Can you Trust your Intuition?

In the film, Interstellar, Matthew McConaughey’s character travels to a dimension beyond normal human consciousness. In this realm (far out in space), he attempts to communicate with his daughter to warn her about the impending doom planet earth is facing. However, because the means of communication are so limited, he can only relay this message through grains of dust arranged in Morse code. 

This got me thinking. What if our own ‘Higher Self’, inhabiting a different dimension, tried to communicate with us? In fact, could the hunches, intuitions and visions we spontaneously receive be exactly that? 

The concept of the ‘Higher Self’ is interesting. This is the ‘us’ that’s realised our potential and lives a life in accordance with this ideal. There’s no grovelling to the weaker elements of our mind. No addiction, perpetual fear or acting from ego. Instead, the ‘Higher Self’ is brave enough to do what’s right and wise enough to realise what this means. 

Now, combine this concept with the much discussed theory among quantum physicists about the possibility of there being multiple realities, and that the past and future may be occurring at the same time as the present, and you have the potential for some fascinating occurrences.

What if our ‘Higher Self’, inhabiting a different dimension (much like Matthew McConaughey’s character in Interstellar), is trying to communicate with us and share information that could alter the course of our present lives? What if they were trying to guide us to our ‘true path’?

What is Intuition?

My understanding of intuition is this. Intuition is not directed thought. I regularly take 5 or 10 minutes out of my day, either in a quiet room or a peaceful, scenic location, and turn my thoughts over to the contemplation of my dreams.

This is directed thought. I’m channelling my consciousness in the direction of something I want to achieve, with the intention of priming my subconscious to offer insights on how to attain it. 

Intuition is something else entirely. In my experience, it strikes rarely and is spontaneous. Furthermore, it’s always accompanied by powerful emotions. It may leave you with a message regarding a course of action you should take or the person you should become. This flash of intuition might not last longer than a matter of moments, but the feeling it generates will be remembered for a lifetime.

To help you identify your own moments of intuition, read an of example of mine. 

Last year, I attended a Live your Legend meet up in London. I’d spoken at this group the previous year, giving my ‘How to Escape The System’ talk. At the end of the evening, a lady who’d attended the talk and bought my book, came over and struck up a conversation. Much to my delight, she reported having read the book and said she ‘loved it‘. So much so, it contributed to her decision to move countries and pursue a new job. 

Although this was far from the first time I’d received positive feedback on my work, for some reason, this particular conversation had a profound impact. I was left with the feeling I would achieve my lifetime goal of becoming a million selling personal development author. It was a certainty. So long as I continued to do the work, I’d get there. Therefore, no matter what was happening in my life – the length of time it took, being conscious of getting older, problems in my relationships, potential money difficulties – I had to stay focused on my goal and keep going.

This was the message communicated to me by my intuition. For the rest of the evening, I was in a state of elation. Over the next couple of days, the intensity of the feeling wore off. However, the experience stayed with me as a reminder whenever I doubt my path or lose focus.

This is just one example of my intuition. I’ve had similar experiences regarding love and relationships, what I should do about the feeling that I didn’t ‘fit in’ and my life purpose.

On each occasion, the moment of intuition happened to me rather than me creating it, typically being triggered by a stimulus in my environment. The insights I received were incredibly clear and communicated through a knowing or emotion (I didn’t hear voices).

Who can you Turn to for Life Guidance? 

Hopefully, with the assistance of my example, you can begin to identify your own intuition. The issue then becomes one of trust. Can you rely on the revelation your intuition reveals? 

This question is especially important when you consider the possibility your intuition might prompt you to pursue a course of action incompatible with the logical reality of The System you live in. 

Should I be listening to the feeling telling me I can become a million selling author? Should you be listening to the feeling telling you to quit your job and attempt to launch your new business? 

In my experience, the answer is ‘yes’. 

We have little to rely on to guide us through life. Our parents, as loving as they are, tend to advise us on how to become copies of themselves. Either that, or, they’re so afraid of us getting harmed, their guidance is overly cautious. 

Following the crowd won’t work either. This will, at best, only lead you to a life of security and comfort. The higher prize of authentic success and true expression will be out of reach as you spend the majority of your life working to make somebody else rich. 

So, who, or what, can you turn to for guidance? 

You must look within. Not in the sense of endlessly deliberating over a course of action. This mental back and forth will only lead to procrastination. Instead, you must be aware. You must decide upon a goal you wish to achieve, or a life you wish to live, and then endeavour to claim it.

It’s through action your path will be revealed. As you strive to live the life of your dreams, if you can still your mind, moments of intuition will spontaneously occur and offer guidance.

A quiet mind is the key, though. Too many questions, or too much over-analysis, and the mental chatter will drown out the message.

What the Research Says

Of course, this is just my experience and you shouldn’t take my word for it. Instead, listen to the science.

Research undertaken at Boston College and published in The Journal of Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Process in 2012 indicates intuition can be just as effective as an analytical approach when it comes to decision making. In fact, depending on the expertise of the decision maker, sometimes even more. The key ‘take home’ is this,

“Testing intuition against analysis, Pratt and co-authors Erik Dane of Rice University and Kevin W.Rockmann, of George Mason, found that people can trust their gut and rely on intuition when making a broad evaluation – one that doesn’t include a subset of additional decisions – in an area where they have an in-depth knowledge of the subject.” 

This research is fascinating. Look at where intuition is at its most effective – ‘when making a broad evaluation’.

What are major life decisions if they’re not broad evaluations? You either decide to stay in your present job or quit and pursue your passion. You either decide to marry your boyfriend or girlfriend or call an end to the relationship and look for someone else. There’s no ‘subset of additional decisions’ to be made.

This is why you can trust your intuition. When there isn’t a large amount of data to analyse, it won’t get confused. It knows your hearts deepest desires and will keep you on a path aligned with their realisation.

Of course, this doesn’t mean the action it prompts you to take is easy. It just means it’s the right thing to do.

Final Thought

I have no way of knowing whether your intuition is your ‘Higher Self’ communicating with you from a different dimension. It’s a nice thought. However, I do know that your intuition must come from somewhere. 

Unlike thought, it’s not self-generated. Therefore, its origins must, in part, be somewhere outside of yourself yet, at the same time, connected to you. Some people call this God, The Universe or the super conscious mind. The terminology doesn’t matter.

What does, though, is that you pay attention. Many people ignore their intuition because The System’s conditions them to believe the insights it reveals can’t work in ‘The Real World.’

But, do you know the problem with living a completely ‘head’ driven life? No matter how successful (in the eyes of society) you become, you risk feeling empty inside.

This won’t happen if you trust your intuition. It may lead you down a challenging path but you’ll feel alive every step of the way. 

(image taken from Stuart Ranking photostream flickr.com)