Let Your Intuition Flow
Intuition, the knowledge we find within. The awareness of the subtle stuff which lies outside our focused attention. It is our implicit communication with the world around us, the collective unconscious. The information that is derived from our ancestral memory and experiences. I have recently committed to fine tuning my intuition. So today that is what I will write about.
I believe we have let our attention drift from the world around us to the world we have made; the world of form, maps, strategy, and deadlines. We have forgotten and/or neglect our senses and how to actually feel the world. We have instruments to do everything for us and because of this, as a collective, we have lost our connection with an inner compass that is informed by our senses. As a whole, there is a lack of connection with nature and the elements at play around us. We are made of those same elements; so doesn’t it only make sense that we should be allowing our surroundings to better inform us of what is needed at any given moment?
Think about ancient man, such as the ancient Polynesians. These people navigated the oceans with no maps and no tools, they listened to the ocean, found information in the stars, the wind, the reflection in the clouds, the state of the sea… They did this because they sensed the world around them. They took all the differing information gathered by each individual sense and discipline. They then integrated the information provided by the world around them into a whole to inform their decisions. Somewhere along the way we as humans have decided that this attention to the subtle, the implicit, unconscious, and the collective doesn’t matter; that this connection to the elements and our “gut feelings” or senses is unimportant and ill informed. Because of this we may have cut out parts of what we know. What I mean by “what we know” is; what our genes and cells and sense as an evolved species has to say.
I believe we have five senses to have multiple views and experiences of the world all at once. These views are meant to be noticed felt and then integrated into a whole. And if we begin to slow down and listen to these senses we can begin to let our whole being/heart/mind flow. Instead we find ourselves disconnected from ourselves and our surroundings. Or, horrors of horrors, we may not find ourselves at all. This is why we as a culture vibrate with so much anxiety, hostility, burn out, and shallow breathing. When the pressures on we focus on our rational thinking mind, we shut out the information coming from all other senses, and we find ourselves over and over again shut down from our body.
We all have heard about the notion that the left side of the brain is the thinking mind, the mathematical mapping mind; and the right is the creative feeling mind. We live in a left hemisphere dominated culture, where everything is compartmentalized and fragmented. It becomes hard to see where all the parts cohere. We have lost meaning in the mind, body, spirit and instead seek meaning in career, status, and doing. I implore us all to call more on the creative and to lavish in our senses.
Think of the sensation of butterflies or knots in your stomach; do you trust this feeling? Or do you push it down or away, ignoring your body and thinking “it will pass, I must have ate something weird.” Intuition can be as simple as knowing it is about to rain. We can hone in on these experiences by broadening our scope of what we pay attention to. Start with small things, like slowing down when you are walking or on a hike to notice the nature around you, look more at the clouds, see if you can really feel the emotional state of the person sitting across from you on the bus, pay attention to your senses and sharpen the tool of your inner compass.
I will set the intention to call on intuition. To let my environment inform my being and my senses to inform my actions or inactions.
