Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Absorbed in the subject of intuition for the past
month, I have, as usual, taken copious notes on
observations, questions, and key points gleaned from my
own thoughts as well as from books I have been reading
on the subject. A few days ago I started transferring my
handwritten notes onto my laptop while aboard an
airplane. The gentleman next to me became increasingly
curious as he watched me shuffle through notes contained
in a journal, on a few napkins, along the sides of a
church bulletin, on the inside jacket for an airline
ticket, as well as several pages on a yellow legal pad.
Peering over his spectacles, he queried in an amused
tone, “I suppose you’re a writer who’ll use anything to
catch the words as they fall from your brain…what, pray
tell, are you writing about that it couldn’t await your
computer?” “Intuition”, I answered with a smile. His
next words sum up the prevailing attitude of our
left-brained, analytic, just-show-me-the-facts culture
with regard to our intuitive powers. He said, “I had you
figured as a Californian from the flip flops and the
suntan, but I need no further evidence. I’m right,
aren’t I? You’re one of those West Coast metaphysical
types.” I admit, I am not often rendered speechless, but
in that moment, (and thankfully for him) words indeed
failed me. Finally having found my voice, I half-lied,
“No, I am actually from Illinois.” I wasn’t about to
give him the self-satisfaction of copping to the fact
that I have been a California resident for over 30
years!
The point here is not about the stereotype of
Californians, (nor the extent to which I may fit it).
The point is just how forgotten, misunderstood,
underdeveloped and under-valued the subject of intuition
is in contemporary mainstream culture! The fact that the
word “intuition” would conjure up California-style
metaphysics, with all the esoteric images that entails,
speaks volumes to the lack of comfort much less utility
we have for one of the richest inner resources with
which we are endowed as human beings. What I would like
to gently pose to my airline companion, and to any
readers who would share his skepticism, is this: How
often have you given or been the recipient of advice
such as:
- Let your heart be your first teacher.
- No one but you can tell what you should do in a
given situation – look inside and find your own answer.
- Go ahead and gather the facts, but in the end, you’ll
have to go with your instincts.
- Never mind what the world is saying – what is your
gut telling you to do?
- Close your eyes, – feel the force!
Most of us have given and received such advice time
and again, but always and particularly in times that
were of great import! What we know instinctively is that
in all matters of life, work and relationship, logic and
reason will only bring us so far. Without the powers of
our intuitive wisdom, which many throughout the ages
have referred to as “the language of the soul”, we would
be as ships without rudders on the open seas of life. I
cannot help but wonder if our intuitive powers were
somehow turned off, if we became deaf and blind to the
wisdom available through our sense of intuition, would
it be any less poignant than suddenly losing the gifts
of hearing or of sight? What possible accommodations
could be made for a person who has lost their connection
to their own “inner knowing”?
What are we talking about when we speak of intuitive
wisdom? Among other things, it is a knowing, a deeply
felt sense of correctness, unspoken but resonantly
influential. It is when no words are needed – feelings
are enough. It is a sense, like sight or smell, a
perception that brings information. It can appear as an
instinct, a flash of creativity, a moment of feeling at
one with the world… when you suddenly know something
without your brain being involved. It is direct
knowledge sensed from inside.
While the culture at large may treat the subject of
intuitive wisdom as somewhat mysterious or mystifying,
the truth is that it communicates to us in practical
ways all the time. It shows up as the uncontrollable
urge to call an old friend with whom you have been out
of contact, or the sudden inclination to check in on a
neighbor who you have not seen for some time. It is what
prompts you to extend a hand to the stranger in trouble,
or the sudden impulse to tell your loved one how very
beautiful he/she looks in the morning light. Intuitive
wisdom can show up as the yearning to get out of the
city and into the wilderness, the gut feeling that tells
you whether you are safe or in danger, or the commanding
urge to quit drinking, stop smoking, or start working
out. Sometimes our intuitive wisdom appears in that
still small voice that says, “My heart just isn’t in
this”, or “I have a hunch this approach just might
work!.” At other times it is rolling thunder on the
horizon of our consciousness booming “Speak up for
yourself, once and for all!” It is that unrelenting
nagging feeling that finally pushes you out the door of
an unhealthy relationship or job situation, or the
persistent fluttering of butterflies in your stomach
that inspire you to fly into a new sky in some area of
your life.
Intuitive wisdom is what every great lawyer needs to
win a jury, what every talented actor needs to play a
part, and what every gifted teacher requires to inspire
a class. It is what every brilliant therapist needs in
choosing the best approach to use with a particular
client, and what every good employment specialist uses
in matching a person to a job. What any seasoned
professional will tell us from any field of endeavor is
that know-how and training will only get you so far,
from there on out you have to be able to steer from the
inside.
We know this in regard to our personal lives as well
– logic and reasoning can superficially tell us where a
path may lead, but it cannot judge whether our hearts
will be in it. Left brain thinking can give us the facts
about a situation, but it can’t tell us what is “right”
for us. Logic can’t steer the course of our highest
purposes, the deepest yearnings of our hearts, or the
longings of our souls. This is the territory of
intuitive wisdom. Carl Jung suggested that intuition
does not exist contrary to reason, but outside the
province of reason in the territory of what he called
“soul knowing.” Ralph Waldo Emerson referred to
intuition as “primary knowledge, the essential wisdom.”
Albert Einstein advised that, contrary to popular
opinion, our intelligence is not locked in our “gray
matter”, but is everywhere and at all times present,
speaking to and through us via our multiple senses -
taste, touch, smell, hearing, sight and intuition. “Long
before our brain has sorted something out,” he advised,
“our hearts simply know. This is what we experience as
insights, hunches or dreams, where the real wisdom
resides.”
Contemporary author and psychologists, James Hillman,
suggests that intuition is a matter of simply knowing
what we know because we are designed to know it! In his
bestselling book, “The Soul’s Code”, he suggests that
each of us having an inner “acorn” encoded with the
directions necessary to fulfill our destiny, to become
an oak tree, rather than, say, an evergreen. Like real
acorns, he says that we, too, must trust the wise
messages encoded within us. He suggests that intuition
is designed to reveal to us this kind of authentic
destiny; calling us back to a part of ourselves which
never left and is always available. Because intuition
knows the language of the acorn, it helps us discover
and respond to our life’s purpose.
What would it mean to believe, to really believe,
that we carry a cellular imprint, a knowing of our
deepest yearnings? What if even in the midst of
questions like “What am I supposed to be doing with my
life?” we trusted that we had within us a magnificent
tuning fork, speaking volumes on the soul’s behalf? Then
again, how do we know when a sudden powerful urge is a
heart-centered directive or purely a whim of fancy? How
do we discern between intuition and wishful thinking?
How do we know the difference between the voice of our
soul’s intelligence and the voice of fear or desire? How
do we tune into the wise counsel of the heart, focusing
inward for answers rather than being led by outside
influences? While I have no real answers to these
questions, here are a few premises I stand behind with
the intent of further trusting my own intuitive wisdom.
1. The more we trust our intuitive wisdom, the more
guidance we are likely to receive.
Naturally, we learn more from that to which we devote
our time and attention. The more we learn to trust that
we are privy to an entire realm of inner wisdom and
intelligence, the more guidance we are likely to receive
from our feelings, instincts, hunches, impulses,
inclination, longings, and dreams. It follows, of
course, that the less we attend to our inner knowing,
the less we will learn from it, not unlike failing to
receive the music from a station we’re not tuned into.
If we believe that the whole concept of intuitive wisdom
is “California psychobabble”, what are the chances of
reaping what it would otherwise bestow?
2. Accessing intuitive wisdom may have less to do
with acquiring a new set of skills than reducing what
interferes with it.
Perhaps our inner knowing is like the sun, always
present in the sky of our being, even if the clouds,
rain or snow of our troubled lives make it hard to see.
How do we decrease those things that would block its
light, like over-analyzing and reasoning ourselves to
death, listening to the ego with its need to be top dog,
or surrendering to the proclivity of wanting to please
the world before checking in with what would really
serve our best purposes in a situation? Among other
things, we need to calm the voice of reason and raise
the volume on the voice of intuition through disciplined
silence. Usually we are too busy, too excited, or too
distracted to be silent enough to hear the soul speak.
Through disciplined silence we may foster an intuitive
and inviting dialogue with our heart’s intelligence. Can
we extend to our own spiritual nature the beautiful
lesson expressed in the Zen poem, “Sitting quietly,
doing nothing, Spring comes and grass grows by itself”?
It follows that those who practice some kind of
meditation or contemplative practice are more primed for
receiving the guidance of intuitive wisdom because they
are disciplined in calming or shutting down the
ceaseless chatter of the mind. Disciplined silence does
not mean repressing what you would otherwise have to
say, but making room enough to hear the sounds of Spring
in the garden of our souls. Is there not room for
birdsong in our busy lives?
3. Intuition responds to guiding questions!
Rather than wait for the magic of intuition to happen
to us, what if we were to declare our intentions and
treat inner knowing as a capacity that we can develop,
rather than something to wait on and wish for? What if
we were to invite our intuitive wisdom by replacing
discouraging statements like, “I have no idea what to
do”, with “I am sure I will know what to do. I will have
my answer.” Surely our intuitive sense will respond more
aptly to sincere inquiry than to pessimism or
discouragement. What if we were to just plant the
question, “What is my next step?”, be silent, practice
patience, and see what grows?
Before almost every workshop or keynote speech, part
of my prayer is to be open and responsive to the needs
and interests of the people who are in the room, to let
go of my designs, and to be responsive to deeper,
spirit-led instincts . I tell you honestly, the less I
prepare mentally for a workshop, the better prepared I
am emotionally, intuitively and spiritually. That has
not always been true for me, but I can say with
unequivocal certainly that as I grew in confidence of my
own instincts in training, I became twice the trainer I
had been previously. My agenda and objectives began
taking backseat to authentic presence and
purposefulness. It is important to note, however, that I
have to “invoke” those instincts before starting so that
I can remember why I am there and what the work is
really about. There is no doubt in my mind that
intuitive wisdom rises to the occasion when invited to
do so! The challenge is in remembering to extend the
invitation while in the throes of a challenging
situation or at the crossroads of a difficult choice.
4. Intuitive wisdom always has our best interest at
heart – whether we like it or not.
In her beautiful book, “Heart Sense”, author and
psychologist Paula Reeves warns, “A commitment to look
within and ask what the heart wants and what the soul
has to say stirs up debris of unlived promise, of the
dreams and hopes and desires and loves that lay naked
and disowned, pulsing just beneath our rib cage –
sheltered by the heart. Far too often life intervenes
and we put off the quest until after lunch. Your heart
carries the magnetic energy that is radiant with your
soul’s purposes, waiting, just waiting for you to tune
your attention in its direction.” She goes on to say
later in the book, “A life lived honestly, plugged into
the heart’s intelligence, will reveal all the little
dishonesties, all the illusions and pettiness we hang
onto to excuse our sleepwalking. When we make listening
to what our soul wants a priority, our life shifts, and
we increase our capacity to stay centered and
undisturbed by the ups and down of life. Internally we
develop an unshakeable sense of peace of guidance.”
That is to say, even if our intuition is urging us to
move in a direction that will put us right smack in the
middle of our own discomfort, push all the buttons we
least like having pushed, or move us towards our fear
rather than away from it, it still has our best interest
at heart! I remember a friend complaining that her
instincts wouldn’t leave her alone about needing to
leave her good-for-nothing boyfriend – “But he’s so
cute!”, she whined. Ah yes, the proverbial battles
between good and evil, intuitive wisdom and baser needs,
no morals but great abs – what is a girl to do?
5. We ignore the voice of our intuition at our own
peril!
It is nice to think about the times in my life when I
followed my instincts and was glad that I did; it is a
far less pleasant exercise to think about the number of
times I failed to follow my instincts and lived to
regret it! It is an insult to our nature to ignore our
instincts. Are we not, in the end, our own most intimate
life companion? No matter where we go or what we do,
there we are. The inner knowing that lies at the heart
of us is ours to draw upon and lean into or to ignore
and suffer the loss. Author, Sharon Franquemont,
advises, “To ignore our instincts is not strength – it
is not wisdom, and it certainly not good mental health!
To ignore your instincts is to ignore who you are and
what you know and love about yourself. When we ignore
what matters most to us, it becomes what is the matter
with us!”
At a recent gathering of women, unfortunately most of
whom had been divorced, someone asked, “Is there anyone
here who didn’t feel it in their bones, before you
headed down that aisle, that something wasn’t right?” An
uncomfortable silence pervaded the room, and we avoided
eye contact with one another. (Did I mention that this
was at a bridal shower?) Truth be told, many of us have
ignored our own good instincts, paid the price, and
lived to tell the tale, hopefully, without regret. Will
it make us more willing to heed our instincts in the
future? Time will tell.
6. Intuition is not in a contest with reasoning – it
just wants to be in the dance.
We have nothing to lose and only to gain by checking
in with our intuition before acting on a situation
because we’re always free to consider other options. As
Carl Jung emphasized, intuition doesn’t need to reject
reasoning – it is a process of addition, not
subtraction! It’s not an either-or equation, like mind
vs. heart; it’s a both-and equation, both listening to
reason and checking in with what the soul wants. As
mentioned in the previous point, we can always choose to
ignore the message that intuition sends, but need we
ignore the call completely? Especially since we know
that one of intuition’s strong points is persistence and
endless patience with some of us very slow learners!
7. Life lived in accordance to intuitive wisdom
fosters spiritual qualities in a way logic does not.
If we were to live by reasoning alone, we would live
our lives in a planned, predictable, and practical way,
allowing little room for qualities of the spirit like
creativity, spontaneity, vitality, and authenticity. The
mind likes the world of black and white, of the straight
and narrow, because it likes to understand things in a
logical, ordered way. The heart and soul, of course,
prefer the world of color, of chance, and openness to
possibility. I believe that the more in tune we become
with our intuitive wisdom, the more we will trust the
wild, untamed side of our nature.
The intention of trusting and being more open to the
counsel of intuitive wisdom is sincere acknowledgment of
and a commitment to our own spiritual nature. To stand
at the altar of our hearts and to ask what it knows,
what it wants, and what it would have us do, is nothing
less than a supreme act of self-honoring. If we are to
have the connection and intimacy we ache for with others
and the world, doesn’t it make sense that we would begin
by approaching intimacy with our own vast and marvelous
inner landscape? When we live from a place of intimate
self-inquiry we begin to feel in unison with a stronger
sense of who we are and how we wish to live – an inner
resource that is both intense and loving, challenging
yet calming at the same time. “Our life,” reflects
author Annie Dillard, “is a faint tracing on the surface
of mystery. The surface of mystery is not smooth anymore
than the planet is smooth.” When we ignore the voice of
soul we travel above the surface of our own mystery –
when we listen to our inner wisdom we put our feet in
its waters, we run barefoot through its tall grasses, we
wish on its stars… we bow to the acorn…
To the oak in each of us,
~ Denise
© Denise Bissonnette, June 2005 (If not used for
commercial purposes, this article may be reproduced, all
or in part, providing it is credited to "Denise
Bissonnette, Diversity World - www.diversityworld.com."
If included in a newsletter or other publication, we
would appreciate receiving a copy.)
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