Drowning Out the Self

Have you ever felt a sudden unease—a twist in your gut, a surge of agitation, a wave of restlessness—yet found yourself questioning it? That sensation may be more than random discomfort. It could be your inner wisdom signalling a crossed boundary, a misaligned decision, or a path that’s not yours to take.

So why do we so often push this voice aside?

From an early age, many of us are taught to override our instincts—to be “reasonable,” to justify everything with logic, to prioritise external approval over internal knowing. Over time, the mind grows louder than the body’s cues, and the inner voice becomes a faint echo beneath the noise of expectation, habit, and fear.

For some, it takes a major life shake-up to hear that voice clearly again. Crisis can strip away the layers of conditioning, leaving us face-to-face with a truth we’ve been avoiding. But we don’t need to wait for life to break us open to access that clarity.

It begins with creating stillness. Moments in nature. A pause in your day. Breathing deeply. Noticing the body’s sensations and trusting that they matter. The practice itself is simple—the challenge is making the space and being willing to listen.

Many fear this stillness. Often it’s because deep down, they already know what they’ll hear, and confronting it may mean making difficult choices. Yet the truth doesn’t disappear when we ignore it—it simply grows louder, showing up as restlessness, tension, sleeplessness, or an unshakable sense that something isn’t right.

I’ve experienced this myself. When I’ve ignored my intuition, it often returns in the quietest hours—waking in the night with nothing but my thoughts, and there it is, clear and insistent. As Oprah says, it starts as a whisper, then it keeps getting louder until you have no choice but to listen.

The question is: will you wait for the roar, or make space for the whisper? Because your inner voice is not just something to hear—it’s something to honour. And in choosing to align with it, you stop drowning out the self and begin coming home to it.