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.

Honoring the Instinct to Rest

It’s been a few days since I’ve written because I felt the overwhelming need to rest. I don’t know if it was the holiday weekend or the winding down of the summer, but my body felt tired and I could sense that burnout was on the horizon.

A couple of years ago, I would have kept going, ignoring my body and I probably would have eventually gotten sick – my body’s way of forcing me to slow down.

Researchers have proven what the body intuitively knows: According to studies cited in this article by Marie Claire, chronic work stress can be as harmful to you as smoking and not exercising.

So after listening to my intuition and taking last week off, this week I feel energized, creative and rested. It may seem like a simple concept to just listen to your body but so many of us ignore what’s right in front of us.

We often get caught up in the dramatic stories of intuition in action, such as my previous post on Jaycee Dugard. But intuition is about recognizing the little things that we need minute-by-minute and day-by-day. It’s not something that we can plan weeks in advance; it’s about acknowledging your needs in the moment and responding to them.

Intuitive Action Item: You’ve probably planned out much of your work vacation time but if you haven’t scheduled all of it, leave some days free for “intuitive health” days. You can’t predict when your body will intuitively need a rest.

Don't Get Caught Up in Words

Someone made the comment that the notion of intuition is more likely to appeal to women than men because women are more intuitive by nature. Men, on the other hand, rely more on logic than feelings. I thought about this, and while I know plenty of men (and women) who feel more comfortable dealing with facts and reasoning, I wondered if this person wasn’t getting more caught up in the language and missing the bigger picture.

I don’t agree that women are more intuitive than men. While the phrase ‘women’s intuition’ implies that women have this special ability to know things, I’ve heard many men describe some of their choices as being gut decisions. In fact, when I looked up intuition in a thesaurus, I found several words that people use regularly that describe intuition, some of which seem to be more acceptable to logical folks than others.

Instinct, inspiration, hunch, perception and discernment are just some of the words that describe intuitive moments – when one goes beyond logic to assess a situation. Some people feel more comfortable crediting their intuitive decision-making to a hunch, or saying they’d been inspired to turn left when everyone else was going right. Others say they were following their heart rather than their head – another way to express the notion of being inwardly guided, rather than depending on external logic.

Intuitive Action Item: If the word ‘intuition’ conjures up the notion of a special power that certain people have (or don’t have), or if it makes you feel uncomfortable, that may be blocking you from trusting some of your decisions that aren’t based on logic. Replace that word with a word or phrase that may be a little less loaded for you whether it be instinct or even divine intervention. Whatever you call those moments, don’t let the words stop you from acknowledging the experience of marching to the beat of your own drum.

Monkey See, Monkey Do...

A friend made the offhand comment that she wished she could be more like her dog Rex, in that Rex spent his days doing precisely what he wanted to do, whether it be running and jumping or puttering around the house. She was joking, but it got me to thinking about animals and how they aren’t encumbered by logic and use their instincts to not only get by, but to survive.

After the tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands in Sri Lanka and India in December of 2004, National Geographic reported of the many eyewitness accounts made by those who saw animals in those areas react and flee to higher locations moments before the tsunami struck. According to National Geographic, elephants screamed and ran for higher ground, dogs wouldn’t go outdoors, flamingos moved out of low areas and zoo animals rushed into their shelters. It was as if those animals sensed danger was coming.

Some scientists chalk it up to the fact that animals have to be more alert than humans because their worlds are more primitive and dangerous, so they recognized that something was amiss moments before disaster struck. But that’s precisely what it means to be intuitive. You’re alert to your feelings about whatever situation you find yourself in, and act based on those feelings whether that means leaving a crowded venue because you feel uneasy about being there, or confiding in someone you just met because you instinctively know you can trust them.

Intuitive Action Item: Next time you see an animal, watch how it responds to its environment. It’s alert to sounds and movement and when it senses danger it runs. That might seem like a simple notion, but how often do you simply act based on your gut urges without stopping to think about what you should do next?