That Inner Voice

By Steve Gwisdalla

We all have one. That voice in our heads. That voice that sometimes acts like an angel on one shoulder, then the devil on the other. That voice that some call our intuition and others call our conscience. I have read countless books that say to trust that voice and listen to it. After hearing that voice, reading ‘expert’ books about that voice, and talking to many smarter people than I will ever hope to be about that voice, I have drawn a very different conclusion about that voice.

Sometimes, that voice is dead wrong.

That voice can be everything mentioned above. Often however, it holds us back. It keeps us from reaching our amazing potential and taking steps necessary in achieving greatness. How you may ask? I’ll answer this question with a series of questions.

How many times has that voice reminded you about past failures? How many times has that voice reminded you of other’s failures when thinking about something similar? How many times has that voice recommended you to not be too rash? Relax and have a think on that before moving to action. The next thing you know, a year has passed. How many times has that voice had a seemingly endless list of reasons why that idea, action, or decision was bad?

Those questions begin to tackle the how. Now with the why. Why does that voice sometimes seem to live in the neighborhood of negative all the time? One word my friends…Programming. We have programmed it to be negative. Don’t believe me? Name the last five television shows you watched. Listen to the lyrics of the last five songs you’ve listened to. Conflict sells. Pessimism sells. Divisiveness sells. We are bombarded by it. That poor little voice only eats what we feed it. It is being exhausted by the onslaught of negative it is forced to ingest every day. We need to reprogram it by changing what we listen to, what we watch and what we read. Find positive podcasts to listen to. Educational, motivational, wholesome entertainment. My friends help that poor, tired voice be the voice it was intended to be. The voice that helps us recognize right from wrong. The voice that reminds us to try walking in the other person’s shoes before judging them. The voice that offers ways to help people, not neglect them. The next thing you just might hear from that voice is a deep exhale. See? It’s already helping, reminding us to relax and just breathe.

About the Tribe of Up

The Tribe of Up is an idea. The Tribe of Up is a group of people who simply look to advocate for more joy in all aspects of our lives. If this sounds like the kind of oasis you are seeking in our day-to-day chaos, consider scrolling through past articles. Simply search “Tribe of Up” on the Sun Times News website. Feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]. Thanks for stopping by!