What is the Inner Voice?
You know that voice in your head? Yes, we’ve all got it.
No, I’m not crazy! And neither are you if you believe this.
Hear me out…
It turns out that if you can cut through the noise and distractions of life enough to tap into your inner voice, it becomes pretty helpful in navigating life’s twists and turns.
There are times my inner voice has even been like a SUPERPOWER for me! (More on that in a moment.)
Instinct… intuition…Higher Power…Guardian Angels… Still small voice… Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost… Light of Christ…
…spiritual energy… moral compass… conscience… the Universe… gut feeling… the voices in my head…
No matter how you say it, it comes down to the fact that a lot of people are turning inward to get direction.
So what is it and how does it work?
The Inner Voice is that whispering that comes to you to help you be your highest self and live your best life. Even little kids have this innate ability. It usually comes in quiet, gentle ways but sometimes, it comes in unmistakable, loud ways. And when that happens… you’d better listen and respond!
Here’s what happened to me and how my inner voice worked like a superpower to save a life.
“SLOW DOWN NOW!” – A Voice of Warning
It was a quiet morning. I got into my car, like any other day, and began to drive through the parking lot of our large apartment complex. Within a second of pulling out of the parking space, a voice in my head whispered urgently: “Slow down!”
I took my foot off the gas and slowed to about 10 miles per hour. Immediately, the voice seemed to nearly shout, “SLOW DOWN NOW!!”
Alarmed, I stomped on the brake and was crawling along at about 2 miles per hour, looking around and wondering what on earth was happening – when instantly, a little blond girl skated from behind a carport screen, off the curb, ran into my car and disappeared beneath it!
Terrified, I jumped out and ran around the car.
There she was, lying under the car, mere inches from my wheel. She was shaken, but had not a scratch on her!
Picking her up, I said with feeling, “Little girl! You need to be more careful so you don’t get hurt!” Then, after helping her get to the curb, I went on my way, trembling and thanking God for preventing a tragedy that would have changed the course of my life and certainly hers and many others.
Thinking back, I wish I had taken that sweet child by the hand and taken her home to her mother to help her understand what had just happened to her daughter. How scared that little girl must have been. I wasn’t yet a mother and didn’t have that nurturing instinct. I wonder what she told her mom about nearly getting run over by a car. If that mother had heard it from me, how might it have changed her life to know her daughter’s life had just been miraculously preserved?
I can’t go back and change how I reacted. But I can remember the lessons I learned and the gratitude I felt.
There are a few times in my life I’ve received similar strong warnings, but most of the time, the voice I hear is a still, small voice in my mind and heart that gives me comfort, direction, and peace.
How we Shut Down our Inner Voice
Although we all have access to our inner voice, there are ways we can shut it down:
- Have so much noise around us that we can’t hear it
- Hear but constantly postpone following it
- Don’t listen or follow
To illustrate, here’s a real-life scenario that’s been happening to me lately.
I have a scheduling app on my phone. It’s amazing! It can tell me when I have appointments, lets me create to-do lists and shopping lists and all kinds of things. It’s like having my own personal secretary. Well, kind of…
I was so thrilled to find this app. “This is going to change my life,” I thought. “I am going to be on top of everything!”
I started inputting reminders about meetings and appointments and it worked like a charm.
So I decided to fill it full of reminders for everything I do during the day… make bed, brush teeth, eat breakfast, wash dishes…You get the idea.
What happened next surprised me.
The app began to send me so many reminders, that I would just clear them away when they popped up on my phone. “I’ll do that later, I told myself.”
It started to seem like I wasn’t paying any attention to it because I had so often disregarded the prompts I was given.
Once I introduced all the trivialities of life onto the app, I stopped paying attention to it. There was too much noise. My important meetings and events got lost and I began to miss the things that mattered most.
It’s like that with the inner voice. If we don’t take time to focus on promptings about the things that matter most, they will get lost in the busyness and noise of everyday life.
Here’s how it works:
When we get a prompting and we have four basic opportunities:
- Stop, Listen, Follow it immediately
- Stop, Listen, Decide to do it later (and most likely forget about it)
- Pause, Listen (halfheartedly), Decide not to do it
- Ignore completely
Notice that it’s in order of the same progression I went through with my phone app. We dull our ability to hear our inner voice when we don’t follow its instructions.
Watch for this pattern and commit to follow promptings immediately.
How Do You Know which Voice to Listen to?
But we hear other voices. Paul said, “There are . . . so many kinds of voices in the world” (1 Corinthians 14:10) that compete with that inner voice – the voice of the Spirit.
You might call it “the devil” or “human nature” or something else.
Whatever the case, there are definitely opposing forces in this world that drag us down and try to get us to go against our better natures.
So how do you know if we’re listening to the right voice?
Here’s a simple test:
When you feel prompted to do something, ask yourself these two questions:
1. Does it make sense in my mind?
2. Do I feel peace about it in my heart?
If you can answer “yes” to both questions, you’re likely following the right voice.
Something else to consider is: Where will this lead? Will it lead to good things for everyone involved? Or is someone going to get hurt?
If, after asking yourself these questions, you feel confused or can’t come up with an answer, you may be experiencing a stupor of thought.
When this happens, it’s probably best to wait it out and see if it still seems important in a few days. You might even forget about what once seemed so significant.
I’d love to hear about your experiences with this. Please leave a comment below.
Wishing you inspiration and peace,
Paulette
