Owl talisman - listening to your inner wisdom
Owls have long been associated with wisdom due to the ancient Greeks who admired their ability to fly at night and associated them with the Goddess Athena. In the three souls the owl represents the higher soul, that which knows what is for our greater good.
Many people don't feel they have good intuition but we all have it to some degree. We take on far more information about things around us, and interactions, than we realise and we learn from it. Intuition would have helped to keep us safe in situations, furthering our chances of survival.
More often than not we stop listening to our intuition and this can be for a variety of reasons. Modern life bombards us with stimulation on a daily basis, our brains are basically like a computer that can only deal with so much before it runs out of RAM. Social media in particular provides a constant stream of noise through which we have to try and sift out what's important.
There have been a few studies showing our concentration spans are decreasing, and that's probably due to the bite sized amount of information we're being served up continually. And on the internet who knows what is true anymore, it's become a blurry line because things can easily be made to seem what they aren't.
Added to this we have the continual opinion of others, more often than not unsolicited and unasked for. Social media provides a handy blank comments box where people can give their opinion no matter how unqualified they are on the subject. It takes a strong personality not to be buffeted by this.
The other pertinent thing that drowns out intuition is our own wounds. Things that have happened to us that we've possibly pushed away, but without knowing it we develop mechanisms to keep ourselves safe should our brains sense a reoccurrence of this happening again. A lot of conditioning that occurs before the age of eight becomes deeply ingrained within us. Children are highly malleable and it's something that's not talked about enough.
Our intuition, our inner wisdom, is a quiet voice. Sometimes gut feelings can be strong but more often than not our internal SatNav is getting thrown off by the multitude of things mentioned above. Learning to quiet the mind, setting time aside during the day when excessive outside stimulation is turned off, is the best way to start to realign with what we all have. It's one reason why I enjoy being out in nature so much, you can get away from everything else and listen to your heart.
A good way to start is a simple grounding exercise, where you feel your feet in contact with the earth, and spend a few minutes just being aware of the normal sensation in your body by focusing in turn on each body part starting at your feet. It was a revelation to me when I first did it because you realise it feels all tingling. I'd lived many years in this body and never noticed it!
Beginning to silence the chatter is beginning to get in touch with who you really are, and that's a journey to enjoy.
