31 Days To Change Your Life. Day 9 Find Your Inner Voice
Your ego and it’s need for recognition and things is not your inner voice.
Your ego wants you to live a fast paced life. One where you mult-task and have a dozen things going at once, all of them centered around making you the center of attention. Big cars, big house, big job, big hair, all of these are your ego telling you what to do. Today’s advertising is focused on keeping your ego stroked … and you broke. Your ego wants you to buy things and seek recognition from others so you can’t threaten it’s number one position in your life with thoughts of inner peace and spiritual abundance.
This social conditioning trains us to be logical and “use our heads”. But when you only use your head, your experience of yourself and the world is limited. You miss out on the vital information the rest of your body, heart and soul is giving you. You miss out on finding the peace inside of you and your inner voice.
You know that inside there’s this tiny little voice you push away. Your inner voice whispers to you that this rushed lifestyle isn’t what makes you feel fulfilled inside. If you keep ignoring it, you keep buying things and you become more miserable over time.
You must learn that your inner voice lets you know that you’re OK just the way you are. It’s OK to accept yourself as you are and then work on improving yourself in a healthy way. Pay attention to these moments when your inner voices speaks. Really listen. Your inner voice will offer it’s own words of encouragement to you. Your inner voice is telling you what you need in order to avoid all the inner turmoil… how to live in peace with yourself. You’ll know when your inner voice or higher self is guiding you. It’s when you experience feelings of inner peace and abundance.
Take the effort to put aside time to be alone without interruption. You can use meditation. You can go for a walk. I get in touch with my inner voice by going out and really looking at the hundreds of flowers my wife has planted in the yard. It’s just me, my inner thoughts and the world.
Sometimes, you can find your inner voice by doing something routine. Reading a book, going for a ride in the country, walking in a quiet park. I spent 4 years driving a semi truck cross-country after a long emotional experience. I knew I had to find my way again and the routine of driving day in and day out helped me find my inner voice. I called it my “evening out time.”
Do whatever will work for you, find it. It’s a choice you make. Your inner voice will enlighten you on what you need in order to feel inner peace and abundance, and you must you allow it to. Quiet your mind and listen. Once you find your inner voice it’s possible to experience inner peace and then live a productive, prosperous life. It will be different from the ego driven life you had before.
So how do you find your inner voice?
The only really valuable thing is intuition. – Albert Einstein
I don’t have all the answers for you, but here are a few that I have used to reconnect.
Connect with your body.
Your body gives you a tremendous amount of useful information that you may not be aware of. For example, when you have to talk to a new person, does your stomach tie up in knots? For many people, fear manifests as a tightness in their chest. When your boss yells at you, does your back hurt? For me stress shows up as back aches. When you are around someone you really like and they like you, does your chest feel warm and open? This is valuable information, especially if you aren’t aware of what you are afraid or at peace with. Your body alerts you to what feels passionate and what doesn’t. Your body is a fountain of wisdom designed to tell you when you’re on the right path and when you aren’t. When we ignore these body messages, we miss valuable information designed to tell us what works for us and what doesn’t. Put aside a time for yourself allow you to remember these connections and learn from them.
Listen to your inner voice.
Some people call your inner voice intuition, others call it a “gut feeling” and it is simply knowing something without knowing exactly how you know it. Gut feelings are a wealth of information. Gut feelings usually are quick, “Ah, Ha” moments where your inner voice is telling you the real answer. Remember, your inner voice is never wrong, although your interpretation of it may be incorrect. When your inner voice calls to you, trust it. Practice makes perfect when it comes to using your inner voice effectively. Connect back to a time that you had a feeling about something – the job that you knew you shouldn’t take, or the relationship that just felt right for you. That’s your inner voice talking to you.
Buyer’s remorse to me is a form of your inner voice telling your ego it was wrong.
The next time you need to make a decision, check in with your inner voice. Experiment with trusting it. When you follow your inner voice, what happens? Do you feel more peaceful? When you hear it and disregard it, what’s the outcome? Do you become stressed?
Notice the “devil on your shoulder.”
Each of us has our very own special “devil on your shoulder.” This little saboteur is the voice in your head that says, “You are not good enough.” “Who do you think you are?” “If you take this new job, everyone will find out what a fake you are. The devil on your shoulder’s job is to “protect” you from taking risks and making changes. This little soldier is always negative.
Learn to distinguish between your inner voice and the devil on your shoulder. Learn to notice the negative voices playing in your head. Notice the times when they crop up. Recognize that the voices aren’t really you and they aren’t true. Learning to separate your own voice from your ”devil on your shoulder is a powerful and life changing tool.
One last obstacle to finding your inner voice: Identify beliefs that limit your inner voice.
We each carry a set of beliefs that we live by. Beliefs are what we learned in school, growing up, in church and what our minds have interpreted as fact over the years. Certain beliefs you hold consciously, while others are ingrained into your unconscious. Some of the conscious and unconscious beliefs that you develop limit your ability to grow and move forward in your life. For example: One of your goals as a successful businessperson is to make a lot of money. You discover that you have a belief – a limiting one – that you have to take advantage of other people to make that money. Until you begin to alter your beliefs about making money, it will be almost impossible for you to achieve the financial success you desire.
Learn to open your mind and question your beliefs. Examine each one and decide if they are still true for you. I’m not saying throw them all away, I’m just saying learn to recognize them and decide if these beliefs are a part of your inner voice or the devil on your shoulder that is keeping you from realizing your full potential.
What have You done to find your inner voice?
