Updated 2021.12.07

Before I opened up and fully accepted my Spiritual abilities, I was terrified of just about anything and everything related to Spirits and Spiritual things.

Then, there came a time when I decided I didn’t want to live in fear anymore. Since I had started my journey by reading books - all the Spiritual books possible to be exact - I knew the only way to release my fears was to walk straight into them and confront what scared me the most.

And my whole life, I was terrified of ghosts.

I was scared of ghosts and things being haunted. I was scared I was haunted. I was scared that if I accepted my abilities, things would get worse. I was afraid that if I became a medium, I’d never find a boyfriend and die alone, as a witch. I was afraid that I would lose my job and my current professional integrity.

I was afraid all my friends and family would slowly back away from me and out of my life.

I was scared that if I took classes to develop my abilities, I wouldn’t be as good as the other students and that I would have bitten off more than I could chew. I was scared that if I invested the little money I did have in learning how to do this, I’d be wasting it.

I had all of the fears of what would happen upon opening up to Spirit and then also, a whole different list of fears of what would happen if I didn’t open up my Spiritual Abilities.

I was full of all of the fears -

And today, after walking through all of my worries and concerns, I’m happy to say that stepping into my Spiritual Abilities was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for myself. Yes, even above going to graduate school.

Are you interested in opening your abilities, but have a few of the concerns listed above?

Or, have a completely different suite of worries?

Well, read on!

Today, I want to address and debunk many of those worries. Many of which were my own at one point and since stepping into my Spiritual Gifts, I realized that most of these concerns could have been easily explained by someone who’d walked down that road before.

The Top 7 Fears Blocking A Connection To Spirit

Concern #1: I’ll connect with or welcome in that’s not in my highest good

This was my number one concern when opening up my spiritual abilities and knowing there are good entities out there.

Being afraid of Spirit for my whole life, I was so afraid that if I opened up, I would let in those in Spirit who wanted to do harm to me and do harm to those that I loved. Because I felt fear, I thought there was something to fear.

In an attempt to understand my abilities, I watched a lot of paranormal television shows. To make these shows sensational, often, ‘cases’ specializing in malicious spirits are highlighted, where nefarious behavior is emphasized. Rather than being comforted, I just got more terrified.

My own fears of these spirits were perpetuated when a regular paranormal group was investigating a perfectly regular family, and somehow, a simple case of someone’s grandfather visiting, would be assumed malicious.

Thankfully, even if you’ve already encountered a nasty Spirit or two - bad apples are rare - extremely are actually - so much so that now, as a practicing medium, I only see or hear of a lower Spirit every few months. Much less frequently than I originally thought - thanks, drama TV!

Think about it. Here on Earth, good, well-intentioned, nice citizens are actually more the regular, where malicious, cranky and ill-intentioned people are way less common.

Who gets the most spotlights on the evening news?

These friendly folks often don’t make the news - and as above so below if they were in Spirit -

Friendly individuals who are doing their best to make the world a better place and be upstanding citizens are actually the norm, not the other way around.

While this is shifting, it’s this exact same way in Spirit. Everyone, eventually, does cross-over, thus, most of those you’ll meet in Spirit, they’re friendly grandfathers, helpful grandmothers, friends, brothers and fun-loving children who died too soon.

If you happen to meet a ‘bad apple’ Spirit, by developing your abilities, you learn to stand up for yourself, and the tools you need to clear your space of anything lower or negative and demand respect from those in The Spirit World.

You can learn to set boundaries and the keys of Spiritual self defense. Though, they’ll rarely, if ever, be necessary.

Concern #2: I’ll be an outcast of society and no-longer accepted among my peers

This was my second biggest fear that prevented me from opening my abilities. I was afraid that upon telling everyone I was connecting with Spirit and had the ability to, that people would treat me like a leper.

Every time I entered the room, I imagined friends, family and even coworkers whispering, telling me the spot next to them in the break room was taken or people just leaving the space around me all together.

I envisioned not being invited to family picnics and gatherings, and no longer receiving dinner invitations to a night out with friends and their skeptical husbands.

And you know what happened? Not really any of that.

It really wasn’t as bad as I thought. Coming out of the psychic closet was pretty un-eventuful. Even those friends that did originally balk at my spiritual abilities, have since asked me for private readings or have pulled me aside at a party to talk ‘in private’ about a ‘weird’ spiritual experience they had or something they sensed.  

More than ever before, people are coming forward and sharing with me their own spiritual experiences, intuitive perceptions and questions about The Spiritual World.

In fact, I usually never have a shortage of people to talk to. In the weirdest twist ever, I’m actually far more popular now than I’ve ever been before I opened my gifts publicly.

At gatherings and parties, you can find me talking about Spirit with people - and I’m never the one who brought it up first.

Concern #3: My family and friends will think I’m a nutcase and make fun of me

Do not take others’ opinions personally. If they have yet to embrace their spiritual side, wait seven years and try again. People are often more open than we all think.

I worked at a zoo back in the day. And at that zoo, there were primates. Primates, our closest evolutionary cousin, happen to smile a lot - not when they’re happy, but when they’re afraid.

Later, in graduate school, I sat in on a few human anthropology lectures of a visiting professor who studied early tribal communities. What did he notice? When people were afraid, they laughed together, as a way to ease the tension and lessen the fear.

So, I realized that when people laugh and make fun of others, it’s actually because they are afraid of something themselves. Afraid of what you stand for, afraid of your beliefs or afraid of something else in general.

Laughing and making jokes help us all feel a little bit more comfortable. And usually, there’s more fear surrounding that which you don’t understand.

When people make fun of my beliefs or of me - I simply let it go and understand there’s a fear there somewhere. Not my fear, but theirs. Perhaps created by a lack of understanding.

And rather than perpetuating it by becoming defensive, or getting hurt feelings - I create the opportunity for them to see how cool, regular, and normal a medium really can be.

I let go of their fears and give them a real life example of what my beliefs stand for - universal acceptance and love.

Concern #4: What if I’m actually making it up and I’ll look like an idiot in front of everyone?

You aren’t. But, in order to validate that what you see, feel and sense is real - you have to share it with other people.

In order to learn how good of a public speaker you really are, at some point, you have to get up on stage and give others the opportunity to provide you a standing applause afterwards.

There’s no avoiding this crucial step.

When I gave my very first reading, I was so nervous. Even though I was giving the reading with a teacher present, I didn’t want to be wrong or say something wrong.

So, a part of me didn’t want to say anything at all and just sit there until the other students started sharing what they were ‘getting’ so I could make sure my ‘right’ answer matched all the other ‘right’ answers.

Then, I realized, what if we’re all waiting for the other to speak up and be the first one? No one was saying anything.

So, I simply started describing image by image, feeling by feeling, what I was getting for the person sitting across from me. With my eyes closed and full of fear, I just swung the bat and hoped to God I hit the ball.

And you know what, I did. After I shared what I received, the person I was reading validated everything. They told me what a great job I did and how accurate I was and how the imagery I described applied to their lives.

They wouldn’t have had the opportunity to tell me I wasn’t making it up, had I sat quietly and said nothing.

I know what you’re thinking - Of course, they did Amanda! You’re a professional medium.

Not back then, I wasn’t.

When I gave my first reading, I was a graduate student with just some really intense dreams and a hard time sleeping.

All of us, including me, have to start somewhere. And in order to make sure what you receive is accurate, you have to share it and give others a chance to validate it for you - give them a chance to let them know how right you are!

It’s like putting on a new dress or shirt you just bought - one that’s kind of an outrageous pattern, but that you personally think looks great on you.

When you first go out in public, you might be nervous of what other people will think of your new outfit - since it’s not something you normally wear.

Then, slowly but surely, people start to tell you, offhand, how cute your top is or shirt is. In the morning, you started out feeling a little self-conscious, but by the time you get home, you begin to realize - maybe I should dress like this more often.

Over time, this is exactly how a lot of once beginning psychics and mediums feel.

Would those strangers have had the opportunity to compliment you, had the shirt just stayed on a hanger? No.

By sharing your abilities with others, it’s like putting up a mirror in front of yourself - one that gives people an opportunity to compliment and praise you, not criticize you.

On a regular week, I receive far more positive, validating remarks, then I do critical ones.

Which is the opposite of what I expected, actually. And if I never started telling people what I saw and felt - I’d be receiving no compliments at all.

As you develop your abilities, you are slowly, but surely, trusting your perceptions and the final step, is learning that others will trust them too - so long as you give them the chance!

Concern #5: I’ll never find a partner to accept this/my current husband/wife will freak out

Before I took my very first psychic class, I was completely single with no prospects of finding a partner.

One of my biggest worries was that, already, I had a hard enough time getting a date with someone reasonable. If I became more a psychic or more a medium, I’d further be narrowing down my pool of potential fish.

I was certain I’d have far fewer dates - which at the time - was zero. So, you could understand my concern.

Conversely, many of my friends struggle with the belief systems and acceptance of their husbands and wives. It’s hard to expand onto any new venture without the full support of the person closest to you.

Well, long story short, I eventually did find a boyfriend, only a few months after ‘coming out’ to my friends and family who did support my gifts.

But it wasn’t always this way.

And, one more thing: A long time ago, a medium told me that if she could find someone to love and accept her, that I could too.

Despite my disbelief, it did turn out to be true, and I’d like to pass on the message: there are men and women who love saints, prophets, mystics and oracles, the end. This is what art calls the muse.

Concern #6: My experiences will get worse and harder to control

By the time I was ready to accept my abilities, I was in graduate school and experiencing visitations from unknown Spirits nearly every night and all I could think was,

How could developing my gifts possibly help this at all?

Wouldn’t it just make it more intense?

Plus, I was in the process of developing a major presentation for work and moving across the country - I already had enough on my plate.

I hardly had time to take on a new task.

But wait!

Imagine for a moment that everyone on earth is handed a vintage car radio. This radio, on all the time, doesn’t have knobs that work or a slider to change the stations.

As you drive in your car and go about your day, it’s just on, accepting any static or station that happens to cross your path. It’s sometimes picking up stations you enjoy, sometimes not, but most of the time, you’re stuck hearing whatever noise comes your way.

Developing your abilities is like taking your radio to a repair shop and having the old mechanic teach you how to replace the knobs, tune the station and get better reception.

He teaches you how to turn it on and off when you want some peace and quiet and he teaches you how to troubleshoot problems that you may encounter while working with and manipulating your radio.

When you develop your abilities, you’re taking that old radio and making it new and improved - so that works better for you!

Wouldn’t life be easier if you could travel along the road with a functioning, new and improved radio? With improved abilities, you’ll be able to hear the news and latest events, receive guidance from Spirit right when you need it, and even get up to date directions on your life path. 

By developing your connection, you are actually improving the journey you’re already on and fixing up the radio you already own.

When I developed my gifts, my abilities actually didn’t get worse, they became clearer. My perceptions are more precise. My control to turn it up and down, more accurate.

It’s like fixing up a vintage radio. The best time to begin hearing better, clearer music is yesterday. A better time is now.

Concern #7: A religious doctrine I follow or my family follows disagrees with or misunderstands mediumship and communicating with Spirit

There is an entire sect of Christianity, with locations worldwide, that believe in God, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. Also, they believe that all of your Loved Ones, Guides and Angels are in Heaven and therefore, in the Holy and Divine Light. It’s called Spiritualism and it’s an internationally recognized Christian faith. 

If you or someone you know is worried about what your religion states about connecting with Spirit, do a little research. You may find hints of it in the cultural archives and likely will. In my own personal research, I’ve found more loopholes, acceptance, and leeway for connecting with Spirit one-on-one than I’ve found condemnation - yes, even in doctrine.

These are the most common blocks I come across and yes, basically any fear you have for connecting with oneness and all that is, there is a way out and back to what you know is true.

Take your experience to the next level, and join The Membership!

Other Articles You May Enjoy:

• Mediumship Is More Than Talking To The Dead

• Vatican Update: The Church Approves of Psychic Gifts

• What I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me As A Young Psychic Medium

• A Letter To New Psychic Mediums