Navigating Inner and Outer Voices: Embracing Divine Guidance
How to Balance Internal Instincts with External Influences to make better life choices.
The real problem is deciding whether to listen to the voices inside us or the ones from outside. Outside voices are from people close to us like family and friends, people we trust and admire. But what about the voices inside us? Where do they come from? Are they from our own experiences, or maybe even from God?
If it’s God’s voice, then who should we listen to when we need to make a decision? Whose guidance should we prioritize? And how does God communicate with us when we’re stuck in a dilemma?
But why do we struggle between these two sets of voices when making life choices? Are we supposed to follow one or can we consider both?
Let’s weigh the advantages and disadvantages of listening to internal and external voices.
Listening to our internal voices can make us feel content and responsible for our decisions. But on the downside, if things go wrong, we might blame ourselves, and others might blame us too.
On the other hand, listening to external voices means we can blame others if things don’t work out, and we might not be blamed for our troubles. However, we might regret not following our own instincts in the long run.
Often, we lean towards external voices out of fear. But we should remember that they’re just there to guide us; we’re not obligated to follow them. Our internal voices, sometimes referred to as gut feelings, are considered divine in today’s world.
This tug-of-war between external and internal voices complicates our lives. We can learn from our ancient culture, where figures like Sita made decisions about Ram without any confusion, especially in relationships. Our culture emphasizes following our instincts, standing up for what’s right, and learning from our experiences and others’. However, we sometimes ignore our gut feelings and base decisions solely on others’ experiences.
Our biggest fear is often facing criticism for our decisions. External voices may fade away, but internal ones linger, and ignoring them can lead to regret.
While we should respect and consider external voices, we’re not obligated to follow them. However, we should always listen to our gut feelings, as they’re seen as divine guidance.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna advises Arjuna to follow his dharma, or inner duty, despite external pressures. Similarly, our culture extols the value of intuition, urging us to trust our gut feelings and uphold what is right.
