Step One: Accept that you’re not making it up.

You’re really not making it up.

Why do people find it so hard to hear your voice then?

You find it hard too. You’re always on about how hard it is to hear me.

I find it hard to believe it’s actually you. 

How do you know this is me then?

I don’t. I could just be making it up…

But?

But it does sound a lot like you.

Does it sound any more like me than it used to?

No. Not really. It sounds pretty much the same.

But there is a difference?

Yes, I suppose there is, but what is it?

No, you go first.

Umm… is it because I’m more used to it being you and not just my own thoughts?

Yes. How did that happen do you think?

Slowly. It helped that a lot of things you said turned out to be true. 

What sort of things?

Well, my wife came back after five years.

And I said she would?

Yes, again and again. I didn’t really believe you.

That’s understandable.

Ok, well there were other things too.

Like?

I thought I was useless, but you insisted I was going to achieve a whole bunch of stuff that sounded like hocus pocus to me.

And you did achieve those things?

Yes. All of which helped me believe that this really is you. 

How did you hear me speak?

Like this. I’d ask you questions, i’d write them out like I’m doing here and then write your answers without waiting for them to come. Totally weird, but it worked.

So if you hadn’t asked me questions and written my answers like this would you have gotten used to it being me?

No, I don’t think so. I hear you a lot this way because I ask you a lot. And now I expect you to answer. I’m not sure why I expect it though, because I can be pretty negative if i’m not careful.

It’s because back when you didn’t believe it was me, you were so desperate to hear my voice that you asked again and again. You did that so many times -- you demanded and screamed and shouted at me. And of course each time you did I answered. I always do. Eventually, you’d heard me answer so many times that you began to think that maybe it was me and not just your own thoughts.

Bit embarrassing…

Not at all. It worked didn’t it?

I still think I’m making it up a lot.

Yes, of course, but?

But not nearly as much as I used to.

So why do you ask me questions, if you still think you’re making it up sometimes?

Well this is pretty selfish I suppose, but I do it because it’s addictive. Hearing you speak inside myself is very addictive because it brings peace somehow.

Good. So now that you’ve demanded so often that I speak, and when I have spoken you’ve demanded that I tell you that it was really me, and when I have done that, demanded I do it all over again – do you know what the key difference is?

That I’m learning (ever so blimmen slowly), to ignore Doubt?

Do you think that’s it?

I guess so, yes, it must be, because you still sound the same as you did back when I thought I was making it up.

Exactly, but you’ve learned to ignore Doubt.

Not all the time.

No. But a lot of the time. Tell people that. That’s the key. Everyone hears me. They hear me quite clearly, they just don’t realise they do. That’s because they also hear Doubt telling them they’re making it up. The key is to ignore the doubt.

Anyone who ever succeeds in any area of life does so because they learn to ignore doubt. Ignoring doubt teaches you to hear me too. 

??

When you were a child you knew my voice, all kids do. And then Doubt began to mock you and whisper that it wasn’t me at all. The older you got, and the more you listened to Doubt, the less you were able to hear me. Eventually Doubt anesthetised you and you stopped hearing me altogether. Now, when you try to hear me, Doubt screams and spits and asks ‘Did God really say?’

The answer is yes, God really did say! Most often it’s not your thoughts at all. You’re not making it up.