How To Listen To Your Inner Voice For Better Decisions

When you listen to your inner voice, you’re actually receiving internal guidance from within. It’s an intuitive practice that helps us with our decision-making.

If you ask people if they talk to themselves, most – if not all – will answer yes. Who doesn’t do this, anyway? 

However, if you ask them how they are able to talk to themselves, you will probably get a scratch of the head or radio silence as your answer. This is because while talking to ourselves is indeed a universal experience, nobody bothers to dig deeper into the process. 

Who is answering me? Do I have multiple personalities? Am I talking to my alter ego? 

These are just some of the questions that people have in mind when it comes to the topic of self-talk. But the answer is simple: listen to your inner voice.

What Is Your Inner Voice? 

Your inner voice can be in the form of spiritual guidance from within, a gut feeling, or for some, an actual voice that they can hear in their head.

How your inner voice manifests is different from one individual to another.

The only thing that is common to everyone is that all types of inner voices stem from a person’s subconscious and work its way through our senses. 

Understandably, most people confuse inner voice with intuition. Since both of them come from within, it is easy to mix the two up.

However, intuition is more short-lived than the inner voice. It is more of a prompt to a certain stimulus.

For example, when you meet someone and you just feel like something is off with them, that is your intuition at work.

It is a direct response to a situation, often for your protection. Your inner voice, on the other hand, is long-term guidance that seeks to provide you a clear direction regarding your situation.

It basically answers your what if’s, why’s, and how’s.

9 Ways To Listen To Your Inner Voice 

#1 Make sure to have your quiet time.

One important thing to do is to set some alone time every day.

With the chaos and loudness of the world around us, taking a break regularly is essential to help you listen to your inner voice.

You don’t even have to go out of your way dedicating a full hour and light candles and incense for your quiet time.

Your quiet time can come in deep thoughts during showers or a short prayer before going to sleep.

The duration of your quiet time is not as important as the quality of your thoughts during it.

#2 Be accepting of your inner voice.

It’s not enough that you just listen to your inner voice.

To achieve maximum guidance from it, you need to accept its power over you.

Remember, your inner voice is one form of communication with the Divine.

It is wise and all-knowing. It is genuine. Its main purpose is to direct you to the best path there is.

Accepting the power of your inner voice means letting it in fully and to some extent, surrendering to what it tells you to do.

Trust. You need to trust your inner voice.

#3 Connect with your emotions.

As mentioned, your inner voice doesn’t always come in the form of… well, voices. Sometimes, it comes in the form of emotions.

This is why it is important that you pay attention to your feelings. Your emotions are not just mere reactions to situations.

More often than not, these emotions bear important messages that you need to decipher in order to grow.

There is no such thing as “just being sad” or “just being happy”. There is always a divine reason why you’re feeling exactly the way you are.

Whether it is to teach you a lesson or to warn you about something, your emotions go beyond just a few tears and laughter.

#4 Observe your thinking patterns.

As we get older and gain more life experiences, we are bound to form some sort of a thinking pattern when it comes to handling various situations.

Of course, this pattern is not definitive and strict, but it is how your mind has grown to process things over the years. 

An awareness of this thinking pattern will help you a lot in connecting with your inner voice.

Look back at how you usually respond to your gut feel – do you follow your instincts or are you the type to sit back and think first?

Take note of these behaviors.

#5 Don’t overthink.

As humans, overthinking is quite a household habit for most of us. We just can’t help it, we are natural worriers!

However, if you really want to listen to your inner voice, the first thing that you need to get rid of is your obsession with logic.

Don’t get us wrong, seeing things with a logical perspective is great.

But if you shut down your emotions just because you want to be “objective”, that is where the problem begins.

Listening to your inner voice means using both your heart and your mind.

#6 Be honest when speaking with your inner voice.

Conversing with your inner voice every day is important in building a relationship with it.

Since your inner voice is most present during difficult situations, it is important that you are honest in laying out the things that are confusing, bothering, and hurting you.

When you listen to your inner voice, you’re forming a bridge communication between you and the Divine. You can think of speaking to it as a form of meditation or prayer.

When you’re honest with your inner voice, its message comes out much clearer and straightforward.

You wouldn’t have to worry about deciphering what it’s trying to tell you.

#7 Practice breathing/meditative exercises. 

Breathwork exercises help cultivate an environment where your inner voice can be heard well enough.

When you are faced with situations that are triggering your fear or anxiety, knowing how to breathe properly will help you achieve that mental clarity that you need.

The clearer the mind, the easier it is to listen to your inner voice. 

One simple breathing exercise you can follow is the 4-7-8 method. You breathe in for four seconds, hold it in for seven seconds, and then exhale for eight counts.

You can repeat this method for around 2-4 times. You will instantly feel a wave of balanced energy within you.

This is because this breath exercise opens your heart chakra and stabilizes your overall frequency.

You can do this for a good night’s sleep too. 

#8 Write if you must.

Keeping a journal lets you monitor the progress of your relationship with your inner voice.

Learning how to fully listen to your inner voice may take some time, so writing down each interaction, the challenges you faced, and how fast you were able to distinguish it is a huge help in boosting your internal guidance system.

You need to be aware of the common signs that say your inner voice is talking to you.

Most people find it helpful to keep a list that they can go over anytime they want. 

#9 Always acknowledge your inner voice.

Treat your inner voice like your friend. Doubting and even more so resisting it will only lead you farther away from the best decisions in your life.

You need to create space for your inner voice.

Let it be heard. Let it hold a special power especially when it comes to your decision-making. Consult it.

Denying the existence of your inner voice is like saying no to the guidance that the Divine wants to offer to you. 

Final Word

Most of us are used to shrugging our inner voices off. This is because we are conditioned to think that our subconscious is connected to nothing else but our slumber dreams.

However, our subconscious also plays a vital role in helping us make more informed decisions during our waking hours.

Accessing your subconscious means being able to access the spirit guide within you. 

Whether you’re deciding on the most mundane things like choosing your outfit for the day or getting a cup of coffee or tea, you will be surprised how your inner voice seems to always get the right answers to your questions.

This is because your inner voice comes from a place where your deep-seated feelings and innermost thoughts are. 

The key to successfully engaging with your inner voice is paying attention. It can’t be stressed enough how important it is to be aware of when and how this voice is speaking to you.

Let your senses guide you. You need to be mentally and emotionally open to the message that is coming from within.

Remember that listening to your inner voice does not mean tossing aside logic and external influences; it only means that you are giving proper credit to your internal guidance system.

After all, it knows you the deepest to hold the best interest for you. 

Can you remember the first time you “heard” your inner voice? Share your experience with us by writing a comment below!

The Individualogist Team

The Individualogist Team is made up of archetype fanatics, individuation practitioners, and spirituality fans. Our humble group has banded together to deliver thought-provoking, life-changing, and growth-probing wisdom.