Deciphering Ego from Intuition
5 Ways to Identify Your Inner Voices
When you start on your spiritual journey, you’re told to follow your inner guidance. Trust your gut. Listen to your intuition. And so, you get quiet to be able to listen, but wait, what’s that? You hear two voices. Am I crazy? You wonder. Nope. Those two voices are your ego and intuition.
The moment you realize you have two voices speaking to you, listening to your inner voice becomes a whole lot more complicated. (Hey, we never said this spiritual journey stuff would be easy!) Your ego and intuition are like the devil and angel on your shoulders. The ego is the enemy or bully hellbent on keeping you stuck where you are; whereas, your intuition is that friend who encourages you to keep reaching. In simple terms, the ego is concerned with helping you survive and your intuition is concerned with helping you thrive. The challenging part is decoding which is which.
Deciphering between your ego and intuition can feel like being stuck at a fork in the road. You’re being pulled in two different directions and don’t know which way to go. To make things harder, the ego’s voice is loud and skilled at grabbing your attention, but the loudest voice in the room doesn’t necessarily have the most valuable thing to say. Listening to your ego means listening to the dominant voice. Learning to listen to your intuition means learning to listen to your gut. Below, we break down how you can differentiate the two.
What is the ego?
The ego is your conscious mind or sense of self. It’s influenced by the world around you and makes up stories and beliefs based on the world to keep you in what it perceives to be a safe, comfortable, and controlled state of being. Ultimately, the ego creates a false sense of self based on the external world. The ego lives in constant fear and is notorious for holding you back. When the ego is at work, you may experience a sense of worry, scarcity, judgement, and self-criticism. In yoga, the ego is known as ahamkara. When we overattach to ahamkara, or this sense of ‘I’, it leads to feelings of separateness, driving us further away from enlightenment and wholeness.
What is your intuition?
On the other hand, in yoga, your intuition is what connects you to the universe. Your intuition is heart-centered and operates from a place of abundance, aware that comfort, happiness, and peace come from within. Linked to your third eye, your intuition helps you tune into the energy and knowledge of the universe, transcending logic and reason. Your intuition is a quiet, gentle hand guiding you toward your greatest good.
Which voice is it?
Learning to decipher ego from intuition can feel impossible, but there are steps you can take to get clear on which voice is speaking to you.
1.Check in with your body
If you feel contracted, sense resistance, or experience shallowness in your breath, tightness in your chest, or nausea, then it’s your ego talking. When your body feels calm, expansive, and light, that’s your intuition.
2. What’s the tone of voice sound like?
Your ego is competitive and criticizing; whereas, your intuition is loving and kind.
3. Notice where the voice is coming from
Is the voice coming from your head and trying to rationalize your decisions and actions or is it coming from your gut and heart?
4. Pay attention to timing
Your intuition is instinctual and will speak immediately. However, your ego comes in a few moments later after the brain has had time to overthink and be influenced by the outside world.
5. What’s the voice’s objective
The ego’s aim is selfish, but your intuition is universal.
Connecting with your spiritual guidance
If the ego has full control, you’ll live in a state of constant stress, anxiety, and depression. However, this doesn’t mean you need to get rid of the ego. Rather, you should focus on getting better at recognizing it for what it is. Remember, the ego is just trying to protect you. The ego alone is not a bad thing. It’s our attachment to ego that leads to problems. Identifying which voice is the ego will help you locate limiting beliefs so that you can break free from these limitations. When you can recognize the difference between ego and intuition, you’ll get better at listening to the subtler voice and creating space for receiving messages from Source. As you build trust in your inner guidance system, you’ll improve your emotional intelligence (EQ) and begin to make choices that feel more in alignment with your truth.