Voice of the Spirit

How do we know the difference between emotion, or simply stated, personal subjective feelings, and intuition, which is God’s divine truthful guidance speaking directly to us from within?

Intuition can be called “that small little quiet voice within.”  That voice speaks with clarity, non-attachment, gently, yet in a matter of fact way.  “Do not drive on the highway you normally drive on today,” says the voice from within.  There is no explanation, nothing logical about what has just been stated, and certainly one could say that this is just a random feeling like any feeling that passes through our consciousness on any given day.  There are two choices here:  either to ignore that small little voice or listen to it and take another route to work.  Let’s say that the person ignoring this message runs smack dab right into a horrendous traffic jam.
 
For the person who listened to this message and took an alternate route to work, they got to work on time and all of the potential hellish repercussions of this entire day were completely avoided! Even though this person made a good choice, there may be no validation that they indeed made that good choice based on their intuitive lead.

Intuition can also referred to as a “gut level feeling.”  Sometimes you hear someone say to their friend, “What do you feel about this on a gut level?”  Everyone has an instinctive part of themselves.  Some people work hard to turn it off, and only live a world of five senses, but many if not most people get some type of gut level feeling about things – and those feelings are often right.  Those feelings are a God given gift to help protect us from danger and help to guide us positively.

For example:  You meet someone who you are considering dating.  They are attractive, dress nice, speak politely, and do not behave visibly in any way that is unusual or disconcerting.  They are interested in you — but something feels wrong.  It’s in your gut – you can’t shake the feeling.  It persists and won’t stop.  Consider this: You want to date this person because you deeply desire to be in a relationship, but in spite of your desire you still feel wrong about them.  That type of feeling shouldn’t necessarily be ignored.  Again, you have two choices: to ignore the gut level feeling or to go with it.  For the person who blows off the feeling and gets involved with this individual anyway, they discover several months later that this person has a significant other who has been hidden from view.  Now it’s too late – feelings are involved, hurt is caused and a disastrous set of consequences occurs from time wasted to not being able to trust new people to disillusionment and sadness. 

For the person who listened to their initial and correct gut level feeling, they simply walked away and by passed this possible relationship.  All of this unnecessary pain and misery was avoided, and they are ultimately in a much better place than the person who didn’t listen to their gut.  Some times one may later hear that the person in question did indeed have another lover, which would validate their intuition, but again, there may be no validation to corroborate that correct gut level feeling.

If you deeply want something, such as a particular person to love you, or to get a certain job, it is possible that your feelings regarding these situations may not be true intuition.  Desire clouds our clarity and often masquerades as intuition. It is easy for desire and ego to distort the truth, as these energies are a tremendously powerful vibratory force. Think of intuition as being like a finely crafted car.  Hitting a pothole in the road can throw the entire vehicle out of alignment.  Desire, ego, wanting what you want, is like that pothole.

If you’re looking for an answer such as a sign, guidance or a light bulb to go off in your head, what you receive may not be correct.  Why?  It’s that old concept of if you’re looking for something you’ll find it, meaning we can rationalize anything.  Logic cannot explain these messages and they can’t be forced.  Intuition is the exact opposite of logic, and above the reasoning logical mind.  It just is - it doesn’t explain itself, and if it’s directly from God, why should it explain itself?  It’s a gift! 

Does what you perceive as a gut level feeling feel intense?  If so, then it is probably not true intuition.  Are your feelings pushy and demanding?  Those feelings are generally not likely to be intuitive.  Loudness, arrogance and a sense of “this is the way it has to be” is perhaps not accurate.  So when is an example of a loud inner voice being intuitive?  If someone is a situation of impending danger, say, being in a nightclub where a fire is going to break out, the inner voice might loudly say, “Leave this nightclub now – right now, go!” 

If you run into an issue of not being sure as to whether what you’re feeling is intuitive or simply emotion, here are some clarifying points:  Ask an objective third party who is insightful what their perception is.  Do they agree or disagree with what you’re feeling?  Listen to their insight as food for thought.  Do not lead them or try and twist their arm, even in your mind, as intuition is delicate and must not be polluted through subjectivity and personal will.  Of course, through time, things will most certainly sort themselves out showing what is true and what is not.

First, recall any intuitive or gut level feelings you’ve received in your life that were correct and how they felt.  Try to remember how it all came about, and keep that information in a notebook.  Every time a new correct intuition occurs, make note of it as well.  Observe what is the common thread linking all of your correct experiences together.  It will probably be messages from “that small little quiet voice within” that simply came when least expected.

 Here is an example that most of us have experienced:  The phone rings and you say, “That’s my friend Cindy on the phone,” and you’re right.  On the other hand, though, you may be obsessing over wanting a certain love interest to call you and when the phone rings you proclaim, “It’s him, Greg is calling me,” and when you pick up the phone, it’s your mother on the line.  In the first example, your intuition was correct.  In the second, your emotions and desire to hear from Greg created a “false” intuitive impression.

Also, take note of the times you felt something was legitimately intuitive and it turned out to be inaccurate.  Was it something you wanted or you feared?  What are the common threads there?

With real intuition, first impressions are usually the right ones.  Listen to what comes to you naturally and organically, and realize, if you’re second-guessing yourself, those second and third impressions are even less likely to be accurate.  Never forget that no matter how intuitive anyone is, they must look at each particular situation with an open yet discerning mind.  Being open is necessary to create an open channel for information to flow through.  A discerning mind allows one to step back and observe what they’re feeling, always fine tuning the great natural God given gift and tool known as intuition!

Sometimes, though, if a situation in our lives is karmic and has a deep spiritual lesson associated with it, we may not be able to see it clearly, meaning that our intuition will not be accurate.  In this instance, it is not ours to see at the time, but ours to experience, grow and learn from.

Just like exercise keeps a body healthy, listening to your intuition and to what you receive strengthens your true connection to your higher self.  The more you work with learning to recognize the true voice of your intuition, the clearer that voice will become.  Once you can identify intuition and distinguish it from emotion, you will forever be able to use true intuition as your eternal guide.