How to Find Your Own Answers
We so often look outside ourselves for answers. We look to teachers, books, podcasts, tweets, the weather, you name it. In a world where we’re taught to obey more than trust ourselves it’s not surprising that we seek outside ourselves for answers.
Most of what can lead us to our own answers is within us. We are so stressed and focused on the worst case scenario and catastrophic thinking that we fail to take into account what we already know: our innate wisdom. We worry, and wonder what will go wrong, struggling to even consider imagining what could go well.
Easier Said Than Done
We hear things like “calm the mind” or “just meditate” or “take time to reflect” but so rarely do we prioritise these kinds of practices in our lives. Our busy minds seem to get in the way. Our busy lives seem to keep us distant from our own wisdom.
There is a place deep within us that knows, that has wisdom to offer our everyday experience. It’s the integration of all the ways we know what we know. Our brain smarts, our emotional intelligence, our intuition, our somatic senses… when we pay attention to these, we can access our wisdom. This is integrated intelligence.
We might imagine bringing all the ways we know what we know to be a long drawn out process. It doesn’t have to take a 10-day Vipassana Silent Meditation Retreat to find our own answers. The moment we pay attention to what’s already there, our feelings, our gut sense, even that pain in our neck, we are making a start. All of these are ways we know what we know, and can lead us to our own answers.
We are taught to focus on what our brain knows, assuming it’s the only or best way to know things. We are taught to put our feelings and our fears aside. We learn to distrust our body, our heart, and our gut. It doesn’t take much to bring those ways of knowing back into our consciousness and use the intelligence to lead us to our own answers.
Seek Insight
Mindfulness is all about being aware of where your attention is, where your mind is focused. When we focus on what our body is telling us, and on those thoughts that come to mind spontaneously, on how our heart responds when something comes to mind, then we have access to our own answers.
Many of us are already finely attuned to one or more of our other ways of knowing. You may hear someone say they make decisions based on their intuition, or that they follow their heart, or that to clear their head they go for a walk or dance it out. These are great examples of tapping into other ways of knowing beyond the traditional cognitive and primarily cerebral, thinking approach to knowing.
A great way to find your own answers is to combine different (or even just one) way/s of knowing in conjunction with what’s going on outside you. Use your intuition to assess what feels right. If you’re familiar with Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Blink” or rapid cognition, this can be a way to decide in a moment of clarity. This involves being willing to trust yourself and it can take practice to develop the wisdom that comes from integrated intelligence.
Wisdom Practice
How can we cultivate wisdom to find our own answers?
Here are some suggestions for wisdom practices. Some may be familiar, some will feel better to you than others, trust that! Go where you feel drawn to.
There are wise ones all around you. You can ask people, ask your cat, your fish, lizard, ask the spider that so skilfully weaves its’ web directly in your path. Nature is an amazing teacher. Ask the sunrise, the clouds, the birds, the rain. Know that these are all a reflection of you. You have the wisdom within you. Tap into it.
Calm mind — When we are still, reflective, quiet, the voice of wisdom emerges from the chatter. Ways to calm your mind include:
- listening to music that inspires clarity
- staring at the sky
- finding and environment that engages you in a way that lets your mind rest (art gallery, park, beach…).
- find a guided meditation you like that helps you to be relaxed and calm.
Cultivate inspiration — What inspires you? Make a list, make a commitment to yourself to do these things regularly. Have a balance of external things like performances, and inward things like personal achievement or being in nature or experiencing dedicated solitude.
Wisdom in the mirror — See your external world as a mirror of your internal world. Notice what’s going on around you, get curious about how that is a reflection of what’s going on inside. Are you hearing complaints? Is there something you’re dissatisfied about? Are you seeing beauty? What inner beauty are you expressing?
Whether you want to make a business decision or a personal life choice, you have it within you to do that from a place of wisdom. You can find your own answers.
