How do you know when it really is your Inner Voice speaking to you?
Do you actually know what your intuition sounds like? Can you recognise the messages? Every time?
Wouldn’t you love to be so tuned into your inner voice that you never had to question whether it was your Inner Voice or your Ego? Many of us hesitate when we receive a message from intuition, or worse we dismiss it almost immediately.
Everyone has had a moment of intuition where they just knew what to do. They didn’t need to check in because they just knew it was their inner wisdom and not their ego. When they listened to that inner voice and followed it, everything flowed. Things just fell into place and worked out. No effort needed, and it all felt easy!
But then there are other times when we get that message from our inner voice but question it. Rather than jumping in and acting on the advice we second-guess it, or we decide to wait for a while and see whether things change. We allow our head to rule completely on its own, with no input from our heart or soul. And of course, the moment passes and so does the opportunity.
Sometimes we get so caught up in the busy-ness of life we don’t even listen. We’re so busy listening to the internal chatter and so absorbed in the difficulties of life we forget to tune in. That’s when ego steps in with criticisms or directions that belittle you, make you question yourself and leave you feeling overwhelmed and lost.
Intuition, that amazing gift, is like a muscle. It needs exercise to develop. When it’s used regularly, and you follow its advice, it becomes stronger. As the voice of intuition becomes stronger, you hear it more clearly. As you start to see positive results you begin to listen to your intuitive guidance more and more, and your intuition becomes stronger and stronger.
Heart-Mind Alignment
Many people make the mistake of believing intuition is centered in the heart.
It’s not.
It’s actually centered in the third eye, located in your head between the eyebrows. But it can only be accessed through the heart, when the head and the heart are in complete alignment.
How To Exercise Your Intuition
The advice for developing your intuition is simple – use it!
But this takes us back to the question of how you can quickly distinguish intuition from ego.
The path into intuition lies through cultivating stillness. When you cultivate times of stillness you begin to hear your inner voice more easily and with greater clarity, as the shrill busy voice of ego fades into the background.
There are many ways to find stillness and each person has their own method that works best for them. Meditation or mindfulness is an excellent way to create stillness. You don’t need to meditate for long stretches, even five or ten minutes is great to start. Once you become practiced you will hear your inner voice within moments once you enter that place of stillness.
It’s just a case of knowing how your body speaks to you
But there are many other ways besides meditation to create stillness for yourself. It’s really just about being able to disconnect from all that’s going on around you so you can focus on your inner world. Walking in nature, yoga, tai chi, qi gong, dancing, soaking in a bath, watching the ocean or a sunset, just quietly being with yourself, running or yoga are just some.
If you choose to do yoga opt for the calmer meditative styles. The same goes for dance. You’ll know as soon as you find the practice that’s right for you because you’ll feel it in your body which will sink into peace and relaxation. Your thoughts will calm and you’ll feel connected to your heart.
Recognise the Voice of Your Intuition
At first it can be difficult to know what you’re listening for.
One method I teach is to ask the cells of your body for confirmation. Cells have memory, so even when your conscious mind has forgotten something your body remembers. Just as there are methods of muscle testing which are used to get a yes/no answer to a question asked of your body, you can also use the sensations you feel within your body for the same purpose, or to access information held in memory. By asking your body for a sensation response to your question you can receive confirmation from your memory through your cells.
Everyone’s inner voice speaks to them in different ways. It may be through images or feelings. For me it’s an unshakeable knowing which feels far stronger and more grounded than the multitude of thought-stuff floating round my brain. For most of my life I doubted how I could ‘just know’ these things. It was only after I began to ask for confirmation from my body that I started trusting.
Once it worked out positively a few times I realised I could trust my inner voice completely.
When my students start out on this journey I teach them the same simple technique to get confirmation that the message really does come from their inner voice. It’s a form of dowsing using their body as the tool. Although unlike a pendulum, it doesn’t need them to actually move as it’s based entirely on the sensations they feel.
I started by asking my body to show me a feeling for ‘yes’. Once I was clear about what that felt like I asked it to show me what ‘no’ felt like. And then I asked again, and again, and many more times over a few weeks. Each time I received the same sensation. For me, a ‘yes’ feels like my head is expanding, that it may explode. A ‘no’ feels like a general lightness, emptiness and spaciness. That may sound a little vague and at first I did have some trouble recognising it. But I persisted and once I had identified it, it became quite easy to notice.
However, my students each have a completely individual response, very different to mine. It’s just a case of working out how your body speaks to you and confirming that the sign or sensation is consistent.
Befriend Your Intuition And Feel Empowered
It’s amazing to know you really are hearing your inner voice, and even better to have your life flow as a result of acting on the guidance you receive.
I now know and trust my inner voice completely. I act on it decisively so I move forward with purpose. Do I listen all the time? No! Sometimes I get caught in the stress of life and forget to tune in. My chattering monkey-mind takes over and like most people I feel overwhelmed. But if I calm and move into stillness I quickly reconnect and ground, to once again move forward in tune with my intuition.
Your inner voice is often said to hold all the wisdom of the universe. Perhaps it does, or maybe not. What it does hold is the wisdom for what YOU need. Your inner voice is the spokesperson for your needs. It overrides any rules and beliefs you embrace, whether they are your own or have been settled on you by someone else. It is a direct path to your values, your deepest needs and points the way to finding fulfillment.
Nobody else has answers for you. Every piece of advice you receive from outside yourself comes filtered through someone else’s perceptions, rules and values. Only you truly know what you need. So, isn’t it time to start a beautiful loving relationship with your inner voice?
Want to Learn More About Intuition?
Once you can recognise your intuition discover 18 Ways To Strengthen Your Intuition
If you find the method described here difficult, one of these Ways Your Intuition Sends You Messages may suit you better.
