TIP 57
LET YOUR INTUITION LEAD THE WAY
Trusting our intuition often saves us from disaster.
Another way to find your dream job is to follow your intuition. It is simple, but not necessarily easy. First you have to learn how to distinguish those varying and often contradictory little voices. One is your head talking—the rational, intellectual part of you—and the other, the intuition, is from your gut. Your intuition always has your best interest at heart, while your head can get you into big trouble because it operates on the “shoulds” in life (Tip 4). Your intuition knows nothing of what society might think; it is only interested in you. If you are super busy, it will be harder to hear your intuition because the chattering in your head might be drowning it out. So if you don’t hear your intuition very clearly, you may want to go back and work on Part Two, “Clean Up Your Act,” and Part Four, “Make Time When There Isn’t Any.” Sitting still for 10 minutes to do nothing except give your intuition a chance to speak is also a great way to start (Tip 33).
Here is a perfect personal example of how your head can get you into trouble. I had the thought to check my e-mail again one evening, though I had just checked it an hour earlier (intuition speaking—it isn’t necessarily logical). Upon signing into my e-mail, I saw a message that a colleague is vacating his bay-view penthouse on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and is looking for a house-sitter for two months—all utilities included at no charge. I immediately thought (intuition speaking), “Yes! This is perfect!” The head voice steps in and says, “Don’t be silly, you should be in New York building your business, not running off to some beach house. Besides, your boyfriend will miss you if you are gone for so long.” Then my intuition came back and said, “Hey, just send an e-mail back saying you’d like to do it. If it is meant to be, you’ll get it, if not, someone else will. And, if you get it and decide you really can’t go, you can always say no afterward.” My intuition won this discussion, and off went my request. Sure enough, I ended up in Provincetown writing this book in complete peace and solitude, happy as could be.
Shakti Gawain explains intuition beautifully in her book, Living in the Light:
The intuitive mind, on the other hand, seems to have access to an infinite supply of information. It appears to be able to tap into a deep storehouse of knowledge and wisdom, the universal mind. It also is able to sort out this information and supply us with exactly what we need, when we need it. Though the messages may come through a bit at a time, if we learn to follow this supply of information piece by piece, the necessary course of action will unfold.
As you develop your intuition and start following its guidance, you will start to listen less and less to your head, the “rational voice.” You will start to go more by how you feel. You will listen to your whole body and let things unfold, even though it may run counter to your logic. This is not airy, fairy stuff. Scientist, Candace B. Pert, PhD, explains in her groundbreaking book, The Molecules of Emotion, the molecular connection to our emotions. There are actually different molecules associated with joy, sadness, fear, and each of our varying emotions. Essentially, those gut feelings you have are real. There are real molecules behind them. Given that this is the case, it is time to start listening to what your whole body is telling you.
The more my clients trust and follow their inner voices and gut feelings, the easier and more exciting life becomes. Start following your intuition on the little things. For example, it is a clear, sunny morning, but a little voice tells you to bring your umbrella. See if you were right. Did it rain or not? My guess is that our bodies, with their billions of cells, can sense and feel things that we can’t begin to grasp on a rational or intellectual level. I use my whole body when I am coaching. If I feel physically uncomfortable, it often means that I’m sensing that a client isn’t telling the whole story—and I do my coaching by phone! Let me tell you an interesting coaching story to give you an example.
Marissa had been transferred from Iowa to work in Colorado (where she had always wanted to live). All her moving expenses had been paid, even the rent on a temporary house, while she and her family looked for a new home. But she was worried and stressed out because they had not sold their old home in Iowa, and they couldn’t afford to pay for both their new house and the old mortgage. While housing sales were booming in Colorado, they were stagnant in Iowa. Try as they might, the house just didn’t sell, and time was running out. Marissa said, “I always hated that house and now look what it’s causing!” Out of nowhere, I got this crazy intuitive flash that the reason their house wasn’t selling was because she had all these negative thoughts about it. Nobody would want to buy an unloved house.
I told her I had an unusual homework assignment for her that was completely off the wall. I asked her to think of all the good times she had shared with her family in the house. The Sunday mornings when their two little girls would jump in bed, and then they would all make pancakes together in the kitchen—that kind of mushy good stuff. Well, she was so desperate at this point that she agreed to give it a shot. She even started asking her four- and five-year-olds what they had enjoyed doing at the old house and got her husband talking about it (she didn’t tell them the coaching assignment). Two days later, I got an ecstatic call from Marissa. They had a buyer for the house, and—get this—the buyer needed to close by the end of the month and requested that they speed up the closing process.
Was it coincidence? Well, just what is coincidence?
If everything is some form of energy, our negative thoughts are also energy, and people pick up on them like a radio picks up radio waves. Our thoughts are boundless—not limited by time or distance. Okay, I know this may sound pretty loony, but why not start listening to your intuition and see what happens? Use your spare 10 minutes before every appointment to sit and do nothing (Tip 33) and give your intuition a chance to be heard. You will find that you make better decisions and that good things will come to you.