How to Access Your Inner Guide to Make Better Decisions and Follow Your True Path
by Scott JeffreyWhen the ancient Greeks needed answers, they consulted oracles.
Oracles were priestly men and women at designated locations, like stone temples, who offered wise counsel or predictions.
The source of this wisdom and predictive power was said to be the gods. That is, the oracles used a form of divination to guide others.
Imagine wrestling with a challenging problem where no single answer seems to present itself.
Maybe you are considering a new vocation, starting a family, going on an extended trip, or invading a foreign land.
What to do, what to do.
Table of Contents
What It Means To Decide
When our minds wrestle with problems, it can be mentally and emotionally draining, leading to physical fatigue.
Decision-making can be hard work. We don’t know what the decision will mean to us.
We tend to fear that we’ll make the wrong decision.
The Latin root of decision means to cut off or kill; to decide is to cut off or kill other options, which our mind dislikes doing.
So we often avoid making difficult decisions. Avoidance, of course, only prolongs our anguish.
Instead of wrestling with indecision, imagine letting an oracle bring clarity to the issue.
And because you trust that oracle wholeheartedly, you know that he or she will provide proper guidance.
Problem solved. Tension resolved.
The Source of the Oracle’s Wisdom
Did the source of the oracle’s wisdom stem from some external source like the gods?
(Pythia, the oracle at Delphi, apparently had a pretty good track record; she was considered to be infallible.)
From a modern psychological perspective, we would say these oracles were attuned to their unconscious and perhaps the collective psyche.
That is, these ancient intuitives had access to their inner worlds and the inner world of their culture.
External Wisdom Versus Inner Guide
It can be comforting and supportive to get outside guidance and wise counsel when problems arise.
And as a business coach, I’m not suggesting otherwise.
Yet, in Abraham Maslow’s study of self-actualizing individuals, he found that they are less dependent on others and tend to be more autonomous and self-directed in making life decisions.
Instead of consulting others about their problems, they tend to direct their attention in the opposite direction: inward.
They call on their deeper nature, latent resources, and creative impulses to solve their problems.
Tapping Into Our Deeper Nature
Coming to trust one’s inner guide, however, doesn’t happen instantaneously.
Much of our inner, more profound nature is unknown to us.
Freud suggested that we actively repress our nature because it is feared, disapproved of, and foreign to our conscious egos.
And many aspects of this inner nature are simply forgotten, that is, neglected, unused, overlooked, or suppressed.
This process begins early in life, mainly as a response to parental and cultural disapproval.
Instincts Lost and Regained
Before we can come to trust our inner center, we need to first connect with it and open up to it.
That is, we must forge a bond with our unconscious.
As modern folks living in a technological age where many of us live in urban dwellings, we have primarily become divorced from nature and our instincts.
Maslow writes in Toward a Psychology of Being:
Humans no longer have instincts in the animal sense, powerful, unmistakable inner voices which tell them unequivocally what to do, when, where, how and with whom.
At the same time, “Authentic selfhood,” Maslow continues, “can be defined in part as being able to hear these impulse-voices within oneself, that is, to know what one really wants or doesn’t want, what one is fit for and what one is not fit for, etc.”
Maslow’s perspective is reminiscent of the ancient Greeks’ who saw the soul as an internal organizing principle that gives meaning and direction to each life.
Paths to Your Inner Guide
There are many practices to begin tapping into these impulse-voices and intuitive messages.
Here are a few paths to consider exploring:
- Carl Jung offered dreamwork and active imagination to help connect, communicate, and integrate your divine inner center.
- Eastern practices like Qigong and Yoga provide integrative methods that connect the body’s instincts with one’s mental capacities.
- An active journaling process and integrative therapies like Internal Family Systems can help get us acquainted with our inner voices.
- Communing with nature is another suitable means for reconnecting with our instincts.
- Being still, staying quiet, and carefully listening can be the most basic yet highly effective means for reconnecting with our soul (that is, practice meditation).
Connecting with our inner nature takes practice, that is, ongoing attention.
But with practice and patience, we can begin opening up to an infinite wellspring of inner guidance and wisdom that flows effortlessly.
It can feed our souls and lead us on a meaningful journey through our lives.
How to Locate Your Inner Guide
Tapping into these impulse-voices is a matter of doing the one thing, we as modern people, have all but forgotten to do: be still.
Our inner oracle isn’t difficult to access. It’s available right now. It’s being drowned out by our compulsions to being busy.
To counteract this cultural force, hear the voice that says you need to keep going—to be productive with your time—and then let it go.
Allow yourself to stop, to pause, and to be.
If you have a few extra minutes, access your inner guide right now:
- Sit or stand with your feet parallel to your shoulders, firmly on the ground.
- Feel the ground beneath your feet.
- Slower your gaze to reduce to distraction. Keep your eyes open but relax your eyelids.
- Take a slow, deep, steady breath, feeling the air enter your nose, following it down past your chest and into your belly.
- Feel the area around your navel expand like a balloon.
- Exhale gently, feeling the air leave your mouth like air releasing from an inflatable mattress.
- Repeat steps 3 through 5 four more times.
- Place your attention slightly above your head. Take the position of the observer who is watching your mind and its thoughts.
- Now, ask a question. Or hold a particular problem you’d like to address in mind.
- Tune in and listen.
Stay open to experimenting with this from a beginner’s minds. Stay curious. Be patient.
Want to try a technique to access your inner guide in minutes? See The Mastery Method.
On the Walls of Delphi
Let’s go back to Ancient Greece for a moment.
The term “γνῶθι σεαυτόν” was inscribed in the front courtyard at Delphi.
This Greek term translates to the famous aphorism found throughout the writings of Plato: know thyself.
More than just an idea or principle, “know thyself” is instruction.
By looking inward and listening, we can begin actualizing this aphorism and locating the oracle within.
Your inner guide is a breath away.
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What Do You Think?
Leave your comments, questions, and experiences below.
Scott,
I love your in-depth look at this issue. I have a strong spiritual faith, but unlike many others, I believe we should look deep within and expect the answers to appear. Yes, there is value is seeking the wisdom of others but combine that with our own wisdom. Thanks for the clarity.
Thank you for sharing, Dan.
I believe an authentic spiritual path begins with a connection to our deeper nature. Only then can we connect with our humanity. And only then can we fully connect with all of our brothers and sisters. And only then can we become responsible citizens of this planet.
Another very wise piece of writing Scott, thank you.
For 25 Years I have been seeking to make a better relationship with the unconscious and seeing clearly the immense wisdom it can bring forward into any context. Sport, business, personal relationships, my life path: All of these are areas where the unconscious has at times brought forward its breathtakingly effective solutions. The trap I fell into was not marrying the wisdom of the unconscious with the wisdom of the logical conscious mind. Both minds have great wisdom – just a different kind of wisdom.
So true, Michael.
Holding the opposites — conscious and unconscious, masculine and feminine, light and dark, spirit and nature — alive within us is always challenging. In fact. when Jung was asked if World War III could be avoided, he said only if enough people learned to hold the opposites together within them.
I'm constantly noticing my swings of one-sidedness. It seems to be par for the course in the on-going process of integration.
On this particular topic of inner guidance, our culture is so extremely biased toward the rational, conscious mind that there seems to be less of a risk in going too far to the other end of the spectrum. But I suppose it's possible.
Hope you are not planning to invade a foreign land some time soon…vocation, family, trip – sound like better options!!
Good article…as usual.
Haha. That was a reference to how a Greek leader might have used the Oracles in their time. ;-)
Hi Scott, thanks for the great article. Really enjoyed reading it!
Your article reminded me of a podcast interview with Jeff Bezos I listened to recently. During the interview, Jeff said, “I believe in the power of wandering. All of my best decisions in business and in life have been made with heart, intuition, and guts…not analysis.” Indeed, we need to tap into this under-utilized/forgotten faculty more and more, as the world gets more complex and AI is taking over a lot of the traditional “cognitive functioning”.
Just a quick question for you, Scott. In recent years, many concepts and terminologies have been thrown around to describe the above phenomenon: the rise of right brain thinking, non-linear/network thinking, intuition, awakening of awareness/consciousness (e.g. Eckhart Tolle), etc. Just wondering if they are essentially the same as what your call “Inner Guide”. If not, what are the key differences and overlaps among these concepts? Thanks :-)
Hi David,
Yes, I cover the importance of wandering here:
https://scottjeffrey.com/creative-process/
The terms you mentioned are surely related, but not necessarily the same thing. This inner guide or “inner teacher” as Nisargadatta Maharaj called it, isn’t really “thinking” in that I don’t believe it’s arising from the prefrontal cortex (including the right side). So in that way, it can be called “nonlinear.”
That said, if we think of it in the context of the Jungian inner work, the images that are communicated via the unconscious could be said to arise in the right hemisphere of the brain, but I’m not certain.
It’s more of apperceived, intuitive knowing.
Awesome! Thanks so much, Scott.
Sure thing, David!
Dear Scott
Though I have great respect for your knowings
I must disagree
Jung is about imaginal Self
The whole
The right left both
Alchemist spirit soul body
Nader, you’re not communicating in complete thoughts or with proper sentence structure, so I can’t understand what you mean in order to comment.
Intelligens in Latin means ‘choose among’.
Intelligence is the ability to choose among the two polar potentials that could manifest in a human being. Heaven and hell, light and dark, joy and sorrow, oneness and separation, ego and God, truth and illusion. (Taken from the book Authentic Success by Robert Holden)
Your article is excellent as usual. Once we connect with ourselves, which is our higher brain centres, monkey brain, reptilian brain, and learn which thought comes from which centre and why, that’s when we truly are connected with ourselves. Equally it is important to connect with the ‘gut feeling’ and ‘feelings from the heart’ which are more intuition based rather than fear based.
Once you are connected with your inner being and nature, there is no real need to feel the need to connect with others, simply because you are connected by default.
Thank you, Shonali.
Indeed, it’s the integration of the gut, heart, and brain that bring us back “online.”
Dear Scott
That is why I appreciate
The Chinese 3 dein tien
Power sources
Lower
middle heart
Upper 3rd eye
The last one sees the invisible thru darkness
As Plato wisely said there are two existing things seen and unseen
Yes, Nader, I appreciate these Taoist insights as well.
Very interesting. It’s good to know the origin of the word “Intelligence’ . Thank you.
Brilliant!
Thank you, Werner.
Thank you for getting me started on the journey to discovering my inner space through Shadow Work. This is a helpful guide as I caught myself making a hasty and hence a bad decision just the other day in an attempt to tick off something in my to-do list. Thank you for reminding us of all this great ancient wisdom. With 2020 around the corner, I’m looking forward to more guides on accessing inner wisdom for clarity.
You’re welcome, Eda. Yes, haste appears to be our default way of being.
The hidden drives to watch are:
1) The part that wants to be important (by being busy and getting things done)
2) The Martyr archetype (“why do I have to do everything myself”)
3) The ego’s avoidance of whatever it doesn’t want to feel (emotional suppression)
How does a pineal glad works?’ and what is abenefits of it?. Is is possible that anyone can activate his or her Pineal gland?.
You can read an in-depth, 4-part series on the pineal gland that starts here:
https://scottjeffrey.com/decalcify-your-pineal-gland/
Well. Always we are trying to know who we are and our reasons to be here and what is our duty. I am glad that someone like you open your heart to share your knowledge with us. May almighty continue blessing you for your effort to help humanity to develop spiritually, mentally, emotionally and fiscally.
Opening one’s heart and sharing their knowledge are two very different things.
I appreciate your wisdom.
And impressive scholarship
Thanks for sharing
Please keep it coming
We love u for your generous soul
Warmest regards
Thank you for your comments, Nader.
Thank you so much Scott for sharing your keen understandings of life and helping us navigate our chosen paths to deeper fulfillment!
You’re welcome, Ronda.
Hi Scott, me again
I have read this and I see I forgot Carl Jung in my list. Ok, you see, it belongs a determinde environment fo find our inner self as you describe. The direction is ok but anytime you try to meditate and if you really find a way to elevate in the air (Spoke with credibly sources, they really feel it as floating).
But seriously, once the meditation state is gone, the stress environment is still there. It does not dissapear. So , what is the Answer? must be somewhere else.
Bom Journey
Hi Carl, I’m not sure I follow what you’re saying.
This guide doesn’t deal with meditation. It’s about connecting to one’s source when you are looking for direction.
I very much appreciate the work you have put into sharing. I’m a 57 year old, born into Midwestern rural mental thinking. Very black and white. The grounds for planting the hands for working. Spiritual stuff but for Sunday Church was is still often considered not good. I’ve been changed by extreme challenges in life and continuing the journey can be difficult.
Again
Thank you.
Yes, Neal, challenging sacred cows is always uncomfortable. Over 60 years of developmental psychology illustration that being able to hold ambiguity is a sign of mature adulthood. When you consider how much of what we’re taught in school and via religion teaches us “facts” with certainty, you begin to see the nature of the challenge we’re up against. In my experience, there’s no growth with discomfort.