It Will Find You

Intuition.

We’ve all heard of it. But what does it mean? The dictionary defines it as:

in·tu·i·tion

/ˌinto͞oˈiSH(ə)n,ˌintəˈwiSH(ə)n/

noun

1. the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning."we shall allow our intuition to guide us"
   
   instinct
   intuitiveness
   sixth sense
   divination
   clairvoyance
   second sight
   
   ESP (extrasensory perception)

• a thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning.plural noun: intuitions
  "your insights and intuitions as a native speaker are positively sought"

For me, it means a feeling in your gut, or your heart. It is a sense of things. It could come as a warning, or an insight, or even as a deeper understanding of something. It speaks from emotional intelligence. And Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to manage both your own emotions and understand the emotions of people around you. There are five key elements to EI: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. I believe (intuitively) that the power behind a stronger intuition comes from a well developed sense of empathy.

But even more so, I believe intuition is energy. It is vibration. We are beings of light and energy. Our nervous systems are wired throughout us to be both receptive and reflective, if not projective. We are in tune with the energy of life and others that surrounds us, whether we are conscious of it or not. Life is more than meets the eye. It is what meets the ‘I’… And I often feel life deeply.

And it feels me too.

I often experience intuition in a variety of forms. It is usually trivial, but always correct. That is to say that when I have a gut feeling about something, I have learned to trust it. It is rarely wrong. Sometimes it is a feeling I should take a different way home than the one I am on. One time, I suddenly felt this and my logical thinking refuted the feeling. It questioned it and tried to dismiss it. So I did not turn off down the road I had a strong feeling to. And sure enough, I came upon a train crossing and it was a very long wait. If I had gone the way I felt I should, I would have not been so inconvenienced.

Trusting intuition can be tricky. We tend to not listen to our hearts. Our tendency is to listen to our rational minds. But our rational minds do not have the insight that our hearts do. They do not feel life the same way. Our rational minds only serve to process the impressions we get; to decipher them into cognitive thought and idea. And relying on that to bring meaning to us, often takes us away from the real message and guidance. We adhere to things like “seeing is believing”. But I think (feel) that “believing is seeing”.

When we believe or trust something to be true, we end up seeing that it is. For it eventually comes true. Its truth is revealed to us. It is brought to us… And we are brought to it. An example of this could be something like feeling the uncertainty of a life change. Maybe it is a change in residence. Or perhaps it is losing a job, and being unsure where the next one may be. Or maybe it is the end of a relationship, when one feels alone and devastated. All of these examples share a common theme. They all leave us feeling and thinking that we have to react like this is a desperate situation. We have to rely on our wits and wisdom to gather our resources to find the next certainty. We become analytical. We make conscious decisions and act accordingly. 

We let logic and reason become our guides.

For it is in the certainties of logic and reason that we find comfort. But trusting and believing in things working out can also bring comfort. And sometimes, life has a funny way of responding to that kind of faith. It steps up to meet us half-way and brings opportunities (that prove to be beneficial) into our lives. I have seen it time and time again. I have endured all of these changes and losses and when I let go of some of my control, and trust a little more, the actions and effort that I do apply tend to go a lot further. They get me what, and to where, I need, and need to go.

And to be clear, just trusting life to take care of you and lead you, is not enough on its own. As with all things, we have to do our part. It is a process of exchange. Your efforts are given to life with trust and faith and life, in exchange, brings you what is requested and required. It is in the navigation of this exchange where intuition is best understood and utilized. It is like a tool that becomes honed, the more we honour it. It gets stronger the more of ourselves we give to it. 

But this is a mindful practice, and it must be practiced unexpectedly. For intuition comes in its own form and in its own time. And I have found that when it does, I do not always recognize it for what it is. It feel frivolous. Whimsical and dismissive. My mind automatically tries to dismiss it in favour of logic and reason.

And so it is you must know it and trust it and be ready to give yourself to it.

Let it guide you. Make your decisions based on that gut feeling; that thing that your heart is trying to tell you. It may even take hold of your body and affect your physical state. Just let it. And I trust that in doing so, you will know yourself and your own power of perception better.

You will find what you need in life, and it will find you.