The human body is a miraculous machine built to insure its own survival.  It uses complex sensory input via the nervous system to interpret and navigate its environment.   Our sense of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell are regarded with high levels of trust and accuracy.  Even though our eyes play tricks and we may have a hard time hearing things we usually believe what they tell us.

There is another set of highly specific information the body has access to every minute of every day.   They are less subject to inaccuracy or interpretation, yet we tend to have a hard time believing them.  They are our emotions, intuition and our inner voice.  These mechanisms are just “there” with no real source or organ which produces them, so they are given less credibility.  But because they just exist as they are, I believe they are more deeply rooted in truth.

A particular food may be less tasty without your sense of smell  and you may loose sensation in your foot if you sit sideways for too long, but when you feel sad it –  is true, when you have a sense of loss – it is true and when you know something deep inside you – it is true.  Why is it that we tend to downplay our emotions and gut feelings, but fully believe the inputs we get from eyes, ears, nose, mouth and skin?

Let your inner voice guide you.

When initially diagnosed with a chronic illness we swim in a sea of new sensations – words that sound foreign to our ears,  sensations of pain in our skin from needles, smells of doctors offices and medications, and blurred vision from high glucose.   It is definitely sensory overload.  Those deep sensations are also in high gear as fear, panic and sense of doom are very real.

If you are in those early stages or even if you have been dealing with it a long time, the trick I have learned is to cling to the deep voice and let go of the outwardly senses.  Hold your breath so you don’t feel a needle stick.  Spray some perfume to cover the scent of hospital sanitizer. Close your eyes if you can’t stand what you are seeing.  But, embrace the fear and panic, it will make  you alert and curious.  Feel the sense of impending doom, it will make you realize how much you desire to live.  Let your anger and rage roar, its warranted if that is what you feel.  Those deep emotions need to be realized and validated, not pushed aside.

Trust your inner voice, it is part of your natural instinct to survive.  It wants the truth.  Even when you are scared, listen.   It is the one wanting to know answers to questions.  Ask the questions.   It is the one that makes you pull away when you need space to process.  Take that space.  It is the one that fights to do things on your terms.  Fight with it.

 Don’t confuse the voice seeking truth, with the voice that is mean and critical.   Your true inner voice will always be about what you need to change to find peace and purpose, not what someone else needs to do to make your situation better.