Inner Listening: What Does Your Soul Want to Tell You Today?

A way to access Higher wisdom to keep connected and on course

I joined my church for two reasons.

First of all, I made new friends on my first Sunday there.

I Checked out the service because a friend was the new interim minister.

I thoroughly enjoyed her talk and the service. But what grabbed my heart and brought me back was meeting three women over coffee who made a point of getting to know me.

They asked twice as many questions as they answered. I felt seen, heard, and appreciated. On the first day.

As we finished our conversation, they invited me to stick around for Inner Listening.

What is Inner Listening?

It’s hard to describe in a few words, but here’s how it works.

We gather around a table in a small upstairs room with notebooks and pens, which are provided, as well as colored pencils and crayons.

After lighting a candle and enjoying an opening prayer, we each take a few moments to go inside, capturing any questions in our hearts. We might even ask Spirit, what would you have me ask you, today?

There are no wrong questions.

They can vary from minute to the meaning of life. We may ask about priorities for the coming week, or what to say to our ex. And every now and again, what’s my purpose on this planet?

We write our questions in a notebook or journal, putting our pens down when complete. Our favorite open-ended question is, what else would you have me know?

When everyone’s got their questions, those who wish to read theirs out loud. tI’s optional, but there’s value in doing so. Sometimes, our Higher Wisdom Self has information that applies to one of our fellow listeners.

If that happens, we ask permission before sharing it out loud. Everyone’s privacy needs to be respected.

After sharing our questions, we re-center with another prayer.

Now comes the heart of the process.

We go into sacred silence and see what comes to us. Maybe nothing more than a delicious time to enjoy the peaceful ambiance with kindred spirits. There’s a couch and a window seat where you can stretch out comfortably, and there are afghans to wrap yourself in.

Maybe what comes is an image in our mind’s eye. This happens a lot. Hence the crayons. We trust spirit knows the best way to get a message through.

For most of us, this Higher Wisdom comes in words.

Often the Voice, as some of us call it, has a markedly different style and syntax than how we talk and write. That’s a clue this is not coming from our egos.

Where does it come from? Who’s really speaking?

This is a question we each get to answer for ourselves.

One of my favorite spiritual writers, Janet Conner calls this soul writing. She teaches a very similar process, and describes it in her book, Writing Down Your Soul: How to Activate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within.

What or who is this Voice?

I believe we live, move, and have our beingness in The Divine Mystery Who Goes by Many Names and yet remains Unnamable. And that the Divine Mystery lives, moves, and has its beingness in us.

So I don’t have any qualms about the Voice being Spirit Itself. Or my soul — the part of me that’s connected to Spirit 24/7 even when my ego may not be. That ego sometimes does her own thing. Sooner or later she comes back and wants to plug in again. Having patience helps.

Some prefer to think of this Loving Presence that responds as their Higher Wisdom Selves. Some just give it a name and don’t worry about a fancy theological explanation.

We’re in church after all, in a room full of dynamic prayerful energy as well as kindred souls. Something new and uplifting is bound to show up sooner or later.

Usually sooner. That’s been my experience.

While I do this practice often at home or in a cafe on my own, there’s something magical and mystical about doing it with a group.

We feed off of each other’s energy. We nurture each other with answers.

’Cause when all the pens stop, we read our responses out loud. It’s optional and we don’t have to share every question nor every answer, though most of us do.

But not always. And our privacy is respected. Each person is free to craft this experience as needed to work for them.

If they’d rather be alone to write, there’s a room next door. Our only rule is no talking till were all done. And silence your phones. If you need to take a call, step outside.

The sharing is powerful.

We listen with awe, reverence, and minimal cross-talk. Mostly we say thank you and lift up a line or two that resonates for us.

If the Voice is funny, which mine often is, it’s fine to laugh. Laughter is a great way to get an awkward message across. My Higher Self does it all the time. That’s what I love about Them.

For example, I recently asked about how I can take better care of my neck.

The response I got first listed four things I could well be doing, but never seem to. I was told to get cracking — with this quip:

Do you need to see the Ghost of Christmas Future on this? Not to put the fear of God in you, but well…..if the shoe fits…..

That got my attention! I’m back to daily stretching.

I’m constantly asking about how to make more time for my writing, especially my novel. I’m good at getting posts up on Medium. Less consistent with novel edits.

Check out the response I got to that:

Here is a paradox — spiritual practice functions like time out of time. What we mean by that is, it’s generative and instead of taking time from you, it empowers your time and energy, allowing you to do more as well as be more.

You are scared that if you take the time to meditate you won’t get as much done. We find the opposite true. You may be surprised how much you get done when you start on a spiritual keal. So pray up early and often. Turn on those Gregorian chants to keep tuned into our channel.

You heard right, our channel. My Spirit Voice answers with the pronoun We. Sounds funny for one who believes in Oneness. But that’s how it comes to me, and I just scribe what I hear in my mind’s ear.

In our Sunday gatherings, after everyone has shared who cares to, we remind newcomers that once this door has been opened, it tends to say open. Don’t be surprised if more insights come through. If you don’t get all your answers at once, they still may be on their way.

Everything that’s said here is confidential except you can share what you received with anyone you care to. Then we close with a prayer.

I’m about to close, too. But first I want to share a nugget I received earlier this year, on one of our Inner Listening Zoom sessions. Yep, we do them monthly on zoom.

Here’s that nugget:

Learn more about Mother Trees.

The earth needs all of you to care for her and stop the forces of death and destruction. The earth has a huge knee on her neck. She needs all y’all’s help getting that huge knee off her neck.

So whatever else you do, make a little room for Mama. Or there won’t be a world to do those other things.

Get your priorities straight. In order to breathe deeper, there has to be oxygen. You can’t fake air. Accept no substitutions for a healthy planet. Listen to Greta (Thunberg). Let her know she’s not alone.

None of us are ever alone. Even in our most silent solitude, we can take out our pens, papers, prayers, and do a little Inner Listening. Namaste!

Marilyn Flower writes political humor and satire to delight socially and spiritually conscious folks. She’s the author of Creative Blogging: Ninja Writers Guide to Character Development and Bucket Listers, Get Your Brave On: How to Do the Thing You’re ‘Too Old’ & ‘Too Scared’ to Do. Clowning and improvisation strengthen her resolve during these crazy times. Stay in touch!