You may have heard the term "listen to your inner voice" or perhaps "go with your gut" when making a decision. But, what does this really mean? What voice should you listen to? How do you know which is the right and wrong decision to make?
When it comes to decision-making, you may sometimes feel as if there is an internal tug-of-war happening inside your head. The two sides to this tug-of-war are your ego and intuition. For many people, this may be a totally new concept. So to explore this further, here are a few examples of decisions many people will make during their lifetime:
Go to the gym. Don't go to the gym.
Eat your favourite dessert. Be healthy and avoid the dessert.
Remain in your job for the stability. Quit your job and chase your dreams.
Don't make the move and stay in your comfort zone. Make the move and challenge yourself.
Do any of these relate to you? The difference between both statements is that one is guided by your ego and the other is guided by your intuition. But, which one is which? What is the difference between the two?
Ego
In psychology, your ego is the component of personality and is represented by your conscious decision-making process. The ego operates through the reality principle, meaning it analyses your reality and affirms your sense of personal identity. The primary function of the ego is to ensure all your basic needs for survival are met (e.g. food, shelter, assessing for danger). The ego and it's survival instincts also have the tendency to analyse the future and plan for events that have not yet occurred. It also revisits past memories to determine whether you should change the way you do something to improve your future. Although this worked well for our caveman ancestors, the over-analysation of the ego can have a negative impact in today's organised society and still controls the lives of many people.
Your ego's main job is to protect you both mentally and physically. However, people are easily influenced by their past experiences, hurts, and fears, which feeds our ego until eventually it becomes overdeveloped. This is when the ego begins to become afraid and will keep you safe through shutting down any ideas of trying something new or different. It wants you to fit in, be liked by others, and will often hold you back from what you truly desire in order to keep you safe and within your comfort zone. Unfortunately, your ego has the power to fill you with doubts, excuses, and "what if's".
Intuition
Your intuition is everything the ego is not. It originates from your soul. It can often be felt from your heart or gut (i.e. "gut instinct"). It is an energetic part of you that guides you on the right path towards your higher self and divine purpose. Your intuition speaks to you in a soft and calm voice, but is often unheard over the bossy and controlling voice of your ego mind. Your intuition will often feel like a strong longing to do a certain something, but you ego will mentally justify reasons to avoid doing that something. The longer you avoid listening to your intuition, the more you will experience resistance within your mind and the decision-making process will be increasingly difficult.
Your intuitive decision can be identified through a number of ways. Firstly, unlike your ego, intuition does not come from a place of fear, insecurity, or scarcity. Rather, it comes from confidence, fulfilment, and abundance. Rather than fluctuating ideas or inconsistent self-talk, your intuition is stable and knowing. Intuition gives you one simple answer without any explanation or justification needed. It also avoids any sense of judgement or comparison and knows only love and acceptance.
How to develop your intuition
So, it must be as simple as ignoring the ego and listening to your intuition, right? Yes, but it takes lots of practice! There are a number of techniques you can use to tone down your ego's voice and tune in to your intuition and higher self. Here are five simple ways to expand your intuitive power:
1. Timing of reaction: Your intuition will speak to you immediately, however, the ego will chime in a few moments later and question your decision, over-analyse the situation, and make it harder to go with your gut instinct. Your ego will fight and challenge you against your original response.
2. Tone of your inner voice: As I mentioned above, the tone of your intuition is gentle and loving towards you. It will always have your best interest. However, the tone if your ego is loud, overbearing, and anxious. It will challenge you with inconsistent reasoning and doubt.
3. Motivation: The only motivation of your intuition is to thrive and experience joy. It will gently nudge you towards being happy and living your best life. On the other hand, your ego is motivated by your survival instinct and protecting you from any form of threat.
4. Content of words & thoughts: Listen to the words that your inner voice is speaking and the thoughts going through your mind. Your intuition will speak to you with words of encouragement and passion for what you truly desire. Your ego will communicate with words of judgement, lacking, and over-analysation.
5. Practice on yourself: Simply try asking yourself a question. Sit quietly and place your hands either on your heart or over your gut. Close your eyes and and wait for the answer to come to you. Your ego will try to find the answer, but your intuition will be patient and allow the answer to arrive when it's ready. You can also try this method through journaling - write down a question to ask yourself and then take note of the first answer that comes to you through your intuitive response.
With more practice, you will grow to be accustomed to distinguishing the source of your inner voice, quietening the ego, and listening to your intuition as it becomes more noticeable. It is with this change in volume that you'll find the path to fulfilment and living with purpose. I believe that with self-development and growth comes knowing yourself better, and therefore personal decisions become easier to make.
I'm still learning how to decipher between my own ego and intuition. But with more research and practice, I'm slowly getting better. For me personally, it's the bigger decisions in life that I struggle with. Either way, I'm always open to chat to anyone about this topic and lend my advice, so please don't hesitate to reach out.
Until next time;
peace and love,
Tina
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