Developing Intuition

Ever have that gut feeling about something - but just don't know what that message is or where it's coming from? Well that gut feeling is really your intuition. And just what is intuition? Think of intuition as a partner - someone who only wants to help you and guide you.

The only problem with this partner is that it doesn't speak the same language as you. That is; it doesn't always spell things out for you and give you instructions in terms you'll understand. In order to develop your intuition - you have to first understand it's language - and this is often the tricky part.

How Intuition Works - Understanding it's Language.

Intuition sends us messages in different forms all the time, everyday. Sometimes intuition can be that gut feeling that I just mentioned - when you know something - but just don't have anything to substantiate what you know. For example: last week I was driving on the highway - I had at least another hour to go before I got close to my destination. A limousine went speeding by me - and for a moment I thought about tagging along behind him - but something just didn't sit right. I chose not to speed with him and stayed where I was. About a half-hour later I saw the same limousine pulled over along the side of the road getting a speeding ticket and thought - that could have been me - good thing I stayed where I was. Here's another example; several years ago I was in Seattle - a city I'm somewhat familiar with but not completely knowledgeable of all the streets. I recall driving along near Pike Street Market - trying to figure out how to get back on to highway 5 and head north.

Finally I figured out how to get back on the highway - and decided to speed up a little - but the car in front of me was going rather slow so I thought about passing it - but again something didn't sit right-so I just stayed behind him. A minute later another car zipped past us both - it was not more than 20-feet ahead of us going through a green light when another car smashed into it - the other car was going through a red light. We had to stay and talk to the police - but again my instincts saved me - that could have been me in the accident had I chose to pass the car a minute earlier - but I trusted my gut and stayed put.

I remember when I was in an investigative Reporter in New York and I was interviewing the Chief of Detectives for the New York City Police Department. It was his last day on the job before starting a new life as a public citizen now that he was retiring. He had spent 25 years on the job and let me tell you - he'd seen just about everything. I asked him: "How can an average citizen, walking down Broadway just after sunset, protect himself or herself from a mugger? No everybody carries mace or has self-defense training? What can Miss. Or Mr. Average do to protect themselves?" I'll never forget his response. This elderly man, with his receding gray hair, leaned forward and said: "Karim, at some point, just before something bad is going to happen to you - those little hairs on the back of your neck stand up. They're telling you not to cross the street, not to go further, to stop in your track and turn around - go in a direction where help can be found. If the average person paid attention to that - paid attention to those little hairs standing up on the back of their necks - they'd live a long time." Those little hairs stand up because your intuition is trying to tell you not to do something or warn you of imminent danger so - you then have to take the necessary steps to get out of the situation as quickly as possible. Quite simply - intuition can save your life if you just listen to it.

Fellow readers - I can't tell you how many times my intuition has saved me. There are probably numerous other times that my intuition has saved me and I'm not even aware of those instances. These are situations when I followed my instincts but don't know what the outcome would have been had I not followed them. Sometimes we won't know what would have happened if we didn't follow our instincts.

Intuition comes in many forms - like I said at the beginning - think of intuition as a partner trying to help you and guide you along the way - so that no harm comes to you. Sometimes this partner will speak with a feeling, sometimes it will speak with words through another person, sometimes it will give you signals, sometimes it will simply try to stop you from doing something that isn't good for you. We have to understand how it is speaking to us and when it is speaking to us. Let's go over some of the examples I just mentioned.

I've gone over how intuition speaks with feeling. Sometimes it's a gut feeling - an overwhelming feeling that you should do something, avoid something or follow up on something. Sometimes intuition will speak with words through someone else. For example: you may be thinking about buying a new home but you're not sure what area. The first person you speak to mentions a particular area, the next person you speak to mentions the same area and then a third person mentions the same area - then you're looking in the paper and you see an article praising the area that you're friends were telling you about. In this case your intuition is likely trying to get you to consider that certain area - and perhaps it's time to take a look.

Sometimes intuition will try to give you signals - the article in the newspaper in the above example is a signal. Seeing things that correspond with what you are trying to find an answer to is a signal. Sometimes intuition will try to stop you from taking a certain course of action. You may want to buy a home in a certain area - but everything you find is not up to your standard or way out of your price range. Here you may be getting a signal to look in another area, be patient until you find the right place, or think about other options. You may be trying to get a certain job at a certain place - but there are no openings and nothing is coming up. Intuition may be telling you to look for other options and not pursue the job you are so set on.

In all cases - the message isn't always as clear as we would like it to be. The way intuition speaks to us isn't always easy to understand. But if you keep testing it and keep searching the answer will become clear. The feeling will be overwhelming. The signals will be repeated and clear. The messages from other people will be repeated over and over again. Then the message becomes clear. Sometimes you may not understand the message until years later. But it will all make sense at some point - and that point is when the time is right.

The common element in all of the situations that I just mentions is that in every case there was a question involved. If you want to find an answer to something and you will always get a response. You just have to understand the message. The first time you get the response - you may not understand it and it may not be clear. If you're not sure - don't do anything - wait until you get another message and see if it's along the same lines as the original message. The key is not to be fooled by your mind. Your mind is not your intuition - so don't think that when you ask for something you'll get an immediate answer from your mind - that's not an answer. That's just your mind playing tricks with you.

So how can we get our intuition to help us and how can we better understand the answer?

If you want to get guidance from your intuition first decide what it is you want - then ask for an answer. For example: you want to buy a new home - say I want to buy a new home and I want to know what area I should buy in. What area should I buy my home in? Where should I buy my new home? Keep repeating the question. Then tell yourself that you have the answer - say I know where to buy my new home. Then let go. Don't expect an answer immediately. If you get one in your mind - it's not the answer - it's just your mind and ego playing tricks with you. Let go. Forget about it. The next step is often the most difficult - trust that the answer will come at the right time. as human beings we like to take control of things - we like to know what is going to happen and we want to make things happen. But sometimes you can't - sometimes you just have to be patient and wait for the answer - trusting that it will come at exactly the right time. When it does come - you'll know and you'll follow through. You can do the above exercise for anything you want or for any answer you are seeking. In time you will get the answer - but it will be at the right time - and not on your time.

Another thing that you can do to develop your intuition is to meditate and stay positive. By meditating you calm your mind and by staying positive you become more positive and understand that you will get the answer. The Creating Power System will teach you how to develop your intuition, it will teach you how to better understand the messages your intuition is sending you, Finally - I said that in some cases we don't know the outcome had we not followed our intuition. This is very important because once you learn how to trust your intuition you won't need the reassurance of know what would have happened had you not followed your intuition. We can't always know everything and at some point we have to trust and let go - once you learn to do that everything will flow to you naturally and easily.