Finding Your Inner Truth Signals
by John Burgess
Truth Signals
Drum beats open gaps for us to hear, to feel, to see, to move into a world of Spirits.
Where we are given a signal for what is “yes” and what is “no” and what is “maybe”
… there always should be room for a “maybe”
— Image and poem by Nate Long “Owl”
John Burgess: A gifted energy healer, ceremonialist, and community elder, offers this wonderful journey into identifying your “Truth Signals”.
How do you refine your ability to listen or perceive messages you may get within your journey processes?
How do you know or tell if a signal or impulse is a “yes”, a message or some reflection of your inner truth?
What does it mean and or how does it show up in your body?
You are invited to explore, through journeywork, how this may help in your personal and future practices.
The 5 senses and the various types of signals that may arise
Do you, I, or we know what a “yes”, or a message feels like in our bodies when we are in a journey process?
During journeywork, you may encounter a variety of helping guiding energies or presences, some called Spirit helpers, or guides. Often, they may present you with some form of support or guiding input in a variety of methods or ways. Depending upon your personal makeup, training, and experience, you will perceive or be aware on some level of their presence, and sometimes it can become a real gift to you.
How can you tell better, or grow in your abilities to be able to perceive these messages or whatever type of input may be offered to you from that dimension? How can you tell if their guidance is helpful, good, or actually a distraction?
The organs of perception
All humans are feeling/sensing beings, basically built the same way with some very basic elements shared by all. The most basic of those elements or characteristics are the organs of perception:
Taste, Touch, See, Smell, Hear and Feel. I have included feeling into this list of senses, separate from touch, to encompasses energetic, spiritual, and emotional awareness: How you “feel” about something or someone, and ultimately your intuition, is a unique sensory ability. And in fact, may be one of your more valuable senses.
Everything you experience as a Human filters through at least one of these basic arenas or organs of perception, even while in a meditative state, trance state or in a shamanistic journey state.
When you do journeywork, even though it’s an “internal” experience, you never sever your connection with these organs of perception. They are still active, just operating at a more subtle level.
One of the remarkable aspects of the human experience is that you have the capacity to grow and evolve. Just as the bodybuilder’s practice is to flex his muscles to get stronger, you can flex your perception to become more aware of many impulses that come to you, even on a very subtle level. But it’s a process of training your awareness to be more alert, to not only your body, but your body’s senses. When you are getting or receiving a “truth signal” or some guiding message, it will still come through one of the basic senses.
Everyone experiences the world and nature a little differently. Some are more visual, some kinesthetic, some auditory, some emotional/empathic and some on the feeling level. All are valid because they are a unique part of how you were crafted!
So, when journeying, not everyone has remarkable visual experiences. Some feel things emotionally or in their bodies, some hear things, some may even smell or taste. That’s the unique signature that makes you, you! And this process just takes time for each of us to become aware of how these more subtle experiences show up.
Learning to recognize signals / messages
You may have heard some of those who lead journey circles mention the idea of asking. This refers to the idea of asking for input, guidance, or messages during your journey from whatever guides you may encounter. You can be very specific or very broad in the scope of your question. Ask for what you want! It is then suggested to just let go and trust that somewhere, somehow and in some form, there will be a response to your request.
It may come immediately, or you may see something on a hike in nature or a dream later that refers to your journey vision. Remember that the form these responses come in is actually not up to us. Your task or invitation is to just surrender a little bit and trust that in due time an answer or response will come. The invitation is to just be patient and trust that every journey takes you somewhere and that there will be a shift, whether we are aware of it or not.
Personal exercise / test yourself
I’d like to propose a little homework test to do some self-training about honing your ability to feel or listen to these messages. Consider taking a walk somewhere and training yourself to ask or, even better, feel which way to go next when you encounter a fork in the trail. One idea is to make a fun little exercise or practice out of seeing if you can extend your awareness just a little bit further, to feel into your activities, and to see if you notice your senses becoming a little sharper or more aware. It’s totally possible for you to perceive more than you normally do and even into more subtle, hidden areas.
So, you might start a daily practice to extend your perception more broadly out into whatever setting you are in. What do you normally notice on a hike? Can you train yourself to start noticing some of the more subtle things going on? Like how does the wind feel? Is it warm, cool? Does it have a scent? How do the rocks under your feet feel, and how does it feel in your body to be in Nature this day? The more you extend your awareness like this the more open you become to noticing more subtle things. And this will help you become more aware of some of those more subtle things that occur during your journeys.
Personal experiences
Under the category of feeling, I want to add intuition because it really is the more refined expression of your ability to feel.
So, let’s talk about that gut feeling we all have inside. How do you know something is true? We all have had the experience or heard the expression “it just feels right”. So what is truly happening in that situation and at a deeper level?
There is a body of knowledge that comes from ancient India, from The Vedic tradition. This talks “about our inner truth meter”. They discuss a quality or state of consciousness that apparently all humans possess that is called, from the Sanskrit , “Rittam Bara Pragya” … or that level that knows only truth. This basically refers to an inner truth meter we all have. Basically, a refined level of intuition. And many report that when they followed this impulse, they turned out about 90% accurate.
There is also the concept called the “second brain”, which is a collection of neuron cells that have been found in the gut that are almost identical to brain cells. So, there’s no discrepancy to say “I had a gut feeling” because you did have it! And in fact, they’ve discovered that when you first experience something rather intense, you actually experience or “feel it first” in your gut. Then the impulse goes to your brain; then the emotions get involved; then to the intellect. From there, the “truth signal” will spiral one way or the other, providing the answer or message or guidance you need.
But we all have that inner sense called intuition, whether it’s developed or not.
That is one thing that you can develop. Through Time and focus you can hone the skill of intuition. Through extended practice you can develop the ability to be more aware of those subtle impressions, feelings, or impulses. And I think that’s really, in my impression, what’s going on within the journeywork. You are going to those more nuanced subtle layers of Consciousness where feelings and intuition are operating on a more subtle level.
And so, there are many things you can do daily, weekly, or whenever to train your awareness to be able to pick up on these more subtle impressions. Try some of those awareness extending exercises mentioned above. Then play with it and see how your senses just naturally grow to see and feel more deeply!
My personal experiences:
I have been a pipe carrier for over 30 years. As part of my original apprenticeship training, I was given instruction to learn how to recognize what my “yes” signals and what my inner “no” signals are when asking internal questions and permissions. I was taught that it is necessary and required to “ask permission” to conduct the sacred ceremonies I have been given permission to perform. I may have permission to do a ceremony in somebody’s house, but before I sit down and do the ceremony, I’m required to ask the Spirit Keepers permission. 95% of the time I get a “yes” but sometimes I get to “no”. So, I have learned over time how to listen, what I need to know and what signal I need to feel … and the answer is sometimes obvious, other times not so much. Over time and practice I have learned to trust that signal, and that the more I trust it the easier the “yes” and “no” signals are discernable.
This process of practicing to feel inside actually does build more inner confidence in being able to listen to signals, messages and visual stimulants that come to us in our journeywork.
Journey signals or messages
Your inner experiences during journeys can span a very wide range: from feeling like nothing happened to a very visual-filled or feeling-filled journey. Messages and guides will come in an almost endless variety. Some are obvious, but some may be so subtle that at first you may not realize that what is in front of you is actually some kind of energy that may in fact have messages or insight. For example, you may see and recognize a beautiful butterfly when starting your journey. This butterfly may be hanging out in the periphery or background of your journey, all the while you are looking for something else, maybe a “bigger” or “flashier” sign or figure. But what would happen if you stopped, turned to the butterfly, and asked, “are you my guide for this journey?” or “are you my messenger tonight?” or “do you have a message for me?” Many times, you might discover that there is some magic within those kinds of subtle occurrences during your journeys.
So, during your journeywork, I’d like you to play with this idea a little bit. Ask your Spirit Keepers, your helpers, your guides to help you to refine your ability to listen, to receive, see, feel, taste or whatever, that may be a message coming through. Ask them to help you feel and recognize your inner truth, or your inner “yes”. Do this as innocently and humbly as possible and go at it very lightly, playfully even, and see what happens!