There is a gentle voice within each of us.
When we are children, we hear this voice with great clarity and we live by what we hear. So we are immensely happy.
As we grow older, we become aware of all the other voices that surround us—the voices of parents, siblings, friends, critics, television, strangers, and experts.
All these other voices have the strength and confidence of experience, so we become fascinated with them. And as we enter into this fascination with all these other voices, they begin to distract us from the gentle voice within.
As we begin to listen to all these other voices, we begin to doubt, question, and ignore the gentle voice within. And gradually, the one true voice within each of us grows fainter and fainter. Finally, when the gentle voice within us has become so faint that we can hardly hear it anymore in the midst of our daily activity, we are told that we have grown up, that we are adults, and that we are now ready for life.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The gentle voice within is your truest guide. It has absolutely no self-interest. That is what sets it apart from every other voice in your life. The gentle voice within you is interested in only one thing, helping you become the-best-version-of-yourself.
Whether you call it your “conscience” or give it some other name, we all have this gentle voice within us. It is our true self, directing us toward our essential purpose. It is the-best-version-of- ourselves talking to us.
Take a moment to think about it. When was the last time you obeyed that gentle voice within you and it made you miserable? When was the last time the gentle voice within led you to become a-lesser-version-of-yourself? It may lead you to the pain of discipline and self-sacrifice, but always in the quest to help you embrace more fully the-best-version-of-yourself.
It is only when we ignore the gentle voice within that we find ourselves in places of misery and quiet desperation.
What we are called to do above all else is to learn once again to listen to the gentle voice within us. Only then will we have the peace that we all seek, but that only a rare few ever find.
Matthew Kelly
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