Hearing the intuitive voice more clearly

Dipping a toe in the Moonlight - etching

Hearing the intuitive voice is a skill and like all skills it takes time, practice and patience to learn. In her audio CD Self Esteem, Caroline Myss talks about how we need to 'carve a channel' of 

1. Learning to hear the intuitive voice.

2. Recognising it.

3. Saying yes.

4. Putting the guidance into action.

5. Responding quickly.' 

Each step of this path will highlight different fears and blockages. Resolving these fears and blockages and so moving along to the next step is the pathway of spiritual practice for our intuition is a channel for divine guidance.

The intuitive voice is always there whether we listen to it or not. Hearing intuition is often a matter of tuning in, of being aware that this guidance is available and wanting to hear what it has to say. It helps to create a space, a small inner silence, in order to give it room to make itself known. 

The skill of recognising guidance is the skill of distinguishing the intuitive voice from all the other internal voices vying to get our attention. Those voices may include a protective voice that is determined to keep us safe, the voices of our parents or caregivers now internalised, the voices of those whose approval we seek, the internal critic, various wounded or fearful aspects as well as the inner artist, etc. It is no wonder that some decisions have us torn every which way.

One way through this thicket of voices is to get to know oneself better - not just the daytime self we identify with, but all the aspects that inhabit our interior. Having a conversation with each aspect, one on one, in the process called active imagination is the best way I know of doing this. Through a regular practice of this process, spending just half an hour per day, I've discovered many, previously unsuspected, aspects of my psyche. 

My intuitive voice, I came to realise, was calm, direct, and concise. It did not concern itself with blame or any other emotion. Mostly it was giving me guidance in the sense of what to do or not do. It wasn't always a voice either. Particularly when I was at the stage of being confused by which voice was which it would often make itself known as a visual. I would get a internal image of what to do next. Sometimes it was a sensation in my body - an internal energy flow guiding me.

Caroline Myss says that heaven is always training us to hear and follow our intuition. She uses the example of intuitive irritants, those tasks we keep thinking we ought to do, but don't and yet the thought won't go away - like for instance clearing out a closet or ringing a particular friend. This, she says, is the universe teaching us what the intuitive voice sounds like - we're not afraid of this kind of guidance, so fear is not blocking our inner ears. And when we follow it we learn the feeling of inner peace and ease that accompanies putting guidance into action.