Do you find a discrepancy in the way you want to act and react versus how you actually do? I know I do. I aspire to be enlightened and remain calm, and then I have a bad night of sleep and spend the day feeling cranky. Do you give in to temptations for dessert and shopping when you know the better choice is to abstain? Do you find yourself frequently "crossing the line?" Overall, can you trust yourself, or better yet, can you learn to trust yourself?
I've spent plenty of years knowing what I should do, but not having the courage to act upon it. Other times, I would just lie to myself and say, just this once it won't hurt. Each time I compromise what I should do for what I chose to do I am creating a pathway. That pathway can be negative if you are making decisions apart from your religious beliefs, source energy, true self, or what ever you choose to call that part of your belief system. If, on the other hand, you are making decisions to follow that true voice within your being, you can have faith that you are doing the right thing.
So, how do you know which voice to listen to, and how can you learn to trust it and yourself?
After years of not being able to hear the voice of my true self because I had spent most of my life learning to suppress it, I became aware that I could tap into that feeling more. We've all had strong instincts or gut feelings to do something or not. The key is learning to tap into it more frequently.
In order to do that, you must be honest with yourself, respect yourself and love yourself. Only then, will you hear your true voice speaking to you. Then you must find the courage to follow it. It's scary at first because you aren't used to making decisions that way, but once you do a few times, you see it's not really like flying by the seat of your pants. Then with time you can really learn to trust yourself.
After a while, you'll find you have presence of mind in a given situation. You react better. You can choose to say no or step away, or decide to say yes and enjoy! Life isn't all about denial and grievance. That choice is for a select few. Complete indulgence is for another select few. I choose to try to find harmony in the healthiest balance of all of the above.
That trust in yourself builds each time you make a new choice that is true to your honest desires. I have found meditation to be the best tool to amplify the voice of my true self, which enhances my daily life experience. I hope you will learn to follow your inner voice and intuition every day because you can!