SGM July 2014 Weekly Message Four: “Receiving Accurate Inner Guidance”

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Welcome back to the July 2014 Edition of Spiritual Growth Monthly. I’m Kevin Schoeninger. It’s great to have you with us here at SGM.

This week, we conclude our exploration of the deeper secrets of meditation by discovering three steps to accessing accurate inner guidance. This may remind you of last month on SGM, when we talked about how to grow your intuition in several areas of your life, including finding your life purpose, health, wealth, and the love your soul desires.

Yet, even knowing these keys, many of you have told me that it’s challenging to know and trust your inner knowing. Many of you tell me that you come up “blank,” or that you have many different inspirations and find it challenging to know exactly where to put your time, energy, and focus.

I really understand where you are coming from. I’ve been experiencing many of the same things in the past year, as I’ve been looking to make some big changes in my work and career. I’ve felt Life calling me to grow and expand, yet the path forward hasn’t been crystal clear. I feel fortunate that the insight I’ve needed is coming to me now—and as that has happened, what seemed like obstacles before are beginning to melt away.

So, I’d like to share with you what I’ve discovered, in the hope that it will help you find your path forward to what is most important to you right now. For me, these insights have opened up in meditation—specifically in the deeper secrets of meditation that we are exploring this month.

So far, we’ve talked about three stages of meditation practice: Conscious Relaxation, Blissful Concentration, and Transcendence. Each of these stages is valuable in their own right. And, they clear the way for Stage Four: Inner Guidance. Before we get to this exciting fourth stage, let’s talk about why we need these first three stages before we can accurately access our deepest inner knowing.

Let’s begin with an evolutionary fact:

Human beings have evolved with certain biases that make us very good at surviving and avoiding dangers, and not so good at truly thriving!

In his book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman describes how human beings have evolved to be much more strongly risk-avoidant than success seeking. This leads us to choose safety over rewards and to listen to inner voices of fear more strongly than inner voices of inspiration.

In addition, according to Kahneman, we have evolved two systems of thinking, System One, which is automatic and mostly subconscious and, System Two, which is deliberate, intentional, and reflective. System One is biased toward what we already know. It is habitual and automatic—and, as such, takes little or no conscious effort. System One thoughts are so obvious to us that we most often don’t notice that they are filled with biases, mental shortcuts, and plain inaccuracies.

Because of the ease of slipping into System One thinking, it is our “go to” mode of operation. As Kahneman says, people “gravitate to the least demanding course of action. In the economy of action, effort is a cost, and the acquisition of skill is driven by the balance of benefits and costs. Laziness is built deep into our nature” (p. 35, TFAS). This laziness leads us to have biases such as overlooking contradicting evidence, giving too much weight to what is familiar or most recent in our minds, and choosing the easiest explanation rather than the most accurate one.

We especially fall into these biases when we are worn-out, overburdened, and stressed. At these moments, we will go with what is easiest. When we feel depleted, we are much more likely to go away from what we know is true, what is best for us, and what will lead to thriving and well-being. We lose our connection to Inner Knowing and are much more likely to go off our diets, blow off exercise, overspend, react aggressively, and give up on our goals and dreams.

Yet, even when we have the energy, we are usually less than fully aware of our mental biases toward sticking with what is easy, speedy, safe, and certain. This is one of the reasons that we have trouble accessing intuition. Inner Guidance often leads us into the unknown. It takes us down paths that are not predictable and comfortable. It asks us to venture into wider expanses and greater possibilities.

Part of us, the Core part of us that houses Inner Guidance and System Two thinking, is up for this journey, and part of us, the System One self, feels threatened by it. We doubt our ability to be successful. We get afraid of what might happen if we try something new, so we stick to what we know—even if it’s doesn’t feel all that great. Because of that, for many of us, it will take running into some real roadblocks, persistent challenges, and repeated bad experiences before we are willing to take the plunge and seek out the Core part of us that knows what to do.

Once we reach that point of readiness, there is some time-honored wisdom that can help us:

Einstein said “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

This is precisely where Inner Guidance comes in. Inner Guidance comes to shift our perspective. It gives us the different kind of thinking we need in order to solve the problems and challenges we’re facing. And, that’s exactly what can make it so scary. Fortunately, meditation can really help with this.

In order to access Inner Guidance and the different kind of thinking that it brings, we need to transcend the limits of our normal, habitual ways of looking at things. That is the power of the first three stages of meditation. Stage One helps to Consciously Relax from the stress of our normal ways of thinking. Stage Two empowers us to be able to choose a different focus by concentrating deeply. Stage Three frees us from the grips of our smaller perspectives by opening us to a feeling of open, clear, spacious awareness.

These first three stages put us in position to tap into Inner Guidance in Stage Four. In Stage Four meditation, you can tap into an amazing inner resource, the Core part of you that knows what to do. I spend some time actively seeking this guidance at the end of each meditation session.

Now, since we have an evolutionary bias to listen to the voices of fear, safety, habit, and what we already know, it’s important to be alert for these biases and know how to move past them. I’ve found three steps important as I persistently pursue Inner Guidance in my own life. It’s these that I’d like to share with you now.

Inner Guidance Step #1: Brainstorming possibilities with an attitude of openness, non-attachment, and innocence

The first rule of Inner Guidance is being open to a wide variety of possibilities. As the Einstein quote above reveals, our problems are the result of being stuck in a way of thinking—and until we are able to get out of that mindset and see things in a new light, our lives will be plagued by the same issues, obstacles, and challenges.

Inner Guidance will prompt you toward new ways of thinking and being. If you are anxious about the answers you might find, it’s natural to want to have a quick answer that doesn’t challenge you at all. And, this will most likely be an answer that is from the same mindset that is causing the problem in the first place. So, it’s vitally important to be on guard against answers that come too quickly—or at least to be open to more than one possibility.

It’s also easy to get attached to the first thing that comes to your mind. This may indeed be exactly what you need to know, but it’s important to just note what comes up without getting too attached to it at first. See if you can maintain an innocence about it all. In other words, is it possible to imagine that you know nothing about this situation, so you can entertain all possibilities?

In this first step, you are opening the doors wide and letting in anything at all. There will be time to whittle down your options in the next steps. But, at first, see if you can let go of preconceptions and imagine anything at all. A great way to do this is to brainstorm possibilities in meditation after you’ve reached the stage of transcendence and you feel really open and clear. You can ask Inner Guidance for options, you can imagine what you truly desire, and you can brainstorm as many options as possible. Many people like to brainstorm on paper. I like to do all of the above.

Inner Guidance Step #2: Following feelings, clues, and connections

Once you’ve opened the doors to a wide range of options in Step One, it’s time to follow the clues that have been opened up. Investigate the options that appeal to you most. Notice what feels really good to you. Notice connections and see how things come together.

When I allow myself to be really open in Step One, several inspirations often come to me. I may be prompted to do specific online searches, call people I know, or visit places that are calling my attention. For example, I am leaving my current employment with LifeTime Fitness on July 31st and I am really trying to be open to the best next opportunities.

I’ve received an invitation to teach a meditation retreat in Western Colorado, requests to work with clients at a facility I have been at before, Matt Clarkson asking if I would like to do more webinars and online coaching, an inspiration to write a new book, my Mom’s suggestion to take some time off, and a suggestion and owner contact info for doing training at a new facility that is near my house.

All of these interest me—and that last one just jumped out at me to follow up on this week. Out of all the possibilities that were presenting themselves, this one grabbed my attention to pursue right away. Here’s how it unfolded:

I was sitting at my desk at LifeTime Fitness and, seemingly out of nowhere, one of the trainers walked up to me and asked me where I lived. I told her Lafayette, Colorado. She said, “Hey, I live there, too.” It turns out we live a couple blocks from each other and never knew it. She went on to say that she works with some clients at a facility right near our houses and could put in a good word with the owner.

That same day I ended up talking to him and visiting his facility. When I was there, I noticed that another trainer I’ve known for years also works there. I called him and asked him what he thought of the facility—and he gave a thumbs up. When I asked one of the clients whom I envisioned might want to work with me there, I found out that it is right near her work and she’d love to meet me there.

I went home from visiting that facility and found that I immediately had an inspiration for new business cards and a flyer to put up there. Everything flowed so easily. By following a clue in that one inspired momentary meeting that morning, a whole new course of action opened up. Along with it came everything I needed to follow it out right away.

Inner Guidance Step #3: Testing, Discernment, and Trust

Now, when you follow an inspiration and everything seems to come together almost magically, it’s very easy to get attached to it and overlook certain details. I’ve had so many inspirations in my life that felt so great in those initial moments—and seemed to be leading me in a certain direction—only to find out that they were important only to lead me to something else. Many times I have put far too much time, energy, and money into inspirations that later turned out to be simply “perspective shifters” that led me in a different direction.

This is where System Two Thinking comes in. System Two thinking enables us to step back and reflect upon our inspirations. The type of detached observation we practice in meditation helps us do this. It helps with seeing things as they are, so we can evaluate them more objectively.

In Step Three, we test our inspirations to see what is really in them. For example, sometimes we meet someone who gives us a piece of vital information and we never see them again. Sometimes we meet someone who becomes a part of our life for a long period of time. When I took my position at LifeTime Fitness, I thought of it as a long-term commitment. After only a few months, I came to understand that it was a short-term learning experience. It gave me the confidence I needed to move forward.

We need to test our inspirations in light of what we know about ourselves, in the light of ongoing discovery, in the light of what we learn from others, and as always subject to new insight. This requires persistent testing and Trust that there is a Bigger Plan for our lives. Because of the nature of Life and consciousness, we only glimpse what we need to know to take our next step. It takes Trust to take that next step, and the next, and the next, without knowing exactly where we are going—and this is exactly what we are asked to do. I find that important to know.

Inner Guidance is an ongoing conversation with Life. It is about not getting set in our ways. It is about always being open to discovery, a little risk taking, and keen observation of and appreciation for what Life is revealing each moment.

Meditation is a preparation for this process. In meditation we learn to relax, observe, let go, shift our focus, and receive Inner Guidance. We learn to release old perspectives that no longer serve us and tap into that deeper Core part of us that knows what to do right now—just right now.

As you practice the four stages of meditation again and again, I think you’ll find that Inner Guidance becomes more precise and less circuitous. You become better and better at picking up the signals and signs that lead you on your way. You become more discerning about what things mean for you. And you come to recognize the tensions and resistance that are asking you to pause and see things in a new light. I think this is why it can often seem so elusive, because Inner Guidance often tells us something unexpected or unwelcomed by System One thinking. It asks us to go deeper.

Remember Einstein’s quote.

To move forward in life, to overcome the challenges you’re facing, it’s essential to see things from new perspectives. The Four Stages of Meditation are powerful tools to refresh your perspective, connect to new possibilities, and discern the Inner Guidance that will lead you forward.

I would love to hear about your moments of Inner Guidance and any challenges you find in accessing and following your inner knowing. Most likely, what you have to say will be helpful for you, me, and others here at SGM.

Until we meet again,

What is Life showing you right now?

Kevin