It took me a long time before I trusted my guidance more than my wounded self. 

There were many good reasons for this…

• My parents were atheists and anything to do with ‘God’ was considered to be fantasy. The mind was king and anything religious or spiritual was a ‘crutch.’ 
   
• On the other hand, my grandmother, who lived with us, was very religious, but her God was judgmental and controlling – not a God that I wanted anything to do with.
   
• So I learned to rely on my programmed wounded self for my beliefs and decisions. My left-brain mind ran my life.
   
• Given that I wasn’t happy, it was obvious that this was not working well. After years and years of many different kinds of therapies and workshops, I realized that there was a vast difference between spirituality and religion, and that neither my parents nor my grandmother had any idea of the truth.

Deeply rooted in traditional psychotherapy, and not happy with the results with my clients, I began my spiritual search. After practicing for seventeen years as a traditional marriage and family counselor, I met Dr. Erika, and we co-created Inner Bonding. She helped me to access my personal source of spiritual guidance, and I started to diligently practice Inner Bonding.

I wanted desperately to trust that there really was a source of love, strength, and wisdom available for me, but my unhealed shame got in the way. As long as I was abandoning myself and perpetuating the lack of love I experienced as I was growing up, I didn’t feel deserving of God’s love.

As I gradually stopped abandoning myself and learned to love myself instead, the shame healed, and I was more often able to stay open to learning. With this came the deep knowing that I, along with everyone on the planet, am never alone – that the love and wisdom that is spirit is always here for me.

Still, I needed to test it out. How could I be sure that what I was hearing coming through my mind was truer than what came from my mind? How could I be sure it really was spirit? I tested and tested. I noticed what happened when I didn’t listen, and what happened when I did. Finally, I was able to fully accept that my guidance is really here for me, and that she knows what is good and right for me. Finally, I fully accepted that my wounded self is a programmed survival part of me that has no access to truth or love.

Learning to fully trust my guidance has been a long process.

I see over and over with my clients that they are afraid to trust their guidance. 

“How do I know that what I think my guidance is telling me is the truth? How do I know it’s really my guidance and not my own mind?”

How do you know that what your wounded self is telling you is the truth? 

There are two ways to determine what is true:

• Tune in to your feelings. Your feelings of fear, anxiety, depression, anger, guilt, shame, jealousy, aloneness, emptiness, and so on are letting you know that what you are telling yourself is not true for you – not loving to you and not in your highest good. Your feelings of lightness, relief, fullness, peace, and joy are letting you know that you are hearing the truth.
   
• Test it out. Follow what your wounded self is telling you and see what happens and how you feel. Follow what you think your guidance is telling you and see what happens and how you feel.

With time and practice, you will gradually shift your allegiance from your wounded self to your guidance. Life may continue to include challenges, but it’s so much easier when you know that you are always being guided by an unconditional source of love and truth.

Learn to connect with your spiritual guidance with Unlocking Your Inner Wisdom, A 30-Day at-home Experience with Dr. Margaret Paul.