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Whether you follow ancient philosophies, God and religion, meditation practices, or modern science and self-help, there is a common thread that ties them all together: the belief that truth and wisdom come from within.
Stay with me here.
In the Bible, it’s called the “still small voice,” the quiet whisper of God speaking to Elijah. In Buddhism, it’s the recognition of our “Inner Buddha,” the wisdom and enlightenment that lie within each of us. In Hinduism, the Atman—our true essence and innermost spirit—is seen as part of the universe itself.
Meditation teaches us to silence the noise, connecting us to our “true voice,” free from the clutter of mind chatter and outside influences. Modern self-help? It champions listening to your own intuition over the noise of others. And even science is discovering the intuitive power of the gut—our so-called “second brain” that guides decisions from within.
Sh*t! Even Oprah has a take on it: “Your life is always speaking to you. First, in whispers. If you don’t pay attention to the whisper, it gets louder and louder. I call it the ‘still small voice.’ The instinct, the nudge, the inkling, the call to make a change.”
Not too long ago, I had an epiphany. It’s funny how often epiphanies aren’t some unprecedented new idea or a brilliant concept no one’s ever thought of before. Instead, they tend to be something that’s come up in conversation over and over again.
Like that couple who was told they couldn’t get pregnant and gave up after years of trying, and then suddenly, one day, the stars align— maybe he ate a sh*tload of oysters that night, maybe she wore those lucky socks everyone swears by. But somehow, against all odds, that one little strong swimmer finally gets through.
That’s how it was for me with this realization.
I had been working hard to prioritize meditation. To spend time calming my mind, breaking the cycle of negative thinking, and calming my body to sleep better and improve my health. I visualized stimulating my vagus nerve, the main component of the parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for regulating vital functions like heart rate, digestion, and relaxation (look that up if you haven’t heard of it before—it’s fascinating). I even used meditation to quiet my mind in order to find answers to my life’s biggest questions—though I wasn’t entirely sure where those answers were really coming from.
But one day, I just saw it differently.
Meditation—some might refer to it as prayer, reflection, walking in nature, or activating your vagus nerve to connect your head, heart, and gut—was actually a way to find and connect with something deeper inside myself.
Something kind. Something wise. Something impervious to the negative thinking, doubts, and fears in my head. Something that knows the right path forward for me. Something that doesn’t always give me all the answers when I want them but always gives them when I need them. Something funny at times! And something that is there to guide me with the truth, even if I don’t want to hear it.
Something…that loves me.
My mom passed away nine years ago. My single priority when getting a new cell phone since has been to preserve the six voicemail messages I still have from her so they can always be just an arm’s length away, right next to me, in my pocket. I still have yet to listen to even one of them since she died, fearing that hearing her voice will break me all over again.
I don’t always find it when I try. But now, months after that epiphany, after dedicating time each morning to looking inward—trying to connect with that deeper self, or whatever you want to call it, past the negative mind chatter and underneath the worries and to-do lists—I’ve connected with that “something.”
And what astounds me the most isn’t just the answers or the guidance. It’s that being there, in that space, feels like a hug from my mom.
Whisper of God, Inner Buddha, Atman, True Voice, Intuition, Gut, or Still Small Voice (thank you, Oprah)…to me, I don’t think giving it a name or defining it is really what matters. It’s connecting with it that counts.
Prioritizing the time to start searching for it, being brave enough to face down the negative mind chatter and look underneath, to regularly embark on that search until you find it—and then revisiting it as often as you can so you don’t lose it again.
That is what’s important.
When I connect with it—which is most of the time when I’m diligent about looking for it each day, and less often when I get distracted with life and skip a few days—I don’t want to leave that connection. I want to stay in that safe, warm, loving, and knowing space for as long as I can.
I am grateful I’ve found that something, that someone, that place I can turn to when times are tough or I’m feeling low.
My favorite name for it is “Inner Sage.”
Whatever you want to call it—Inner Sage, Whisper of God, Small Still Voice (thanks Oprah), or even that gut feeling—it’s not about the name or label. It’s about the courage to keep searching, even when it feels buried beneath the noise. And once you find it, hold onto it.
Because that connection? It’s more powerful than we think.
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