Last Saturday Emily came running into my bedroom and said, “Mommy, we lost a turtle. We can’t find him. Help us!”

A little background. I got my kids each a red-eared slider baby turtle earlier this year. The kids adore playing with them and do a pretty good job of taking care of them. Emily diligently cleans their cage without me asking, and she makes sure they have food, drops, and minerals to keep them healthy. Sometimes when the turtles are roaming free of their tanks, the kids wander into another room for a minute and when they come back, they can’t find their turtles. I’ve admonished them about this many times, not to leave their turtles unattended. In every case we’ve found the turtles hunkered down in a dark corner of the room.

Not so on this fateful Saturday morning. I asked what happened. Emily said, “We were playing with them in your office and Kyle told me to come look at something in his room, so I did, and when we got back, we could only find Fortune Cookie, but not Smoothie.”

I got up to help them look, figuring it would be a piece of cake to find the turtle. Emily said they’d only been away for a few minutes. How far could a baby turtle get in a few minutes?

I spent the next 20 minutes pouring through every nook and cranny of my office. The closet, behind the desk, behind the credenza, inside boxes and bags. Hmm, no turtle. I was sort of stumped. I’d checked everywhere a turtle could reasonably crawl or climb, and I couldn’t find him. I started to worry a little.

“Emily, are you sure he was in this room?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure you were only gone for a few minutes? Like are we talking 2 or 8?”

“Maybe 5 minutes, Mommy.”

Shoot, in 5 minutes the turtle could easily make it to another room. We had to expand our search into the kids’ rooms. I assigned each child an area to search and they got busy. I searched my office again, from stem to stern, but still nothing.

We searched for about an hour and came up empty handed. I was worried he’d gotten past us all and might even be downstairs. Kyle had to go to a play date so I dropped him off really quick and then Emily and I spent literally the next 2 hours tearing up the house looking for our little guy. We couldn’t find him. I knew he must be somewhere, but I didn’t know where. Emily started to cry, blaming herself for losing the turtle. She asked what would happen to him if we didn’t find him. I told her if we didn’t find him soon, he would probably die from lack of food and water. She started sobbing after that. I was pretty sad myself, and quite distraught.

I didn’t know what to do. I had exhausted all of my ideas. Emily came to me a little while later and said, “You’re psychic, can’t you just find him?” Smart kid! In fact, I’d written an article called How To Find Lost Items Using Psychic Abilities. Finding lost items has never been a strong suit for me, though, and when people ask me to help them find lost items psychically I usually have to refer them to someone else. I can find the lost threads of a career, but when it comes to finding physical objects I’m nearly blind. But I decided to give it a shot.

I tuned in clairvoyantly and asked my guides where the turtle was. I saw an image of my big, heavy credenza in my office. And I saw an image of the turtle huddled back there in the dark.

I went back to the credenza in my office and looked behind it. I had to use a flashlight to see back there. There were a lot of plugs and phone wires. I couldn’t move the credenza as it weighs hundreds of pounds, so I shone the flashlight every which way I could in order to see every nook and cranny back there. I didn’t see the turtle. I was frustrated and sad. I considered moving the credenza but that would involve me taking everything off it and I still wasn’t sure I could move it myself. I was reasonably certain the turtle wasn’t back there because I couldn’t see him.

We gave up looking. I put a bowl of food and water near the credenza because of all the places I thought he would be, I still somehow felt he was there or near there. And we went on about our day, always looking at the floor for the turtle.

Saturday passed and we all went to bed sad.

On Sunday we made another search. I had read online that they might be able to survive up to a week without food and water. The pet store had told me not to keep him out of the water for more than 2 hours so I thought he was a goner for sure. Sunday night we went to sleep, beginning to accept we would never find him.

On Monday, the housekeeper came to clean and I told her to be on the lookout for the turtle, and not to suck him up in the vacuum. She knew how much we loved our turtles and she was sad right there with us. Every time I tuned in to the turtle’s energy I saw the credenza in my mind. But I had checked the entire credenza, front and back, and even in the cupboards, but he wasn’t there. I assumed my intuition was on the fritz.

On Monday afternoon, I picked Steve up from the airport. I told him about our turtle and he started asking me about my search pattern. When I told him that I felt he was behind the credenza but upon examination saw that he was not, Steve said, “Well could he be UNDER the credenza?”

I said, “There is no under. It’s flush against the carpet.”

He said, “In the front, sure, but often with that type of furniture it’s raised in the back and even hollow underneath so you can get wires through there.”

“What?!?! Oh my God! I didn’t know that!! He’s probably under the credenza then! That’s got to be it. It would make perfect sense!”

He said, “You’re welcome!”

I raced to get the kids from school and as soon as we got home I put my hand behind the credenza and could feel that the back was indeed raised and hollow! I commanded the children to start getting everything off the credenza. Books, papers, CDs, and office supplies were flying off the shelves.

Once it was empty I tried moving the credenza, but it was too heavy still and wouldn’t budge. Emily offered to help me but I was worried she would be crushed. I called upon every bit of strength I could muster and was able to move the credenza… a millimeter. Emily wedged herself behind the credenza and pushed with all her might. I’ll be damned, that credenza started moving! Strong little child (or I’m exceptionally weak!). With both of us working at it, we were able to swing one side out from the wall. Emily got her face down on the carpet and looked underneath the credenza with her flashlight. “There he is Mommy! He’s right there! I can’t reach him, but he’s there!”

I said, “Does he look like he’s moving?” She said, “No.” I silently prayed, “Please don’t let us have come this far only to pull out a dry dessicated husk of turtle!”

I moved in, looked under the furniture and saw him, huddled, not moving. My arm couldn’t fit under the furniture so I told the kids to find me a stick or something I could use to pull him out. We ended up with a hanger. I used the hanger to hook him and pull gently towards me. He wasn’t trying to get away or move and I feared the worst.

When I got him all the way out his head was pretty huddled in his shell, but after a few seconds he started wiping his head with his paw. He was alive! We immediately put him in some water and got him some food. We were extremely relieved and happy to have found him alive. And Emily spent the rest of the day nursing him back to health and hovering like a worried mother. We discussed why you never leave turtles unattended.

In looking back on the incident, I realized that my intuition had accurately shown me where he was, I just didn’t investigate far enough. I discounted my intuition because I couldn’t see how it was logically possible.

Do you ever do that? Receive intuitive information that doesn’t make logical sense so you discount it as false or a flight of fancy? How many times have I done this myself? Believe me, I’m not immune to the intuition/logic dilemma. Steve took my intuition and figured out how it could make sense. It was through a combination of intuition and logic that we found our turtle.

Intuition is a really powerful tool. Logic has its place as well. Without logic, in this case, I never would have found our turtle until it was too late. Use your intuition to gather and receive information and then use your logic to take appropriate and wise action. Maybe your intuition will someday save a life.

Your Ego
I like to think of the ego as a little imp that sits on your shoulder and whispers in your ear when it has something to say.  Usually it’s saying things like, “You’re gonna fail.  Who do you think you are?”  Or, “He totally hates you, and if you do that he’s going to find out and hate you more.  I’d keep that little indiscretion to yourself!”  It’s a little subversive and usually broadcasting on the fear and anxiety channel.  On some level it’s trying to protect you from embarassment and failure.  It has a job to do, it has its place, but you’ve got to learn to recognize it for what it is.  It only serves you to the extent that it is trying to keep you safe, it’s looking out for #1 which is you.  It’s only care is to keep you safe and happy and off the front page of the newspaper.  Many people find comfort in listening to this little imp and, technically, it’s a valid way to go through life.  It’s not out to hurt you, only to protect you and keep you comfortable.

Logic
Logic is the mental voice that uses past experience, statistics, probability, and reason to communicate ideas to you.  It is based on knowledge and facts, not ethereal hoo-haw.  Besides drawing from your own experience you can use logic to draw from other people’s experiences, i.e. “Frank said Costco is always crowded on Sundays at noon so I should probably go on Monday when it opens instead.”

Spirit Guides
Spirit guides are celestial beings who are assigned to you to help guide you through life.  They’re very aware of your life plan, which is the plan you concocted for yourself before you incarnated.  They are volunteers.  Their job is to keep you on track and help guide you through life.  Their primary care is your growth and learning.  That sometimes means discomfort for you.  For example they might see that the best way to teach you to value money is to send you through a bankruptcy.  On the other hand, your ego would never let something like that happen to you if it could help it.   Your spirit guides carry the big picture, whereas your ego is involved only in the moment.

Intuition
Your intuition is not a conscious being.  I like to think of intuition as a concentrated blast of Source energy designed to help you avoid catastrophe or steer you in a really important direction.  It’s more like a message than a messenger.  I believe intuition stems from your higher self, angels, and God or Source energy.  Intuition is there to guide you in the moment, to help you make decisions that will have a positive impact on your overall human experience.  Intuition is connected to spirit guides in the sense that intuitive information usually follows your life plan.

How They All Sound
Here are some examples of how ego, logic, spirit guides, and intuition sound when they communicate with you.  I think you’ll be able to see the differences pretty clearly.

Ego
“Don’t go out with that loser, he’ll ruin your reputation.”
“That piece of pie is going straight to your thighs, honey!”
“No way we’re taking speech next semester.  I’ll find a way to kill us first.”
“She doesn’t love you so you might as well cheat on her.”

Logic
“Last time you tried doing that you broke your ankle.  Chances are good you’ll hurt it again.”
“Speaking in front of 30 people won’t actually kill you, so agree to do the speech and just practice until you can recite it from memory.”
“He’s geographically desireable, good looking, and his parents are still together.  You should agree to date him.”
“There’s a traffic jam coming up ahead.  I know a shortcut that will get us there faster.”

Spirit Guides
“You’d be wise to accept the job in Los Angeles.  It’s what you’ve been waiting for your whole life.”
“Don’t be afraid to do the speech.  It’s not going to be nearly as bad as you fear.”
“You know in your heart that he’s not right for you.”
“Remember what happened the last time you ate the whole pizza?  Do you want to experience that again?”

Intuition
“Run!”
“Go left, now!”
“He’s the one!  Introduce yourself.”
“Stop at the gas station on the way home.”

Do you see the differences?  Again, your ego is out to protect you from failure and embarrassment.  While it seems like it has your best interest at heart I wouldn’t say it’s the most encouraging growth-oriented voice in your arsenal.  Still, it serves its purpose.

Logic is a wonderful tool of information.  Developing your logic can certainly help you in life, until you run into something you didn’t see coming or have no information in your mental database to sift through.  That’s when you have a failure, er, I mean learning experience, you update your file and move on.

Spirit guides won’t tell you what to do, but they will help you feel and/or understand your choices better.  They’re coming from a higher perspective than you are, and they’re following your orders (your higher self’s orders that is).  You can trust that your guides have your best interest at heart, but you can’t trust you’ll be totally comfortable following their guidance.  They’re in it for the long run and sometimes see minor setbacks as necessary for your overall success.

Your intuition has but a moment to make an impression.  It’s got to get vital, sometimes life-altering, information to you in a split second.  Its general goal is to notify you that you are in danger or at a vital decision-making moment in your life.  When you become adept at listening to your intuition you’ll start getting information about less life-threatening situations.  Until then, you get snippets.

Now sometimes all four of these voices overlap.  I can imagine a situation where this is possible.  Your ego might say, “Why would that guy be interested in you?” and your logic is saying, “Look, this guy wants you to get in his van parked behind the alley.  That is probably not a good idea.  The chances of you going home in a body bag are pretty high right now.  I say pass.”  At the same time your guides are saying, “Do you really think you can trust this guy?” and your intuition is screaming, “Danger, avoid him!”  If you ever get agreement from all four voices, I highly advise you to listen!

Getting to know the voices in your head can really help you manage your life.  Identifying which one is speaking to you can help you determine how much power and credibility you want to give it.  I have found that I prefer to listen to my guides and intuition over my logic and ego, but I know people who do quite well listening to their logic and ego so what can I say?  It’s a question of where you want to go in life and how comfortably you want to arrive.  In my experience if you opt for a faith, trust, and love strategy in life, you’ll listen to your intuition and guides.  If you opt for a control or fear-based strategy in life you’ll probably prefer your ego and logic.  There really is no right or wrong choice, just preferences.  You might try developing the ability to hear all of them and then decide what works best for you.

The best way to develop the ability to discern them is awareness and practice.  Whenever you consult that inner voice try to figure out if it’s a guide, intuition, or your ego or logic talking to you.  Or consult all four before you make a decision.  You could try 30 days with each as your primary inner voice and see which one gives you the best results.

Now, if you’re hearing other voices in your head like, “She looks tasty, let’s carve her up and eat her,” or “Jump off the barn because you know you can fly,” then you’re listening to something entirely different!  Seek professional help immediately.