I want to share some things I've learned about intuition, that magical resource of knowing things beyond reason that each of us carries, whether or not we know how it speaks or how to listen to it.
Intuition is experienced through the body: The hair raising on our neck, the stomach flipping over, constriction of the heart, dreams that flash information through our minds, a soft tingling sensation on the skin drawing us in a particular direction. And a hundred other subtle and not so subtle sensations, the language of which is particular to each of us.
How does your intuition speak to you? The exquisitely unique alchemy of your body, mind, heart and spirit with the world that can guide you according to your highest good?
My life's work pivots around understanding and working within the realm of intuition, and there is sooooo much I have yet to learn. Here's one thing I know: When we resist our intuition, when we ignore it, suppress it, or act in opposition to what it's telling us, we cause discord, discomfort and sometimes pain in the body, mind and emotions, as surely as we experience pain when we ignore a medical issue.
Our whole system (body, mind, heart and spirit) is always working to guide us in the direction of our personal and collective wholeness, wellness and highest good. Our entire being collaborates to communicate this direction to us, and then our conscious mind makes decisions that either do or do not respond to this communication.
To illustrate this, I want to share the story of how this magnificent tattoo design, pictured above, came into being because of the choice to follow intuition...
I've been getting tattooed by Stephanie Washburn of Templeton Tattoo & Art Collective for a couple years. We recently finished an amazing collection of Brian Froud fairies on my lower leg, and planned to continue on to my thigh with an image of great importance to me: The cougar that has been living in my dreams since childhood. I gave Stephanie specific instructions about the landscape this cougar lives in, her facial expressions, her sacred objects, etc. (can someone say micromanaging?) That night in meditation, I asked my dream-cougar to be with Stephanie and guide her as she brings the design into form. Then I sat back to wait a month until our first appointment of our new adventure.
I return a month later, excited to see the design, yet feeling a vague sense of foreboding I can't quite identify. When I walk in, Stephanie has a strange look on her face. I ask her what's up, and in a tense voice she says, "I failed! I have nothing to show you!". Through tears she goes on to explain that she attempted for 7 hours to create the drawing I'd requested. She'd been able to draw the background elements fine, "But every time I tried to draw the cougar, she just walked right out of the scene! She didn't want to be there, and just kept leaving!" She'd spent inordinate time trying to force this drawing to come together, to honor the vision I'd shared with her, with growing discord, discomfort and ultimately pain in her body as her intuition (and the dream-lion) screamed at her that it was the wrong image. She was so committed to honoring me, a friend and client, that she was ignoring all the communication coming in so clearly from her intuition; and also ignoring the alternate image taking form in her imagination. And now, standing in the shop, this brilliantly talented artist had concluded that she'd failed, and was heartbroken to tell me this.
But simmering below the surface of Stephanie's being, something magical was occurring.... You see, as she took on this project, and connected with this dream-lion, she had access to something that I did not yet. Stuck in an old image of this cougar, I had not yet realized that she had evolved and moved on; she no longer lived where I though she did, and she was showing this new home to Stephanie. I listened to the language she was using to describe her experience, and it was clearly not artist language, such as "I couldn't get the design right"). She was using spiritual language: "The lion walked off the page," "She would not stay in that place." It was clear to me that Steph had found the truth of this image, and her intuition was screaming it at her, and the dissonance between her intuition and her conscious desire to follow my direction was so uncomfortable she was ready to walk away from this project.
So, I said, "Stephanie, you did not fail, you are looking out for my best interests. If you need to walk away, I'm ok with that. But if you want to return to it with a clean slate and let your intuition show you the true image, I completely trust you to do it." She jumped at this, and a few weeks later showed me the magnificent design shown above, which is perfect.
Our intuition is always right, and it will let us know when we have gone astray. May we each choose to save ourselves pain and discord by listening and responding to this reliable source of wisdom and guidance. Are you seeking support on strengthening your relationship with your intuition? Let's talk!