By Dr. Marta Adelsman
Life Coach in Communication and Consciousness
(September 25, 2019)
Last week I had occasion to reflect on my journey of listening to and hearing the still small voice of intuition or inner guidance. I’ve come to call this inner voice my IGS, or Inner Guidance System.
How and when does it speak, and how can we hear it more accurately?
Imagine a time line in which there exists past, present and future. Our bodies dwell in the present moment, yet how easily the mind leaves it and goes elsewhere!
For example, the mind can jump backward into the past. Thoughts of past events aren’t real in this moment; they exist only as memories between our ears. Past thinking often takes the form of “woulda, shoulda, coulda,” and “if only.” I may feel regret or guilt about what happened back there, which can lead to depression.
In addition, the mind leaps into the future. Thoughts about what might happen are no more real than thoughts about the past. They exist only between our ears as imagination. Thoughts of “what if,” in the form of dire consequences, can easily lead to anxiety.
When we focus our attention on what occurs in the present moment, the mind has a choice:
- It can resist circumstances, events, emotions, or whatever is happening now. Any thought – such as ‘this shouldn’t be happening’ – constitutes resistance. A resistant state of mind often leads to anger.
- It can let go of resistance and instead welcome the Now with openness, acceptance and gratitude. We choose to love everything – hustle and bustle or peace and quiet, drab emotions or happy feelings, people whom we like to spend time with and people whom we don’t. Instead of depression, anxiety or anger, we will more likely experience the peace of allowing things to be as they are.
Most of us would all like to be in that kind of peace all the time, right? How?
We commit to cultivating Presence, and then we practice. We watch our minds and where they like to spend time – past, future, or a in a disgruntled relationship with the present. We consistently bring ourselves back, over and over again, to Now – to welcoming all of our experience – whatever we see, hear, taste, touch, smell or feel.
Meditation helps. Resting in the Silence of this moment – focusing only on breathing in the stillness – creates peace, sweetness, and Joy of Being. We practice taking that quiet into the rest of our day.
To sum up, Wisdom and Guidance speak only into this present moment. If we let our mind-noise take us into past or future thinking or distract us through resistance to what’s happening, we miss that precious Guidance.
Often it tiptoes to us and whispers, giving us a “hit” about how to handle the challenging conversation or situation in front of us.
Hearing our IGS becomes our natural state. Quieting the inner noise and dwelling increasingly in the natural state, the mind drops its need to flee the present moment. As we relax more and more into Presence, guidance from our intuition happens easily and naturally.
Dr. Marta Adelsman is a Life Coach in Communication and Spiritual Consciousness. She works with people who want to know themselves and their purpose on the planet. If you are such a person, Dr. Marta will walk alongside you to support you to make spiritual principles practical and alive in your communication with others, with yourself, and in your life situations.
The tools Dr. Marta teaches help you to translate head knowledge of spirituality into compassionate, non-judgmental, life-affirming habits.
Visit her website, DrMartasMusings.com for more information.