Be the best you can be, but be who you were meant to be, who God intended you to be, not what your Ego tells you to be. Most of us have not realized that there are several different voices that we hear in our mind. What we work on is discerning between these voices. Our ego is tricky and has a voice that can be authoritative, which is commanding, a voice of passivity (permissive) that allows you or others to take advantage of you, and a fake spiritual voice in which it pretends to be your guidance. All of these voices oppose each other, they each have the same amount of control over us. Within myself and working with clients I have noticed that each one of us lean towards hearing a more passive ( permissive voice ) or the authoritative voice.
I will give an example of my own: I tend to hear a more commanding voice more often from my ego. In the past I would decide to go on a diet and this voice would be extremely strict of what I can eat and does not give any wiggle room. I am at work one day and I see that someone brought donuts in and I hear in my mind, “wow there is one of my favorite donuts”! And then I hear, I have been doing so well on my diet, I can eat the donut and then tomorrow, I’ll just go back onto my diet! And so what do I do, I listen to the voice and eat the donut, not understanding the complexity of the Ego and its hold on me as I think it is just my thinking voice. Those 2 voices are diametrically opposed to each other and are in competition for control over us. I learned this understanding from Margaret Paul’s Innerbonding framework. Neither of these voices are correct, they are both unloving, irrational and we are not to listen or follow through from either one of them. Think about how many times we start something and do not follow through, it is because of these opposing voices. This takes a lot of practice.
Being able to make these distinctions are very important, because each one of these voices are connected to thoughts, feelings and patterns of behaviors when listening to them. No one taught us that these voices exist and they are the mind chatter that is so pervasive in our head. These are the voices that make so much noise that it makes it difficult to hear the gift of the Divine voice within us, our soul or intuition, which ever you prefer.
The only voice we need to listen to guide us is the Divine voice. Staying in tune with this voice takes time and practice and does not come easily. One has to train their mind to be silent from the chatter of the Ego. The way to do this is through meditation since you are able to be still and quiet and notice the chatter of what is happening all day long in our minds. The more you get used to hearing this chatter and the content you can now start to discern what is from your Ego and what is from the Divine within.
The more you practice this, you start to let go of worries and fears that have been driving all of us. When you have more clarity of hearing your Divine voice you will also understand that you have an internal compass for everything you need, that your life is Divinely driven and protected. You will also open yourself up to any other spiritual guidances you might have within. It will lead you to a life of peace, purpose and creativity, if you allow it.
