The Life-Changing Magic of Finding and Following Your Inner Voice

Written By Jan Moryl

Align Yourself With Your Calling, Joy and Inspiration

AI image generated on Freepik.

“In the final analysis, we count for something only because of the essential we embody, and if we do not embody that, life is wasted.”
-C. G. Jung

(If you have Medium membership you can also read this article here.)

When I started studying philosophy, I had no idea what to do.
I just knew that the idea I had before of studying civil engineering wasn’t what I really wanted.
But I did maths and physics in high school and was good at them. My dad was an engineer, and my aunt and uncle I looked up to were too. It was a job with guaranteed work and a good income. I had already enrolled, so it seemed like the sure path to follow.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a great idea, but it simply wasn’t mine.
It didn’t feel right, and I’m happy I had the courage to jump ship and change to philosophy last minute, even though not everyone understood my choice at that point. I thought that even if I was wrong, I could learn something from it. Yet, it wasn’t more than a hunch and roll of a dice.
I wasn’t sure at all, but at least it was my decision.

Something similar happened when I went traveling:
It was a phase of tremendous growth precisely because I didn’t have a goal and instead of pretending to have one, I embraced that fact. 
It enabled me to welcome any experience and adjust my path according to what happened.
Every obstacle became a part of the adventure. Even though things were challenging at times, I had the most amazing experiences and insights.

I would like you to consider one thing.

Suppose there’s an optimal goal somewhere in the future, a dream in which you can do whatever and be whoever you truly want, live the good life, create something beautiful, find fulfilment, purpose, and love.
Imagine that this path is hidden from you now. 
You know it’s there, but you don’t know which direction to turn to.

What would be the best strategy?
You can either: 
(1) Don’t do anything. 
(2) Follow the trail other people have left. 
(3) Just start walking and adjust your path according to your experiences.

If you follow a predetermined path, you won’t be making your own experiences. You won’t make your own mistakes, therefore you won’t learn what really drives you. 
If you start walking in a direction and adjust your course when clues appear like breadcrumbs, you’ll create your own path. 
But most importantly: You’ll learn to listen and trust your own voice.

Most of our problems stem from just that, from following rules.
-Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello 43

We all have this inner spark when we are born. We all have this incessant drive for curiosity, the ability to play, and to follow our deepest desires and inspiration. 
But usually we loose that spark throughout childhood. 
We are told to adjust to rules and expecations. 
We are told to be reasonable and realistic. 
We are told to behave if we are to be accepted and loved.

Through this process, we forget how to listen to our own voice. 
We may lose that inner spark and our authentic vision for what we truly want in the reasonable considerations of life.

We get so concerned about living comfortably and without risks that we don’t trust our more demanding ideas and inspirations.
Questions come in: How are you going to make a living? Are you sure this is going to work? When are you settling down?

But if we don’t follow our path and inner voice, we may either lose a part of our energy and of that inner spark, or we may get sick at some point.

Much sickness is arising through inner conflict when we are not being true to ourselves and our deepest needs and desires.
I’ve had this experience myself when I didn’t follow my vision.

I knew what I wanted deep down but I was too distracted to actually do something about it. I became physically sick and it took me a few years to find may way back.

If we are feeling empty or lost and also if we are not healthy this may mean, we are not doing what we actually want to do. 
We may be fighting with ourselves, which leads our body and our psyche to express this internal state through illness or depression.

When we align ourselves more with what truly gives us inspiration, joy, and purpose, we may find that we may have more energy and health, that we are more creative, more joyful, more motivated, etc.

AI generated image from Freepic.

This may sound easy, but it may be the hardest thing there ever was.

I realize today that nothing in the world is more distasteful to a man than to take the path that leads to himself.
-Herman Hesse, Demian, 134

It takes tremendous courage and a willingness to act against the expectations of others and deviate from the well-traveled path. 
It can be frightening to face one’s true desires and messiness, in contrast to all the well-adjusted learned behavior.

Leaving safety and comfort for the uncertainty of a dream may require a leap of faith and trusting in yourself. 
Yet, I found that life always rewards the brave.
We are far more successful when we align our thoughts (intentions) with our emotions (true desires) and our actions (will).


Only Action May Save You

The only way to freedom is by taking responsibility for one’s life. This means reflecting where we are in life and what brought us here, while also fully accepting whatever circumstance we are in.
If we are not embracing where we are, we get stuck. We’re obsessing about past events and playing the blame game, or thinking about what could’ve been.

Being responsible means being able to respond.
From there, we can act freely.

From here, we can become conscious of whatever incites inspiration, curiosity, creativity, passion, excitement, or love and work to expand it.
All of these are signs of our soul that we are doing what we truly love and desire.

Following these may be scary at times, but it will also be incredibly meaningful and fulfilling. It will usually also lead us to what we are best at.

So take whatever incites that inspiration, curiosity, creativity, or passion and run with it. 
Be messy and be decisive.

Create a vision, an idea of what you truly want to do and who you truly want to be, and act upon that vision.

Do you not know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.
-Thomas Jefferson

Most importantly, ACT.
Act and make mistakes. Only in that way do we create a feedback loop and learn fast.
Even the smallest action may be more valuable than just thinking about things.

Action will remove the doubts that theory cannot solve.
-Tehyi Hsieh

Through action, you are also signalling yourself that you are serious about doing that thing you’ve had in your head for so long. More inspiration, excitement and creativity will follow suit.

I myself am a person who is very perfectionist and mind-heavy. I can think about things for a long time without taking action. Often I found this frustrating because it can keep me from doing things.

But perfection is the best reason to procrastinate. It’s maybe the most hideous form of resistance because it gives us a great excuse.

I wanted to make this article three times as long to say all I wanted to say, to include everything, to make it perfect. Yet, I’m happy I didn’t. I would have not published it today, but maybe in a week or two.

…if you do with conviction the next and most necessary thing, you are always doing something meaningful and intended by fate.
-Carl Gustav Jung

Jan Moryl

I’m a writer, breathwork facilitator, and philosopher (M.A.) integrating spirituality, science, philosophy and psychology.
I’m researching and writing about the stepchildren of philosophy and science:
Psychedelics, initiation rites, mysticism, altered states of consciousness, alchemy.
But I also walk the path as well as I can and offer Breathwork journeys and guided meditations.

https://Soul-Philosophy.com
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