As I drove into work today I had an inner feeling telling me to just take a different route. I’m not sure if it was boredom of the usual commute or conversely, me being more aware of the surroundings and somehow instinctively knowing to change directions. Perhaps it was GOD, or my inner self or the whispers of Deepak Chopra and his rules of the Universe and its infinite wisdom that I have somehow passively become attuned to.

Either way, I changed routes and made it to work intact and alive.

It would be both horrible and amazing if I had some sensational viral-making headlines on how I avoided a disaster of a gas truck sliding into an overpass.  Nope, there wasn’t a serious wreck or “Final Destination” type accident that would force the hooded figure of death to hunt me down for because I “cheated him” by avoidance of my usual route – Nope, it was business as usual in Corpus Christi.

So what was the feeling?  And why did I listen?

We all have our own set of beliefs and experiences that lead us to interpret these ‘premonitions’ and gut feelings. I’d argue that out of 100 people, 100 of us would explain it differently.

I don’t so much care what it is, that’s debatable and a never ending circle discussion – I’m not searching a debate here, but rather I’ll focus on that it actually IS something.  

Nearly everyone gets these feelings and more often than not they are ignored as irrational little blips in our subconscious and forgotten nearly as soon as they’ve entered the picture. They are virtually unnoticed.

Today’s article is a shout out to actually play with experimenting on yourself and listening for a change.   To start to notice.

As many of you know- I like to read – a lot.  About all kinds of things and I’ve been dipping my toe into the fringes lately.   Add to that that I like to think and I’m interested in what other people think – especially people from different walks of life and that have different experiences.

The last year has just really been impressional on me as I am in such a better place mentally, physically and emotionally than I’ve been for a long time and I think this idea of the little voice in our heads actually having validity has had a lot to do with it.

Some of you may be interested in this stuff as well, the borderlands of our consciousness.  A large part of why I set up BeAwesome365 is to lead you to your own path and help you sift through the millions of bytes of info –

I’ll drop some names today – These are the guys  I’ve taken some bits and pieces from during the last year.   If you want to dive deeper by all means, let me lay out the red carpet.  Click the links and dive in.

My advice and takes –

For the religious type – talk to your spiritual leaders – they can help you cultivate this inner/Greater power relationship.   From an idea of inner consciousness to the actual Voice of God, the ideas are out there. I have a nun I like to talk to that is really set on the rules of Catholicism as concrete – she has faith it “is like this (period).”  But at the same time is completely cool not knowing the hows or whys – she has a great view of the rules and what is laid out while at the same time saying, “that idea is above my paygrade…it’s a gift you should use but not question too much.”

I had a religious expert once explain it as, “God speaks to us all the time, but it’s usually not in words and is more like a whisper than a shout.”

My new guy in the clinic is a JW – These guys are just confident and at such a level of calm with their religious beliefs that it’s been great talking to him about the inner workings of God and the Universe and how they as a religious group explain things.

In the science realm there is of course your usual suspects, Jung, Maslow, Skinner, Pavlov and My dad – my dad is smart as hell and has decades of psych and soc data to pull from and take bits and pieces from – he’s retired now, hit him up!

For those seeking the inner self/inner voice for self help – Deepak Chopra is as good as it gets.  He is an MD with 30+ bestsellers and he uses his teaching as medicine to heal yourself in all kinds of avenues.  From Mental clarity to actual physical medicine through becoming aware with your body and circumstance. I also really like the Dalai Lama – he just has that air of him and is fun.

Aubrey Marcus gets out there deep and fast and his podcast with channeler  Paul Selig is like riding a roller coaster. Paul is a Channeler talking to his “guides” on the other side…wait wait before you throw it all out the guy has some incredible things relating to life and just what the heck we’re doing here.   Even if you can’t stand this stuff and think it’s all BS, there is a strong message involved.

Aubrey himself is HUGE into this stuff and has interviews with Jordan Peterson (a huge name in the game) and many others on this exact topic.   Dive into this stuff if your interested. This is where I first heard the ideas of the BIG SELF and how this internal dialogue is trying to help you compete and wrangle in your ego, which lies to us and justifies everything regardless if it’s the best decision or not.   The SELF vs EGO but explained much differently than psych 151 in the college rotunda, I use that idea and like the whole angle.  

Many of these guys use the whole idea of GOD, the universe, the inner self as all encompassing, as the same thing.  Interchangeable and beyond total comprehension. While this may appear blasphemous to some I think at the level they’re talking it can be pretty accurate.  To try to teach, discuss and debate this entire idea when it is so encompassing, gigantic and complex that there just isn’t a way to properly wrap our heads around it is cool by me.      

In any case – the revolution, these ideas, the deep thinking – It’s going on right now all around us and a bigger level than existed just a few years ago.   Technology has made this info and groups so much more accessible and now the petri dish of life changes so much faster. Exponentially!

Big Thinkers are out there and are going off on tangents that are often incredible and nearly always entertaining and insightful.  I think these BIG THINKERS happen every generation or so and we’re definitely on overdrive as a planet right now.

Part 2

Things happen for a reason, they just do – you truly just have to be a stubborn fun hater to just think its all randomness and nothingness.   This inner SELF tries hard to affect your life.

This is the second part of the coin flip I really have got results from.  Let it happen and process this – The decrease in stress alone is staggering.  The basic idea of things happen FOR you not TO you is a small shift in vocabulary and a monster shift in perception and life.

   

Stuck in traffic?  Maybe not moving for twenty minutes saved you from some unpleasantness down the road.  Maybe the fact you lost your keys this morning is so you weren’t the one in the car accident in the first place.  Just Basic mom rationalization here guys.

Now use it.

   

If you’ve been in line for 26 minutes for McDonald’s Drive Thru?  It’s time to forget it – McDonalds isn’t in your cards today. Drive away, someone or something is trying to tell you that you don’t need it today.  Maybe it’s not randomness, maybe there is higher purpose for you missing out today.

Navy Seal David Rutherford is a great guy to listen to, you’ll find his positivity on all the big blogs as well as his own podcast, Team Never Quit.    He says, “We get the signs we need when we need them and the more open you are to this type of thing, the bigger the signs appear and that makes them a lot easier to read.”

I think that’s a great summary.

I know, on the surface it maybe sounds a little crazy – i know this article isn’t my norm on the health/life front  but I’m telling you its a HUGE part of our health and mental as well as physical well being. My life is significantly enhanced when I’m dialed.  I’m happy – and I think we’re all as a species chasing happiness way to much – it’s right there for the taking, we’re just looking the wrong way.  If nothing else, it’s fun to play with and if your big SELF is at all like mine, its funny. It Enjoys feeling happy. It works to make me happy.

At the end of the day – that’s good enough.

Just like the inner voice – Different religions have different ways of looking at “why things happen” and I’d love to see comments below that discuss this further.

And What if it is just intuition?  Your gut feeling? Left over from our days as earth roaming animals and instinctual to our survival and propagation?  Well if thats the case, we need it! Yeah guys, as humans were just not really dialed in as much in modern society or in nature as our ancestors were.   It’s still real.

Andy, at Headspace,  ran a drill yesterday to show how truly “out of touch” we are.   All we had to do was be aware of each time we sat down or got up.  That easy – just one thing. Count the reps for the day. I made it to 2.   Fail…

No, I didn’t just get up and down twice, I did it probably 100 times but only thought to be aware of it twice despite instructions to pay attention.   Point being – we’re all on autopilot for the majority of our day. In all aspects.

Cheers to some part of our body/mind for just paying attention and sublimely suggesting things we most definitely overlooked.   Here’s my call out to listen.

Yes, There are dozens and probably hundreds of other takes on this idea encompassing all kinds of religion, psych and sociology.  You get to decide what it means to you, I’m just here to suggest you listen up and stop ignoring. Now look, before you make a determination on me – “Chad’s finally cracked.”  I’ll let you know, I’m just up for it. I don’t ride a hard line here, I dont know what it is – really I dont care – its beyond me needing to understand – The learning, the paying attention, listening to my inner voice or the Universe is deep stuff that I dont think I’ll ever fully understand, nor do I need to.

What I’m suggesting here is that MILLIONS of people suggest that listening to these subtle “feelings” have chilled them the hell out, helped them progress in life and improved their quality of life by not letting the little things get to them.  It directs them to more happiness and that’s what it’s all about. It has helped them make major decisions and tiny decisions. It has helped them get on with life after tragedy and if nothing else, just made life fun.

I have an article entitled, “It’s called a Clue” and I think that these clues are all out there.  They maybe are being overlooked by our eyes and central processing but at some level are being picked up.    Everyone from law enforcement to religious leaders to guys like me, just interested in bettering our lives are urging you to pay attention, get to know this voice and while developing this, get to know yourself.