There¹s two stages to following our inner guide, which later on become one
stage. The first is hearing it and the second is honoring it.

There are many voices in our heads. How do we know which is the true inner
guide? The simple answer is, we just do. We do know the difference. When we
turn to it, it often doesn¹t feel like a listening or a decision at all, but
rather like energy just moving by itself.

The rational mind is different then It tends to come from fear, and likes to
be secure. The thoughts of the mind are generally about achieving greater
safety, security and comfort. The mind is even willing to hurt others to
achieve some seemingly terrific goal.

In contrast, the inner melody tends to come from love and great possibility.
It comes from mystery and magic and compassion. It flows. It¹s natural.

This inner voice is not necessarily a voice. It can be, but it can also be a
deep bodily feeling or a vision. Something moves inside that feels
harmonious.

That¹s a sign too. When we¹re following the inner guide, though there may be
difficulties on the surface, deep down we feel very aligned somehow.

The mind isn¹t always comfortable with what the inner guide suggests;
sometimes the mind says this must be crazy. There¹s a feeling of some
unpredictability, of stepping into the unknown.
The mind can wobble, going back and forth about potential decisions. It can
argue any side of anything. But the inner voice just clearly moves when we
have the courage to honor it, when we have enough transparency to let the
inner intelligence move by itself.

Finally, the inner voice has a certain excitement or sparkle about it, even
though it comes from peace and stillness. It¹s the difference between saying
³It¹s not bad, it¹s pretty good,² and ³I love it!² Feel the difference?

Did you ever try to remember a word? And somebody suggests one, and you go
³Not really.² And they suggest another one and you go ³Well, sort of.² And
then a third one, and suddenly you go ³Yes! That¹s it!²

The inner guide is similar to that. There¹s a feeling of rightness and
alignment, especially in the body, even when difficulties are great.
Sometimes it leads to places of great insecurity. One doesn¹t really know
where one is going; it feels like a sort of confident groping.

Above all is the feeling of trust. A deep trust in existence is the ultimate
cause‹if there is one at all‹of feeling transparent to the natural flow of
things. And conversely, the more we relax and allow the movement of the
inner energy the more trust we develop.

Let¹s take an example: In August of 1998 I was driving home one day about
3pm when suddenly the initial title of The Natural Way ( the book from which
this article is excerpted) appeared as a kind of vision in my consciousness.
There was a strong feeling to allow myself to sit down and just start
writing on it at once.

But that didn¹t fit in very well with my plans for the next year or so. And
it didn¹t seem very practical either. Yet I started in anyway because I¹ve
gradually learned that the inner guide is very trustworthy.

I could have ignored it of course, or at least there is that appearance. But
if I did, I knew from past experience that things wouldn¹t seem as
harmonious, that something would feel ³off² in my body, that life would
start to seem less alive, like going-through-the-motions.

Not to have followed this inner guide would have felt like denying something
true inside. I had done that at times, and knew what it felt like.

But so deep is the paradox that it¹s also clear to me that while I was
making my ³choice² that it was all just being done. On one level It¹s all
happening by itself, and on another level I have the feeling of choosing.

How did I know it was the inner guide when I saw that title and felt called
to start writing? The clue was a kind of obvious quality about it, that this
inner sense was something natural, loving, trustable.

And of course source is doing everything whether we ³follow² It or not. It
is breathing us and beating our hearts and showing up as everything there is
and doing everything whatsoever.

Language is breaking down under these paradoxes, but you know what I mean.
The more we allow ourselves to be available and open, the more we trust our
heart and the universe, the more the Mystery plays the flute through us and
the more we hear it.

And of course It always does anyway...

James Sloman is the author of the classic book on consciousness, Nothing,
as well as Handbook For Humans and the book from which this article was
excerpted, The Natural Way (all available from amazon.com). He is the
founder of OceanBlue Publishing (ocnblue@slip.net) which offers talks and
workshops on the natural way of personal and planetary evolvement.