listening to your inner voice

Some people call it intuition, some people say it's your "gut" and others refer to it as that inner voice. No matter what you call it, when you listen to it, it usually leads you in the right direction. But the key is knowing how to hear it as sometimes we know it's there but we allow ourselves to ignore it, or it's ever so faint that we feel it's not that important or maybe we're just too scared to hear it because what it means might point us down a road that could be challenging. But if you subscribe to the notion of "with risk comes reward" then you might have an interest in learning how to better listen to your inner voice.

So how do you hear it? Well, a few tips or strategies to consider:

- Become more self aware: if you're sensing something in your mind or body, take pause and ask yourself -- what's going on here? Consider the situation in full context, consider if you might be having a trigger reaction to something unrelated but familiar, ask yourself when else you feel this way and what brings it on. Just do a little self assessment and try to get more "in-tune" with yourself, your triggers and your reactions.

- Give yourself an outlet: If you like to write, use a journal to keep track of your thoughts, if you like to walk/run, build time into your day for that, if you like being creative and making things, do that. Whatever your thing is, let you mind wander and get outside of itself and sometimes it all becomes clear by just providing some space for it to come up to the surface. I often come back from a run with an insight for a blog post that I likely never would've landed on if I didn't let my mind go there during my run.

- Follow the instinct: While you may not feel ready to completely listen to whatever is brewing inside of you -- let yourself go there for just a moment. That feeling or urge, or voice that you hear -- what's it saying? Try just listening or tapping into it (or pulling it out by trying the above tips) and just consider that path. Where could it take you? What excites you? Scares you? Is it at the end of the day in line with what you want? Just take a moment to consider it.

- Write yourself a letter: One of my favorite exercises I like to suggest to people is a letter to yourself, but from your future self. So pick an age far off in the future, say 75 years old, and write the you today a letter from the perspective of the 75 year old you in the future. Don't over think it, it's that simple -- just write to yourself from the future. See what comes out. What does it tell you?

Hopefully this gives you some simple ways to tap into your inner self -- your most authentic truth -- to see what might be next for you. Just imagine what could be right around the corner.