Living An Intuitive Life

Dear Reader,

I live an intuitive life. I have been thinking a lot about this lately, with gratitude. Learning to develop and work with my intuition had made the biggest positive impact on my life of anything I have studied over the years.

Faithfully applying my intuition helped me to find my soul mate, which I have written about elsewhere on the blog. My intuition guided me to leave New York City, my home of twenty-four years, at exactly the right time. In fact, my intuition has helped me with most of the big decisions I’ve made in life – even before I learned how to recognize it.

So, what exactly does it take to live an intuitive life?

Your inner compass

Following your intuition calls for a major reorientation in life, away from a primary focus on rational thinking to prioritizing your inner awareness. These two approaches utilize your brain in different ways. Your intuition tends to be less linear, your rational mind more so. They feel different. The trick is to recognize the difference.

Here’s the good news – you are probably already using your intuition, whether you realize it or not! All those times when you just knew inside what was the right thing to do? You can probably thank your intuition. The times when you knew the right timing for action, or the right person to trust? Your intuition.

That’s your inner compass.

I will be honest; it takes courage and conviction to give top priority to that inner voice of yours. Society has evolved in a direction that values rational thinking, logic, evidence and data most highly, at the expense of honoring your inner compass.

Clearing up a misconception

Lest you think I am devaluing rational thought, I want to clear up a huge misconception when it comes to intuition. The rational mind has great value. You need it, and your intuition uses it. We humans have developed our ability to think rationally so that we can be more creative, more humane, and more of who we are.

Finding the right balance between the two is crucial.

Let’s say that your head represents rational thinking, and your heart represents intuition. Living an intuitive life calls on you to shift the relationship between the two, so that your intuition becomes the leader, and your intellect becomes more of a helper, instead of the other way around.

That’s why I often talk about shifting the balance of head and heart.

One of the most powerful tools I give my clients to help them make decisions, that my intuitive teacher Sonia Choquette gave me, is this:

When you’re struggling with a choice, big or small, ask yourself “What does my head say?” See what comes to you right away. Then ask yourself “What does my heart say?” Listen to your heart; it will not steer you wrong.

 The scary part

If that process sounds scary to you, I understand. You may have been taught to think that your heart and your emotions are not trustworthy. You may have been burned in the past by choices you made from passion, or an emotional need, and lost trust in your own heart. At some point in your life, you may have bought something that you couldn’t afford based on emotion.

It is important to learn how to gain perspective on your powerful surface emotions, so that they don’t control you. Meditation is a powerful tool for that.

But in order to live an intuitive life, you need to learn how to recognize the deeper emotions of your heart, and the desire of your soul. Your soul speaks through your heart. And as I always say, your soul knows.

Unfortunately, instead of encouraging the development of this beautiful system for navigating life, you and all of us are most often taught that we must rely only tangible proof to guide. To be clear, I am talking about external proof, rather than inner proof. There is a time and place for facts, evidence and supporting information. But if that’s all you value, you may miss out on the full range of experience available to you.

Putting it all together

Even though you already have intuition, we all do, developing and applying it is a process that takes time. It takes paying attention to your thoughts, emotions, and intuition, so that you can consistently recognize the difference among them.

You will also need to cultivate curiosity, the patience to explore, and the willingness to fail.  Trial and error is a beautiful thing!

So is a sense of humor, an ability to laugh at your own mistakes, if you want to live an intuitive life.

Throw in a little faith that the universe has your back, and you will be well on your way.

And oh, the rewards are great. To me, living an intuitive life means living an authentic life, filled with meaning and wonder. It means living a life based on what you most value and love – and it means tapping into your fullest potential to make a significant contribution to others.

That’s the kind of life I guide my coaching clients to create. If you feel like the time is right for you to live a more intuitive life, get in touch with me and lets talk.

Most importantly, know that it’s ok to honor your intuitive side in this world; you never know where it may lead you. What’s your intuition telling you today?

I honor your loving heart,

John