|
Two Sentences
by Julie Jordan Scott, © 2001
Two sentences
from 1977.
The one single,
specific memory I have from the ninth grade was during a math class.
We were being introduced to Geometryfor the first time. The teacher
whose name I can surprisingly not remember, asked "What is
intuition?"
I raised my hand
(an unusual act for me at 15 years old) and said, "It is having
a hunch: sort of knowing or having an idea of something out of the
blue, like without really knowing you somehow know."
In my mind's
eye the picture is crystal clear. How the teacher was poised, what
his sport coat looked like, where in the room he was standing, how
his head was turned just so. I think his name might have been Mr.
Tennaro. I was in his class for one week.
Yet that question
and answer still calls out to me more than twenty years later. Forever
caught in freeze frame across three thousand miles and countless
other classrooms and a huge number of hours and moments and conversations.
Intuition. An inkling.
Sharon Franquemont,
former professor of Intuition at John F. Kennedy University and
author of "You Already Know What to Do" makes an important
distinction. Rather than using intuition as one of many tools for
living, she suggests that one choose to make the practice of intuition
a way of living everyday.
Some think, "That
is all well and good and I know for a fact I have no clue how to
live intuitively. I don't even know for sure if I believe in intuition
in the first place." Before we discuss that, lets point to
some very interesting illustrations.
It may be surprising
to learn that some of history's greatest thinkers believed an intuitive
lifestyle was very beneficial. Albert Einstein said, "The only
real valuable thing is intuition."
Intuition is
not just "women's intuition" and it is not only for what
might be called "artsy" people. For centuries inventors,
entrepreneurs, engineers, parents, children and yes, artists, have
all experienced intuitive flashes. These inklings sometimes lead
to something big. A positive growth situation beyond our usual way
of thinking or being.
An inkling may
lead to a new invention or an improvement upon an already existing
product. Ralph Waldo Emerson described it this way: "Man is
a shrewd inventor, and is ever taking the hint of a new machine
from his own structure, adapting some secret of his own anatomy
in iron, wood, and leather, to some required function in the work
of the world."
Have you ever
experienced a breakthrough time? An "A-ha" or an "Epiphany"
moment? Arthur Koestler, Hungarian born writer, wrote "The
moment of truth, the sudden emergence of a new insight, is an act
of intuition". Akin to a "sixth sense", intuition
brings pieces together. It gives the gift of heightened awareness.
One simple way to practice intuition and make it real into our lives
can make a remarkable difference.
You can start right now.
Here is how it
works.
When you are
faced with anything where the solution is not immediately apparent,
thoughtfully and mindfully ask yourself one of these questions or
a similar question of your own creation.
"What is
the spark that is missing to make this into a fire?"
"Is something
missing here? What is it?"
"How can
I really make a difference in this situation?"
Quiet your mind,
even for a millisecond. Breathe. For me, sometimes it helps to get
up and move.
And then, listen
(and speak or write down) your very first response.
Don't rationalize,
categorize or intellectualize.
Simply let it
be. Use your senses to flesh out the possibilities.
Perhaps you will
not find an immediate connection. Later in the day, another insight
will flash through your brain which will bring another answer or
perhaps a more refined answer.
Listen or speak
or write down this answer.
See where your
intuition is wanting to take you. Decide that in all you do, you
express artistry. As Lao Tzu spoke so many years ago, "A good
artist lets his intuition lead him wherever it wants".
Where is it leading
you? Go there. Live passionately. Today.
-----------------------------------------------
Julie Jordan Scott is a Personal Success Coach who left her career
as a bureaucrat and built a successful business in less than six
months. She now combines mothering 4 children with
inspiring people worldwide with her books, ezine, teaching and coaching.
Visit http://www.5passions.com
for free resources. Call Julie at ph: 661.325.4116 or email: [email protected]
-----------------------------------------------
|
