The Voice from Within

© 2004 Boaz Rauchwerger

I don’t know how it happens. It just does.

Much of my work as a professional speaker deals with asking questions rather than lecturing. We could accomplish so much more in life if we simply asked more questions and talked less. Being a good listener is the bottom line of this thought pattern.

In most every audience that I address, I ask a few people to tell me their story – where they are from, what brought them here, do they have a family, what do they do. Everybody’s got a story and they are fascinating. I am genuinely interested in other people and, if you’re interested in success, so should you be.

Since my initial questions are non-threatening, people talk to me. Everybody talks to me. It probably helps that I begin in a friendly “I’m just curious” type of attitude and my tone of voice is very easy going.

As people tell me interesting things about themselves, I’m usually moved to ask additional questions based on their answers. Suddenly, a voice from within tells me to ask a totally unrelated question such as “What did you want to be when you were growing up?” or “Where did your grandparents come from?” or “What is it that you really want to do in life?” Many times I unearth fascinating facts that amaze everyone in the audience.

At other times I’m moved to call an old friend with whom I haven’t spoken in a while. Often I’m told that my call came at a critical time. We all have these hunches and should act on them more often.

Napoleon Hill, in the book “Think and Grow Rich,” called this inner voice “The Sixth Sense” or “the door to the temple of wisdom.” He further states in the book that, “The sixth sense is that portion of the subconscious mind which has been referred to as the creative imagination. It has also been referred to as the ‘receiving set’ through which ideas, plans, and thoughts flash into the mind. The flashes are sometimes called hunches or inspirations.”

The book recommends that people should listen to this inner voice. Hill further states, “Through the aid of sixth sense, you will be warned of impending dangers in time to avoid them, and notified of opportunities in time to embrace them.”

If you haven’t already read “Think and Grow Rich,” I highly recommend that you buy the book and read it over and over and over. The book deals with much more than money.

Another good book that mentions intuition, is one called “Be My Guest.” It’s written by Conrad Hilton and describes his creation of the Hilton Hotel empire. When he was a young man, just back from service in World War I, he wondered about his future in his native state of New Mexico.

Before going to war he had set his mind on being a banker. In fact, he had started a bank in his hometown and had achieved some measure of success. However, after the War, things had changed and he didn’t know what to do.

An older friend that Hilton had known in the past, Emmett Vaughey, was dying and had sent for Conrad to come and see him. Mr. Vaughey had been generous to Hilton, who was known to his family and friends as “Connie.” Thus, he thought there might be something he could do for his dying friend.

I’ll let him pick up the story. “Raising himself on his pillow, Mr. Vaughey said in an urgent, clear voice: ‘Go to Texas, Connie, and you’ll make your fortune.’ It was an order. Just like that! Something within me agreed. ‘He’s right!’ it said. I had a hunch these were my new marching orders.”

Hilton did go to Texas and, instead of striking it rich in the oil boom, he bought a boarding house to house the roughnecks working on the oilrigs. It was in Cisco, Texas that Conrad Hilton bought his first hotel, the Mobley, and the rest is history. He followed his inner voice, his intuition, and it led him into an incredible future.

Thus, intuition is something we all have and it can be cultivated by simply paying attention. Has your inner voice been telling you something lately? Perhaps it’s been telling you that it’s time to make a change in your life. Or to spend more time with the people you love. Or to take a trip and get away from things.

Whatever that voice has been saying, maybe it’s time to listen. One way that you can let that voice from within express itself is to simply ask the question, “What is the most valuable thing I should be doing today, tomorrow, next week, next year. That voice within usually knows the right answer.

An Affirmation of Intuition

I listen to my inner voice and act upon the messages that I am given.