What is Finding Your Own Answers Within?

I’ve started using a couple of my own unique hashtags on social media to help people understand what I do and how I can help.  One of them is #findyourownanswerswithin.  I’ve had a couple of people comment asking what that even means, so this first blog post of 2021 is an attempt to explain what it means, why it’s important, and some sneak peeks into later posts that will dive into more detail.  Finding your own answers within is important for absolutely everyone, including you.  In my work as a coach, I do not provide your answers.  I provide you with the tools to go get your own.  Teach a person to fish, right?

Finding your own answers within pretty much means exactly what it says.  You have the answers to your questions and challenges inside yourself.  Whether or not you believe that is beside the point.  This is the famous “still small voice” we’ve all heard about.  You may call it the Universe, your higher power, God, or your soul.  Whatever feels right to you.  The bottom line is that no one else has your unique answers, so asking for the opinions of others likely won’t get you where you want to be.  Instead, you need to hear your own inner wisdom.

It’s all about learning to trust yourself more than anyone else.  Have you ever had a feeling about a situation that maybe didn’t make logical sense, but it turned out to be exactly what happened?  That is listening to yourself.  Choosing to remove yourself from a situation (or going all in, depending) because of that feeling is trusting yourself.  Investigators often have a gut instinct about how something happened or who did it.  That is listening.  Acting on that gut instinct by proving it with facts is trusting.  See the difference?

Most of us look at the logical stuff and just assume our feelings are incorrect, if they disagree.  But, when someone else has one of those gut instincts they share with us, do we listen to them?  Do we act on their feelings?  Or, do we confront them with the “facts” from our perspective?

Finding your own answers means trusting that gut instinct—our intuition or feelings about a situation – rather than relying solely on the logical arguments that may run counter to our own inner wisdom.

It does NOT mean, however, that we should ignore the facts or the logic and reason that presents itself.  Our left-brain, which thinks in those logical terms, is what has kept us alive and safe to this point.  However, it needs direction from our right-brain, our creative, intuitive side, to execute whatever it is that we want.  In other words, we need both the logical and the intuitive to live our best lives. 

Did I mention that your answers may not be my answers?  In fact, it is much more likely that we each have our own truths.  We are all spiritual beings having a human experience, but we are also all unique souls.  Because we are unique, so are our answers.  I have a friend whose mother used to say “the solution is in the problem.”  I would reframe that to be “the answer is in the question.”  Next time you have a question, stop and see how that question feels in your body.  I’m not asking you to ignore what the facts are telling you.  Instead, I’m asking you to feel it.  That feeling is your inner wisdom.  Don’t ignore it.  It may just lead you to the answer you are seeking, and it could even change your life. 

We live in a hyper-connected world, where we are “always on”.  This environment makes it more difficult to look inside for our answers, because we’re too busy receiving input from all kinds of external sources.  There is simply too much emphasis on DOING, and not enough emphasis on BEING.  After all, we are human BEINGS, not human DOINGS.  We need to value and make the time to just be.  We operate at our best when we have a balance of action and stillness.  And stillness is required to find, listen, and act on those answers within.

Everyone can access their own instincts or intuition.  You may not know how yet, but you will.  This month, we’ll be talking more about what it means to find your own answers, how to access them, and what to do with those answers once you have them.  If that sounds interesting, stay tuned for more.  I’d love to hear from you.  Let me know your thoughts.  Do you see the importance of the right-brain, intuitive side?  Is there some way that works for you to get to those answers?  Or, is this all too woo-woo and conceptual for you?  Do you believe you have your own answers already, or do you think those answers will come from somewhere outside of you?