Lately, I have noticed that my pace of life is out of step with my inner core. I always seem to be too busy to stop and read, or sit watching the birds. With spring on our doorstep life has become even busier with the outside world straining to gain my attention. I have gardens to prepare and plant, chickens to protect from foxes, and lots of cleaning, painting and discarding of the old that needs to get done. I can easily justify that I will get around to paying attention to my intuition once “X” is done (and we all know that “X” is never ending).
That said, I have been revisiting the concept of intuition and how I manage to ignore her. How many times have I had a clear hit about something I needed to do but didn’t, either because I just didn’t want to or it was inconvenient at the time? Or more likely, my intuition was advising against something that I really wanted to do.
The “inconvenient” idea hit me when Michael came home after working with a friend, for three and a half days, fixing a hydraulic lift on a trailer. Just before they welded the final bar in place, Rob thought fleetingly, “I wonder if this placement is right?” It would have been possible, but inconvenient to make a change at that point. They welded and it did not fit, adding another day to their work.
This was not just about adding a day to work on a trailer. It set off a series of domino reactions for Michael such as not being home to capture a newly hatched queen bee before she killed the other queens waiting to hatch.
It’s very clear to me that my intuition is inconvenient when I have a thought of something I need to attend to and blatantly ignore it.
Earlier this week, in passing, I told Michael that I was going to be away for a couple of hours and to not let the chickens out until I returned. He said that he had already let them out. My first, short-lived thought was to shut them back up. I didn’t. I was in a hurry and it was inconvenient. My reasoning, if I consciously reasoned, was that the hens had not had a fox attack for two years. That day the fox got four of my best layers. Lesson learned, I hope.
Years ago, a co-trainer asked me if I thought my intuition was always right. I replied that I did. He then asked me, “Then why don’t you always listen to it?”
Why don’t I listen to my intuition? I think I ignore it because it means that I have to take action or it suggests that I not do something that I genuinely want to do. In other words, my own agenda gets in the way. Maybe not listening even goes back to my childhood and not liking being told what to do. Does that justify not doing something that, in the long run, may be good for me?
Because we don’t know what we think, we rely on social media to tell us.
We take what others post, embrace it and create a power thought which is our truth. This “power thought” imposes order, even if incorrect, on reality.
A false view of reality and trauma in our collective unconscious suggests that we need to hear our intuition more than ever. If we don’t listen to our inner voice, how do we expect to know what is True? (For me, if something is True, I feel open, centered and calm; if it is false I feel closed down, boxed in.)
On more than one occasion I have had someone tell me their intuitive “hit” and have it be the exact opposite of what my intuition says. When that happens, I try to hold their opinion without becoming attached to the rightness or wrongness of what I think. Perhaps, this is part of the great mystery that we are attempting to unravel. How can two intuitive “hits” be so at odds with each other? I suspect that one, or both of us, has ego involved.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said: “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” Our intuition is our connection to that spiritual being.
Revisiting our connection to our inner voice is long overdue. If we were all truly in touch with our intuition I don’t believe we would be as polarized as we are. There would be less anger and anxiety, more calmness and peace.
Years ago I wrote an article for Mothering Magazine. My advice back then still holds:
“One way of beginning to trust your intuition is to act on it. Intuition is like a muscle: The more we use it, the stronger it gets. Be willing to be flexible, change plans, or get a second opinion, when your intuition shows up. If a thought makes its way into your awareness, check it out to see if the information is valid. Feedback is very important in learning to trust oneself. I once postponed surgery on my dachshund because it didn’t “feel” right. It turned out that my veterinarian, whom I trusted, was called away on the original date of surgery. Another veterinarian, who did not know the delicate nature of my dog, would have performed the operation.
Intuition speaks softly, is patient, and will repeat the same message several times. An intuitive thought could pop into your head while you are driving home from work or out jogging. Intuition often speaks when you least expect it; our responsibility is to learn to listen.”
Specific Things You Can Do to Cultivate Your Intuition
Know yourself. Know what you believe about yourself and about life.
Be clear about your desire to be intuitive.
Give yourself quiet time each day, if only for five minutes.
Singular, mindful attention in a relaxed focused way is a good way to cultivate your intuition. It is always speaking to us, but it only gets our attention when we shift inward, away from external stimuli.
Be present. Keep a single focus from moment to moment. Be fully present when you are with your spouse or others, or when you are in nature. Watch for and pay attention to synchronicities (meaningful coincidences).
Learn how you receive intuitive information.
Some ways we receive our intuition are:
Physical: Our access to the world. Awareness of what the body already knows, such as a strong physical response (a stomach flip, a chill) in a situation where there is no reason to think anything unusual is going on.
Emotional: A sensitivity to other people’s subtle energy; an immediate like or dislike of someone.
Mental: Images, inner-vision. A picture, word, thought or feeling of a thought in your mind.
Flow (synchronicity): There is more than one way to receive intuitive information. Sometimes, if we ignore our inner wisdom, a friend will spontaneously tell us the message we have been hearing, and ignoring, for months. Or we may open a book at random and find information we have been looking for.
Spiritual: Independent from feelings, sensations, thoughts. A Oneness with the universe. The transpersonal rather than the personal side of intuition.
Notice what you notice, what choices you have made. Noticing is searching for an answer to a question. Intuition is recognizing the answer when you see/hear/feel it. For example, you live in New Jersey, but in your heart you are carrying the question of where to move. You begin to see the word Virginia everywhere you look. You meet people from Virginia. The car driving in front of you has a Virginia license plate. A Virginia travel package arrives, unexpectedly, in the mail.
Ask for help from the Unseen. Many individuals feel that they can only ask for help for someone else or for matters of a highly spiritual nature. You are in this physical body for a reason. Your inner voice is part of your physical existence. It has the same interest in mundane matters, such as diet, as in whether you mediate for 30 minutes daily.
Use your imagination: Creativity is the future of the world. Remember that, according to Einstein, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Take guesses. Guess who will be the next person you’ll meet on the street. Will that person be male or female? What will he or she be wearing? Take a stab at how much your grocery bill will be before the receipt is totaled. Notice how often your guesses are correct. Whatever guessing game you play, choose the first thought that comes to you. Pay attention to whether the answer comes as an image, sound, or feeling.
Keep a journal. Writing helps us access the intuitive right hemisphere of the brain.
Last, but not least: pay attention to your dreams. (We all dream, we just don’t remember.) Formulate a clear question in your mind just before falling asleep. (It can be as simple as, “Should I take piano lessons?”) When you awake the next morning, lie still for a while and try to remember your dreams. Write down what you recall, including any thoughts or feelings you had during the dream. Think about the dream as if it were an answer to your question. If you can’t remember your dream, make one up. Dreams and imagination come from the same source.”
It is my hope/desire that collectively we make space for our Intuition. That we wake up from our sleep and discover who we are. That before we judge others we realize that everything we cannot explain is not a conspiracy or fraud. That the only person you are judging is you. Our intuition can lead us to understand not only ourselves, but (as Jung said) “All of the selves that we meet again and again in a thousand disguises on the path of life.”
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other”
doesn’t make any sense.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.”
Rumi: “A Great Wagon.”