap of faith, it is not knowing where the journey will take you but going anyway
• The emptiness of rock bottom is the most open you can be emotionally, spiritually and physically, so embrace it!
• The space within openness can be filled with love and support if you allow it
• Every moment you remain open to new ideas you make a space for positive change and miracles to come in
• Any moment can be a reset moment
• Everything is happening for a reason this your opportunity to find out why
• Your first tool kit contains – Angel prayers, Breath work for fear and a Reset button
• Say it – feel it – believe it

Hero Moment

You did it! Your first rib and step on this journey to your new life! Opening your heart and mind to angelic connections and spiritual thinking is a big achievement when you are at rock bottom, and it is already making a difference to your future. There is no rush on a healing journey. Stay within open & connect for as long as you need and move on to Pause & Reflect when you are ready.