Inner Voice

I'm thinking about getting a tattoo.

It would be an ambigram that is written so it says one word when read right side up and another when read upside down. I'm thinking of the words "inner" and "voice".

These two words have been on my mind a lot recently. Inner voice, inner wisdom, inner truth. In fact, the past two years have been a journey towards rediscovering my inner voice.. of learning to trust my own inner wisdom.

I truly believe that the divine dwells within us and that we are all born with an innate sense of wisdom and understanding. Some call it conscience or intuition. Whatever you name it, it's present... and it's purpose is to guide us in the direction of life and meaning and goodness and beauty.

The struggle arises when we are bombarded with so many competing voices that they have begun to drown out are own voice. My struggle is a constant desire to please the other voices so much so that I can't even hear my own... or when it does sound, I'm not sure I even recognize it anymore. What other people want and what I want are so melted together that sometimes I can't even tell them apart.

And so, I'm putting my energy into listening. Listening to myself and my desires.. what brings me joy and what closes me up. Scripture tells us that God's voice comes as a whisper. I bet that's how my voice is too.

Thus, if I want to hear it I must learn to be quiet and still. I must allow myself time to rest and breathe.

And then, I must learn to trust. I must trust that I really am capable.. that I really do have wisdom... that my own inner voice once heard, is worth heeding.