We’re All A Little Psychic

If you catch the clock at 1:11 p.m., $22.22 on a receipt, and 333 on a license plate, the angels are looking out for you, right? In some spiritual circles, people say the universe is speaking to you in plenty of other ways: through gut feelings, small synchronicities, and funny coincidences. All you need to do is listen in.

Everyone’s a little bit psychic, according to MaryAnn DiMarco, a medium and spiritual teacher. According to her, these messages and instincts come from spirit guides — aka the members of “your universal team on the other side,” including angels, loved ones who have passed, and ascended masters or spiritually enlightened beings.

Her new book, The Guide(s) Book: Mapping Out Life’s Journey with Spirit by Your Side, out Sept. 16, is intended to help readers hone their psychic abilities. With a forward written by her best friend, none other than spiritual leader Gabrielle Bernstein, DiMarco shares tips for enhancing that natural power.

“This team is here to help you understand your higher voice,” she tells Bustle. “That's really all they're doing: Highlighting the true story of who you are.” Here, DiMarco chats about finding your guides, interpreting their messages, and the importance of ancestors.

On creating a psychic practice:

The first step is to get comfortable with your belief system. What does your higher power look like? While psychic mediums are great for validation, you don't need to go to one to figure it all out.

Instead, it’s about noticing what feels good to you. Is it meditation? Journaling? Taking a walk on the beach? Is it listening to music and accomplishing your to-do list? Pulling a spirit card or using an oracle deck?

Be consistent with tapping in and allowing your practice to develop. As long as it is authentic to who you are, when your mind is free, you’ll start to be able to hear messages from your guides.

On noticing psychic feelings:

Spirit comes in your own voice. It’s not something that’s disembodied or separate from you, especially when you’re working with your guides. It is something that is within you. All they're doing is highlighting a voice that is true.

When you talk to guides, pay attention to how you feel in your body, mind, and soul. Are you detecting a sense of flow or resistance? Start to work with your senses and trust that maybe, in those moments, you're seeing things through your third eye, your clairvoyancy, or clairaudience.

You can also ask for signs. Spirit loves to show off and will absolutely validate you. The point is to trust in the fact that you are already psychic, intuitive, and empathic.

On choosing your guides:

I've worked with so many clients who have said to me, "But I don't want to hear from Aunt So-and-So because she wasn’t very nice to me when she was alive,” and I feel that. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to force a connection with an ancestor. Talking to your guides should not feel completely foreign, so it’s OK to pick and choose.

On following her guides:

I’ve navigated everything in life with the help of my guides: parenting, career, love, friendships, and my inner feelings. For example, I had an ongoing scarcity mindset that I lived with for 10 or 15 years, and it was highlighted during a recent move. I’d been living in complete fear, I had just had it. A huge part of a spiritual practice is to acknowledge your feelings, so I did. That allows you to get to work with your guides on figuring out what to change so that you feel more positive within yourself.

I'll ask my guides, “Show me something that I can do right now to serve myself in a way that feels like it's grounding me or giving me balance,” and I might hear them. They might say go pick a card, do some writing, go take a walk.

My guides can get really annoyed with me. If I'm all in my head about my work, and I'm starting to fall into comparison syndrome, they'll say, “Just go do your job!”

On utilizing their messages:

After every meditation, every experience, every sign, write it all down. I like to look at the writings I did a year ago, five years ago, 10 years ago, and see what either came to fruition — or have a full understanding as to why it didn't.

On your dream life:

We're such an instant gratification type of society. Everything's at our fingertips, but that sets us up to fail.

Instead of just looking ahead to your destination, I encourage you to pause, notice the scenery, and see all the breadcrumbs your guides are leaving for you along the way. When you do that, it allows you to become a co-creator of your life and get to where you’re meant to go.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.