Is that inner voice the sound of your intuition protecting you, or your ego protecting your perception of yourself?
“Listen to your inner voice,” can be incredibly harmful advice, out of context. Barring any serious mental health conditions, we all have two inner voices. There’s our intuition, which wants to protect us from people, places, and situations which might be harmful to us, and wants us to learn and grow as people. And then there’s our ego. Our ego is only concerned with protecting our self-image and current perception of the world around us. Learning and growing chips away at the go, but every time we learn something new and become convinced that we know it all, it becomes strong again.
Everyone, regardless of how enlightened they deem themselves, must grapple with their ego. The more we avoid confronting our fears, the stronger the ego gets. And the more we ignore opportunities to learn, the quieter the voice of our intuition becomes. As a result, your inner voice becomes the ego, the liar committed to keeping you stagnant. How do you differentiate between the voice of the ego and your intuition? Block out all other voices. That’s right, folks: Start meditating, early and often. Learn the specific tones and textures, pitches and triggers of your intuition and your ego. Ultimately, only you can truly tell the difference.