Conversations Within: Internal Dialogue

Once a consistent relationship has begun to develop through practicing the previous exercises and building upon your continuing Journal work, the process of inner communication will inevitably blossom. The subjects you wish to address will become deeper, more personal.

A well developed communication relationship with your Inner Self can be of great value in many ways. Among the many things developing a connection with your inner wisdom can provide are:

The opportunities for creatively understanding personal and spiritual issues is practically limitless.

However, as the issues you wish to address become more personal, the greater the 'stakes' in your own personal view of who you are, the greater the potential for interference. This is one of the intersections at which inner communication can become enlightening, confusing or self-deluding.

By the time you begin this 'advanced' stage, you should be very comfortable with initiating the dialog, slipping quickly into the relaxed, open and centered state. You should have established a good 'working relationship' with one voice or source that you identify as a key 'spokesman' for your inner self. If not, please do not continue. Keep practicing, listening for that most important link.

The goals of this exercise are to develop a mechanism for 'self-testing' any information you receive and to continue to develop a deeper relationship with your inner self.

Exercise: Deepening the Conversation

Pose a serious and important question, one perhaps that you have been studiously avoiding while building the relationship. You may ask the question in any way you like, taking note of your own emotional response as you do so.

Whatever response you receive, write it in your Journal. Write until the entire message has been completed. Do not judge anything, but do take note of your feelings about what you are 'hearing.' Remember, you are listening now; do not get caught up in any defensiveness and do not allow yourself to structure any further questions. Just write exactly what you receive.

When you are certain you have received your answer, remember to check your accuracy. Think about the rating for a moment, and match the percentage with the feelings you noted while listening to the response. Can you find the weak points in the reception? Can you identify the reasons for those lapses in clarity?

At this level, the task is more than testing your ability to open yourself with trust and awareness and perceive clearly. It is to be able to gauge how clear you are as you participate in the dialog.

Through identifying the feeling of clarity and and the weak points as you go along, your experience will blossom further, and your inner wisdom will become more fully available to you without the structure of the Journal session.

Follow up, if you wish, by asking for further clarification, either of the question or the reasons the communications lapsed. In the long term, it is better to know what might help improve reception, rather than greater elaboration on the apparently difficult topic!

You will find quickly that the more important the issue – the closer it is to the most important issues of your life or current situation – the more difficult it will be to be able to interpret well what you receive. Keep this in mind at all times: in spiritual work there may be challenges, but rarely or never roadblocks.

If something simply does not make sense or seems too difficult to deal with, set it aside. That is what your Journal is for. Reread the session after several weeks or months. Eventually the message will become clear.

In reality, the practice of this particular exercise will never end. Always there are important topics to explore, and our own Ego-defense and Parent systems continue to work strongly within, as they should. We need our defenses and our social consciences. We also need a way to circumvent them, however, when they defend us against our own search for personal growth.

In time and with practice, you will discover a lasting relationship with a friend you probably either never new or – more likely – you have forgotten.

If you keep these conversations recorded faithfully in your Journal, you will find an ever-deepening source of understanding and wisdom: your own.