I once attended a workshop called The Art of Transformational Consulting, a five day immersion with Robert Gass and 24 other consultants in the Boston area. I was reminded of the power of our inner wisdom to be a trustworthy guide.
What is your “inner wisdom”? It’s that part of our being, inner voice, that we can trust to tell us the truth about what we want and need. How do you know your inner wisdom is speaking to you?
Three simple guidelines:
Inner wisdom answers our questions from and for the present moment. It doesn’t speak for the future.
Inner wisdom is clear. It’s not muddled or confused. Inner Wisdom gives us simple, usually short, answers to the most vulnerable, important and pressing questions of life.
Inner wisdom is loving and compassionate. It doesn’t produce negative, disparaging, mean or critical answers. This voice may show up, but that’s not your inner wisdom, I promise.
Want to practice? Here’s how:
Sit or stand comfortably in an upright, dignified posture.
Take a deep breath in and exhale a moment longer than your inhale.
Ask yourself a question or have a friend/colleague ask you the question about which you want to know the answer.
Say out loud your answer. If your inner wisdom is aligned and centered, it usually comes quickly.
A story to illustrate this practice:
A client has lived both in Europe and the USA for the past 14 years. For professional reasons he wants to relocate to the USA permanently, however he’s a parent of a teenage daughter who lives in Europe with him. He went so far as to land a very competitive job in his field in the USA last year, but he wasn’t sure if he should take it and leave her during the last two years of her schooling. What gave him the clearest, quickest answer was to ask his inner wisdom what he should do. The answer came easily and quickly. He should stay in Europe with his daughter for now. This was a challenging answer to accept, but all the pro/con lists and cost benefit analyses didn’t match up to his inner wisdom’s voice.