Someone recently asked how to develop intuition, and at first I thought that was a silly question with an obvious answer. Then I remembered what a stupid jerk I've been at times for my neglect of those internal clues that, had I minded them, would have kept me from much misery, kept me from spreading anguish and anger into the world. I would have made better decisions if I had only listened to the wiser part of me. But how to know it? And how to distinguish it from those other internal guides: emotions and thoughts?
Thoughts are stuff in your head of words, images, and sounds. They are structured according to the circumstances and culture to which you are born, made by humans and as limited in scope by the imaginations and circumstances of the collective human groups which have created and perpetuated such words and ideas. This all helps us to function within the structure of that society, but only to the extent that we use our thoughts rather than letting them use us. Falsehoods, fake news, misrepresentation, spin, and all kinds of deception can easily lead us astray, and motivate cruel and foolish behaviors. And because all you have to do to believe a thing is to think it over and over, or hear it over and over (as with propaganda), thoughts can dominate your better judgment. Anybody clever enough can justify anything. Consequently, barring mathematical calculations and technical or scientific applications, I don't believe that we will get our best answers by thinking about things. Again, you'll know thoughts by words, pictures, and sounds in your head.
Emotions stem from an older part of your brain and incite physiological responses, or respond to changes in physiognomy. They don't need words or thoughts to exist, but thoughts can easily modify our emotions, and vice versa. Take note, then, that we can use our thoughts to change our feelings, as well as use our bodies to change our thoughts. Some have suggested that there are seven universal emotions to which all cultures respond (with facial expressions and measurable changes in heartbeat, perspiration, and what have you) in the same ways. These are fear, anger, disgust, contempt, sorrow, surprise, and joy. I find it intriguing that there are five unpleasant to just one pleasant emotions (with surprise being a kind of transition from the unexpected to what is); and when John Gottman tells us that if relationships are to really thrive they must include five positive messages for each negative one we share, I wonder if that five-to-one ratio also accurately describes the number of positive thoughts required to negative to achieve a harmonious relationship with ourselves, to just cancel out a naturally occurring propensity towards the less-pleasant and start instead to develop a general state of emotional well being. In any case, your body feels a feeling, and that's how you recognize it.
My old, little, Oxford desk dictionary tells me that intuition is "immediate insight or understanding, without conscious reasoning," with synonyms including "instinct, inspiration, sixth sense." Notice the "without conscious reasoning" part. That's vital, because you need to know that your intuition isn't going to be complicated or wordy about what it reveals to you. Neither will it feel like one of the seven universals listed above. In my own experience of it, I would describe it as a feeling of knowing. If it has a measurable sense, I believe they would find it between my gut and my heart: the gentle prying of some nerves there. It is easy to reason away that subtle and nagging sensation, or to not feel like doing what that tiny wordless voice is telling you because you desire something else to be true. But nothing is truer than that little voice, and even if at first it seems wrong or impossible, it takes trusting it and following its guidance before you will ever realize just how right it will be. From the truest part of you, it can't be otherwise. Sometimes it will guide you to a great challenge, but one you will be better off having conquered. Of course, if you have any hope of self-realization, you must sooner or later obey this part of you that is, beyond mere and fleeting thought and feeling, most truly you.
The more you listen, the more intuition reveals itself to you. Really, it's just letting your spirit shine and not blocking its light with the stuff of your ego, the I of your thoughts and feelings.
If you had questions in these regards, hopefully this clarifies things. Of course, the you in you will always tell you better than I ever could. Shine on, beautiful soul.
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