Don't Squeeze the Mistrust Away — Listen to Your Inner Voice

“[S]he squeezed the mistrust away into a corner of her mind, and blocked it up there.”  From Charles Dickens' Our Mutual Friend
 
How many times have you been in a situation and sensed within yourself that something wasn't quite right? You hear that inner voice, a gut feeling, your intuition, speaking to you and conveying a subtle warning to you. 

And how many times have you dismissed that feeling and carried on anyways?  Only to find yourself saying afterwards, "I should have followed my intuition," or "I should have gone with my gut."

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Far too often when we experience that sense of concern, mistrust, or foreboding, we squeeze it away into a corner of our mind, thinking we can hide it away and ignore it. To a certain extent, we can indeed hide it away and ignore it.  But we pay a price for doing so.
 
The subtlety of that inner twinge doesn't make it any less accurate.  Even if you can't fully explain where it's coming from, it's there for a reason.  Perhaps you're sensing that something is off with the picture being presented before you.  Perhaps things aren't adding up, or the pieces don’t seem to fit together the way they ought to.  On a deep level, something within you is recognizing the need for caution before moving forward.
 

There's both a purity and a potency about that power within you.

Whatever you choose to call it — your inner voice, a gut feeling, your intuition — there's both a purity and a potency about that power within you.  It recognizes when there's danger in your path, and it aims to protect you from it.  The nature of the danger might not be readily apparent; on the surface, everything may appear fine.  Yet that power within you is able to detect what lies beneath the surface. 
 
When we repeatedly ignore that inner voice, that sense of mistrust that we're experiencing, we lessen our sensitivity to it.  Over time, we can lose touch with it to the point that it's barely detectable. 
 

But the opposite also holds true:  the more you pay  attention to that inner voice and respond to it, the more sensitized you become to it.  Even though it remains subtle, you're able to detect it with greater clarity.  As the habit of responding to it becomes more entrenched, it becomes increasingly difficult to ignore it.
 
If you struggle with hearing your inner voice, or you find it challenging to get in touch with your intuition, you can improve this ability simply by making a conscious effort to do so.  Writing, deep breathing, and meditating are all excellent ways of tuning out the noise and static around you.  These practices enable you to relax and quiet your mind, so you can better tune in to what's going on within you.  Before long, you'll find yourself much more aware of that protective power within you, and you'll be less inclined to push it away or block it out.

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