Welcome to Episode 3 of the Q&A Series. Today’s video follows last week’s message, To Give or Not to Give.
Today’s question/topic is
When to Listen to the Inner Voices
and When to Chase Them Away
(because they have no business living in this house!)
Read the transcript…
Recap from last week
In last week’s message, I talked about the first three steps of the healing process:
– Step 1: Awareness – what are you aware of?
– Step 2: Discernment – the process of getting to the place of discomfort inside that is telling you what you know inside is feeling uncomfortable about something you’re witnessing on the outside.
– Step 3: Acceptance – the discomfort is part of the human journey. This is just information to tell you about what is happening on your journey. Specifically, there is something you know to be true on the inside that is recognizing that something on the outside isn’t quite right.
When to listen…
Typically, the first reaction to feeling that discomfort is to rebound out of the discomfort into some form of defense mechanism or a coping strategy.
However, when we can allow ourselves to be present with the places of discomfort and not rebound out to a defense mechanism or coping strategy, such as reaching for food and eating everything but the kitchen sink so we don’t have to feel the discomfort inside, we can listen to the inner voices and feel the feelings that may be a little uncomfortable. Then we can feel what we are truly feeling inside.
Listening to these voices can be revealing. They tell you the truth about what you are really needing inside – what your being is truly yearning for. This leads you to know your inner truths – the truth of who you really are. This is when it is healthy to listen to the voices and be with the discomfort.
When to chase…
However, sometimes the voices are not serving you in any way. Sometimes the voices are saying, “Look, you’re just a loser. You’re never going to make it.” These are the voices of judgment, self-doubt or maybe someone else’s voices playing in your mind. These do not serve you. These are the ones we talked about in last week’s video, “To Give or Not to Give,” where we talked about peeling off the layer of judgments that stick around in the psyche and play in our heads.
When these voices come in and say, “Look, why are you even trying? You know you’re not going to be able to stick to it. You know you’re not going to be able to have the things you want in your life. You know you’re not going to be able to be successful, to lose the weight. You know… blah, blah, blah…”
These voices are not serving you in any way. These are the voices you do NOT want to listen to. You want to chase them right out of your head.
There are also the voices that say, “Ahh, just a little bit won’t hurt.” This is for the people who are trying to change patterns with food or alcohol or spending. If you are someone who knows you can’t have just a little bit without going into a binge, these are voices of temptation – also voices you want to run out of town.
Discerning the difference…
The voices that are leading you to understand how you are feeling inside – these are the voices you want to listen to. The voices of judgment or self-doubt or temptation – these are the voices you do NOT want to listen to. These are 2 different kinds of voices.
The voices that say “something’s not right here” – these you want to listen to. On the other side of the “not right” is the part of you that knows what is right. These are the voices of inner truth and inner wisdom. You want to hear your inner truth and inner wisdom. In order to hear the inner truth, you need to be present with the discomfort.
That doesn’t mean re-living any kind of old memories or experiences that may have brought you this lesson in the first place or old experiences that you’ve gone through that have brought you discomfort. You don’t have to relive anything. Just allow yourself to feel what you’re feeling and be okay with your emotions. Be okay with the discomfort long enough to hear the inner truth.
You want to know your inner truth. This is the truth that sets you free. When you can know it and live your life aligned with your inner truth, this is the truth that sets you free. This is what brings you healing.
Voices of judgment from yourself or others – present or in your memory – are voices that you don’t want to listen to – chase them out of town. The voices of temptation that say – just a little bit won’t hurt – run them away. If you are someone who can’t have just a little bit – you know who you are – then chase these voices away, especially if it means you’re going to end up back in a pattern you’ve been trying to change.
How to run them out of town…
Here’s what I like to think of for myself:
My teachings are of a spiritual nature – I believe that we are spiritual beings in human bodies on an earthly journey to learn teachings for our souls. I believe that we are spiritual beings of divine light and unconditional love and beauty and compassion and truth – these qualities were breathed into our physical forms to give us life – to give life to these physical forms as we move along this journey through this material plane to get our soul teachings.
The truth of who we are is these high vibrations of unconditional love, light, compassion, truth and beauty. This is the truth of who we are.
As a being of light, you are a being to be honored and respected. It starts with you honoring and respecting this being of light yourself, regardless of what others say or think or what is going on around you. You’ve got to understand, you’ve got to know that you are a being of light, love, beauty, truth, mercy, compassion – this is the truth of who you are. It’s not about you but it is very much for you.
This is what was breathed into your physical form to give you life. It’s just a fact. You don’t have to do anything to deserve it or make it so. You just need to get out of your own way, recognize what it is and allow it to be.
You just have to honor this in yourself. When you honor it in yourself, there is no place for those voices of judgment that say anything else. One thing I will do when I hear the judgments coming in, I will say “No, I am honoring the truth of this vessel. I am honoring the truth of my divine spirit. This is light, love, truth, mercy, compassion – there is no room for anything else inside this body – the physical body, the energetic body, the mental body, the emotional body. You are not welcome here. There’s no place for you, so OUT!”
One more tool we all have…
A friend that I worked with a while back gave me a “can of Whoop Ass!” He gave me this can and said “I have a feeling you need this some time.” I think of that when I hear these voices. Sometimes you just have to open that can of whoop ass and run them right outa town! They have no place here (in your body). This vessel is a home of love, light, compassion, truth, beauty, and there is no place for anything else!
I invite you to think about this when those voices come in for you. Grab that can of whoop ass, open it up and run them right outa town. Honor your vessel as a vessel of love, light, compassion, truth, forgiveness, freedom, beauty – this is the truth of who you are!!
If you have questions, I’d love to hear from you. Connect with me at JoyfullyLivingWellness.com.
Live and Love Joyfully!
Debra Graugnard
