Intuition – that gentle voice

I’ve been trying to find the perfect definition for intuition. The Oxford dictionary says “immediate apprehension by the mind without reasoning, immediate insight.” Hmm, I get the immediate bit but does that mean that every instinct or impulse is intuition? I don’t think so… So many of those loud calls come from our ego, the polar opposite of intuition. And, sometimes, it’s fear that directs. It’s difficult finding someone or some book or some work to fully explain intuition. Yet, intuition is what it’s all about. If we can master listening to it and acting on it, our life is so much more flowy. So intuition is a hunch, a gut feeling. Someone said “it’s like an itch that won’t go away.” Interesting. But, ignore it long enough, and that quiet persistent voice can be pushed aside. Quite a way aside. The rational mind takes over and our heart doesn’t even know it exists. A friend of mine asked me “how do we fall in love?” He wanted to rationalise that too!

I was on my way to Giverny the other day, a trip organised by the Wellesley in Aix group. It was a beautifully sunny day in Paris. My windows were open and I could feel a slight chill in the air. As I was stepping out of the shower, a little voice inside me said “take your raincoat.” I got dressed and the little voice said “take your raincoat.” My outfit was cute and the raincoat didn’t feel necessary. The little voice was still saying “take the raincoat.” I took an extra jacket but no raincoat. I left the apartment and it was wonderfully warm and sunny and I felt it was the right decision. As soon as I stepped off the bus in Giverny, it was obvious that I needed the raincoat. I didn’t want to dwell on that, so I forged on. You can imagine the rest of the story. Lunch was a mess as I basically could not sit outdoors because I was freezing. I missed an encounter with a prominent child psychologist I would have very much liked to talk to. I was incapable of enjoying the gardens or the walks… So, basically, in not listening to my intuition, I caused a domino effect that spiralled down throughout the day. Not mentioning that it took forty eight hours for me to defrost from that cold. Voila, I ignored the little voice. I rationalised that I looked cuter without the raincoat!

So that’s it.  When life feels flowy and we are filled with energy, we are listening to intuition.  When things begin to feel complicated and our energy is drained, then we have clearly ignored intuition.  We are born intuitive. Children know exactly the hunches to follow. They move towards what feels good. They follow their interests and curiosities. They are drawn to beauty and nature. Their natural instinct is to be kind and helpful. They are open and caring. Their life is enchanted. Every day is an adventure… Until we step in! We introduce the rational mind, or ego. “Why do you want to this? Wouldn’t it be better this way?” In our caring way, we slowly steer them away from their hunches and towards what we perceive to be the right path. We have the best intentions but we still interfere with a natural ability we are born with. Why would we want to mess with nature? The same nature that makes a seed grow into a tree or galaxies turn at exactly the right orbit

When they interviewed the most successful CEOs of the top Fortune 100 companies and asked their secret to success, the answer time and again was “following our hunches!” Intuition in action. So, let’s develop that in children instead of quietening that voice for them. Let’s let them follow their hunches, we might be in for a good ride ourselves… And learn to follow our own intuition in the process!

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