“The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
When I was little, Jiminy Cricket and his famous saying of “let your conscience be your guide” had a strong impact on me. I have always imagined our conscience, of consciences as the case may be, to be that little entity sitting on our shoulder, helping us navigate the world as good and honest people. Lately, I’ve also found that little voice serving the purpose of reminding me of my dreams and encouraging me to seek out new territory in many different areas of my life.
While our minds may riddle our thoughts with self-doubt, the conscience’s voice is clear and confident. In our hearts, we always know the right thing to do, the correct way to jump. We just second-guess our conscience and intuition, and this is caused by letting others put their expectations upon us. Who should we be? Where should we work? Who should we spend time with? If I do x, y, or z, what will others think of me? So rather than following our hearts and our conscience, we just turn down the dial on them, and focus on how others want us to live our lives.
My friend, Amanda, posted up a a quote by Michael Pollan, prolific author and healthy food advocate that really resonated with me this morning. My favorite line is, “without its daydreams, the self is apt to shrink down to the size and shape of the estimation of others.” He advocates for day dreaming as a tool in our lives that can guide us toward our best self. In day dreaming, the conscience’s voice is not only clear, but also strong. In day dreaming, we’re reminded that the voice of the conscience never goes away. We may put it on mute while running through our daily lives, but eventually, in the dead of night and the soft hush of morning, on our yoga mat, or during any time of silence, there it is, whispering our dreams back to us.
By silencing the conscience, we ensure a mid-life crisis, or a crisis of faith, that moment of “what the heck am I doing with my life?” And it can all come crashing down, this carefully constructed, “right way of doing things” sort of life. This crash isn’t inevitable. It just requires work to avoid it, strength and courage to live the lives that we want to live instead of ceding to the expectations of others. You can’t get rid of the conscience; in the long-term it’s going to win. So just listen. Now. It wants to be your guide, so just let it do its job.
The image above is not my own. It can be found here.
Christa Avampato 
