What to do When Your Inner Voice is Talking CRAZY

Let me lead with this:  I have learned the hard lessons, if not suffered the consequences, of not listening to my inner voice.

“Never again” would be an understatement.

So, when she started to whisper, “it’s time to move on”, I honored it. Full disclosure? Not without first saying to myself, “This is totally nuts!" Nuts or not, my life lessons dictate diligently listening to my inner voice. I actively stayed open to listening and honoring what I was hearing. And like a reporter, I followed and investigated the lead. What transpired next is what I hope will encourage you to listen to your intuition, even when she sounds certifiable.

I loved living in LA. I loved my home. I loved my neighborhood. I have friends who've become family. I built a solid network. I had peace in my life. So the idea of leaving wasn't even on the radar in January. And Miami? Miami was never even on the radar, period. But for some odd reason, Miami is what my intuition was telling me. Things fell into place so quickly and so easily, every step of the way. In September, my original plan was to investigate Miami and revisit the idea of moving in January or February. It’s November and I'm sitting in my new home. When I tell you things just fell into place so quickly, they really did.

It was all so effortless. I attribute this to the fact that I chose to 100% listen to my inner voice.

Here's what I did to lean into listening, follow each next step and let go of the outcome.

1. Only Listen - Take No Action: The first step is always to just be open to listening. Don't do anything else but listen. I leaned only into the idea of moving. I tried to detach from staying or going by not playing either scenario out in my head. Often the way we imagine things unfolding isn't how they unfold. Even with an important decision like moving cross-country, I actively detached from any outcome.
2. What's Next: I took only the next step in front of me. For example, I focused only on booking my travel. Then I only focused on researching neighborhoods. I only took the next natural step in front of me. I explored and investigated one thing at a time without judging myself or what I uncovered.
3. Goals, Reimagined: I set targets, not demands. I didn't demand any single outcome from the trip. My target was to have two possible candidates for my future home by end of day Friday, should I decide to move. Friday afternoon, I walked out of my new home saying, "Did I really just sign paperwork?!?" 
4. NO Consultation: While I shared every step of my journey with friends and family, I made a conscious effort to not ask, not even once, "what do you think?" It is so important for your empowerment to listen to your inner voice, not outer voices. Outer voices, while well-meaning, only serve to turn the volume down on your inner voice. It's important to dial it way up and turn outside voices way down during this process.
5. Check In: Every step of the way, I checked in with how I was feeling. And I felt very calm at each turn. This picks up on #4, which is to say, when we tune out outer noise, we can really listen to our own counsel confidently, without second guessing. 

I believe that empowerment is a practice, something that we exercise regularly in order to maintain and even improve. This entire process has absolutely been an exercise in up-leveling my empowerment, yet again. Being self-aware enough to hear my inner voice and take bold action based on what I was hearing is a major component of my personal empowerment. I believe that the more we listen, the more we grow our empowerment, the more it all becomes second nature.

So as I sit here on my first Monday morning in Miami, let me say this...

May you always find time to be still and listen.

May you empower yourself to take the first step and see if it leads to a second.

May you always have faith in yourself that you will always have what it takes to be the version of yourself that you see in your mind. I believe that version is a vision, your inner voice whispering words of what might be. Your personal empowerment is your first step toward that vision.

D xx