Lately I have been thinking about our intuitive knowing, not as a mystical “gift” or special talent, as some people may think of it, but simply as a survival instinct. Every animal species has intuition, although with animals we are more likely to refer to it as “instinct”.
It doesn’t matter what you call it. We all have inner survival mechanisms that guide us.
Recently I heard my favorite spiritual teacher and thought-leader Caroline Myss say that humans are the only animal species that get guidance on what it needs to do to heal… and ignores it. We override it. Create strategies for ignoring or delaying or minimizing what we need to do.
I’ve also heard her say that intuition is the voice we wish we didn’t have to hear. And I totally get that, both for myself and for others.
We are not always comfortable knowing what we know.
When you know what you know, when you get a sense of something, when you suddenly or maybe not so suddenly, are able to acknowledge a certain kind of information about something, it can be uncomfortable.
It means you have choices to make. It may mean you have to take action. It may mean you have to make changes.
We don’t particularly love making changes. And yet.
When you are brought to a new knowing of something- it can be about yourself, a situation you’re in, a new perspective about another person, or a relationship, you have a choice.
You are either going to allow the information to penetrate your consciousness and ripple into your being and risk whatever it leads to.. or not.
When you decide to trust what you know, trust that it’s real, that your perceptions and the feeling in your body that tells you it’s real, you never know where that will lead. And that is indeed a scary uncertain proposition.
“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind”-Caroline Myss
Many time we’d rather play possum. We’d rather make ourselves wrong. Find some way to undermine our intuitive guidance.. that in case you’ve forgotten.. is there to protect us and to help us be in the world moment by moment as we are meant to be.
Because we’re scared of what will happen if we take it to heart, take it on faith, make it be true.
Our hearts may go into conflict with our minds. Our minds want to believe one thing, are attached to believing things or people are a certain way, or that we are a certain way. Our hearts and our way of knowing, bubble up and present themselves in a moment and we can take it and move forward or push it down.
If we decide to push it down- to delay the knowing, we will likely have to use some kind of addictive strategy to block it out. It won’t always be a substance-based addiction, there are behavior and thinking patterns we get attached or addicted to also…to protect ourselves from knowing things that we are too afraid to let in for fear of upsetting the balance we are trying so hard to preserve.
This happens all the time, and we may not be aware of it. But it costs us.
We’re meant to take in this moment by moment awareness. It guides us. Lets us feel what’s in front of us and use it to make choices. Choices about what supports us or what doesn’t. Choosing not to feel or not to know-what-you-know cuts you off from so much.
And keeps you from being able to truly trust yourself. It keeps you disconnected. Keeps your heart and mind separate and disconnected. None of this is serves you.
What would it be like if you started to at least be curious about those moments of “information”. Even thinking about the knowing as “information” keeps it neutral, keeps it from overwhelming you. But allowing it to “have it’s say” gives you a way to stay connected to the part of you that has your survival and best interests at heart. That keep you from having to tamp it all down and go into addictive behaviors just to stay out of knowing what you know.
Even if you aren’t ready to take action on something, that’s ok. You always have that choice. And yes.. it may be uncomfortable. But so is being in denial. So is pretending something isn’t there or isn’t happening. So is being disempowered by playing possum.
So much pain and suffering and even self-loathing result from our not allowing ourselves to know-what-we-know. There are ways to connect with what you know, gently and compassionately without it up-ending you.
Thoughts? Want to share a time when you chose to know versus push something away?
Or if you’d like to schedule a brief phone consultation to see how you can develop more trust in your own intuitive knowing, become a better expert for yourself, begin to take your needs more seriously and move into a new “season” of your life.. email me! We’ll talk and create something that’s just-right for you. Lisa at Intuitivebody dot com…
With love from my heart to yours…
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