We often forget that things don’t usually happen overnight. They can, of course. In metaphysics, we definitely believe in miracles, but most of the time, practicing the skills is the way forward. My brain jumped to the phrase, practice makes perfect, which is not what we want. In metaphysics, there is always continued growth, it’s not about perfection, but perseverance.

The fastest way to ramp up your abilities is through three things: practice, allowing, and surrendering. Even if it means practicing how to allow and surrender, which are the two hardest parts of development.

Practice is easy, keep at it. Keep trying. If, at first, you don’t succeed, blah, blah, blah. But what happens when you’ve been practicing for a while and not making any progress? Then it’s time for the other two strategies. I’m going to call them strategies because both of these words, allow and surrender, can have things associated with them in our minds that are not necessarily positive. Let’s give these words a definition in relation to our metaphysical abilities. Boundaries of what they are and what they are not. It may help you to use these strategies more effectively and move you closer to what you’re working to achieve.

Allowing means letting something happen. You may think you have already given yourself permission to do whatever it is, but have you really? Are you doing things to sabotage your efforts, such as when you’re attempting to meditate, you try to do it during the time when your home is the busiest? There are many ways to sabotage ourselves. You may or may not be aware that you’re doing it. If you catch yourself sabotaging your efforts, think about why you do it. Keep in mind that it could be a result of a belief you still hold from this life, a past life, or from an ancestor. Allowing can be complicated. If you can’t progress, think about giving yourself permission to do whatever it is and feel how that feels in your body. If it doesn’t feel good, you’ve got some work to do before progress can be made. Allowing could also mean acknowledging that you really don’t want to develop this skill, whatever it is, and giving yourself permission to drop it like a hot rock and walk away.

This rolls us into surrender. Surrendering means letting go of it. Some people don’t like the word. I don’t like the word. To me, it means giving up – forever. Then I remind myself that it doesn’t have to be forever. It can be for now. It takes the pressure off if you can put something down. Going at something over and over endlessly without progress is a sign of having unrealistic expectations. If you need to carry something heavy from one point to another, there are two ways of doing it, all at once, giving it all you got to get there or carrying it as far as you can, taking a break, and then carrying it the rest of the way.

Our tendency for instant gratification always wants to accomplish everything in one go, but the reality is that sometimes it isn’t possible. The thing to do then is to set it aside for a time and come back to it later. Often there is the thought that if you stop doing it, you won’t start back up. It’s possible, but why is that? We make time for the things that are important to us, even those things that we do once in a while, like meeting our friends for a movie/pizza/beer night or whatever it is. The same is true for things we do spiritually. If it’s important to you, you will find the time for it. If it’s not, you won’t.

This is the space where a “should” statement usually shows up, as in “I should be doing this,” but if you don’t, you don’t. Try not to judge yourself for it. Your spiritual journey is your own, and there are no right or wrong answers. The right way is your way. You can emulate others, but you will never be them, and they will never be you. However someone else does something, it has no bearing on your personal journey. Whether you’re flying or crawling through something is dependent solely on you. Therefore, it is perfectly okay to put things down, step back, take a break, and evaluate where you are. Take the time to decide if this is where you want to be and if this is going to get you to your goal. You can make different choices at any time.

Sometimes we have to accept that the skill we want to have is out of reach. We like to say that nothing is out of reach, and theoretically, that’s true. However, that doesn’t take into account any roadblocks that are in our way, real or imagined, according to our perception and our determination to get through them. It’s also a matter of timing. Remember that our timing doesn’t always coincide with Divine timing.

I remember working on remote viewing years ago. I kept practicing, and I couldn’t do it. I finally gave up and said that if it were a skill I needed to have, I would, if not, then not, and dropped it. Years later, I used remote viewing without knowing I was doing it. It started when a friend asked if I could get a feel for the energy around the home of a friend of hers. I imagined a house and started describing what I saw and the energy around it. Afterward, my friend stared at me with her mouth open as I had just described her friend’s home and neighborhood with scary accuracy. At first, I discounted it, saying that I was only talking about how the image formed in my head while I was scanning the energy, and then she showed me a photo of her friend’s house and pointed out the things I mentioned in my description.

It’s been years since that happened, and yes, I can remote view. There are still times when people are astonished and other times when it’s not as precise. Perfection is not my goal. My objective is always to go to the level of detail necessary to do what I need to do. That way, I acknowledge the universe’s help and guidance as to what happens when and then trust the process.

Back to practice for a moment. We also have to keep an open mind about how we practice. If you are working on something that is ancient in nature, such as a particular kind of yoga or meditation. There is a specific path to follow. It has a proven track record. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. You can choose to follow it or not, but you can expect mixed results for mixed efforts.

If you are working on something more generic such as learning to read energy, there are many paths to follow. Find what works for you. The most common way to perceive and interpret energy is by feeling it. If that doesn’t work for you, try to see it, hear it, or try to discern a scent. Information can come to you in any one of these ways or a combination. You also might just know what the energy you’re trying to read is saying. Don’t discount your natural mode of getting spiritual information. It will be the strongest and likely to be the most accurate. It annoys me when a teacher tells a student that they “should” be seeing or feeling something. Sometimes you do, sometimes not. It depends on your level of sensitivity and confidence in your abilities.

The purpose of practice is to give you the confidence to rely on your strengths and to recognize your weaknesses. It is not to grow your doubts and insecurities. If you find that is the case, it’s time for a quick evaluation of whether or not this is really what you want to do. If it is, it’s time to engage, either allow or surrender. Whatever you choose will be the right answer to help you step up your abilities.