Quick Summary
How can you tell if the voice is that of your intuition or that of your small self?
Small self will sound judgmental, irritated, fearful, rude, and/or harsh.
Intuition will always be kind, gentle, patient, soft-spoken, nurturing, respectful, and calm. Intuitive insight will feel comfortable, like a deep knowing bubbling to the surface.
Deeper Dive
The more one knows about their intuition, the better equipped to focus on the intuitive Higher Self and remove attention from the small self. Remember, that which one focuses on grows. To quiet the small self, one must remove focus from it. To become more connected with one’s intuition, focus attention upon it.
Intuition via Energy Centers
The voice of intuition is actually the voice of your Higher Self, thus it is Divine wisdom. It comes to one’s 3-D awareness through three different energy centers – three different areas of our physical body:
- The gut. Also called the stomach, ton tien, womb-consciousness. If you’ve ever heard or said “gut instinct”, that’s your intuition coming through your energy center of ‘motion’. The moving energy center is where you decide whether to move or not, take action or not, follow your instinct or not. If you ever find yourself jumping up out of your chair and moving to do something without thinking about it, you are using your moving energy center. This energy center is tied to the three lower chakras; root (red), sacral (orange), solar plexis (yellow). Each chakra adds what I’ll call ‘flavor’ to your moving center:
- The root chakra is focused on ancient instinctive matters of personal safety and grounding to Mother Earth.
- The Sacral chakra is focused on creation and acting upon new ideas; getting started, creating something new, moving forward with new ideas, jumping in with both feet per se.
- The solar plexus is very close to the heart and thus is focused on feeling the movement; feeling safe, feeling inclined to act, feeling a desire to move, feeling a passion to go and do.
- The heart. Your intuition comes through your heart region of your body in the form of emotions. It is the energy of passion, willpower, intention, deep wisdom, and a comfortable knowing. From here, your intuition feeds you knowledge via your emotional energy center. If you’ve ever had an intense and overwhelming feeling of passion, this was coming from your intuition via your heart’s emotion energy center. There are two chakras affiliated with the emotion energy center; heart (green), throat (blue). They add the following ‘flavor’ to your emotive center:
- The Heart chakra is a powerful portal connected directly to your divine self. When you focus intently upon your heart, it awakens and draws you deeper and deeper into your own knowing. Your intuition speaks to you from the heart in the form of emotions and deeply passionate knowing. Note: much has been written about the heart chakra, and we encourage you to research this area to become more attuned to its (your own) vast abilities.
- The Throat Chakra is our ability to communicate, to “have a voice”, to “be heard”. Tied to the emotive energy center, it gives power to our words. If you’ve ever felt moved to “speak up”, this is your intuition surfacing within your emotive energy center through your throat chakra.
- The head. Most common, the intuition will be a little voice in one’s head. As a child, I saw this as my ‘conscience’, and I knew it as ‘God’s Voice’. I always felt I had two voices in my head. Now I know one is my intuition and the other my small self. Our head holds the truth energy center. If you have ever been steadfast about knowing something as truth, even though you do not remember how you learned this truth, this is your intuition coming through your truth center. There are two chakras associated with the truth energy center:
- The Third Eye. Aptly named, this chakra is a highly intuitive center in our physical body. It allows us to see that which our physical eyes cannot. If you have ever daydreamed, had spontaneous visions of events unfolding or found yourself saying “I see”, this is your intuition at work.
- The Crown. Truth is constantly streaming in to humans via our crown chakra. I see this as the point where one’s Holy Spirit column of light comes into one’s body. If you have ever said, “I just know”, this is your intuition speaking to you via your crown chakra.
Depending on a person’s personal make-up, they will be more aware of their intuition from one part of their body versus the others.
The more attuned a person becomes to their body and their feelings, the more attuned one will become to their intuition.
Small Self Defined
As mentioned above, we do not want to put a great deal of attention upon the small self because doing so gives it energy and allows it to become more powerful and intrusive. I have observed the small self within my own physical essence. I observed in a neutral, detached manner in hopes of learning how it operates, where it resides, where it came from, who it is. Just when I think I’m getting close to answering one of these questions, it changes and takes on a different form. So, all I can say is that it is very elusive, tricky, cunning, and masterful at what it does. As one of my many mentors says “it is a worthy opponent.” Shaman and teacher, Jose Luis Stevens, PhD calls our intuition our “Inner Shaman” and our small self “false personality”. In his book “Awaken the Inner Shaman” he eloquently details “a guide to the power of the heart.” This book is referenced on the Resources page of our website.
A Worthy Opponent
The small self is tied to our ego, logical mind, emotions, attitudes, beliefs, and so on. It is intricately woven into who we are and is connected to all parts of our physical body. It can even try to mimic our intuition. However, it will always have a feeling of criticism, limitation, or fear. For example, if one’s gut feels tight with resistance, it likely is small self putting limitations on who one can become. When questioning whether the message is from small self or intuition, ask it ‘why?’ three times. Intuition will calmly take you into deeper wisdom about the topic while the small self will get annoyed and show its true face. This can actually be quite entertaining.
There are times when small self becomes an incessant voice in one’s head. This is caused by various things. Do not berate oneself as being weak or moving backwards in one’s progress. Rather, remember to remain strong and determined to focus on one’s intuitive Higher Self. When the small self bickers on and on, simply say “is that so?” and give it no more attention. If it becomes louder, say firmly “you have no power over me!” Continue to repeat this as a mantra. Focus only on the mantra and not on what small self is ranting about. Focusing on the mantra will manifest it as reality. Add an intention of finding calm, and that too becomes reality.
Small self loves to control through fear. Unless one’s fears put one into a position of immediate danger, intuition will NEVER fear. Never. This is because intuition and Higher Self knows that one is completely safe at all times. Yes, we are actually 100% safe 100% of the time. Ponder that. Let it settle in. It is truth. Therefore, any time one feels fear, it is small self. Period. And following small self into fear can lead one into undesirable situations; a worthy opponent.
Conclusion
There was a time in my life when the small self was so loud, it overpowered the intuition. My intuition simply sat quietly waiting for me to return my attention to it. And when I did, it began to give guidance. Quietly and hesitantly at first, not quite sure I would actually listen. The more I listened, the more my intuition became active. Now my intuition, my ‘God’s Voice’, my Higher Self, is very active, alive, and fully participating in my life’s unfolding. And I am so blessed! My small self continues to find ways to interfere and there are times when it becomes incessantly loud. I have come to decide that this is just part of life as a human.
Perhaps if I awaken enough, one day I will conquer my worthy opponent. Until then, I listen to my intuition for guidance.
Aho. Na-kee-tah.
With loving intentions, Lila