Inner Purpose Podcast

Unlocking Your Intuitive Voice: Unveiling the Subtle Signals (Part 2)

April 30, 2024 Michelle Dowker Season 1 Episode 12
Unlocking Your Intuitive Voice: Unveiling the Subtle Signals (Part 2)
Inner Purpose Podcast
More Info
Inner Purpose Podcast
Unlocking Your Intuitive Voice: Unveiling the Subtle Signals (Part 2)
Apr 30, 2024 Season 1 Episode 12
Michelle Dowker

Welcome to day 2 of Your Next Intuitive Business Breakthrough training series! I'm sharing foundational power tools, insights, and perspective shifts that have guided me and my clients towards greater clarity, intuition, and business success.

Feeling like you can't trust your intuition without feeling overwhelmed by loud, conflicting voices? Are you sacrificing clarity and peace of mind to achieve success?

What if instead, you could have a clear understanding of your intuition's language and confidently make aligned decisions? That's exactly what we're diving into today.

If you're like most entrepreneurs, you want to trust your intuition and make decisions that align with your vision and values.

In today’s episode, we dive into understanding the language of your intuition. I’m going to give you steps and guidance on discerning between gentle whispers of intuition and louder, protective parts. Whether you struggle with self-doubt or conflicting inner voices, you can cultivate trust in your intuition and achieve your goals with confidence and inspiration.

Join Your Next Intuitive Business Breakthrough Free Series for full access to all trainings and bonus resources: https://wellbalance.ca/breakthrough 


Support the Show.


CONNECT WITH MICHELLE


FREE RESOURCE: Join Your Next Intuitive Business Breakthrough Free Series for full access to all trainings and bonus resources: https://wellbalance.ca/breakthrough

SELF-STUDY PROGRAM: Business Brilliance Blueprint will guide you how to infuse more of your magic into your business and create a more purposefully profound impact, aligned with your deepest self. Learn more here

WORK WITH MICHELLE:


Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Welcome to day 2 of Your Next Intuitive Business Breakthrough training series! I'm sharing foundational power tools, insights, and perspective shifts that have guided me and my clients towards greater clarity, intuition, and business success.

Feeling like you can't trust your intuition without feeling overwhelmed by loud, conflicting voices? Are you sacrificing clarity and peace of mind to achieve success?

What if instead, you could have a clear understanding of your intuition's language and confidently make aligned decisions? That's exactly what we're diving into today.

If you're like most entrepreneurs, you want to trust your intuition and make decisions that align with your vision and values.

In today’s episode, we dive into understanding the language of your intuition. I’m going to give you steps and guidance on discerning between gentle whispers of intuition and louder, protective parts. Whether you struggle with self-doubt or conflicting inner voices, you can cultivate trust in your intuition and achieve your goals with confidence and inspiration.

Join Your Next Intuitive Business Breakthrough Free Series for full access to all trainings and bonus resources: https://wellbalance.ca/breakthrough 


Support the Show.


CONNECT WITH MICHELLE


FREE RESOURCE: Join Your Next Intuitive Business Breakthrough Free Series for full access to all trainings and bonus resources: https://wellbalance.ca/breakthrough

SELF-STUDY PROGRAM: Business Brilliance Blueprint will guide you how to infuse more of your magic into your business and create a more purposefully profound impact, aligned with your deepest self. Learn more here

WORK WITH MICHELLE:


Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to day two of the free five-day training series your Next Intuitive Business Breakthrough. I'm so excited that you're here with me today. Now, if you haven't been following along, there is one training that's housed here on the podcast that I highly suggest that you listen to. Before you listen to this particular podcast episode, in day one we talked about the most important foundational exercise that I teach first, that we will build upon during the rest of this week to help you to tune into your own intuition, so that you can give yourself your own intuitive business breakthrough as an entrepreneur, whether you're trying to make a business decision or decide which direction to go with your work, so that you feel most aligned and lit up by what you're doing while you're creating the most meaningful impact and experiencing the highest level of success with your work. If you have not yet signed up for the email series that goes along with this free training series, I highly suggest that you do. You can find the link in the show notes and when you sign up, you will receive one email a day for five days that contains not only the pertinent link for the particular training for that day that's housed here on the podcast, but you're also going to get extra resources, guided visualizations, exercises and things of that nature that you can use alongside the information that you learn here in the podcast training series to help you really tune into your intuition and get those intuitive breakthroughs that you're looking for. So today we're talking about better understanding the language of your intuition, understanding what it sounds like, what it's trying to tell you, and also understanding what's not your intuition and how to tell the difference. So first of all, in the day one training, I mentioned briefly about how scientific studies have shown that the more you support your nervous system so that you have a wider window of tolerance, so that you have better heart coherence and heart rate variability, these things increase your connection to your intuitive intelligence. They increase your ability to pick up on the intuitive language with which your intuition speaks right. So the more that you do the work to support your nervous system to create vagal tone, to create a wider window of tolerance, to learn how to regulate your emotions, then the closer connection that you're going to have with your intuition and it's going to become more easeful for you to pick up on when your intuition is talking. I mentioned this aspect over and over again because it is such a valuable first step for absolutely everybody to do to support your nervous system. It's not the only answer, but I find that it is the most important first step and it allows everything else to unfold more easily.

Speaker 1:

Now, as a side note, there are a lot of things that I'll talk about in a future podcast that underlie why your nervous system might not be adequately supported. Right, nervous system regulation activities can be helpful, and so some examples are deep breathing, meditation, cold water exposure. Even doing things like gargling or singing can help to support vagal tone. Mindfulness helps to bring you into the present and help to support your nervous system. However, as a side note, I believe that there are deeper things, for example, your relationship with yourself, that impact the state of your nervous system. So say, for example, if your relationship with yourself is dysregulated, that is going to lead to a dysregulated nervous system. Right, when we have feelings of inner guilt and shame, inner pressure, negative self-talk all of these things put constant negative pressure on the nervous system. Versus, studies show that when you have self-compassion and self-love and self-acceptance, these things have a positive impact on the nervous system and heart rate variability. I'll talk more about all of that in a future podcast episode.

Speaker 1:

So, getting back to the point of focus for today, we're talking about the language of your intuition. The very first thing that I like to tell people to consider when their intuition is speaking is, first of all, as I mentioned in the day one episode yesterday on the podcast, a lot of the communication of your intuition is going to be felt before it's heard. Sensations, feelings in your body are going to be likely the first signs before it hits your brain, and so this is why really mastering the green flag and red flag feelings exercise can be really helpful for you, as this is going to be kind of like the first line of communication that your intuition speaks. Now, sometimes your intuition might speak in other ways. You might see things or hear things. I know for myself. I experience both of these. Outside of what I'm feeling and the sensations that I have, most notably for me, I will hear a voice speaking. It's not like hearing someone outside of me speak, but I still hear, whether it's associated with my thoughts or something else. There's a voice that I hear that speaks, and this is true for my intuition as well, as there are other voices that I hear speak. I don't know if this is the exact terminology to use in terms of hearing these things. They're more like hearing thoughts, and maybe you've experienced this too, and I want to first give you a little concept to consider when you're discerning whether the thought that you're hearing is your intuition or something else. What I find from personal experience is that your intuition tends to speak softly, in whispers, it's gentle and it's kind. Typically, the voice of my intuition will just say hey, maybe think about this, or hey, maybe you don't want to do that.

Speaker 1:

For example, in one of my online courses, when I'm teaching people how to trust themselves and their intuition, I used an example from quite a number of years ago where I was getting ready to go out for the day, and it was a beautiful sunny day, there was not a cloud in the sky, and there was a voice in my head that said hey, why don't you grab your umbrella? And I was like, no, there's no rain in the forecast, there's no clouds in the sky, why would I need an umbrella? And the voice again said maybe you should think about grabbing that umbrella. Of course I did not grab the umbrella because at this point I wasn't trusting of my intuition. And guess what happened? While I was out, there was a flash thunderstorm and I got soaking wet. Now, had I trusted my intuition and I knew that my intuition speaks in really gentle whispers that little whisper I heard that said, hey, maybe you should grab your umbrella. If I wouldn't have known that that was my intuition speaking, I may have paid more attention.

Speaker 1:

Now, sometimes we just need to go through the experience of these things in order to learn, and this is where historical data can be really helpful. So I oftentimes suggest to my clients, if you're trying to get a handle on understanding the language of your intuition and what voice is your intuition is to do a little bit of a brainstorm where you think about past situations where you may have heard yourself speaking in gentle, kind whispers what happened when you listened to it and what happened when you didn't listen to it. This will give you really helpful information, because hindsight is always 20-20. And you can do the same thing as an ongoing experiment, as you are getting used to paying attention to these thoughts that are showing up in your mind and as you get used to the sensations of your green and red flag feelings is to notice when they come up and then whether or not you decide to follow it is to then pay attention to what the outcome is. So maybe you might have a red flag feeling and a whisper that says, hey, maybe that's not the best way to go. And let's say, for example, you ignore those red flag feelings and you ignore that little whisper as whatever unfolds unfolds.

Speaker 1:

Do a little bit of a check-in afterwards and say, okay, so what happened there? What happened when I didn't listen to the red flag feeling? What happened when I didn't listen to the little kind whispering nudge that told me not to follow this little kind whispering nudge that told me not to follow this, for example? And you might notice, oh, I see, this happened and that didn't really feel so great, or I didn't really enjoy that so much, or that felt like it was really a difficult experience, or I felt like I had to push against everything to get this done, even though maybe my logical mind wanted to. But I had all these little nudges telling me don't go in that direction. But I didn't listen. Or maybe you're getting green flag feelings and you get this little intuitive nudge that says, hey, maybe you should go do that thing. And then pay attention to what happens, do a little bit of check-in after everything is all said and done and say, okay, I listened to my green flag feelings and I listened to that little gentle, intuitive whisper and this is what unfolded.

Speaker 1:

And you might even want to create a document, like a spreadsheet or something, where you keep track of all of these things in the past and ongoing, and this will give you accurate data to help you trust that voice whatever the voice is and what it's suggesting, and whether or not to trust it. So this is where the next part of this exercise comes in. So I call this the who's speaking exercise. So, as I've mentioned, typically your intuition will speak in gentle, loving, compassionate whispers. First of all, you might notice that different tones of voice or different waves of speaking might even show up with these gentle, compassionate whispers. They may or they might not. It might just be one voice or one person, or one concept or one type of energy, but you might notice in different situations that there are different types of intuitive voices that show up, and you might notice that there are other types of voices and messages and tones that show up for you that don't feel so gentle, loving, compassionate and supportive.

Speaker 1:

Oftentimes we can also have other aspects that speak up for us or are trying to get us to pay attention, and one really good example of this is your protective parts, those parts of you that are trying to protect you, usually based out of survival mode. And there can be many different types of protective parts, especially depending on the experiences that you've had during your developmental years and maybe some developmental needs that weren't fully met for you, and those protective parts might show up to try to help you to meet those needs. So what are some examples of this? So the first example that comes to mind for me is the self-deprecating part. This has been a protective part within me that had been active for many years and for me, it's that part that would say, oh, you're too much, you're too sensitive, you're not good enough. Oh, you're too much, you're too sensitive, you're not good enough. You'll never do that. And this particular protective part is there to try to protect me from experiencing failure, right? So if that protective part shows up and says, oh, you're not good enough to do that, oh, you're not going to do that, oh, you're too much, you need to change, partly, it's preventing me from getting myself in a situation that I'm going to fail at, especially if that protective part is telling me oh, you're not good enough for that, don't even bother.

Speaker 1:

And partly that protective part showed up for me to try to motivate me to do better, to change, to fit in, to fit into the tribe. And there's this really common conditioned belief that if you deprecate yourself or if you deprecate somebody else, then that will motivate you to do something different, that will motivate you to change, to be better, that if you're not deprecating yourself, then maybe you won't do anything at all. Unfortunately, while that might work temporarily and to a degree, it doesn't work over the long term and it doesn't work the way you want it to. But this is the survival brain speaking up to try to meet developmental needs that weren't met many years ago. So, going back to my experience, there was a few pieces of the puzzle here in terms of I never fit in when I was growing up. I'm a highly sensitive, neurodivergent person and I did not know any of this when I was growing up, and fitting in was just a thing that never really happened for me, and so I had A these messages that there was something wrong with me, I was too sensitive, I needed to change. I didn't fit in with the tribe, and so that meant that I was wrong, I was bad, I was not worthy and I needed to change and I needed to be better.

Speaker 1:

And then you put on top of that parenting styles that many of us were accustomed to because of what our parental generation experienced themselves. I developed this protective part that believed that deprecating myself was going to be the thing that made me better. Of course, that's not true at all. What helps you to survive is not the thing that's going to help you to thrive, and deprecating myself was a survival mechanism to try to meet that developmental need. And now here's the thing. So I'm using this as an example, but there are thousands of different examples of protective parts, depending on the experiences that you've went through the developmental needs maybe that hadn't been fully met, for example, and the belief system that you hold, because when you have an experience, you put meaning to that experience and it sets up a belief, and these beliefs that you develop about yourself, about others, about life will impact how we treat ourselves, what we think about ourselves, how we interact with ourselves, our relationship with ourselves and how our protective parts show up. Now here's the thing our protective parts are there to try to protect us and while, logically, it doesn't always make sense why these parts show up the way they show up, they're just trying to help us. So there's no sense in deprecating your protective deprecating part, if that makes sense.

Speaker 1:

But it is important to become aware and discern. Okay, so I've got different thoughts and voices that come up in different tones and different languages, and so I see for myself that my intuitive voice is soft and gentle and kind versus say, for example, my self-deprecating, protective part is angry, mean and loud. Can you see how different those two voices likely end up showing up for me and thinking about your own personal experiences? Are there different voices that show up in different tones and emotion and saying different things? And can you see how, the more awareness that you have about who's actually speaking, is it your intuition or is it a protective part? And there can be many protective parts in different voices saying different things and oftentimes, if you actually pay attention to the protective part that's showing up, you might notice that that voice you hear of that protective part isn't your own voice.

Speaker 1:

I know for myself and so many of my clients when we tune into discerning and identifying these different protective parts. I ask them, whose voice is that? And more often than not, when it comes to these protective parts, the voices usually represent their caregivers, usually represent their caregivers Parents, for example. Oh, I can see, that's my mom's voice right now. Oh, that's my dad's voice. And the more awareness that you can have about whose voice is it, what are they saying, and are they actually your intuition or is it a protective part? The more you can start to trust your intuition by understanding. Oh, that's the language my intuition speaks, that's what it sounds like, that's how it speaks to me.

Speaker 1:

This can help you to trust the intuitive voice and it can also help you to identify when the protective part is showing up, because when it does, it's showing up for a reason. It's showing up because something doesn't feel safe, likely, or because a developmental need isn't being met, and your protective part is trying to meet it or trying to protect you, or trying to help you feel safe in some way. And so if you hear a protective part showing up which will likely be loud, unkind, mean disrespectful, these types of things, then this is a sign that maybe something within you doesn't feel safe, something within you feels like a developmental need is not being met, instead of maybe shaming that part of you away or ignoring it or saying you shouldn't be here, is actually to give that part of you a seat at the table. And this is where I suggest that, if you can discern between different protective parts so maybe you've got three different protective parts maybe you've got the part of you that is afraid to be visible on social media because you're afraid that you're going to be ridiculed. And maybe there's another protective part that is thinking that you're too sensitive because that made other people angry. And so you might notice, for example with those two, that they sound different, they say different things, they speak in different ways, they have different tones of voice depending on which protective part is showing up, and it can be helpful for you to actually name them, put names to them, and that can help you to discern between the different ones that show up, like Judgmental Joe, for example, and then you can go oh, I see Judgmental Joe is showing up right now and that is telling me that something is not feeling safe about me.

Speaker 1:

Something about where I am or how I'm feeling feels unsafe. For example, if Judgmental Joe shows up, you can say, first of all A this is not my intuition, this is a protective part. B because a protective part is showing up. This is a message for me that there's something that doesn't feel balanced or aligned. I don't feel safe. One of my developmental needs are not being met. Okay, let's take a look at that. What's not being met? What am I afraid about? What doesn't feel safe? And ask judgmental Joe to come and have a seat at the table with you and all the different parts of you, including your intuition, and say, hey, welcome to the table. I see you're showing up because something doesn't feel aligned, so let's A take a look at what that is. And B I understand that you're not feeling safe right now, or aligned, or you're feeling like something is out of your control, and I understand that you are showing up to try to protect me. However, what helps us to survive isn't what helps us to thrive, so let's find a different way forward. Thank you for alerting me that something doesn't feel safe and let's address that, and then let's move forward in a different way so that we can thrive. Can you see how more productive that can be, versus trying to ignore or shame away those parts or shame yourself to try to meet those needs that your protective part is trying to speak up for you to do.

Speaker 1:

There's a lot more nuance to all of this than what I can get across in one short lesson, but I wanted to bring this up as an introduction if you haven't already been exposed to this kind of work. But the more important part here for today's lesson is understanding the language of your intuition, understanding that your intuition will most commonly be speaking in gentle whispers. It's going to be kind, it's going to be respectful, it's not going to be forceful, and this is why it's really important to understand and identify who's speaking and trust it, because your intuition isn't going to come in and hit you over the head with a baseball bat so that you listen. It's going to be very gentle and if you don't pay attention and you don't trust it and you don't understand that that's the way it speaks, you might not listen Right. The parts of you that are more forceful, that are going to come in and hit you over the head with a baseball bat and yell at you and be mean to you, those are the parts that, more often than not, we tend to pay more attention to because they're louder, but those are the parts to sit down and have a conversation with instead of actually following those, because they're trying to give you a message that something doesn't feel safe or good or aligned, but their delivery, in terms of how they do that, is actually letting you know that they're speaking from a place of survival, and if you're following this training or following this podcast, then you know that that's not where you want to be operating from.

Speaker 1:

There's a lot more that I can say about this topic. I have some notes here that I wanted to share about discerning between your own awareness and emotions and other people's, but I think that I'm going to make that a separate training. Emotions and other people's but I think that I'm going to make that a separate training. I'm going to stop here so that you can really take in what I said about this concept about who's speaking and the language of your intuition and discerning the difference between that and potentially other parts, like your protective parts, and maybe sit down and do a little brainstorm and think about past experiences where what potentially is probably your intuition speaking up, what happened when you listened to it and what happened when you didn't, and then when other parts spoke up, like your protective parts. What happened in those situations, what unfolded and what unfolded when you complied or didn't comply with those parts. And this is going to give you data that you can assess and this is going to help you better trust what is your intuition and what isn't. And maybe you want to name your intuition and maybe there's several characters that are speaking on the side of your intuition and name those protective parts and there are likely several different characters of protective parts and naming each of them can be really helpful to discern the difference between them. To discern the difference between them.

Speaker 1:

So we'll wrap up today's training module about intuition as part of this free five-day series, your Next Intuitive Business Breakthrough. Again, if you have not signed up, I highly suggest that you go to the show notes and sign up for this free training series, because you're going to receive additional exercises and reflections and insights in each of the emails that you receive as part of this five-day series. So I hope today's lesson provided some helpful insight for you and be sure to come back tomorrow. I'm going to be talking about decoding your intuitive language using human design. I'm super excited for this next lesson in the five-day series. I'll talk to you then.

Understanding Your Intuition's Language
Navigating Protective Parts for Self-Improvement
Developing Intuition and Emotional Awareness