Our inner voice speaks in a beautiful language – it is the language of silence. Our inner voice will not speak to us in words, but in feelings. We often hear people refer to their ‘gut feeling’, ‘hunch’, or ‘instinct’. To hear that voice we have to develop a way of accessing the language of the soul within, that is trying valiantly to guide us through our lives. Many of us have experienced moments of ‘inner knowing’ and sometimes we obey the feeling and things turn out well, and sometimes we do not, and then we see, looking back, that it would have been better to have paid a little more attention.
The problem is that we have so much interference between us and that inner voice. We are bombarded all day long with other voices; television, social media, images, sound bites, worries of others, worries of our own. So how do we take this inner journey to find our inner voice, this inner world within us? There is a very beautiful fairy story, that many cultures share – that of The Sleeping Beauty. The princess (representing sleeping, or body consciousness) is lying hardly conscious in a glass box in the middle of a jungle of thorns.
It takes a prince (representing higher or soul consciousness) to fight his way through this jungle to reach her, to be able to awaken her from this deep sleep, and he does this with a kiss. The kiss is gently given on her forehead – which is symbolically the seat of the soul, the seat of all spiritual understanding. The whole story is the story of the ultimate spiritual journey of finding the true self, the soul within, by fighting through the jungle of illusion and misdirection. The illusion that I am a body, traps me in the jungle and I remain asleep to the inner voice and true understanding. We are all on this journey of awakening the sleeping beauty within.
So how do we listen more carefully? What are the ways that the sleeping beauty communicates with us?
1. Firstly, through our feelings – they are the first indication of what is going on deep within us. These feelings are the first set of thorns we need to deal with. We often ignore them; pretend we do not feel what we feel. We go into a state of denial. Or we distract ourselves with, for example, retail therapy, to try to make our level of happiness more manageable. The feelings are telling us that things are not OK, but we do not want to hear. So, the first thing we need to do is become aware of our feelings. One way of doing this is by journalling. This is a very effective way of taking a look at our feelings.
2. Secondly, become aware of our thoughts. Many people are simply not aware of what they are thinking. Thoughts come and go so quickly that we have no time to catch hold of them. In meditation we practise becoming the observer, and noticing our thoughts by slowing the thinking process sufficiently so that we are aware of every thought we are having. Does that thought take me closer to my inner self or does it take me further away?
3. Then we arrive at the inner self and the real me inside – the sleeping beauty – the awareness of soul. We are now ready to listen. What is the voice trying to tell me? When we pay attention and begin to put things in place to make it easier for this inner voice to be heard, we begin to notice real changes happening in our life.
Once we have embraced our inner sleeping beauty and we are listening carefully, then we begin to hear the magic of the voice of another. By creating this inner space and a time of silence to hear my own inner voice, I become aware of the Divine speaking to me as well. There is an amazing communication set in place between my own inner voice and that of the Divine.
As the world becomes more and more complex, as we become increasingly bombarded with messages from everywhere, these tools of inner guidance become more and more important. Because, at a moment of need, where am I taking my guidance from? It is important therefore to make space for this dialogue between my inner being, one of peace, love and light, and the voice of the Divine. That divine conversation will begin to illuminate my thinking, and my life’s purpose will begin to flow.
Philippa Blackham had a 20-year career with the BBC as a journalist and broadcaster. She teaches Rajyoga meditation with the Brahma Kumaris and is based in Gloucester, UK.
