Are You Strong Enough to Follow Your Guidance?

“We listen for guidance everywhere except from within.” ~ Parker J. Palmer

Do you hear it?

The small still voice that whispers to you?

The voice isn’t whispering in your ear, but from deep within your soul.

Sometimes you try to ignore it. Other times you wish it would be stop. Other times still you think that maybe you’re going crazy. But though the noisiness of the world conspires to silence the voice, it continues to speak to you—like the constant drip of water eroding a mighty rock.

Be careful what you wish for

You know, it’s funny how we wish that someone would just tell us what to do, especially when faced with difficult decisions. But when guidance comes in the form of that still, small voice, we quickly dismiss it. We say things like “That’s just my imagination” or “That can’t be it.” We rationalize away the guidance because we’re afraid of the consequences of following it.

You may not choose to follow your guidance, but your guidance will continue to follow you. Actually, it will hound you. It won’t stop till it gets your attention. If the still small voice does not work, you start to feel it in your body and your emotions.

Stop pretending that you don’t hear or understand the voice. It’s time to be still and listen. What do you hear? It’s seldom in the form of clear sentences but mostly sensations that can be translated into one–word commands. Words like:

• Stay
• Stop
• Go
• Do
• Love
• Accept
• Fight
• Surrender
• Give
• Forgive
• Trust

Operating under the direction of inner guidance

So the question that always comes up once you sit still long enough to listen to the guidance of your soul is:

“How do I know whether this guidance is genuine and not a product of my overactive imagination?”

A sure sign of genuine guidance is that practical concerns and considerations will rush in to stifle the idea before it can fully ripen. Concerns like “How will I support my family?” Or “How will I survive on my own?” Or “How will I succeed with no experience or track record?” All these practical concerns are effective obstacles to guidance because they are all reasonable.

We’re held captive by practical considerations because they act like sort of “spiritual gravity” that keeps us firmly grounded whenever we dare think of following inner guidance.

I would not simply ignore practical considerations or concerns. But dream with me for a moment. What if you could follow your inner guidance after carefully considering practical concerns? What if you could choose to go ahead anyways, trusting that your inner resourcefulness will not let you down?

Would you:

• Finally let go the grudge you’ve been holding against someone for years so you can finally be at peace?
• Start working on an exit strategy from a job that makes you miserable?
• Initiate a difficult conversation in order to address the elephant in the room?
• Walk away from an abusive relationship?
• Make an appointment with a therapist or pastor?
• Go on a vacation?
• Start a side business?

If the answer is yes, then the only question left is, “Are you strong enough to follow your guidance?”