Your Intuition. It’s there for a reason.

I’ve Learned to Trust my Brain

Did you ever have your keys in hand, standing at the front door and get this odd feeling that you need to go back inside.

The weird, silent brain-dialogue goes something like this.

Brain: Go back in the house.
Me: No. That’s Dumb.
Brain: You should go back into the house
Me: No! I have to hurry up and get to the grocery store, because I have to get the stuff to make the sausage pinwheels so that I will have time to make them before the meeting at six tonight.
Brain: The House. Go in.
Me: La la la lah, La la la lah

And as I walk through the swooshing doors and see the checkout lines, I realize ahhhhhhh, my wallet was inside the house, where I set it down on the counter for a second while I checked in the fridge to see if I was out of the mango chutney I would need for the dipping sauce. Why didn’t I listen and go back in the house?

Eventually, I realized my brain talked to me in this weird non-verbal language, my Subconscious tapping on the window of my Consciousness. I’m somewhat trainable so eventually I stopped completely ignoring such efforts by my brain to warn me.

Brain: Go back in the house.
Me: No. That’s Dumb.
Brain: You should go back into the house
Me: Why do you want me to go back in the house? Oh Kay, maybe you are right
Me (impatiently a few seconds later): Nope. Can’t think of a single reason.
Later
Me: SHIT

Now if my brain gives me the feeling I need to go back in the house, I do. I stand there and look around and try to figure out what I’m missing. I’ve learned to trust my brain, not necessarily my conscious brain, but my subconscious brain.

You might think of this subconscious brain activity as my intuition. Interestingly, the root of the word intuition, loosely, is ‘to look at.’ As in, ‘take a look’ with your conscious mind at what your subconscious mind is looking to communicate.

What’s your experience with your own intuition?

The Gears of the Universe Squeaking?

I’ve never been the person who is highly empathic, reading how people are feeling in the moment and adjusting my delivery and message on the fly. Instead, I have a different form of empathy. I often develop a sense, or intuition, for how a person will respond in a given situation. Maybe someone always sends a follow up email right after a call, or always starts a text exchange with ‘hiya,’ or always wears heels, or laughs the loudest. Or always leaves their phone on the kitchen counter. Until they don’t. And you just know something is off; something is different. My intuition works like gears sliding into place, patterns that align or don’t. I have learned to trust my intuition. I have learned to attend to the differences. It’s real, I don’t ignore it.

This same form of intuition whispers in my ear at other times. I often get a strong feeling to be sure to tell someone that they have a very specific strength. As in, it feels like the universe is telling me I have to say something to that person, to deliver a message and I feel compelled, as if I could help them along in their life’s mission.

Mark, a guy I worked with was a good salesman. He met quota; the clients trusted him. And after several months of being on the same team with him, I could feel the gears click in place and I knew he needed to know something important about his career. I felt compelled to tell him. You’re probably not interested, I told him, but you would be an amazing executive director of a non-profit. 

How odd is it to think that you ‘need’ to deliver a message on behalf of the universe? That’s just crazy.

It’s not the Universe talking to me. My intuition is just extremely strong pattern recognition. I knew successful non-profit leaders; I knew their patterns. I knew him; I knew his patterns. It fit together. And it doesn’t sound as crazy when I think about it like that. It is me listening and seeing. I like that. I like that I am listening and seeing at an unconscious level. It’s not the same as that person who sees emotions in the moment, consciously, and reacts in the moment and helps other people feel safe. It takes place over time. I’ve learned to see that I am empathic in my own way and more importantly I’ve learned to understand my personal intuition.

Does the Universe talk to you? How?

When I was a kid, I learned that whenever I was at an intersection, to Stop, Look and Listen so that I would be safe and not get run over by a car. So, when your subconscious brain intersects with your conscious brain or when you are at a life intersection, remember to Stop, Look and Listen

If your intuition tries to talk to you, 

Stop what you are doing for a second and give your intuition time to talk to you. 

Look and Listen with both your conscious, logical mind, and also with your subconscious self. Take a look. What do you see? What can you learn? How can you move from your own personal variety of intuition to action?

When I was a kid, I did almost get hit by a car. But that’s another story.

 

 

Footnote:

A few days after I wrote the above, I happened to listen to a podcast The Art of Manliness, hosted by Brent McKay, #845: Magic, Archetypes, and the Mysteries of the Unconscious. If you are intrigued by the idea of looking at your own Intuition, take a listen.

From Brett McKay’s summary: There are two parts of the mind: the conscious and the unconscious. While the former dominates your attention, the latter actually occupies far more of the brain, influencing your mood, generating inspiration, and making you who you are, all behind the scenes.

My guest would argue that to become all you’re meant to be, you have to make your unconscious mind your ally and that this may be life’s most important task.

His name is Daniel Z. Lieberman, and he’s a psychiatrist and the author of Spellbound: Modern Science, Ancient Magic, and the Hidden Potential of the Unconscious Mind.