intuition afternoons

the how/why connecting with ourselves is the foundation of peace

dear friends,

This week I’m dedicating every afternoon to growing my intuition. This may sound a bit out there. Maybe it is, maybe it’s not. I’ll let you decide, but let me start by explaining what I don’t mean by intuition. I’m not trying to junk analytical thinking. I’m not trying to magically attain direct knowledge of, say, whether we should go ahead with our planned trip to Africa in August without rational thought about whether we’re traveling anywhere near a country with Ebola. We need level-headed logic more than ever in a world where so many who trade in information are peddling obvious lies and poorly-thought through ideas. I’m completely on the side of scientific inquiry and intelligent thinking. We need our intellectual powers to understand complex problems, to foresee consequences, both the obvious ones and the not-so-obvious.

And, we need something more, too.

That something more is what I’m practicing. I’m reconnecting with my long-forgotten insight into what is right for me in any given moment. The inner knowing on a summer day that triple chocolate fudge brownie is exactly the thing. Or that it’s time to leave a relationship that doesn’t fit any more. The intuition I’m talking about is not a rejection of reason, but a tool to discern among all the many reasons which one matters most to me.

This is no simple task. In our AI world of infinite shiny things and never-ending possibilities, being able to choose what’s right for ourselves is hard, maybe harder than it ever has been — and probably more important. When we can’t discern what is right for us, we have a really hard time finding peace, balance, and contentment. Buying what the influencer wants us to buy, thinking what the billionaire wants us to think, believing what the politician wants us to believe is not the foundation for a good life. We all know this. And yet it isn’t so easy to put that knowledge into practice because reconnecting with our own inner wisdom — our intuition — requires us to be quiet, to disconnect, and to pay attention to nuance. All things that are hard to do on planet earth right now.

It’s worth the effort.

Here’s what I’m doing to hone my intuitive skills:

(1) Set aside an intuition afternoon. This doesn’t have to be a stretch of time when you have nothing to do. In fact, I’m finding that it works best when you have some things on your to-do list, but you don’t have many other restrictions: you can do the things in a lot of different ways and times. There probably aren’t other people you need to coordinate with. This flexibility matters because the goal of this practice is to reconnect with your somatic wisdom. You need to be able to ask yourself: What way of approaching this task makes me feel most open and peaceful?

Here’s a concrete example from the other afternoon. I had some errands to run in the neighborhood — dry cleaning, pharmacy, florist, UPS, bakery, and food market — and I also had to jump on the 6 train for an appointment in mid-town. There was a some time pressure. But, because this was my intuition afternoon, I took a moment to get quiet. I breathed. I sensed some anxiety about getting everything done. My chest was slightly clenched. Then I imagined every task (it only took a few seconds) and asked myself how I could do everything in way that made me feel open and at ease. I realized I could do all but UPS, bakery, and food market in the time before I needed to jump on the train. If I brought my shopping bag with me to mid-town, both the bakery and food market were not far off my path when I came back. I could tackle them on the way home. UPS could wait until the next day. In the time it would take to listen to an advertisement, the tension in my chest loosened. I felt grounded and calm. No rushing, no stress.

This is a silly example, I know, but life is lived in those little moments. When we’re discerning, we strengthen our internal wisdom. If we want to be able to calmly assess the big challenges, we need to practice with the little stuff.

(2) Assess. Be ruthlessly honest about how you feel during and after your intuition afternoon. No detail is too small because every detail is a data point about what works for you. What is right is what makes you feel good, balanced, at peace. What is wrong is what makes you feel bad, stressed, ill at ease. This process doesn’t take long, but it does require getting out of a “should” mindset about efficiency and productivity. For me, this pre-judgment about how I ought to do things has been both the most challenging and most liberating aspect of this practice. I’m discovering that my life is flowing with more ease and opportunity the more I’m able to home in my own senses and let go of the outside noise.

(3) Practice, practice, practice. Because it feels nice

to be aligned with what works best for us, once we start actively making life choices based on our intuitive wisdom, we want to do it more. I’m now practicing beyond the realm of running errands, with more important decisions. I get deeply quiet, disconnect from the outside, and ask myself what makes me feel more open, more honest, more at peace.

That’s it for this week! I hope you find something helpful here.

with love, as always,

alison