Set Intentions, Not Resolutions

One of the reasons many of us have such a hard time with intuition is because we live in societies that value action. No where is this more evident than around the New Year when we make resolutions to change our worlds in the next twelve months. We will do this. We won’t do that. Most of our resolutions depend on us making monumental changes.

But where does intuition come in? Intuition is an intangible force that’s connected to God, the Universe, the Spirit World or whatever spiritual tradition you believe in. It helps us to achieve our goals, but it usually helps us when we ALLOW it to – meaning we often have to take a break from some of our actions to allow it to do its thing.

Have you ever had the experience of being totally frustrated because a goal just proved so elusive and when you finally gave up because it was so difficult, it happened for you? That’s the power of learning to allow the Universe and your higher self to help you realize your dreams.

So how do you invite intuition to help you achieve your New Year’s goals and make the changes you want to make in your life? You set intentions, not resolutions.

Intentions are desires – the end results we wish to see. Resolutions are actions. Steps we plan to take. When you set resolutions, you let the Universe know, ‘I’ve got this. I’ve got it all under control.’ When you set intentions, you let the Universe know, ‘This is what I want. I’m listening for you to guide me so that I can get there.’ You may be led to write down some of the steps you will take, but you are less concerned with HOW things will happen and are open to discovering the How along the way.

Intuitive Action of the Day: What are your intentions for the New Year? Write a list of the changes you’d like to see in your life by December 31, 2011. Don’t figure out how at this moment. As you read over your list, ask your higher self for intuitive guidance on how to get there.

Be Open for Answers

Yesterday I wrote about engaging intuition by asking the right questions. Intuition is designed to help you achieve your best life. If you ask no questions, you're letting the universe know that you're complacent; there's nothing you need to know.

But in order to engage the flow of intuition, you've also got to be open to the answers. It therefore follows that you may find that there are certain situations in which your intuition doesn't seem very helpful:

---Situations when you already think you know the answer. What's the point of asking for signs or guidance when you've already closed your mind off to some of the possibilities?

---Situations surrounding your biggest dreams. If you really, really want a certain outcome, you're likely to close yourself off to some potential answers because you're either too certain that you're going to get it (or that you're not).

---Situtions connected to past hurts. If you're still reeling from a broken relationship or a breach of trust, you may not be open to all answers because of fears of being hurt again.

That's not to say you can't use your intuition to help you with the things that matter most to you. In later posts we'll discuss ways to trick your logical mind so that your intuition can be heard during emotionally-charged situations. But for now, when you're starting to engage your intuition, it's best to start with questions that you feel more neutral about -- questions that you're curious about, but not vested in the outcome. Once you start noticing how the universe responds to your questions, you can move on to bigger and better things.

Intuitive Action of the Day: Pick a question that you feel neutral about and ask for intuitive guidance about how to move forward. Pay attention to hunches you get and write them down.

Intuition on Demand: Bring on the Questions

Many people can recall a time when they just ‘knew’ something even though they logically had no way of knowing it. And we’ve all had our hunches that came true, when we said, ‘I knew that was going to happen.’ I call those intuition quick hits – they come out of nowhere; we never know when they’re going to happen, but it’s fun when they do.


So how do you go from being at the whim of intuition to being able to call up your intuition on demand? For example, I misplaced my driver’s license. It sure would be great if my intuition would provide one of those hunches right about now.

Well, it can. We can engage our intuition and get it working for us rather than merely entertaining us. The first step in doing that is asking the right questions.

When you silently ask a question, the universe reacts and provides an answer. The answer may come in the form of a song you hear on the radio, or it may come in the form of a book title that comes across your desk. Someone may even call you on the phone and provide you with the very information you seek.

The answer might not come right away; it may take a few days or a few dreams. But keep the question in the back of your mind and pay attention. Whatever way the answer comes, it was evoked by intuition.

What are some good questions? Anything is fair game.

Is this a good situation for me?
Should I become more involved with this person?
Is this person lying to me?
Is this a good time to start putting my resume out there?
Should I seek a second opinion?
Should I be concerned about my child's behavior?

Not sure whether this information is true? Don’t trust me. Pose the question to the universe and see what your intuition drums up in response.

Raising Intuitive Kids

It's been said that children are the most intuitive because they have not been conditioned to value logic over intuition and feeling. The following article lends credence to that belief. A small child heard the roaring wind outside, got scared and ran out of her room into her mother's bed. Later that night, a tree fell though the house and crushed the bed where the child had been sleeping. Read the article here. What if that mother had ignored her child's fears and pushed her back to her bedroom? The story would have had a tragic ending.

If you have children, or have spent alot of time around them, you might recall a time when a child tensed up around a stranger or you might have noticed a child pull away from some people and not others. I remember a time when my nephew seemed noticeably uncomfortable around a friend of his father's. I pointed it out to my sister, and since she has a lot of respect for the power of gut instinct, she made sure my nephew didn't have to be around this man.

If you'd like to nurture your children's intuition, take heed of the following tips:

--Honor emotional intelligence. Make it a habit to ask your child what he or she is feeling about day-to-day events, even if your child doesn't have a say in the matter. For example, your child may not be able to decide when you're going to head home from the park, but you can ask him what he feels about leaving now as opposed to fifteen minutes later.

--Pay attention to strong reactions. You know your child, and you know when something really pushes his or her buttons. If your childs reacts strongly in a positive or negative manner, consider acting accordingly. For example, my nephew's reaction to his father's friend was unusual and extreme. If this was my nephew's normal reaction to meeting people, my sister might have paid less attention to his discomfort.

--Encourage imagination. If your child starts telling you about an imaginary friend or an unbelievable experience, don't be so quick to shut it down. Some believe that imaginary friends could be ghosts. Even if you don't believe that, imagination is very important to intuition since it gives you permission to have an open mind - something that's needed when your gut goes against everything that you can see logically.

Special Delivery: Intuition or Coincidence?

I had an interesting experience in the post office the other day. I was standing in line and had the strongest feeling that I had left my wallet in the car. I knew that wasn't possible because I hadn't taken my wallet outside of my purse, but the strong feeling prompted me to check my purse for my wallet anyway. My wallet was there so I brushed the thought aside. When the man in front of me reached the counter, he handed the postal worker his packages. He then reached into his pocket and realized he had left his wallet in the car.

Mere coincidence? Or was I picking up on the fact that the man had lost his wallet?

A Sister's Tale of Intuition

I received the following story via email from Christine W. about how her intuition helped her sister get through a medical emergency. Here it is in her own words:

My sister and I had gone shopping together over the weekend. We had a great time and I had packed up the car and the kids and was headed back home. I live about 30 minutes away. I was more than halfway home when I had a feeling I had forgotten something really important. At first I shrugged it off, but it kept bothering me until finally I pulled over into a gas station and checked the car to make sure I had my purse and my wallet. I couldn’t think of anything else I needed since my kids were in the car with me. Anything else, my sister could either mail or I could pick it up later. But the feeling got stronger and I started to feel nervous so finally I just picked up my cell phone and called my sister. There was no answer. At this point, I knew I had to go back. I did trust ‘bad feelings’ so I turned around and went back to my sister’s house. She didn’t answer, but I have a key and I found that she had passed out. I called an ambulance. She’s fine now, but I realize that that feeling that I had forgotten something was my intuition.

Thanks for the story, Christine!

Animal Messages

I’ve been reading a lot about synchronicity lately, as I’m working on an article about how people use it to come up with signs and signals to propel their lives forward. Maybe it’s because as a child I wanted to be a veterinarian, but I’m particularly interested in animals and the belief that animals that cross your path deliver a message that can guide you in one direction or another.

A butterfly can signal that you’re about to undergo a period of transformation, while a skunk that protects itself with it’s magnificent odor can be a sign that you need to defend yourself. Rabbits are signs of fertility and new life. Today a deer crossed my path and deer can represent gentleness and unconditional love. Seeing the deer made me stop and ask myself, who am I reacting to in a harsh or judgmental manner? (I’m not sure if I’m ready to act on that information, but it was interesting to stop and think about it.)

There are a lot of sites online that give animal symbolism. Some of my favorites are http://www.whats-your-sign.com/animal-totems.html, http://onespiritx.tripod.com/magick18.htm and http://www.theearthangelconnection.com/Power%20%20Animals.htm.

While I love seeing what these sites have to say, I think of these meanings the same way I view dream dictionaries. They can be helpful, but if an animal conjures up a different meaning for you, always go with your personal interpretation.

No Chance Meetings Part Two

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about a synchronicity that I followed up on. I'd run into someone multiple times and decided to introduce myself to see if there was a message she had for me (see blog post No Chance Meetings from April 21st). Though I believe in synchronicity, I was still a little surprised at the coincidence that she was trying to make a career change into freelance writing and researching. (No matter how intuitive you think you are, your ego is still going to tell you you're making it all up.)We were at a conference for corporate women so there were very few writers there. The fact that she ran into me of all people was a stroke of luck -- or synchronicity -- on her part.

Or so I thought. I agreed to speak with her and give her some tips, but it turns out, I benefited more from the meeting than I thought I would. One of my goals is to finish my first novel -- a goal that has gone uncompleted for years. That's actually one of her main goals too. So we've formed a writer's group in which we'll meet once a week to hold each other accountable. The funny thing is, earlier that week, I had been thinking hard about that dream I have to write fiction and wondering how to finally make it happen. That chance meeting was an answer. We'll see if it's the right one.

Healing Intuition

One of the most interesting areas of intuition to me is that of medical intuition. Perhaps it’s because it’s so easy to see the impact such intuitive guidance can make. I in no way advocate seeing a medical intuitive instead of a doctor, but I think there is a lot that can be gained from seeing both if you’re experiencing health problems. While doctors focus on curing the physical body, medical intuitives often can pinpoint emotional/spiritual imbalances that can contribute to illness. Such individuals claim to be able to detect illness in one’s body through intuitive methods.

Caroline Myss, author of such books as Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential" and Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing", is one of the better known medical intuitives. Edgar Cayce and Phineas Parkhurst Quimby are some others.

Regardless of what you believe about medical intuition, many people – myself included – believe that the mind plays a major role in healing. Those who believe they can overcome a disease or get well often have an edge over those who feel defeated. And the Placebo Effect – cases in which patients were cured even when the treatment was nothing more than a sham -- shows that belief is often just as powerful as medication itself. With that in mind, I think medical intuition can’t hurt. If someone can give me a reason to believe that I can improve my chances of healing by addressing emotional/spiritual causes while a medical doctor does what he can on the physical level, I’ll take all the help I can get.

No Chance Meetings

So one of my favorite books of all time is The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure. Last weekend, I picked it up and was re-reading it when one of the concepts that always jumps out at me jumped out at me again: The whole concept of synchronicity, and how when you run into someone multiple times either you have a message for them or they have one for you. In other words, it was no mere coincidence that you ran into this person again.

So I was at a dinner and panel discussion earlier this week and 'coincidentally,' I found myself in the elevator with the same woman when I was arriving to the panel discussion and two hours later when I was leaving the panel discussion. With the book still fresh in my mind, I stopped her and asked if she had a business card because I thought it was interesting that we met up again. I gave her mine.

She contacted me not an hour later. It turns out, she's trying to make a career change and isn't sure how to do it. The career she's trying to break into is freelance writing and researching. With me being a freelance writer and editor, I guess there's a lot that we have to talk about.

Time

The last time I wrote, I was grappling with a friend's death. I guess it affected me more than I thought it did since I didn't write again for four months.

But I'm glad that I honored my resistance. That's part of living intuitively; being ok with starting and stopping and letting time pass by until you instinctively know that it's time to start again.

There was a time when I would have been mad at myself for stopping, or I would have forced myself to write so that I could achieve a goal that existed only in my head. I'm glad that time has passed.