Our intuitive voice is subtle. So subtle, it's easy to miss or dismiss it. The clearer our mind is, the easier it is to hear our intuition.
When I first started meditating, many years ago now, the volume of my intuitive voice dramatically increased. It was as though I started hearing authoritative commands from within. At the time, I didn’t understand this voice in my head to be my intuition. I just knew that I felt compelled to obey it.
For example, when reading about an upcoming event or class, the inner voice might instruct me to “attend this event” or “sign up for that class”. The voice evidently knew things about my future that I didn’t. I didn’t dare disobey. My experience proved to me, again and again, that this voice from within was trustworthy.
Every time I followed the voice, I found myself in the right place, at the right time, meeting the right people. Unexpected doors would open for me, and I had the sense of being “in the flow of life”. A new feeling of ease and grace was present, which I found very comforting. It was as though a loving presence was watching over me, taking care of the details and smoothing out life’s wrinkles.
I soon learned to trust this inner voice more than anything else. Looking back, I’m not sure how I’d have managed without it. This internal sense of 'knowing’ been my guiding light, helping me move somewhat seamlessly through many major changes and challenges. Initially, I thought the voice came to me from an external source. After all, it knew things that I didn’t. It took me some time to recognize it as the voice of my intuition.
In our modern world, most of us aren’t taught to pay attention to, or to value our intuition. Unfortunately, our left-brain dominant culture doesn’t place much importance on right-brained, intuitive knowing. Our schools generally don’t educate us about the different yet complementary workings of the two sides of our brain.
Intuition (tuition from within) is transmitted to us via our right brain. Our intuition can know things about our future and is therefore able to guide us in extremely helpful ways.
The right and left hemispheres of the brain function quite differently. The left side focuses on details and perceives the separateness of things. It uses language, numbers and logic to process and convey information it has collected from the observable world, through the physical senses. It understands Time in a linear fashion, with a past and a future. Our left brain allows us to efficiently navigate and operate in the physical, three-dimensional world we live in.
The right brain, on the other hand, perceives the interconnectedness and wholeness of all things. It sees the big picture. It deals with information in the form of images, shapes, colour and pattern. Our right brain uses imagination to generate new ideas and to think outside the box. It has the ability to operate beyond the limitations of the known world and to engage in creativity by conceiving of things that don’t yet exist in physical form. It experiences Time as an ‘eternal now’, has the capacity for spiritual experiences and knows the bliss of nirvana or Unity Consciousness.
Intuition (tuition from within) is transmitted to us via our right brain. Our intuition can know things about our future and is therefore able to guide us in extremely helpful ways. It can direct us on the easiest route to where we need to be, due to its expansive birds-eye view.
Whole-brain living means valuing information received from both sides of our brain - logical thinking and intuitive knowing. These two information tracks are intended to complement one another. Like yin and yang, they are designed to work together as a perfect whole.
In order to hear the subtle voice of our intuition, it helps to spend regular periods of time deliberately quietening our busy left brain. Some form of meditation or stillness practice enables the more expansive right-brain knowing to come online. You might find yourself receiving intuitive messages when you’re engaged in activities that don’t require too much mental concentration, for example when cleaning the house, walking in nature, taking a shower or just relaxing.
Clearing our mental and emotional clutter creates more internal space by releasing mental distractions. Less inner clutter allows for more stillness and clarity, making it easier for us to tap into the more expansive field of knowing that isn’t perceivable by our left brain.
Paying attention to and acting on our intuitive guidance in our everyday lives can undoubtedly help us move through difficulties far more easily, smoothly and wisely. In fact, it may be one of the most valuable resources we can develop during these challenging times of increased unknowns regarding our personal and collective future. Becoming more comfortable with inner stillness, as the world around us becomes more chaotic, could indeed be the greatest gift we can give to ourselves and others. The stiller our minds, the clearer our vision, and the better we’ll intuitively know how to navigate whatever difficulties may lie ahead.
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