Listening to Our Inner Guidance
Dear Ones,
My office in the Heartland Healing Arts Center recently moved from its location on Clocktower to 4211 Westgate Drive in Springfield, Illinois. During this move, several folks noticed my burnt orange and black wall hanging as it was trying to find its place in my new office. It has the Buddha and Japanese Kanji, and a quote from Gandhi on it. The quote says, “The only tyrant I accept in the world is the still voice within”. There was discussion: “I never understood this quote?” someone said.
This got me to pondering about that still voice within and how it has guided me in my decision-making. Sometimes it can be very difficult to hear as there are so many other voices screaming something different. Just like in Mary Oliver’s poem The Journey, “One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice”. The still voice within, my tyrant, is what tells me my truth.
Sometimes it’s hard to accept this voice when it means I must speak it out loud to someone. They may disagree with me and might even be upset or abandon me. My “inner child” was conditioned to stand down, deny her inner knowing, and make others happy. She learned to believe that others had more knowledge, authority, and worth than she.
This voice can come in whispers of daily life eagerly waiting for us to listen and align in our truth as we navigate relationships or make decisions that direct our life. They can come in loud and clear, insisting we listen.
This voice demanded I listen when our youngest was nine years old and had recurring urinary tract infections and had been placed on a lot of antibiotics so that her body started having a severe allergic response. We faced another infection, and reluctantly put her on another antibiotic. After one dose, I noticed a small rash on her leg. This voice said, “Don’t give her another dose”. Thankfully, I listened. After this one dose, her liver began to shut down. Other voices (not mine) said she has an infection; she needs to be on an antibiotic. I had to trust my inner knowing. It sent us on a journey to find an alternative, a more natural course of treatment. It worked.
This voice came to me when I was called to South Africa in 2011 during a Shamanic Breathwork. “You need to come to the White Lions,” it said. The other voices (my inner critic), “You can’t do this” “You don’t have the money” “Others will judge you” and “You aren’t enough”. I had to find my way through those voices and listen to that still voice within me, that said you need to go even if you don’t know what this means.
This voice is calling me once again to return to South Africa to be with the energy at Paarl Rock, known also as “The Seed of Hope”. I can hear it clearer now and those inner critical voices that want to judge it don’t have as much power. Again, that still voice within is clear and demanding, “You are being called”. It is a voice of conviction of truth, love, and light declaring this is my next right step.
This voice in me is stronger and clearer now as I move through my daily life. I can hear and feel in my body. We moved our office last Thursday, then on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we had our three-day SHIP workshop. On Monday, the voice said “Rest”. It kept coming “You need to rest”. I heard it and listened.
Our voice is not a tyrant to others; it is a tyrant only to us, demanding we be true to ourselves. The caveat here is that it must always pass through the heart with love and compassion before it is spoken to us. As I continue my journey along the Spiral Path, I hear this voice more often. It even called me to start a new class called Fem-Mas-Cue-Lin, on the sacred masculine and feminine energies. The other voices screamed “that’s a silly name” and “you're not ready” but the still voice said, “the time is now”.
This "Seed of Hope" is being activated in each of us. We are remembering our "Inner Authority", our truth. What is your inner tyrant saying to you? What is this voice asking for you at this time in our evolution?