Intuition – what colour is yours?

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.” Albert Einstein

But is it just the gift of the special few? I don’t think so. I believe we all have a source of instinctive knowledge within us that precedes our logical and rational thinking. What’s more, I believe we can tune into it, get to recognise it more easily and then practice using it to enhance all areas of our lives.

How many times do we hear someone who’s highly successful in their field attribute their good fortune and wise decisions to their intuition? From Einstein to Oprah, many have told of how they’ve come to trust their inner guidance or gut instinct when making decisions, whether it’s in the realm of personal relationships, health; wealth; important business decisions or making life changing new discoveries. We could argue that these people have exceptional talent or extensive experience in their chosen fields and therefore it’s logical and rational that they’ve gone onto such success, but was it always so?

At some point, they were probably like everyone else, lacking in confidence and unsure that they could trust the ideas popping into their heads that just didn’t seem to make logical sense. Trusting themselves had to start somewhere. Somehow they’ve gone on to develop a deep understanding of how and when their internal GPS is communicating its message, they recognise it and act on it well before their logical mind has even caught up.

Some may even have come to this point with someone’s help. A relative, a mentor, role models or maybe even a coach. As a Life and Business Coach a great deal of my work involves helping people to build trust in themselves and their decisions and to act with confidence in their choices. I often hear things like –‘I knew it was right for me; I had such a strong feeling...’or‘ I can’t believe I didn’t follow my gut...I knew I should/ shouldn’t have started working there or gone out with him/her or invested in this or that and I still did it!’ I help people to get to know themselves more fully; to have a far more intense and accurate sense of how they operate, when their intuition is at work and when it’s not.

Wearing my other hat, as an NLP practitioner, I’m very interested in the structure of a person’s intuition, which is why I’ve named this article Intuition – what colour is yours. You may be surprised at the various ways people recognise when their inner knowing is trying to communicate with them. It could be a voice in their head; hairs standing up on the back of their neck; a sudden and inexplicable nose bleed or butterflies in their stomach. I feel mine like a rolling surge from my abdomen up to my chest and then a sense of calm silence followed by a sensation of ‘Yes!’ in my ears. I feel light and clear if my intuition is guiding me to do something and heavy and flat if the guidance is to retreat, then the word in my ears is ‘No!’ This all takes place in a nanosecond and yet it’s a defining moment and gives me the confidence to act on the thought or feeling I’ve just experienced.

If we can get a clearer sense of ‘how’ we experience it and how that experience differs from when we’re thinking rationally, then we can apply it more practically in a range of life scenarios. We give ourselves much more choice than to just operate with the analytical mind.

I became acutely aware of my unique experience of intuition fairly recently; aware enough to describe it anyhow. I’ve been acting on it for as long as I can remember. Until then I hadn’t really taken time to think about what had been happening unconsciously for my whole life.

Early last year I became swept up in an unexpected and intensely stressful family situation which, at the time, drained my every resource, mental, emotional and physical. Someone very close to me was terribly distressed, experiencing exceptional levels of anxiety and had become overwhelmed with panic and fear about life. Their sense of hope and choice had become enveloped in a heavy black fog of emotional pain and they were losing touch with the reality of life. There were, as always, many hints; many factors which lead to this anxious and disconnected state and while drifting from one expert to another to find support I began to feel quite hopeless about my ability to help. Being a professional in the field of anxiety meant nothing. I knew of many practical strategies and had amazing resources at hand due to my work as the Life Coach at a highly regarded Stress management Centre. But all this was repellent to them as they struggled to find help from someone other than me; feeling helpless and hopeless and wanting to find their own way. They seemed out of reach.

I knew this person needed to find a way to rest their mind, remove all the ‘noise’ and distractions of everyday life that stimulates the brain constantly, never allowing it to rest and regenerate. Yet things like the iPod, the computer, the mobile phone, were seemingly their only points of connection and they weren’t going to be given up easily. My way, through Stillness Meditation or other ways suggested by the many well intentioned people we saw was not welcome.

It was then, in the midst of the turmoil and trauma of fear, panic and indecision, that my intuition kicked in and I KNEW what to do. It was risky to trust it and take action but I had such an intense sense of clarity once the thought came to me that it couldn’t be wrong. It was as if time stood still and I was able to see everything clearly and with a deep sense of calm. ‘’ If you want to change people… change their environment...’’ is what one of my wisest teachers once said and his voice rang in my ears.
I found just the right words at just the right time to pose the idea and every piece of the puzzle fell into place miraculously. We were on our way to a perfect retreat in the Gold Coast Hinterland. I’d never been there or heard of it until I decided to act on my intuition and find the way to ‘change the environment.’ All the information and resources we needed came to us.

The place sounded and looked so beautiful that it couldn’t be resisted. There was no doubt or hesitation on anyone’s part. And amazingly, one of the gifts of staying there was that they asked for all electronic gadgets to be left at home! All kinds of peaceful exercise and relaxing activities were on offer. There was even belly dancing. Imagine my relief and gratitude when all the guests were kind and compassionate, listening intently and sharing words of advice and caring deeds. We were in the perfect place for recovery and it even came at a special price! I didn’t know what we’d ‘do’ when we got there but I trusted that all that was necessary was to go, follow the guidance and trust that the ‘way ’would be clear.

All I can say is how grateful I am that my intuition guided me to do what we did and that we followed the prompts. There were as many instinctive hints about what was not the right course of action in our search for guidance as there was for what was ‘right.’ Some we followed and some we may have missed. I have no regrets. The transformation that occurred in both of us as a result of this experience has been immense. By changing our physical environment we were able to bring about change in our internal environment too, our thoughts and feelings changed and hope and health returned.

It was this experience that compelled me to write this story and to put a program together that will help others to strengthen their intuitive connection. There’s a science to this and it’s an aspect of our humanity that needs further exploration. Not so I, or anyone else for that matter, can tell you what to think or what’s right for you to do. But so that you can find those answers from within your own experience and trust those answers enough to act on them with heartfelt commitment and create a life of choice and fulfilment.
By the way the colour of mine is dove grey….

By Jo-Anne Hook
Jo-Anne Hook Solutions
Life and Business Coach
Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming
M: 0413 279 098
E: johook@optusnet.com.au