In my book, Finding God –Spiritual strategies to help YOU find inner peace, fulfillment and happiness (WOW Media) I explain how mankind suffers from chronic anxiety and how he has done so since the beginning of time on this earth. It is apparent that man cannot seem to relieve this anxiety by anything that he does outside of himself -not by anything he gains, buys nor amasses. No amount of money, material possessions or power that he wields can satisfy or lessen the anxiety, the sense of hopelessness that he feels so deep down inside of him.

So what causes humankind’s chronic anxiety and how can it be relieved?

I believe that our feeling of separation causes our anxiety: separation from ourselves, our fellow human beings and, most of all, separation from our connection to God. It is our separation from the Divine and the forgetting of who we truly are that pains us. Our sense of separation leaves us feeling alone, sometimes frightened and overwhelmed by life and its many challenges. And so, we often lose ourselves in the day-to-day survival. We become caught up in working, paying bills, buying more and more possessions, planning vacations, and thinking too much about tomorrow or, yesterday. All in all, we find ourselves running around almost aimlessly, never truly enjoying the moment or what we have, and never feeling satisfied or whole. We feel the inner emptiness and we cannot seem to find anything to fill it or satisfy it. I believe this is because we forget our primary mission: to love and serve others, and to allow others to love us. And in so doing, we feel all alone, lost and helpless.

If along the way though, we are open, something happens and we experience an encounter that reminds us that we are not alone, and that we are not separated from the Divine unless we choose to be.

Our true power comes when we can let go and stop trying to control every aspect of our lives and everyone around us. Only in the moment when we can admit to ourselves that we need help are we able to be helped. And in that moment, we awaken to learn that someone is watching over us, and if we ask and if we give thanks or if we just trust and let go, we will be helped. We will be rescued in times of need, lifted in times of pain and sorrow, comforted and given hope in times of doubt and loss. We will get a small glimpse of the Divine and it will restore and strengthen our faith, love and hope. These are blessings of encounters with angels.