Intuition - your very own sat-nav guidance system!

Do you sometimes get the feeling of knowing something without knowing how you know? An urge that doesn’t particularly make sense, or a gut feeling that, if acted upon, brings positive results?

What if we all had access to answers and resources within us right now? What if you could train yourself to tune in more closely to your own inner guidance and allow answers to be revealed step by step?

We often base our way of interpreting reality on our five senses. Yet many people believe we also have access to intuition, innate in all of us. This may also be called “gut instinct”, “a hunch”, “a sixth sense”, “the small voice within”, “inner guidance” or “the inner voice”, to name a few.

There is a distinction between wisdom and intuition: intuition is the data. Wisdom is what you do with it.

Where does intuition come from?

The subconscious mind

The subconscious mind holds information you have learned or experienced. We can access old information and use it for our current purposes, sometimes in a new way.

Collective consciousness

Some people believe there is a pool of shared information, thoughts and knowledge that we can tap into. For example, becoming aware that someone is looking at you and turning around without knowing why.

The higher self

Some traditions refer to the “higher self” as the part of ourselves that reaches beyond our usual day-to-day thoughts and limitations. Through this, people may feel they can access information, strength and resources that help them make sense of a situation.

As Colin Turner writes in Born to Succeed:

“If you take a boat out to sea and fill a glass half full of the liquid you are floating in, that glass would be identical in composition to the ocean from where it came. Although it is in a container, the glassful and the ocean are one and the same. Part of your mind is a microcosm of an infinite ocean of wisdom and, as such, has direct access to it.”

What blocks intuition?

Our conditioning often cultivates our reasoning side and under-develops our intuitive side. We may ignore, override or dismiss intuition, especially as it often comes in whispers.

It is subtle. If we are not used to tuning into it, it can be easily missed or obscured. If inklings of intuition do come up, we may reason things out until the rational mind takes over. There is so much noise in our minds and in the world, and so many conflicting messages, that the voice of intuition can be easily drowned.

Recognising intuition

The voice of intuition is often gentle or neutral, rather than forceful.

Be aware of thoughts, feelings, dreams or even repeated messages, such as several people telling you the same thing. Intuition may also come through more symbolically. Look for what feels meaningful to you, as this will be different for each person and highly personal.

Of course, not everything will be hugely significant. It is not an exact science. Simply become more aware.

How do we access it?

Expanding intuition takes practice. The more you make room and listen to it, the more you may begin to trust your own ability to receive guidance from a deeper, wiser and more intangible part of yourself.

Make space and time each day to tune into yourself.

Food for thought

• Think of a time when you had a hunch or intuition to do something that didn’t fit with logical, linear thinking and took immediate action. What did you notice?
• Think of a meaningful coincidence that has occurred in your life, where things flowed and happened without planning. What were the conditions that allowed this for you?
• Make a consistent effort to develop your intuitive side by using it more and more.
• Cultivate the art of stillness, sitting and giving yourself time to listen to your inner whispering. How could you incorporate that into your day?
• Train the left and right brain to work together. Use the reasoning side to clarify, identify and research exactly what you want, then reflect on your intuitive feelings.
• Write down your question, wait until thoughts and feelings settle, breathe and allow an answer to come. Avoid censoring; just keep writing whatever comes.
• Start training yourself to notice intuitive thoughts. In the next week, when you have a thought or inclination to call someone, do it. Monitor what happens.

As Malcolm Gladwell writes in Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking:

“Insight is not a lightbulb that goes off inside our heads. It is a flickering candle that can easily be snuffed out.”

So, take care of that flickering flame. Keep practising and cultivating intuitive thinking at work and in life. The more you practise it, the more it may become a useful guidance tool.