Hiring the Heavens on the West Coast Trail
Jul 23, 2024
Ever since I read the book Hiring the Heavens by Jean Slatter, I’ve made hiring heavenly helpers part of my daily life. Whenever there is something that’s out of my control, I appoint the appropriate energetic beings and hire them to help out. This practice has been nothing short of miraculous.
While preparing for hiking the West Coast Trail, there were a myriad of unknowns that I found unsettling and so I employed all sorts of helpers. The results were beyond my wildest expectations.
I’d love to share my experience to give you ideas on how you can also make a practice of receiving help from the unseen.
Heavenly Helpers for Weather
Several months prior to the trip, I started off with some weather helpers. The WCT is known to be rainy and muddy (since it’s in a rainforest). Although I was up for a certain level of adventure, I decided to request gorgeous weather - because why not?
I said, “Heavenly helpers who are masterful at beautiful weather on the West Coast Trail, you’re hired to give us clear, sunny and perfect hiking conditions for our entire trip. Charge your fees to my Angel Express.” (We all have one of those cards with unlimited funds). “Please and thank you.”
As the trip approached, I checked in with those helpers regularly, as any good employer would. Of course, we packed rain gear and I wasn’t attached to the outcome either way. I just got clear on my preference and hired the appropriate helpers.
When I checked the weather report on my phone in the days leading up to the trip, I was thrilled to see full sun predicted every single day.
“Oh no!” said Zoe, “We packed for hypothermia - not heatstroke!”
The rain gear still made it into our packs because… you know… weather predictions… but we didn’t even need to unpack it. The sky was cloudless for the entire trip (except for one day when there were a few welcome wisps).
I thanked those heavenly helpers every day and conveyed that they had truly outdone themselves. That kind of weather on the WCT is very, very rare but it wasn’t luck. It was thanks to getting clear on my preferences, hiring the appropriate support, and then disconnecting from needing a certain outcome.
Heavenly Helpers for Safety
Since I also had a lot of worst-case scenario action happening in that special place in my brain, I hired all sorts of helpers to keep me, my husband, and my kids safe. I intended and requested that we would emerge from the experience feeling even better than when we began, with our bodies in tip-top condition.
Despite the intense physical challenge and a multitude of hazards, our helpers saw us through and helped keep us safe.
On the final day, I had a little slip which caused a strain in my quadricep muscles, my husband tweaked his knee, and my kids had a few close calls but we did indeed emerge in tip-top shape. (I’ll share how Paul and I healed our minor injuries while we walked in another essay because that’s handy to know how to do.)
Heavenly Helpers for Connection and Harmony
I don’t know if you’ve ever endeavoured to do a multi-day backpacking trip with teenagers but this was an area where I also felt we could use some support.
I said, “Heavenly helpers who are masterful at creating and maintaining harmonious interactions and deep connection, you’re hired to join us on our trip to ensure positive communication and facilitate lots of love flowing through our family. Charge your fees to my Angel Express. Please and thank you.”
Obviously, not every interaction over the course of the week was upbeat and uplifting and so, in those moments, I reached out again to our helpers with my thoughts and brought them into the mix to smooth things out.
When it was all said and done, the trip definitely brought us closer, thanks in part to the energetic support. As you can see, you can hire heavenly helpers for absolutely anything.
Heavenly Helpers for Bugs
The last request I’ll share with you was for bugs (or more precisely, an absence of bugs). Heading into the rainforest, I figured there would plenty of creepy crawlies. Plus, my sister and her husband said there had been huge numbers of bugs when they hiked the WCT several years ago.
We packed our environmentally-friendly, non-toxic bug spray and I said, “Heavenly helper who is masterful at keeping bugs at least 6 feet away from me, you’re hired for the entire trip. Charge your fees to my Angel Express. Please and thank you.”
Would you believe that there were barely any bugs at all? I can’t imagine why that would have been the case because there had been plenty of rain the week prior and there was still lots of mud and bogs. The only explanation is that our heavenly helpers were on it.
On the very last day, toward the end, enough bugs showed up that we used our spray for the first time and we were thrilled with how effective it was. (We’ve purchased plenty of deet-free bug sprays that smelled lovely but did nothing.) It felt like our heavenly helpers were again lending a hand.
As you can see, if you can think of a way to employ a heavenly helper, they are more than happy to oblige. They’re just waiting around for someone to connect with them. If you can dream up a job then there’s definitely a corresponding helper just waiting to be hired.
Something to Keep in Mind
The only caveat that I’ve found is that if you need to take some sort of action on your end, it might seem like they’re not doing anything. That’s because there’s likely a growth edge that you would benefit from leaning into. You can’t just do nothing and expect them to do everything for you. It’s a partnership; not a dictatorship.
In the examples I shared, we still brought the rain gear and the bug spray, we prepped ourselves for the potential hazards and we facilitated conversation and set out expectations when things didn’t feel harmonious.
We did our part and the heavenly helpers did theirs. You could say it was a match made in heaven (pun intended because I courageously own all my puns, no matter how brutal they are).
I hope that you also employ heavenly helpers for as many tasks as possible, whether you’re doing something out of the ordinary, or you’re going through your daily life. They’ve made my life so much better and it’s doubtful that our experience on the WCT would have been as exceptional without their support.
Here’s to not trying to do everything yourself - hooray!
With humble love and renewed courage,
Christina
> Creator of Courageous Self-Care
> celebrating our 26th anniversary this Thursday - maybe somewhere in the mountains
> love, love, loving all the summer fruits right now - is there anything better than a bowl of fresh berries?
We have one more date for this month’s 9D Breathwork Virtual Journey coming up on Monday, July 29th.
It's a new journey, hot off the presses and super powerful - Reprogramming the Subconscious Mind.
In the past, I've spent 90 days or more working to reprogram one belief for 30 minutes a day. It worked but, man, was it a lot of time and effort.
You can do the same thing in this journey in less than two hours, plus it's not just one belief. Your subconscious knows what it's ready to release and then you get to plant new seeds with the space you created.
This journey is more of a down regulation so it's mostly gentle breathing and very soothing for your entire system.
There will also be a replay offered for 48 hours after the session in case you can't attend live.
Click this link to see all the details. Scroll down to the section that says This Month's Virtual Sessions.
The West Coast Trail is (or can be) a totally mystical experience. When I was reflecting on what song it felt like, this one came to mind.
It comes from an album called The Prayer Cycle and it gives me goosebumps everytime I hear it. It’s so magical and sacred.
This song is called Mercy. I love the wildness and the primal qualities. Alanis Morisette is part of the project (among many other phenomenal artists) and it’s my favourite thing she’s ever done.
