One of the experiments that has become a constant presence in my life is my experience of asking for help and then noticing what happens.  I do this when I’m in session with people, when I’m faced with a dilemma or challenge, when I’m in need of inspiration.  I bring to mind the collective field of consciousness that encompasses all of us, and I hand over my problem to that field, asking for guidance or inspiration.  I don’t take time wondering how the answer or inspiration will come.  I state it, let it go, and then wait to see what emerges.

It may be my own wisdom that responds, or it may, indeed, be that the collective field of information responds in a way I can even begin to imagine or explain.  What I’ve noticed over the years is that this source of support is pretty reliable, and I have developed a confidence that, if I ask for help, something useful will emerge.  A key in the process is to not work at receiving an answer.  Instead, open curiosity seems to create a receptiveness that keeps my preconceptions out of the way and allows a deeper wisdom to emerge.

And so, for this week’s experiment, I invite you to play with asking for help, to explore what happens when you hand problems over to the collective information field.  A key here is to let go of any expectation and, instead, to hold the attitude of open curiosity.  Remember, curiosity generates an outward-turning, expansive response, whereas fear constricts and narrows our perceptions and options.

For those of us who have trouble asking for help, this experiment offers two outcomes:  practice with reaching out, which is no small thing; and, an opportunity to play with the possibility that help is available and responsive within the collective field of information to which we all have access all the time.  Asking for help is like tuning the radio – it orients us, energetically, to possibilities.  By whatever mechanism – synchronicity, resonance, etc. – we then receive a response to our request.  A key element in the process is that we learn to recognize when an answer to our request for help arrives.

Now, it may well be that what I consider “help” represents the inevitable working out of things, one way or another, that tends to emerge with time.  Whatever the source, I have found that an increasing ease has emerged over the years as I have practiced asking for help and then stayed open to noticing what emerges.    For me, there is comfort in having learned that I don’t have to do everything myself, so whether it’s my own deep wisdom or the collective field that responds to my requests, I am comforted to know I can ask for, and receive, help.

And, sometimes the biggest help is a spontaneous shift in attitude or relationship with what’s unfolding.  Nothing external may change in any way, but a new way of perceiving or engaging an experience can often make all the difference in determining whether we feel out of control or overwhelmed, or if we feel supported as we move through what’s in front of us.

As I said in last week’s experiment, which is equally applicable to this one, as you explore your own relationship with asking for and receiving help, allow yourself to be curious about the impact of where you focus your attention.  To become more skilled at shifting this focus can be one of the great resources in daily life.  To know that you have a choice about where you put your awareness and how much energy you invest in a particular focus of attention offers you an ever-present opportunity to “change the channel” and resonate with something more supportive.