When I speak to people about guided meditation I sometimes hear "I don't see anything!", "Others are seeing angels, guides, fairies or have other, most amazing, encounters but I only see black!". "What am I doing wrong?"

First I would like to invite you to look to the "good-bad" concept with different eyes. In reality there is no "good" nor "bad". The label good or bad is only your conclusion or your judgement on something that you experience as being "desired"  (good) or "undesired" (bad). 

If you do not encounter a shining angel during your guided meditation you probably categorize this experience as a disappointment. You were hoping to have a special encounter. Certainly when you know that others do have these experiences. But because it didn't happen in your guided meditation does not mean that you did something "wrong". It was just an "undesired" result. You had wished for a certain result and you did not get it.

The gain of learning to think in ways of "desired" and "undesired" results is that it brings you freedom, more room for you. Because when you conclude that you have experienced an undesired result, there is room to do it differently the next time! You will then still be motivated to try again and again until some day you have experienced a desired result.

On the opposite, when you conclude that you did something wrong, then there is no room for new experiences. Most people fall into a pit of paralyzing self criticism and often don't even try any more. That's a shame because you are not doing anything wrong! Not even when you "see" only black or white in your guided meditation.

But how can you improve on this? How can you change the way you do your guided meditation exercises (it is called exercise for a reason) to get desired results?

Well then, the next time when you listen to a guided meditation just do one thing: use your fantasy to imagine that which is being told into images, sounds, smells and colors. That is all! There is nothing else you need to do. Don't have expectations, just focus on learning to use your imagination and create a fantasy world with it. Listen to the storyteller and imagine how this world that he or she is talking about would look like, feel like, sound like etc. If you experience emotional feelings then that's even better. But it is not necessary in this stage. It will happen automatically in a later stage.

"But, this is only a figment of my imagination then? It is just a fantasy and not a "real experience"?
You could think that and yes, you are right! But.. this is a very important part of the guided meditation process: first you learn to shape the world of the guided meditation by using your imagination while the storyteller gives you the outlines for this world. It is you that makes up the details. You imagine the scenery that goes with the story, you imagine the sounds, the smells and the feelings. And because these are all coming forth from your imagination, your subconscious mind is able to help you to accept this world as being realistic for the cause of this guided meditation.

This is the first step. Then you will automatically experience the next step: during the guided journey in your fantasy world (also called dream reality) there will be items, people, animals or other things that you did not imagine yourself. Neither did the storyteller mention them. But they are there nevertheless!

For example: the storyteller tells about how you are walking on a ancient path and there are flowers to the left and the right of your path. You follow this path to the sound of a small stream ahead of you. Meanwhile you are imagining this as vividly as possible by using all your senses. While you are doing this you notice a deer that is grazing in the pasture with flowers to your right. Did the storyteller talk about a deer? No. Did you imagine a deer over there? No. Aha!

You could catalog this as a message, an encounter, or one of those desired and hoped for meetings of a special nature. This is what people often mean when they say "and suddenly I saw a .............  in my guided meditation. When you see or experience something during your journey that neither the storyteller, nor your self has put there, you are experiencing a spontaneous encounter or message.

So next time when you listen to a guided meditation, just focus on using your imagination to create the world the storyteller gives you. Soon, you will notice appearances, meetings, or encounters. Perhaps small ones at first but even these small successes can best be celebrated with enthusiasm. Because "energy flows where attention goes" and will therefore create even more of this. Give your self a threefold "hooray!" for al the small, desired experiences. May there be many more to come...

Why is it that you start to "see" more? Or better: start to notice more.

On the one hand it is your subconscious mind that makes use of your fantasy world to communicate with you and on the other hand there is the metaphysical realm of Light and Love where beings without shapes reside, like angels. They also use the fantasy world that you created to contact you. 

This fantasy world  (or dream reality) is the meeting place. Here they can contact you. Your subconscious mind will mainly use symbolism and put that in your fantasy world. The metaphysical beings like angels have no form or shape and can therefore use any of the shapes or forms that you have imagined. They wait for you to use your imagination and then cease that opportunity to live that fantasy creature. This is one of the reasons why an object that you imagined into your fantasy world becomes "alive" and interactive.

Let's say that the storyteller talks about how your angel appears and that your angel is coming towards you. It is YOU who imagines how an angel would look like. You decide on the shape, the appearance, the total look and feel of an angel. Next, your angel can then shape shift into your fantasy shape of an angel. And it does not matter if an angel looks like this in reality (which reality?) or not, because when this angel says, does, or lets you experience something that you did not imagine, then you KNOW with certainty: you have had true contact. (note: this is a different contact from when your angel appears in your awake reality).

So when your inner world is nothing but "black" or "white" next time you go on a guided meditation, start with using your imagination and imagine the world the storyteller talks about. Before you know it, you will be having meetings and encounters with your subconscious mind and/or the metaphysical realms. But do not emphasize on seeking these encounters. Let it be spontaneous. Give it room. Just concentrate on using your imagination and the rest will be like a walk in the park. 

• The label "good" or  "wrong" is only your conclusion or judgment on what you experience as a desired result or an undesired result.
• Step 1 is to learn using your imagination. Imagine in as much detail as possible the world the storyteller talks about. Expect nothing. Focus only on imagining the world from your guided meditation.
• Using your imagination is not only imaginary, but also sounds, smells, physical sensations or emotions.
• Step 2 is noticing within your guided journey appearances that you did not put there yourself, neither were they created by the storyteller. Just notice them. It is not necessary to do any thing with it yet, that comes later on in step 3.

Stap 3 is to learn to communicate with the things or beings that appear in your guided journey. They will teach you much about your self and about the phase of your personal process of inner growth. Of course they will be steps after this. We will talk about it in later pages. This page was about learning to "see" spontaneous appearances in your guided journey.