What Is Your Inner Voice & Why Do You Need It?

Your inner voice is that still, small voice within that exists to help guide and direct your life. Your inner voice is wiser, kinder, and more intelligent than the whiny, repetitive, often negative mean-girl voice that blabs constantly in your head.

Another name for your inner voice is your “gut feeling,” a bodily sense that can be hard to put into words but exists to help you navigate your way through any tough decision.

The important questions are: Can you hear it? And if yes, do you listen to it?
Learning to trust your inner voice is an integral part of healing. Intuitively, your body knows what to do to repair and self-heal. The problem for too many of us is that we don’t trust it. Instead, we remain in doubt, fear, depression, anxiety, and indecision. Lack of confidence, indecision, and self-doubt are all symptoms of depression that cloud our judgment and make it difficult to trust our intuition.

But when you get in the habit of letting external opinions or the fear of failure or criticism guide your decisions — a number of things can happen. You might struggle with self-doubt, feel conflicted about what you really want in life, or experience anxiety as you strive to constantly choose the “perfect” opportunity. 

Tips to listen to your inner voice:

• Be silent. I often say to patients that it is difficult to hear the voice of God if you are always talking. While prayer is a useful tool for many, it is still thought-based. To hear your inner voice, silence is required.
  
• Pause. If you’re uncomfortable and don’t know the reason, don’t presume there isn’t one. It may not be a good one, but a reason most assuredly exists. In the heat of the moment, it’s often difficult to identify it so we often ignore what we’re feeling for the sake of expediency.
  
• Listen, not just to your mental reservations but to your body as well. Discomfort with a decision often manifests as physical symptoms such as nausea, insomnia, agitation.
  
• Reconnect with your body. Our bodies are always talking to us. The key is to figure out how your body communicates with you. Different people have different ways of tuning in to their inner voices.
  
• Honor your instincts. If we’re going to rely on our gut, especially if doing so pits us against the well-reasoned opinions of others, we’d better make sure our inner voice is as accurate as possible as often as possible. The more often you’re able to recognize why you have the instinctual reactions you do, the more comfortable you’ll become that your instincts can be trusted.

When it comes to “matters of the heart,” the answer resides in you. It requires listening. Start by having a conversation with your heart. Slowly work your way up with these small decisions so that you can build your confidence when it comes to making bigger life decisions.

You can do this by practicing daily awareness.

Namaste!

Love and light

Manali