Last week I was reminiscing with a high school friend. She reminded me how often I used to speak about “guidance.” During our conversation, she asked how I tell the difference between guidance, inner critic and negative ego.
Although the language I use is different now, my inner knowing works the same way.
Often guidance shows up in very “simple” ways, as in just feeling like I don’t want to take the shortest route somewhere or shopping at a different grocery store than the one a block away.
Almost always, guidance is a feeling, an inner knowing that sometimes flies in the face of logic and reason.
Negative ego interference usually come in the form of thoughts, almost always fear-based. Like thoughts of unpleasant things happening if I follow a certain path.
Another way I can discern the difference is that guidance arises spontaneously and very quickly within me, without analyzing. It is a feeling, a deep sense of something, a direct knowing. If I have several thoughts, particularly negative and/or fearful ones, it is usually my inner critic or negative ego.
Over the years, my healing teachers suggested I do intuitive readings for clients. I choose not to as it’s more empowering for people to receive the wisdom of what they are experiencing themselves, through healing, than to be told what I see.
My guidance has become deeper and more accurate because I began following it on insignificant issues. Like leaving a parking spot close to an entrance after a snowstorm. It was only in walking to my car later that I noticed the nail and broken glass, not visible when I was looking for a spot.
I have turned down amazing opportunities that were almost guaranteed successes based my guidance. In every one of those cases, the opportunities either fell through or failed. Over time, I’ve avoided closed highways, active shooter situations and building fires by following my “this doesn’t feel right” instinct. When I’ve not followed my guidance, things turned out badly.
The more I follow my intuition, the more sound my guidance becomes, which makes trusting it easier. I am deeply grateful to my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, who were all intuitives, for the gift they gave me.
Photo by Michael Dziedzic
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