We all have an inner guidance system and it is always more accurate than our emotions, feelings, judgments and opinions when it comes to the actions we take or the decisions we make. The question is – do you trust it and heed its guidance or override it with arrogance, ego, immaturity, ignorance or self-absorption?
Think about it – ever made a decision or taken an action that was contrary to the wisdom you felt coming from somewhere inside your self – your soul, spirit or heart? You can't always trust your mind as it is often filled with prejudice, fear, inappropriate knowledge or experiences.
One thing I have learned, but unfortunately I haven't always honored – is to trust the guidance and messages from within me and not my mind. I can't tell you how many bad decisions I have made or actions I have taken when I believed that I (my mind) knew best. Boy, if I could go back with what I have learned the past few years and redo some of these actions I could have saved myself a great deal of future pain, disappointment and heartache. How about you? Or – am I the only one who has learned something too late? The good thing is that I have finally learned it, but as a human I have to be vigilant every moment of every day to ensure I don't repeat theses earlier behaviors for the above reasons.
Where does this inner guidance come from? Well, it depends on who you ask. If you are a spiritual person it comes from your spirit which will guide you if you will let it. If you are not a spiritual person it comes from what you believe from previous experience. I am not going to argue which approach is right or accurate. The answer comes from your current circumstances. If life is working for you (and this depends on how you choose to define working) I'll bet in many ways you have heeded this inner guidance in the past. If life isn't working, I'll wager that you have ignored or over ridden this counsel.
If your inner voice comes from your spirit, evidence has shown over the years by many reliable sources that the single goal of the spirit within you is for your happiness, joy and peace. If this is true and I'm neither validating it or denying it then the spirit doesn't want you to make mistakes given the long term impact of actions and decisions. It doesn't control you, but guides you as your mind can refuse to accept this wisdom and act against it but there will always be consequences.
The spirit evidently has access to your past and your future as it comes from God (see numerous illustrations throughout scripture) and it only wants you to make decisions or take actions consistent with your future best interests, but you do have free will to act in any way you want for or against it.
I have witnessed numerous occasions in discussions with friends and family over the years where they did one thing when they knew deep inside they should be doing something different or even totally opposite and they therefore inherited some outcomes that they wish they could have avoided. Does the spirit know the future?
Don't know – but I do have an opinion which I will not share here, but in a separate conversation if any of you are interested.
The inner voice can take many forms – as intuition, a gentle inner nudging that you feel, but can't identify the source and sometimes yes, even hunches. But I'm not talking here about luck or good fortune just inner wisdom that we can pay attention to or ignore.
"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live."
Goethe
In His Service, Tim