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Finding Your Inner Voice & Learning to Trust It

Finding Your Inner Voice & Learning to Trust It

Your True Inner Voice – The Voice of the Heart & Soul

You’ve probably heard it many times before – “trust your inner voice, it’s the voice of wisdom. It knows what’s best for you and if you only trust it, choices and decisions that seem difficult will answer themselves.” We’ve heard it expressed in other ways too: “follow your heart, it will never fail you”, or “trust your gut, it’s always right”. But it never seems as simple as they say.

“Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone.”
~ Mahatma Ghandi

“Don’t die with your music still inside you. Listen to your intuitive inner voice and find what passion stirs your soul.”
~ Wayne Dyer

I believe the above to be true but getting to the point where I could actually recognize my inner voice and then learn to trust it, has been a continual work in progress. There are several reasons why it’s so hard to hear your inner voice and even harder to learn to trust it.

Whether we realize it or not, most of the time our minds are flooded with an incessant stream of thoughts. Sometimes the stream is more like a gushing waterfall and other times it’s like a slow moving river. For most people, the mind runs on autopilot and keeps thinking, analyzing, interpreting, judging, commentating and suggesting all day long and we let it pull us into its current without a second ‘thought’.

If we slowed that stream down for a few moments and stopped to reflect upon it, we could also notice that the mind seems to have a voice, it’s like the narrator of our lives. Sometimes the voice is loud, at other times it’s soft, sometimes it’s forceful, and sometimes it’s downright nasty. The question is – with all these voices in your head, which is your true inner voice?  Which voice do you trust?

Consider this possibility: your authentic self, the source of wisdom, has no voice at all.  Instead of communicating to you through thoughts and words, it communicates to you through another medium altogether. Inner wisdom is sensory and communicates to us through sensations and emotions in our bodies.

We all get these sensations but often ignore them because we’re not properly equipped or trained at interpreting exactly what they mean. And if that wasn’t enough, even if we do have some understanding about what we’re sensing, we’re usually too afraid to trust our gut and follow through. The egoic mind is very forceful and tends to drown out inner wisdom that is so impalpable.

Think about something that you want but have been holding back on for any variety of reasons. (Those reasons could seem logical and rational, but at the core, there is some form of fear holding you back.) Think about what you want and think about the outcome you want. Think about its significance and what meaning it has for you. How will it fulfill you? How will it help you grow?

A common scenario is a difficult conversation – an honest and open conversation where you know you’ve been holding back from speaking your truth for long enough and now you want to tell that person what you really think and feel. Perhaps you want to share a new idea. Perhaps you want to reveal a problem that’s been bothering you about someone else’s behavior. Telling the truth always seems like the hardest thing to do.

Deep down you know what you want and what is best for you – it’s always best to trust your self and take action in alignment with your values. Your inner voice will suggest rather than force. It will invite you but will never push you. Your authentic self knows you deserve to share your truth but you resist. You feel tightness in your chest or discomfort in your gut. Your mind begins to spin with questions and possible negative consequences. Perhaps you fear the actual conversation itself will be uncomfortable and/or you fear the consequences of that conversation.

Just admit it, you’re scared. You learned the hard way – you got your knocks, bumps, bruises and scars to show for it. That’s how your ego or inner critic developed over time to protect you from hurting yourself but it’s a prison for you now. It’s no longer protecting you, it’s stifling your growth, your happiness and fulfillment. It’s not foolish to listen to and trust your heart, it’s foolish to deny yourself the happiness you truly deserve.

“Every time you don’t follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, a loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness.”
~ Shakti Gawain

I encourage you to pay more attention to your senses and emotions because in time you will learn how valuable and informative they actually are in helping you direct your life and move forward with more confidence, flow and presence.

Right now, think about the ideal outcome you want and all the positive possibilities that could come if you followed through on your inner voice’s guidance. As you enter the territory of positive possibilities, your chest will relax and your gut will loosen up. As you keep thinking and feeling about what you really want (the outcome – e.g. I will grow, we will be more connected, I will be honoring my values, I will stop a suffocating pattern and begin to nurture a new positive pattern) you will feel positive sensations. You will feel relief and a sense of calm.

Once you start thinking about negative consequences again or threats to your status or self esteem, you will tighten up again. That’s your signal to stop thinking like that. Your inner self sees the big picture (the really big picture) – it knows what you want and what’s best for you long term even if your ego is scared.

Keep practicing because you gain a bit more faith and confidence every time you listen, trust and follow through on your inner wisdom. Decisions become easier. Life gets calmer and more enjoyable.

Trust your heart, your gut, your inner voice. That is the only way to truly live the life you are meant to live – an honest, heartful, authentic life.

 

« Character Strengths Series: Routes to a Happy & Meaningful Life | The Virtue of Wisdom & Its Character Strengths – Video Series »

6 Comments

  1. Emilia

    Why call it “inner voice”? Stillness speaks. Some may understand this as an invitation to hear a voice, which is produced by egoic mind and will reinforce just the opposite of what you are saying in the body of the text. Isn’t it that the true wisdom has no voice and no form that can be described (I got this impression from “Stilness speaks” by Eckharth Tolle).

    Reply
    • Guy Reichard

      That’s a great question Emilia! Thanks for bringing it up.

      The title and intro are in response to what people are searching and yearning for – to help them find their authentic “inner voice”. Western culture is familiar with the term, so calling it such is to help them find this information even if in the body of the text I ask them to consider that it’s not a voice at all. I meet people where they are, share what I can and hopefully spark an insight or two in the process.

      I love the Eckhart reference and find much comfort in his book Stillness Speaks. Even the word ‘speaks’ infers a voice – although we know there is none where this is pure consciousness.

      Reply
  2. sheena

    the inner voice is God

    Reply
  3. Nachum Katz

    Four years after you published this, I stumbled upon the article, loved it and found interesting and kind your response to Emilia, thank you!

    Reply
    • Guy Reichard

      Thanks so much, Nachum! I really appreciate it. Since it’s been a while, I reread the article and the comment and it brings me back. Today, I would have some different points to make but the essence and guidance is still the same. Thanks for your comment and your support. Wishing you all the best. ~ Guy

      Reply

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