I've had many of these incidents, where there is literally voice or image in my head that gives me a brief message or glimpse of something. I usually follow what I'm given so I don't know what would have happened otherwise. But sometimes I do ignore the voice, what it's suggesting just seems completely irrational and I simply can't take it seriously, which means I can't justify taking action. Some of my biggest regrets in life, things that are still hard to talk about even decades later, have occurred because I didn't listen.
One incident where I obeyed involved a trip to the store to get the one missing ingredient for dinner. As I was approaching an intersection the Voice told me "Turn Right". So I did, even though the store I wanted was to the left. There was another store on the right but one I didn't like going to as their selection and prices weren't as good. But I went to the alternate store, got what I needed and left. On the drive home the radio stopped playing music and was covering breaking news; at the exact same time I was checking out with my grocery someone with a history of drug and mental problems walked into the store where I was originally intending and started shooting people at the checkout. Had I not listened, I would have been at that exact checkout line.
A time I didn't listen was when I was on leave from the Army and visiting family. My Step-Dad's Mother just happened to be moving at the time and I was asked to help since I had a pickup truck. Once I was loaded up I asked the obvious question about where I was going. Having not been around in over a year I didn't have the slightest clue where the new house was located, or even what city it was in as this was the sprawling suburbia of Southern California. My Step-Dad pulled out a paper map to show me where I was going, but before he had it open the Voice gave me a series of random words. I don't remember them now but it was something like 'Washington, Central, Maple, Elm, Pleasant". Which didn't make much sense until the map was unfolded and I saw all those street names on the map. This is going to sound weird but for a brief moment it looked like those streets were glowing, or perhaps highlighted, on the map. Those exact streets, in that exact order took me from our current location to exactly where the new house was. I pointed out this route on the map as the Voice told me, but everyone said that was a bad route, taking me out of the way and adding about 30-45 minutes to the trip. They all suggested a faster, more direct route along the 405 freeway. I had no logical reason to take the "scenic" route and the Voice didn't come back to make its case. So I ignored the Voice and took the route 4 other people were telling me was best. 20 minutes later I was the 4th vehicle in a 5 car accident, my sister who was riding with me needed stitches and my truck was totalled.
