Advice, guidance and JOY are within!

I was talking too fast the other day, about advice and guidance, and a single word came out. Ad-vid-ance. I liked it. Yet “advidance” prints out to look too much like “avoidance.”

Do we avoid advice and guidance? Perhaps that is wise. So often we get advice and guidance from well-meaning friends, family, and colleagues, yet it isn’t the right fit for us.

We are taught to rely on advice and guidance from sources outside of us, yet the real source of advice and guidance is always within us.

One of my book coaching clients says she bought every self-help book ever written until she realized that all those books were only confirming what she already knew within her. She didn’t need outside advice, she simply needed to heed her internal guidance.

Your gut/your heart/your internal guidance knows what is right for you. I call it the IV, the Inner Voice. Tuning in to it and acting on it will lead you to your joy, guaranteed.

We often ignore the Inner Voice, our internal steering mechanism, because it may take us into uncharted territory. We are not sure what lies ahead, yet our gut says go for it. Our friends tell us to stay on the tried-and-true path. Our family preaches security. Our colleagues warn to play it safe.

So we do. On and on we trot down a path that is familiar and comfortable, and not fulfilling. When occasion arises to make a choice, we can feel the answer deep within us, yet we have been trained to ask the external sources for their advice and guidance. We somehow are taught to believe that others know better.

Really? Who knows you better than you?

I certainly have read many books, attended many workshops, and have listened to many coaches and mentors. I still do. Their advice and guidance has been reassurance that I know best. They don’t lay out the path for me. They don’t tell me to follow this road, turn left, then take a right. They simply keep me tuned in to MY internal guidance. They are the voices of calm and reason and trust.

The lesson we always need to hear, and the only one we need to hear: Trust yourself.

Sometimes that takes some getting used to. Listening to my Inner Voice has led me to where I now write, speak, teach, coach, and mentor women. I don’t give them “the answers.” I give them  tools and ways to tap into their Inner Voice. I am support and accountability as I help them discover how to trust themselves again.

Learning to listen to that Inner Voice is the key. It’s the key to your calm, your fulfillment, your joy. It’s the key to your health, your wealth, your relationships, your confidence, your happiness.

Your Inner Voice will help you birth that book, take that job, leave that job, get into a fitness program, sign up for calligraphy class, create birds with sequins and glue, tell your family no, tell your beloved yes, and always, always, always, your Inner Voice will take care of you.

To get you started getting back in touch with yourself, take a few minutes every day to be quiet and be with yourself. No distractions, no computer, no television, no electronics. Just you and your comfy spot in your home or office. Close your eyes. Breathe deep, fill your belly. In and out. Smile.

Picture a place, real or imagined, that brings you a sense of delight and calm. You may have been  there before, maybe not. Maybe you pick a scene from childhood where you feel safe and the stress of being a grown up had not yet entered your life. For me it was my apple tree in the backyard.

Sit in your calm, serene, restful place. Continue to feel the smile on your face. Feel any sensations that are there. Warm sun on your skin. A slight breeze. Feel the texture of what you are sitting on there. Is it the wide branch of a tree? Is it a silky soft bed? Is it the sand? Is it a cafe in Paris?

That’s all you do. Breathe in this place that you love. Take a few minutes and go there every day. In doing so, you are relaxing your body, which relaxes your mind and changes your body chemicals. You have reduced your stress level in these few minutes.

You have also opened up to being able to listen to your Inner Voice. It wants to speak to you. You simply are giving yourself an opportunity to listen.

Make a date with yourself daily. The more often you do, the calmer you feel, and you will start to  notice your internal guidance. You will reconnect with your innermost desires. You will be on the first step to living your life of joy right here right now.

You don’t have to put it off.  You don’t have to wait for “someday” to feel better. You don’t have to rely on the “advidance” of others. Take a few minutes everyday to relax into yourself. Trust that internal guidance. You won’t regret it. Your joy is waiting.