“Delve within; within is the fountain of good, and it is always ready to bubble up, if you always delve.” – Marcus Aurelius

Too often we try to look for answers outside of ourselves. We ask other people, we look on the internet. Why? Because it’s easier. Why spend our precious time thinking when we can have the answer to our question quickly and easily by just asking our superior at work, or others.

But by always looking for the answer outside of ourselves instead of taking a few minutes to think, we underestimate our own inner intelligence.

There is a story in the Chicken Soup for the Soul book about a golden Buddha covered in mud. (Actually clay, but let’s keep the imagery of mud for the sake of this article) From the outside, it looks normal, worthless, why even take a 2nd look? But if we take the time to wipe off the mud, we would discover a priceless, magnificent golden Buddha.

In a way, we all have a golden Buddha inside us. It’s just hard to see it with all the mud we have accumulated. But if we choose to take the time to wipe off the mud, we can discover a ‘fountain of good”, as Marcus Aurelius said.

By this time, you may be thinking: “Ok, I will look for the answers inside myself, I get it, but how do I do that? How do I wipe off the mud?”

Too often, when we want to find an answer ourselves, we get caught up in our own thinking. “Should I do this?” “Surely, I can’t do that” “Maybe I could do this?” “What about this? What about that?”

The problem is, we are trying to find the answer with our logical, left-brain. Our intuitive brain on the other hand, the one with the real answers, is the right brain. And so, to listen to your intuitive brain, simply lower down the volume of your logical brain and turn up the volume of your right brain.

Think of it like this: imagine your thoughts (from your logical brain) are like mud. Muddy water, left alone for a while, ultimately settles and clears. Your mind is the same. Leave your thoughts alone, they will always be there. Just don’t entertain them. Calm your mind. Pretty soon, the golden Buddha will reveal itself.

If this metaphor didn’t help, let me offer you another one from supercoach Michael Neill. Imagine your innate intelligence as the Sun and your thoughts as the clouds in the sky. Even on a cloudy day, your Sun is always there, shining behind the clouds. Just like your innate intelligence is always there, behind all of your logical thoughts. Sooner or later, the clouds clear away to reveal the magnificence of the Sun. Sooner or later, your intuition will come through.

I know it is tough. We are not used to using our intuition. We are too often not aware of how resourceful we can be. But I promise you, you have a lot more potential than you think you have. There is a golden Buddha hiding inside of you, waiting to be cleared of the mud. And so I challenge you. Next time you are faced with a problem, before you go running off like a headless chicken to find the solution to your problem, take some time to clear the clouds of your mind. Soon enough, the Sun and its answers will come through.