Intuition

Reflections on Intuition

Intuition has been called our sixth sense. We use our familiar five senses—tasting, hearing, seeing, feeling and smelling—to gain information directly from the physical world. Intuition, on the other hand, is used to gain information from the non-physical realm.

Whereas our five physical senses provide us with information that is direct and immediate, intuition can convey information about either the present or the future, or both. You could regard intuition as the “still small voice” that we have heard so much about. Since it can be so quiet, we often end up not hearing it, or we simply ignore it.

However, intuitional messages can also be conveyed through our emotions, and many times these emotions are quite strong and insistent. Even so, we still may choose to ignore our intuition and act against its “recommendations”. I think many of us live most or all of our lives ignoring our intuition, thus severely limiting our acquisition of personal power.

Messages from our intuition can also appear in the physical world in the form of our bodily reactions. For example, at one point in my life I made a very important decision that created strong negative emotional reactions within me. I lived with these negative emotions for weeks as I came closer and closer to “consummating” the decision. On the day of reckoning and in a very public forum, as I went through with the action that my intuition was telling me not to take, I broke out in a profuse sweat. I was terribly embarrassed about sweating so heavily, and I was sure that everyone could see it. I was miserable on a day when I was supposed to be celebrating. The results of my decision were a profound confirmation of my intuition, although I survived and learned from my mistake.

One of the major challenges in using our intuition is to recognize it as genuine guidance, distinguishing it from other influences—such as, for example, fear. If I have a negative emotional reaction to someone or something, it could be my intuition legitimately telling me to run, or it could be fear tempting me to run even though it is neither necessary or in my best interest.

I believe we are born with intuition, one of at least six senses we possess as human beings. However, our intuitional capacity has atrophied because our culture does not believe in cultivating it. Fortunately, there are many resources available to help us recognize and develop our intuition. I will add those I can recommend to this page as I identify them.