So often it seems like we try to operate more from our intellect than our intuition. I have often felt and said that trusting my inner voice is one of the wisest things I could do and yet many times I failed to follow my own advice. Somehow logic seems safer than trusting my own voice. Of course many times, in situations or in experiences my inner voice and logic jive and in those times I am comforted that both choices coincide. The difficulties are in those moments when my inner voice is at odds with my logic. I think this must be true for the musician who's head says that he will never make a living playing music while his heart says he must keep playing to satisfy some deep inner need. It's also true for those of us whose parents wanted us to pursue some noble career and yet we wandered down some other path; hopefully a happier and more fulfilling one than they "wanted for us". I think this idea of trusting your inner voice then is really about faith and maybe about accepting or believing that God has a direction and purpose for us (that is different than where we are headed) and that despite everyone who encourages us to do one thing.....we find ourselves pulled in another direction, and IF that other direction is worthy, legal, honorable, fulfilling and giving....IF that inner voice leads us to or toward something that has a higher purpose....a Godly purpose, then how can we not follow our inner voice?
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This is my favorite one "Trust Your Inner Voice". I just started practicing this about a year ago. It really helps. At night I write what I'd like for the next day. I E..I want to understand where my client is coming from. The next day things come to me and I automatically follow that voice. I don't even have to think about it. I just do it, naturally. IE Be quiet, be kind etc.... I leave understanding where my client was coming from, without even thinking about it. Ah Haaaa! At the end of the day, I look at what I had written and ah haaaaa!!!! This stuff works!!!!!!
Russ, Thank You for your wonderful articles.
The thing about trusting your inner voice is that it implies that we need to listen, something at which most of us are woefully inadequate. How can you hear what your inner voice is telling you if you aren't listening?
As a practical matter we can find applications of this anywhere. I found it today in spin class as I thought about the need to "listen". This is no ordinary spin class, as I spin every weekday morning primarily in preparation and anticipation of this class on Saturday! It has the awesome ability to kick start my weekend. I was not always a part of Chris' fan base, and throughout my many years at this gym, I took his classes only intermittently. Re-discovered, this summer, he became another person I added to my list of those I actively need to put in my life and now I would knock down Grandma to get a bike in his class. His class is unusual for its intensity and pulsing techno club music without lyrics. No "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with Chris. The wicked fast, relentless pace his music sets from the moment we saddle up never lessens whether we are at a level 3 seated sprint in the saddle or on a 20 minute standing climb. His vocabulary is limited quite simply to: "Attack. Back it off & the occasional - Kick it". Everyone in his class, all hard-core like him, accept the task of keeping up with his challenge. The class shudders collectively as he says - "Level 4 - seated attack" which is akin to finding myself on a black diamond trail at Whiteface Mountain, thinking how the hell did I get here?
So how does one survive this class? Or more to the point - why would I put myself through this class? Interestingly enough, I realized that the key to enjoying and succeeding in this class was to embrace the very thing that I had previously not liked about it - the music without lyrics (gotta love a "love" song, no?). When I stopped for a moment to reflect, I found that his music was the total genius behind his unique class style. No lyrics makes one focus on the beat and once we learn to listen to the beat, get in that groove, it miraculously becomes so much easier! Head down, ears actively open, with perfect form, all my mental energy goes to listening, finding the beat which then guides me through those rollers, to the top the hill on my imaginary Tour de France. Although it never lessens the physical challenge, it provides an unparalleled exhilaration, coming together in harmony. As in life, the key is to listen for what we need to hear in a particular moment and our inner voice appears.
In my daily life, I try to continue to apply this principle and listen mindfully, trusting in my inner voice to lead me where I should be heading even in the smallest of measures such as above. As a small recompense, on occasion I am rewarded with a confirmation of the wisdom of this practice. One recent morning, as I walked the short stretch back home after spin, hair all matted with sweat, drenched as if showered, my face beet red - (really, ridiculously - not attractive), out of the corner of my eye I spy an older blue collar- type guy, in fact, as I recall in a blue t-shirt, moving towards me with purpose, locking eyes with me intently like Cosmo teaches us girls to flirt. (Ladies, I know that you are reading those articles too!) He is smiling broadly and I, for a brief instant, wonder if I know him as he seems so darn friendly. I have the awkward impression that he wants to hug me in his enthusiasm - not a good idea for him. As we pass each other on that street corner, he says quite unexpectedly to me - "You look SO beautiful this morning!" As I walk away laughing inside, I am also thinking to myself two things in the space of a second: NOT! and - "what the f--- was that all about"! ..... then in a flash I realize that I was most probably the first woman he had seen that morning in spandex. So listen up and await surprises!
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