The Voice of the Inner Teacher
(Another blog post written for my friend Phil Volker (caminoheads) that I thought I'd share with my followers. I am going to make an effort to post weekly as we celebrate two years in Spain soon.)
Parker Palmer asks us “Do you have experiences of listening for, hearing, and having to deal with ‘the voice of the inner teacher’? If so, can you tell a story or two about those moments—about how they have felt and what they have meant in your life?”1
Growing up surrounded by formal education and taught to most value words in books and those from the teacher at the front of the room had a particular effect on me. It silenced the voice of the inner teacher that we travel the life journey with. The English language has metaphors for that voice – a gut feeling, a hunch, a leading, an inner voice or an intuition. And I sometimes acted upon them, but more often silenced that voice.
I found that pilgrimage moves that Inner Teacher’s voice to the front of the room, and grants me permission to acknowledge the words and act on them openly, even sharing them with others. My pilgrimages didn’t start with the Camino, but my awareness that I had been a pilgrim before became real during that long saunter across Spain when I had lots of time to listen to that Inner Teacher, act upon the words heard and consider the results.
Today I invite you to think about your own Inner Teacher voice before, during and after your pilgrimage and leave a comment or two with what you heard, learned and how you may have used those lessons as you returned ‘home’. Phil has been sharing this in the blog for years, now it is your turn.
Do you more readily respond to the Inner Teacher’s voice after walking a pilgrimage?
Have you heard the same lesson repeated over time? Did you respond to it?
I won’t reveal here any of my lessons heard and responded to so that I don’t keep you from posting your own, but I will add one or two in the comments in a few days.
Well, one little example: My Inner Teacher led me to write on this topic, and she only voiced it once a few days ago. I’ve learned to ‘Just Do It!’
In teachable love,
Ronaldo in Astorga, León
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1Chapter 7 of the Companion DVD for "The Courage to Teach Guide for Reflection & Renewal: 10th Anniversary Edition" with Parker J. Palmer. https://vimeo.com/15518084
