This past weekend at Connections I was once again reminded of the power of intuition.
When I choose to trust my intuition and act on how it is guiding me it will often generate a breakthrough moment for a participant. These intuitive moments also build trust and belief in the possibility of breakthroughs for others. The room feels charged with possibility. It is really a quite magical, mystical feeling that is both powerful and empowering. So; what is intuition?
Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Blink” defines intuition as, ‘the power of knowing or understanding something immediately without reasoning or being taught.’
Gladwell tells us that we have an intuitive, spiritual side of us that is processing information and making decisions quicker than our conscious thinking mind. This intuitive side has the ability to connect my internal self to a universal intelligence. There are moments when I experience a deep knowing that extends beyond my understanding. The question is, will I act on this knowing in the moment or will I lose the opportunity because the rational side of me wants to make sense of what I am experiencing. This will often lead me to doubting what I am experiencing and rob me of what can be a magical moment. If I choose to trust my intuition in the moment it often results in a breakthrough.
I think it will make a little more sense if I provide an example. I also think it is a little more appropriate if I take this example from a few years ago to maintain the confidentiality of the group that just went through.
In a Connections program a few years ago one of our team members was struggling with how much he worried about everything. He was very agitated and frustrated that he was in the middle of the program and still struggling with his anxiety. He was very much hoping that being surrounded by a supportive team and the positive energy found in the Connections room would profoundly change his state.
As I looked at him I had one of those intuitive moments that often occur to me in the weekend and I asked him, “What is the opposite of worry?” In that moment I did not have any answer in mind to the question, I only had the question. I then noticed behind him on the flip chart, where the team members had written vision words that twice the word peace was written down. I asked him to turn around and identify the word that had been written down twice and he said peace. He then laughed out loud. I asked him what was so funny and he said; I have the word peace on the back on my shirt. He turned around and there in big, bold letters was the word peace written on his shirt. He paused for a minute and it was easy to see how his energy was shifting from agitation to peace. In that moment he acknowledged the message of peace that was being directed to him and how uniquely it was being delivered.
I was also reminded in that moment of a verse in the Bible that says, ‘there is a peace that extends beyond our understanding if we can acknowledge it and accept it.”
Acting on my intuition assumes that there is a universal intelligence that I can draw from. As much as I would like to take credit for every magical event that takes place in the room, there are moments that arise that have nothing to do with my gift, my education or my experience. I feel like I am nothing more than a conduit for something much larger and more meaningful than myself. My only question when one of these moments of knowing shows up, is whether I will take the leap of faith and act on what I believe I need to do or say in that moment. I have learned over the years that I really have nothing to lose to take that leap of faith. If it doesn’t really work out, then I move on and chalk it up to experience. However, when something magical happens it just strengthens my resolve to keep leaping. And the good news is that often a life is changed.
These opportunities to act on your intuition are available on a regular basis and operate more quickly than your logic. You just have to be willing to take a leap of faith and act on your vulnerability. All you really have to lose is your self-doubt and that constant second guessing.
Terry