Inner Voice

©2008 Joan M. Newcomb

We all have a direct connection with Spirit/Source – however you want to define it. It’s like we each have an internal cellular modem connection to the Cosmic Internet.

We’re constantly receiving communication from Spirit, and every thought we think is a communication to Source. What blocks our clear connection is assumptions – that we have to go through another source (a priest, a medium, anyone outside oneself) in order to access our connection, that we have to “hear” actual words, that we have to be really, really good in order to deserve it, or what it is that’s communicating with us!

Everyone has the ability to connect, no matter how young, old, good, bad, heathen or enlightened. Everyone has their own unique way of receiving information as well. I know of only one person who could hear actual words, an ability she didn’t discover until she was about 40. Most people receive impressions or pictures. Some people use a tool such as Tarot or the I Ching. Some people write (not necessarily automatic writing).

We can receive information more easily when we’re clear and aligned. For some people this requires daily meditation, others practice yoga. Some have to be in a location such as a Church, Synagogue, or Mosque (I view these as ‘public phone booths’). I knew one man who only felt alive hanging off the side of a mountain – many people feel more connected when they’re out in nature, away from the over stimulation of the city. Time of day can be important – early morning seems to be a popular time for prayer and contemplation. The middle of the night can be a time of clarity, when most people are asleep.

People’s concept of God can interfere with receiving communication. Charlton Heston isn’t necessarily a person many of us would want to neither confide in nor receive advice from! An expectation that it is male or female can hit up against our past experience of communication with our parents.

I’ve gone through many shifts of awareness in my connection with Source. After overcoming my initial resistance to a parental figure in the sky, my first clear communication was in the shower. I think it was something about the running water or soap in my ears. Later, my awareness became more expansive – I’d put out a request while driving and suddenly everything would become brighter and more focused. For a long time I would carry a journal and write in it frequently – both my communications to Spirit and also from.

Writing worked well for me because it would concretely validate the impressions I was picking up. If I just meditated in the morning and opened myself to communication, I wouldn’t necessarily remember what I received. What I found with writing is that I didn’t hear words, but received impressions that I’d “translate” – sometimes having to make a choice over specific words. Often I’d experience frustration because I’d ask very specific questions and then get what I’d consider vague answers. Then I realized, my questions were like complaining about a particular tree, with my nose up against the bark and what was coming back to me was a universal perspective about the whole forest!!

A playful visualization that I use is to image a great cosmic library where I go to ask questions. When I first started doing this I’d picture going to a reference desk and being giving huge books that I believe were symbolic encapsulations of information. Now I find myself being handed CDs! I imagine taking this information and letting it settle into the top of my head, so that I can receive the data when I’m ready to absorb it.

Sometimes Source communicates to me through others, through things they directly say to me or comments I overhear. Sometimes I’ll notice a ‘theme’ in my life of occurrences, which I see as a comment from the Universe. I no longer feel a separation between this energy and myself – it’s not a disembodied voice in the clouds, it’s not something older or wiser, because it’s a greater part of me. I believe only 20% of ourselves manifest through our physical form, and the remaining 80% is a gradually increasing higher vibration from the personality level to our higher spiritual Selves. So I AM ‘Spirit’ at my highest level, and when I am clear and aligned, more of me comes through on this denser level of Life that we’re all jointly experiencing.

I find that when I’m at my clearest and most aligned, I feel light and playful. Feeling serious usually means I’m viewing things from a lower, more limited awareness. Regular connection with Spirit makes life so much more fun and opens up worlds of possibilities.

Notice what works best for you. Experiment with different ways, play around with different techniques. Make a game of it. You can even ask ‘what’s the best way for me’? And see what comes to you! It may not be the same thing every time (although for some people regularity, sticking to the same technique, making a habit of it, is what makes it more real for them). Let yourself be open to your own, unique, inner voice and notice how your life is enhanced by the connection.