We often say: “Listen to your heart, not your head”. I would add: for it is from your heart that your intuition speaks, and from your head that your ego speaks.

We all have times when we know exactly what our heart desires, and times when it all seems blurrier. This internal battle happens constantly in many of us. Today, I want to help you recognize each voice clearly and avoid the tricks that our ego plays on us so as to confuse us into choosing it instead of our intuition.

First, let’s start by clarifying the role of intuition and ego in our life.
Intuition helps us elevate and merge with our divine essence, that part of us that’s pure, perfect and boundless. Some call this process ‘enlightenment’. The ego (here I specifically refer to ‘the part of our identity that we consider our self’, the ‘I’), on the contrary, is here to prevent us from finding our divine essence by keeping us attached to the pain, suffering and sense of separateness of this world, the only place where it (ego) can exist. (If you wish to delve deeper in this concept of ego, I recommend the book “The Disappearance of the Universe” by Gary R. Renard)

With that definition in mind, let’s take a closer look at how both voices play out in our life…

Does any of this sound familiar to you?
Have you ever been in that situation when you felt an irresistible urge to pursue something that you felt would open doors for you, and in the split of a second, heard your mind fire up with millions of questions, doubts & reasons why you shouldn’t do it?

All my life, I have mostly heard clearly both voices in me, and although I have rarely given much value to my voice of ego, I know how easy it is for some of us to give it more importance that it deserves. I’ll give you an example.

In high school, I was a Literature major because I loved poesy, philosophy and languages. Upon completing my senior year, I had to choose what undergrad education I wanted to get, and I chose International Trade (which was really just a bunch of general culture classes taught in English and Spanish languages). A bit but not too different from what I was doing in high school. However after three years of studying languages, I decided that I was bored out of my soul and wanted to get into a graduate Business School, and not into first year, mind you, but rather directly into second year. I remember when that idea emerged in me (‘emerge’ is the right word as I have no idea how it came to me). I was spending summer in Barcelona where I had lived and studied for almost a year. And right at that moment when I had that revelation “I should get into a Business School”, a millions of self-limiting thoughts starting pushing through the door: “I don’t even know Maths, how am I going to do Finance?”; “People who go to Business School are way smarter than me, how can I possibly think that I have the smallest chance to get into one of these prestigious schools? I won’t even pass the entry-exams!”; “I should just be content with what I’m doing now and not demand too much out of life”. Honestly, I had no idea where these thoughts came from, but it felt as if a deep part of me was really insecure. Very fortunately though, a much louder voice in me said: “F*** that nonsense. That’s it, I’m applying to Business School”. And it was the first of a long series of completely “insane” decisions I have made in my life, each one being logically more impossible than the previous one.

To make the story short, not only I got into that school with top grades at my entry-exam tests, but I also ranked first of the class out of 200+ students, got an extra MBA on my last year, got my first job as a journalist traveling around the world (WTF?), then went to work for a bank in the financial market industry (WTF*2), got a job as a Head of Marketing (doubling my salary at the same token), before working as a Transformation Manager for big multinational corporation, and all of this in just 8 years. Did any of it make sense? I trust the look on the face of my respective interviewers and say “No”. But all I can tell you is that, from my perspective, each decision that I took was always exactly what I was meant to do. And looking back, this complete faith in my intuition is what I believe have allowed me to live a life utterly devoid of limitations.

I realize that my personal experience is an extreme example of how listening to your intuition will bring you all what you could ever wish for. I have also had the chance to have supportive people around me (especially romantic partners) who’ve always believed in me and never tried to put me down, quite the contrary, and I see how it would be easy for someone to give in to his/her self-doubts. I’m not saying that it’s easy to trust one’s intuition over one’s fears. I have often observed people around being overwhelmed by self-limiting beliefs and I know that the struggle is real. All I’m saying is: “if you do try to trust your intuition, you will flow with life more effortlessly & reap rewards that you probably can’t even imagine await”. So next time you are faced with choosing between stepping up into your life, or remaining on the same spot, welcome your fears of failure and beliefs of ‘not being good enough’, but instead of giving them the power to control your life, practice seeing them for what they really are: hints that you’re heading in the right direction.

And to finish, I’m not saying that we should kill our minds and live a life devoid from reason. What I’m saying is that the mind should be the powerful machine that we put at the service of our heart, instead of the heart being put at the service of our mind. Let your mind show you how to get to what your heart most desire, instead of trying to force your heart to love what your mind chooses by fear.

Feel free to share your experience or insights in the comment section.

Until next time,
Kris