Listen to Your Inner Voice/Intuitive Nature (IVIN)

Portland Peeps: Voice Lab Starts This Friday in Multnomah Village! Details below.

Everyone has what I call an Inner Voice/Intuitive Nature or IVIN. Some might call the IVIN that little voice in the back of my head, some a gut feeling, some women’s intuition, some God. Whatever you want to call it, it’s your best friend in connecting with the six degrees to your dreams and your authentic nature. Have you ever been driving somewhere and a feeling told you to turn left instead of right – regardless of what your navigation device or internet directions told you – or that if you went around the block, you’d find a parking space? That’s your IVIN at work.

Here’s a good example. While launching my Wishweavers business in Salem, Oregon, I worked one or two days a week to supplement income at a lovely gift and antique shop close to my home. I was the only person in the store one day when a young man walked in. He seemed cagey, excitable, and the hair on my body stood on end in his presence. He stayed in the store looking haphazardly at things until all the other customers in the store had left. He then engaged me in conversation. A voice inside my head seemed to scream, “He’s going to steal your purse!” He spoke mostly in monolog about a number of things, and I became more and more uncomfortable with each word he said.

Finally, he said he wanted to buy an antique kerosene lamp to ship to his grandmother who collected them on the east coast, and asked me if we had a box in which to ship it. I later learned this is one of the oldest tricks in the book for stealing from a retail store. I hesitated for a moment before going into the back room, that voice still in my head. I looked down at my purse behind the counter, made direct eye contact with the guy, and left the purse there rather than taking it with me into the back, not wanting to offend him should he turn out to be a legitimate paying customer.

I’d never moved as hastily as I did grabbing that box. The man was standing by the front door as I came out, easily less than three seconds later. He said, “I need to go to my car to get my wallet,” walked out the door and bolted down the sidewalk. I quickly glanced behind the counter. My purse was still there, but when I looked inside it, my billfold was missing. I raced out the door and he was already long gone.

I searched, notified the owners of the other businesses in the strip mall, called the police, filed a report—the usual things people do when they’ve been robbed. The thief had left a plastic soda pop bottle on the counter, which was dusted for fingerprints to no avail. My billfold was later found in a hobby shop not far from the store, completely intact except for the one dollar bill and change (I told you I needed to supplement my income!) I had in it. The billfold was also dusted for fingerprints and none were found on it, either.

The message from my IVIN was absolutely clear, yet I didn’t heed it out of fear of offending someone. I learned a big lesson that day! Listen to your IVIN! It won’t lead you astray, even if you can’t always interpret the message right away. I didn’t even need to interpret that one; the words and accompanying feelings which came were so strong, I simply knew this person’s intention was to steal from me. Not that he had a gun and was going to demand I empty the cash register to rob the store, but that he intended to steal from me personally.

Our IVIN helps us connect with our authentic nature and realize our dreams just like it alerts us to potential danger. Pay attention, listen, and take action based on this guidance.

How can you listen more deeply to your IVIN this week? Let us know on the blog!

Don’t underestimate your inner voice. It rarely speaks to you as the cartoons portray it—a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. That would be easy. In reality, our inner voice is usually very quiet. It gets drowned out by the noise of life or ignored in the rush. But it will take care of you, guide, help you. Listen. –Moments for Myself, a calendar by Blessings Unlimited.

Authentic Performance Voice Lab

Learn to: 

  • Harness the power of your breath to reduce performance anxiety
  • Speak with power and confidence for maximum audience impact
  • Be heard strongly and clearly at the back of the room
  • Connect with and touch your audience so they remember you
  • Loosen up, relax and be your genuine self on stage

 

June 2nd, Friday! 4:00 – 6:00 pm

7814 SW Capitol Highway, in the heart of Multnomah Village * 503-207-6664

Call Laura at 503-409-0421 or E-mail [email protected] to reserve your seat.

Authentically Yours, Laura