How can we learn to trust our intuition? Is it always right?

[Dover]

I'm reading a really interesting book by Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point), that discusses these questions and more. The book is called Blink, and is about those initial intuitive impressions and how we process that information with our more conscious, rational mind which is much slower...and not always in line with our intuition. Other questions covered in the book...How does our intuition work? What influences it? How do we reconcile it with our rational thought? How can we learn to use our intuition more effectively by shaping, managing and educating our unconscious reactions?

Everyone innately has this ability, so how can it be cultivated?

This seems to me to be an important book as we move into an era where intuition will become more and more prominent. Scientists are learning this too. Many fear or mistrust this part of themselves, or devalue it...and so this book is a way to bridge the gap.

I've only just gotten into the first few chapters, but like what I'm reading so far.

[Trillo]

1. Here's a question for you (or the book)

How does one differentiate between the intuitive and the emotional? For example, in the case of a deep desire (as opposed to a rational), how does one know when one is interacting with the intuition (super-consciousness) instead of the reptilian desire?

[DemExpat]

2. I usually can tell a clear difference between the two...

being highly sensitive emotionally and quite intuitive I think that with myself emotional reactions always have a physical feeling to them, (stomach clinched, rapid breathing, goosebumps, chills of excitement, etc.) while intuition feels like it comes from less bodily origins, and seems different from thought too.

Now, I can have almost immediate (strong) emotional reactions to intuitions, but the intuitive message itself is not emotional - or reasoned - at all IMO.

DemEx

[hippiechick]

3. I'd agree with that ...

My 'skills' are very, very underdeveloped at the moment, but every now and then I will just 'know something' -- sometimes literally just open my mouth and say something will happen, and within hours/days ... it does.

There's no emotion involved, no 'personal investment' as it were (something I want to happen, anxiety, adrenaline rush, etc) ... just -- I guess like a Universal News Bulletin that I am the conduit for.

It freaks me out sometimes because they tend to happen in clusters for a few weeks, then it goes dormant again, with no recognizable pattern.

[Dover]

6. Maybe yes and no. People's intuition affects them differently.

And its in discussions like this that our Western rational language comes up short, because the intuitive, unconscious realm does not share the same properties as our more rational mind that exists in "time".
Saying that emotions are different or separate than our intuition is not entirely true, imo. Or at least it needs more clarification regarding feeling vs. emotion.

Some people experience their intuitive hunches with a feeling in their gut...sometimes quite acute. Or a wave of some feeling (not emotion), will come over them in an instant that tells them something is wrong...or right.

What seems to make intuitive hunches what they are, is the sense of knowing without knowing HOW you know. That seems to presume there is no emotional attachment to the answer you get. Nor is it possible to know WHY, in a rational sense, you know it to be correct.

BUT if one DOES have a stake in the outcome, if the outcome is connected to an inner desire, then we can probably make a whole list of rational reasons WHY...and that indicates its flavored by something other than pure intuition. And that 'interference' is usually emotion-based. That's probably why, when you're 'in love', you can so easily miss the intutive signals that might be sending out warnings or providing important information. Your desire gets in the way. And THAT (the emotion) is what renders it subjective, NOT the intuitive signals which are free and clear of that emotion.
So intuition is not, in the pure sense, subjective. It is just operating from another place...one not bound to time so apparently capable of operating at tremendous speed.

A great artist will create a painting, and the choices of color, content, texture, line, composition, etc., is done very intuitively. Then when they are done the critics sweep in and want the artist to explain WHY they used this color, or made this figure male and that one female, or referenced a particular historic event, etc.
So the artist must suddenly shift gears and respond from a place and in a language that was not where he/she was when the painting was made. So they can only approximate what their unconscious/intuitive self was doing and WHY.

Two examples from the book:

One is about a tennis pro who knew, when watching a player..any player...when they were going to get a double fault on their serve...with 99.9% accuracy. When the tennis pro tried to analyze how and WHY it was that he knew that, and tried to break it down in his mind, he could not. His unconscious was perceiving something much too complex and doing it too quickly for his rational mind to distinguish its parts. And it is this mysterious process that we do not entirely trust, nor the speed and simplicity of its accuracy given the complexity of the problem.

The other example of this rapid cognition was a quote from George Sorros's son, about his fathers success in finance: "My father will sit down and give you theories to explain why he does this or that...but I remember seeing it as a kid and thinking, 'at least half of this is bull'. I mean, you know the reason he changes his position on the market or whatever is because his back starts killing him. He literally goes into a spasm, and it's this early warning sign.".
Clearly this is part of the reason why George Soros is so good at what he does: he is someone who is aware of the value of the products of his unconscious reasoning. But if you or I were to invest our money with Soros, we'd feel nervous if the only reason he could give for a decision was that his back hurt!

[Desertrose]

7. I always hate to try to explain my choices in my work....

"A great artist will create a painting, and the choices of color, content, texture, line, composition, etc., is done very intuitively. Then when they are done the critics sweep in and want the artist to explain WHY they used this color, or made this figure male and that one female, or referenced a particular historic event, etc.

So the artist must suddenly shift gears and respond from a place and in a language that was not where he/she was when the painting was made. So they can only approximate what their unconscious/intuitive self was doing and WHY. "

This looks like a cool book, Dover. Thanks:)

I have often had a difficult time trying to explain things to certain people...its kind of like you either get it "intuitively" or you don't get it at all. There's simply not the language nor the words.....

:hug:
DR

[Dover]

8. Yes, I'll bet most artists run into this. To them the art IS the language

so converting that to our Western language is like stripping away the art's essense and life.

Though I have found critical explanations of great work interesting to read....the critic being just like someone else interpreting your dream for you...it can't be fully understood in all it's richness and can only approximate the experience for artist and viewer alike. This is not to suggest that some critic's intuitive insights don't come into play along with their strong academic knowledge and offer up very valuable information. Of course they can and do, but they too are confined by the parameters of our Western thought and language, expectations of academic performance, personal predjudice, limited knowledge of history, etc.

This is the inherent problem with art education. First, it presumes that there is only one way to experience a piece...that being the one that art historians have devised...which is exclusive of what other's might experience. In fact, bringing too much education to the experience of viewing a great work might actually get in the way of the experience, rather than enhance it.
And secondly, for those artists who go the academic route...it is a two-edged sword as well, for the same reasons. Too much left-brained emphasis can block the intuitive flow unless the artist knows how to get out of the way and let it flow without an abundance of self-consciousness derived from acquiring all that left-brained data.

And I've noticed that critical analysis becomes self-referencing at some point, and critics are no longer referencing the art so much as each other's own analysis. And this analysis can become a language unto itself.

How might art "appreciation" and the individual's experience of a work be valued if it is not in keeping with the sophisticated language of art criticism? Can great art be fully appreciated without that education? If you had never heard of Van Gogh or seen his work, but just happened upon one of his paintings hanging over someone's couch, what would you see? I think the whole issue of education, accepted public opinion, or even commercial exposure always hangs over the experience and perhaps makes us doubt our own individual experience....which may or may not be in agreement with conscensus.

At one point in history artists began signing their work. Besides all the practical reasons for this change, in essense, it takes the creative process, which is coming through the 'ether' and channeled by the artist, and connects it to the ego.
But that's a whole other topic......

[FreedomAngel82]

5. I think with time you just know

That's how it is with me. With time I learned how to tell the difference and just to know when it was my "gut" or "intiution" or whatever. It's all about trusting yourself and practice I think.

[Trillo]

14. Most of us have plenty of time to practice. Thanks. nt

[FreedomAngel82]

4. Sounds like a good book

Tell us what all you think of it after it's done if you can. I have always trusted my "intuition". In the past whenever I didn't I always ended up kicking myself in the butt.

[Cathyclysmic]

9. usually, when I'm not stressed my instincts are right

[Dover]

10. Me too. I'm in 'the zone', so to speak. And stress can be caused

by all the second guessing that can go on when I'm not fully trusting those intuitive messages. Not sure that's "instinct" exactly....if instinct is the same as intuition. But I know what you mean.

Sometimes I'm not consciously in 'the zone' and I'm still guided.
For instance, I NEVER read the obituaries in the paper. In fact I never read the paper any more (it's not delivered, but occassionally I'll buy it at the store.)
But the two times that I DID look at the obituaries I saw the deaths of two people who I knew. And both times I knew that I needed to contact those people affected by the deaths....to reconnect with them. I'm so glad I did...one friend was having a particularly hard time with the death of her boyfriend who I hardly knew. I felt he had, nonetheless, guided me to his name in the obits so that I would be aware my friend was silently suffering with the loss and not telling ANYONE!

[Dover]

11. WELCOME to the Underground Cathyclysmic!

Just noticed your 40 posts and haven't seen you here in this forum before. Hope you'll continue to jump in. :hi:

On edit: See you are the 'former' Mrs. Beastman, so you aren't so new afterall. A new name, a new day....lol.

[Cathyclysmic]

12. actually, I'm Mrs_Beastman

got sick of the name...not a troll:D

[DemExpat]

18. Yes, I also wonder what the difference might be in instinct and intuition.

Instinct (shared with animals) is more biologically imprinted?

But my pets also seem very intuitive and ESPish too....

:hi:

DemEx

[Cathyclysmic]

21. I don't think there is that much difference

[LaurenG]

31. Yes thats what I've always said

You must be in a balanced place or information can be skewed. For some reason I used to get excellent hits when I would have a drink.. This makes me think relaxed and balanced is the key, at least in my case.

[arikara]

13. I read this last night

in an old book that I have, Empowerment Through Reiki.

Intuition serves as the mouthpiece for our Higher Selves. By listening and reacting to the voice of our Higher Selves, we will find that we are on our proper path and in a harmonious flow with those around us. The Higher Self knows everything and is not limited by time or space, and it does not need reason or logic to aid in its activities. Intuition knows because it simultaneously embraces cause and effect, the past, present and future. If we choose to follow intuition, we will find that we will end up with positive results even if it sometimes seems to argue with the conclusions of the intellect. In order to further develop intuition, we must learn to differentiate between the voice of desires placed in our minds by mass consciousness and those placed by our Higher Selves. One simple way to discriminate between the two is to notice the very different feelings that are evoked by inappropriate desires and by those of the Higher Self. When the voice of intuition speaks to one, a sense of peace and harmony is evoked, even in a seemingly disharmonious situation, while inappropriate desires tend to bring on an unsettled feeling. Thus it is better to listen to the voice of peace and wisdom, which brings a sense of harmony, than to heed the aggressive clamor of inappropriate desires, which only lead to ultimate dissatisfaction. The more you listen to your intuition, the more it develops.

I have usually trusted in my intuition. Sometimes the results aren't what I expected or hoped for but I like to think that they probably were the results needed for the higher good, and that they turned out to be the right ones in the end. Does that make sense?

[Trillo]

15. I read a book many years ago titled

You are Psychic by Pete Sanders, either a Dr. or a Phd (the 'academic attribution' changed through various print runs). In the book he explains in Western-mind terms some basics of Eastern philosophy. Part of Eastern philosophy is apparently the concept of chakras, and specifically that individuals may know they are receiving some kind of intuitive guidance (from the superconscious ?) when they 'feel' a sensation in or around that chakra point. Since there are (what is the exact number?) about 7 main or spinal chakra points, people who are experiencing intuition may 'feel something in their root chakra', 'feel something in their gut', 'feel something in their heart,' 'have a throat constriction or a sudden urge to speak something', 'smell something', 'hear something in their mind', 'know something'(crown chakra), etc.

Therefore, I have concluded that distinguishing between something originating in the reptilian mind, and something intuitive from the super-conscious, must be an inherently meshed or overlapping phenomenon. We might be better off noting the 'feeling' or 'sensation' connection rather than discounting it, and as you point out, how does that sensation make us feel may be an excellent barometer of the source.

If it feels like we were lightly touched by angels wings, then perhaps we were: if it feels dark and disturbing, then perhaps it wasn't intuition but our own reptilian urges.

[Dover]

16. Yes...that sense of peace and harmony or a feeling of something

ringing true...pure...no interference.

I think that if we were all more fully present, in the NOW, that intuition would become our natural and first language, and there would not be the interference of the collective flow by our rational mind.

Since intuition comes from a timeless dimension, a state of NO TIME, or pure presense which is sometimes achieved through meditation, or just being in a receptive 'zone' of wakefulness, then it seems only natural that the language of this realm would be a sort of instantaneous expression and knowledge.

We see intuition from our time-bound perspective and it appears fast, but that is an illusion.

I think this state of being is what is meant by the term "Enlightenment".

[Quakerfriend]

22. Wonderfully said, Dover!

'...that intuition would become our natural and first language' and that 'intuition comes from a timeless dimension'.

It's funny because I experienced this sense of NO TIME once when my cousin and I decided that for fun we would visit a women who did past life regressions.

Well, for whatever reason this women could not get me to remember anything. What was so interesting about this was that while I was under hypnosis I recall her trying to take me back and having the distinct sensation of TIME being almost like a breeze passing over my face.
It was as if we flipped the pages of a book and went back and forth thru hundreds of years in mere seconds...There I go, trying to describe it as we know TIME!

[LWolf]

17. Tell us more as you get further in!

This has been a lifelong journey for me; my intuition is always correct, but I don't always listen or "trust" what I'm hearing when it differs from what I've already decided. At least not until I've learned the hard way. :blush:

[Quakerfriend]

19. What I love about intuition is, the more you cultivate it the more it

grows! And, it is a very comforting human quality. I have very good intuitions, and I 'practice listening' quite a lot.

One of the things that happens for me is that I will stumble upon an obituary or picture of someone I knew years ago and know that I should 'act'. My intuition tells me whether or not, for example, that this is something I should do for the good of another. Other times my intuition is telling me that someone on the other side wants me to do this.

My strongest intuition comes in meeting people and knowing that I have been together with them in a past lifetime. I struggle with this one! Sometimes I may know thru a dream what our past life included. This can make things a bit odd, particularly when our current day relationship is one that is very different. I find myself constantly trying to understand 'why' we have been brought back together again.

I never tell anyone about this. It's just too odd.

One time, yrs ago, I found myself balling my eyes out while watching 60 Minutes. The story was about a Jewish man who was safely hidden by his neighbors in Nazi-occupied Poland. During the show they showed several pictures of this man, and I cried almost uncontrollably.

The next day, as I was standing in line in an appliance store I realized that the very same man who had been on 60 Minutes was standing in front of me in line!! I asked him, "Did I see you on 60 Minutes?" He just looked at me and nodded yes.

We never spoke again. But, the look we shared was full of meaning. I knew instantly that I had been there with him in some way. And, he knew that I loved him. I was not alive during in the mid-1940's, so I guess I must have been somehow related to this man during a past lifetime.

I suppose that every encounter with another soul has meaning!

[arikara]

20. What an amazing story!

There is an element of synchronicity there as well, which is also so beautiful and powerful.

[Dover]

23. Practicing intuition

I'm about half way through the book and so far there have been a lot of anecdotes describing this or that psychological test or story as examples of intuition at work, but no real attempts to take that info and weave it all together. In other words, the author doesn't fully explain why he has introduced the story or idea and how it ties to the intuitive process.....at least not yet.

But my mind is doing some weaving of the threads.

One intuitive situation that is discussed is the process used by improvisational actors. They must be fully present and responding to every nuance and situation as it unfolds. But a verteran of this art teaches that this apparent spontenaity actually requires a lot of practice by the participants. And one of the most important rules that make improv possible, for example, is the idea of agreement, the notion that a very simple way to create a story - or humor - is to have characters accept everything that happens to them.....Bad improvers block action, often with a high degree of skill. Good improvers develop action. Here, for instance, is an improvised exchange between two actors in a class.....

A: I'm having trouble with my leg.
B: I'm afraid I'll have to amputate.
A: You can't do that Doctor.
B: Why not?
A: Because I'm rather attached to it.
B: (losing heart) Come on, man.
A: I've got this growth on my arm too, Doctor.

Stop action.

The two actors involved in this scene quickly became very frustrated. They couldn't keep the scene going. Actor A had made a joke - a rather clever one ("I'm rather attached to it") - but the scene itself wasn't funny. So (the teacher) stopped them and pointed out the problem. Actor A had violated the rule of agreement. His partner had made a suggestion, and he had turned it down. He had said, "You can't do that, Doctor".

So the two started again, this time with a renewed commitment to agreeing:

A: Augh!
B: Whatever is it, man?
A: It's my leg, Doctor.
B: This looks nasty. I shall have to amputate.
A: It's the one you amputated last time, Doctor.
B: You mean you've got a pain in your wooden leg?
A: Yes Doctor.
B: You know what this means?
A: Not woodworm, Doctor!
B: Yes. We'll have to remove it before it spreads to the rest of
you.
(A's chair collapses)
B: My God! It's spreading to the furniture!

The first scene came to a premature end and the second was full of possibility. This is because they accepted all offers made - which is something no 'normal' person would do.

So it occurs to me that THIS is how we practice and reinforce our intuition as well. We become open to it, begin to form an easy rapport by 'accepting all offers', being fully present. When we are not 'in agreement', or second guess what our intuition is telling us, we block the flow. End of scene. Our rational mind can't help but 'be clever', analytical, judgemental, to the detriment of that flow.
I'm not dissing the rational mind. It is a tool that comes in very handy for many tasks. But we must learn the difference between the two so that we can be the engineer at the switching station determining when to put it to use, and when to get it out of the way of the faster moving intuitive train.

[Trillo]

24. Astute observation.

When we are not 'in agreement', or second guess what our intuition is telling us, we block the flow.

This is what we are taught very early in school and elsewhere as young children. Block the flow. That lesson is taught to us repeatedly. My adult experience of "civilized" society is that those who are the best blockers of others rise into hierarchical positions wherever those authoritarian positions may be. I'd like to think or believe this isn't always the case.

Perhaps, one day, "civilized" society will stop doing this and a tipping point will be reached. Then "we" will be in uncharted territory.

[Dover]

25. And yet, I'd be willing to bet that many 'successful'

people are reliant on their intutition, even if they are not cognizant of its use. Sorros was just one example in the book, but I'm sure there are many more stories of intuitive hunches being behind one's success however you define that.
A firefighter, a soldier, a general, a CEO, a teacher, etc. must use it constantly....whether or not our Western society values it.

But I agree that our culture does NOT value it (which is why artistic types are pushed out more on the periphery of our society and is reflected in the very structure of our language), so that IF we learn to value it then it's in spite of what we are taught. How would things be different if we WERE taught to value and cultivate our intuition?

[Quakerfriend]

26. Yes, Dover!

When I am 'open' to the flow of my own intuition, it is as if a spigot is opened up!

[Dover]

27. For me too! And when I'm working creatively on something and

those flood gates are wide open, I can always feel when my rational mind starts to creep in. It's like a door closes and the flow stops.
That's when I know it's time to take a break, meditate or take a walk, or whatever....to shake it off.

[DemExpat]

28. This is so true, Dover. Since my 2 kids are out of the house

(recent development!) I am re-examining a lot of things about my life and what I want to do with my remaining years, and when I trust my "flow", follow my heart and intuition, it is a fun and trusting process, but when I let all of the rational thoughts, practicalities and many reasons to DOUBT....it stops it all short and makes it gloomy and "stuck"....
This is a real ongoing struggle with me at the moment, and my practically minded husband doesn't help at all here! :D :argh:

Most of the huge decisions I have made that turned out very positively have all been VERY intuitive ones, yet now it scares me to trust the process in this new phase of my life. :think:
(Scared of losing security?)

DemEx

[Dover]

29. Yep. We get out of practice and the doubts creep in.

I had a dream just the other night in which I was offered an opportunity to do some BIG and challenging things. I accepted but a male figure in the dream kept trying to undermine my confidence, chiding me that I simply didn't have this or that qualification.
I finally had had enough and in no uncertain terms told this figure to shut up! And so he did......lol!

I still had fears, but I figured out how to do things despite any weak areas by choosing others very carefully to work with and by reminding myself that I was the one uniquely qualified for this work, and that is why it was offered to me.

Wow! I love my dreams! Now I need to apply it in my waking life.
It also tells me that some offers are forthcoming...

[DemExpat]

30. LOL....your dream sounds exactly like the huge arguments I am now

having very often with my hubby.....I just don't take it anymore and tell him to go stuff it all....

:evilgrin: :argh:

I also love dreams, even the unpleasant ones - and mine are very vivid most of the time too so dreaming to me is often interesting and exciting.

DemEx