Intuition Or Fear: Which Voice Is It?

Dear Reader,

How do you tell the difference between the voice of your intuition and the voice of fear?

Making the distinction isn’t always easy, especially when fear is involved. Many of us struggle with this one, regardless of where we are on our spiritual journey. Telling the difference can be toughest when we are faced with some of life’s biggest choices: Do I take the job or not? Do I stay in this relationship or not? Do I move to that new location or not?

Which voice are you hearing in response, and which will you follow?

Fortunately there are ways to tell the difference, and it does get easier with practice.

Here are ten tips that may help:

1. Your intuition is always loving and supportive. Always. It will never be harmful or abusive, and it will never encourage you to harm or abuse another.
2. Your intuitive voice is often quiet and insistent. It keeps coming back until it is heard.
3. Your intuitive voice can seem to come from nowhere. It may not be linked to any other thought. Your fear voice, on the other hand, may come as a response to other thoughts or ideas.
4. Your intuition may come with no explanation or justification. It just gives you information, or suggests an action, without needing to support or defend itself. Fear, on the other hand, often tries to rationalize why you should listen to it. It engages your rational mind in order to disguise itself and sound as reasonable as possible. This is why fear sometimes may be very difficult to recognize – because it doesn’t feel like fear at all. It feels like analysis, or rationalization, or even procrastination.
5. Your intuition often creates an “aha!” moment within you, a feeling of revelation or simple rightness. You just know it is speaking truth. Fear, on the other hand, may create uncertainty, and you will experience a lot of doubt or back and forth about whether to listen. This makes sense, because fear usually goes against your spirit, and on some deeper level you recognize that – hence the feeling of conflict.
6. Your intuition may be the first thought you have in answer to a question – but not always. If fear is deeply ingrained as an habitual response for you, it can be very quick indeed, and very loud. Your fear voice may actually be the first response that registers.
7. Your intuition may feel very joyful or playful – but it may trigger fear immediately afterward, especially if your spirit is calling on you to try something new or step outside your comfort zone in some way. As long as you recognize this pattern, you can follow the voice of your spirit and tell your fear voice it isn’t needed right now.
8. Your intuition is heart-centered; that’s where it comes through. The voice of fear is often head-centered; again, fear combines with rational thought to stop you in your tracks.
9. Your intuition often does tell you to step outside your comfort zone, at least a little, because it recognizes no limitations on what you can accomplish. But again, it will not encourage you to do something unsafe. Your fear voice, however, will often encourage you to retreat, contract, shrink or stay the same. This is not to be confused with the encouragement to run from a lion!
10. Your intuition is wise, and may pull in information you couldn’t have known otherwise. Your fear voice, however, often reacts from ignorance or a lack of information.

There you go! Ten tips for distinguishing between the voice of your intuition and the voice of fear.

I encourage you to practice – practice recognizing each voice, as well as the patterns of thinking that accompany both. Are you quick to discredit the voice of your intuition? That attempt to discredit your own inner wisdom is most likely your fear voice!

I also encourage you to start small. See if you can access your intuition in a situation where there is not a lot at stake (for example, what you really want to do on your morning off). If you start with a situation that is life-altering (for example, whether to move to a new location) you  are more like to encounter interference from fear – possibly without even recognizing it.

You can do this, dear reader. And if you have any questions, I encourage you to send me an email; I will be happy to respond!

I honor your loving heart,

John