Five Easy Ways to Hear Your Inner Wisdom

You are inherently wise. Do you doubt it? (it’s 100% normal if you do)

When you doubt your inner wisdom, intuition, or gut feelings, you stop yourself from hearing your own brilliance. The question is how do you listen for your brilliant inner wisdom if you’ve been trained to ignore it? (and you have been trained to ignore it, time and time again) 

Our busy, modern, hustle culture wants you to stay busy because if you’re busy, you’re distracted, and if you’re distracted then it’s easier for external forces to mold your steps rather than your internal wisdom. So why does that matter? 

When you’re focused on external forces that means you look to other people to make your decisions (which increases self-doubt), you wear feeling tired like a badge of honor (because it proves how hard your working), and you’ve lost connection to who you really are (instead you morph into what other people think you should be). 

That’s exhausting, anxiety-inducing, and used to be how I lived my life. I didn’t trust my own thoughts or ideas. I assumed every person that I was around was smarter, knew more than me, and that I didn’t have the right to speak up when I thought someone was wrong (at least as long as no one was getting physically hurt). 

Have I completely banished all thoughts of self-doubt and spoken up at every opportunity? 

No… and I’ve made leaps and bounds from where I used to be. 

Now I know how to tap into my body and hear its yes or no responses. I listen when I feel that icky uncomfortable feeling and I turn to my journal for clarity on why I feel that way. With these two pieces of knowing my yes and no response and gaining understanding through journaling I feel much wiser and confident in my thoughts and beliefs. 

What did I do to make these changes? 

First, I started small. This isn’t a change that anyone can make with the snap of a finger. It takes time, patience, and small acts of kindness towards yourself. 

Important side note: If you have a uterus that bleeds, the week before your bleed is when your self-doubt and inner critic are the loudest. That’s the week when everything feels hopeless, overwhelm plows ahead at full speed, and it feels like you can’t do anything right. When you find yourself it that week, give yourself permission to listen to your angry playlist, take an extra long walk, or tell your boss you’re not feeling well and go home an hour early so you can watch The Guernsey Potato Peel Pie Society on Netflix (or your favorite feel good/make your cry movie). - End of side note. 

Here’s how you can start small to hear your inner wisdom. 

1. Notice - notice when the sensations in your body change. You might feel a tightening in your gut, a looseness across your chest, or a warming sensation on the back of your neck. All of these can be signs of your inner wisdom. And, no, you’re not crazy. Your body is wise, the wisdom it has is vast, and it communicates in the most subtle ways. 

2. Breathe - breathe into your sensation. Notice if any words, images, or songs pop into your head. Those are clues of what’s causing these sensations. 

3. Ditch the judgment - I know, this one can feel hard, especially if you’re a pro at judging yourself in a negative light. If you heard negativity from your care providers growing up, their words and actions live on inside you. So if you’re feeling a judgmental phrase on repeat, ask yourself, who’s voice is saying that? 

4. Write things down on paper - when you connect pen to paper you connect to your subconscious. You don’t have to write decipherable words, scribbles can be more effective because they express your true emotion in that moment. Anything stuck on repeat in your head? Write it down on paper, it will help to clear it from your mind. 

5. Take it deeper - ask yourself questions like, what does this sensation in my body represent? You can write them out and journal for deeper clarity, speak them outloud to yourself, or have a convo in your head (though sometimes the internal convos can increase feelings of unease or uncertainty, my go to is writing it down in a journal). 

You are infinitely wise.

All of the hows that you seek are inside you. Now it’s time to discover them by listening to your body and its inner wisdom. 

Journaling Prompt: What is your body telling you?

FREE RESOURCE: The Thoughtful Journaling Guide 

It’s packed with everything you need to start (or restart) your journaling practice and the tools and tricks you need to connect with your wise inner wisdom. Get your free copy of The Thoughtful Journaling Guide

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