“The only real valuable thing is intuition.” – Albert Einstein
Reclaiming our gift
We were born with the gift of intuition, known also by the name of “gut feeling”. Both psychology and spirituality agree upon the effects that intuition has on our lives: it helps us, it improves our lives.
Carl Jung defined it as the perception of the unconscious. In his view, intuition is an irrational function that human beings possess and which, by an unconscious process, provides creative ideas and solutions to problems.
In books of spirituality, like Angela Artemis’s book, “The Intuition Principle: How to Attract the Life You Dream of “, intuition is defined as the higher type of knowledge which connects the earthly knowledge with God’s knowledge (called also Greater Intelligence knowledge). In other words, intuition is the knowledge which connects us to the source of life from where we came.
In light of my personal experiences, intuition is the inner voice that tells us what people and experiences are suitable for the harmonic growth of our true self.
No matter how we define it or what kind of role we assign to it, we know when we feel it.
Intuition can manifest itself in the form of pure joy when we are fulfilling our true destiny. For example, if someone offers us a job and we are overwhelmed with joy, then we know that our most reliable consultant, the intuition, has spoken to us. We want to take up that offer.
On the other hand, if we are hesitant about someone or something, then it may be better to avoid getting too involved.
Connecting to intuition is one thing, acting upon it is a totally different kettle of fish
In our house, the remote control is lost on a daily basis – my toddler likes to hide it each day in a different place. I like to let the intuition take me to the place where the remote control can be.
Every time, after a few moments of panic, I empty my mind and let the body be in charge. One day I found it in the cupboard, among the piles of dishes and pots.
Sometimes we choose to go against the intuition, relying more on other rational thoughts.
Last July, I rented my studio apartment to a 20-years-old man, despite my intuition. The first time I laid my eyes on him, my entire being screamed, “No! Don’t rent it to him!” Two months after signing the renting agreement, he stopped paying rent.
Six months passed before he was evicted from the flat. Ignoring my intuition, I offered to him free accommodation for half of a year.
In the blink of an eye, intuition informs us if a situation would be beneficial or unfavourable to us in time. It doesn’t take too long to let us know that we’ve just met the right person.
Yet, the people in our lives (who may have the best intentions at heart) and our own thoughts provide the background noise which makes some of us ignore the inner voice of intuition.
Learn to trust the intuition
The more information our brains absorb, the more infatuated we become about applying knowledge in our life. The inner voice of intuition is muffled.
We are taught that knowledge is power. Being well informed opens our mind to the world we live in. However, intuition gives us the eyes of wisdom to live meaningfully in any aspect of our life – love life, professional life, social life, spiritual life, etc.
Intuition may be patient with us, but once we choose to prioritise it over rational choices, it also requires some discipline from us:
- to be aware of the inner voice.
- to be brave to listen to it, to stick to it no matter what.
- to be consistent and search for the opportunities that can lead to living genuine experiences.
We need to commit to our intuition if we want to live meaningfully.
What if intuition stops talking to us?
Tuning into our intuition is a life-term project. There are moments when it is silent and we may feel forsaken without it.
Yet, we need to relax. Let us meditate, if we have the chance. Let’s do things that we truly enjoy doing. Intuition will show up again, at the right time and place!
The day when we base our decisions on intuition, we open the door to authentic life experiences. Like other life experiences, there will be high and lows. Unlike other life experiences, there will be the joy of finally being able to discover ways of expressing our true self.
How about you, what do you rely mostly on intuition or reason when you make decisions in your life?