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I am thankful for… INTUITION
By KWiz | April 17, 2007
I am thankful for the gift of intuition. In fact, I am on a quest to reclaim my intuitive sense. Really, I hadn’t developed it all that well in the past (interestingly enough, it never crossed my mind that it ought to be developed in the first place). Yet, in reclaiming my own self (as I’ve been discussing in my Women Who Run with the Wolves series), it’s necessary that I develop the ability to hear from my own soul on a regular basis.
According to Clarissa Pinkola Estes, intuition represents
“the voice of inner reason, inner knowing, and inner consciousness…It is our helper which is not seeable…but which is always accessible…
“Intuition senses the directions to go in for most benefit…It has claws that pry things open and pin things down, it has eyes that can see through the shields of persona, it has ears that hear beyond the range of mundane human hearing…”
Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink, asserts that that which is intuition (he doesn’t actually use the word in Blink) is
“…rapid cognition, the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye. When you meet someone for the first time, or walk into a house you are thinking of buying, or read the first few sentences of a book, your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions…[in] those two seconds…those instant conclusions that we reach are really powerful and really important and, occasionally, really good.”
And in spite of the emphasis on “women’s intuition,” men, according to Kirsten Harrell, Psy.D., of Think Positive! Blog, have intuition as well. She says,
“We all have intuitive potential. We can all develop our intuition with some patience and practice. Intuition is what I like to call whispers from the soul. It is our ability to connect with our internal wisdom… our essential spirit. Intuition is our ability to connect with the Universal wisdom… the source of infinite possibilities. This is not something that is limited to women or to certain “gifted” people. Everyone is intuitive… I would like to suggest that we put the term ‘women’s intuition’ to rest and just call it intuition.”
I’m all for that.
Nevertheless, it is with this intuition that people make split second (or two-second, as Gladwell states in Blink) decisions. And it is with this intuition that a little girl was saved from a sexual predator back in January 2006. According to CBS News,
“Headed home after a long trip, [Tracie] Dean stopped at an Alabama convenience store where she met a little girl who seemed frightened by the man taking care of her. When Dean left the gas station, she just had a hunch about that little girl; something didn’t seem right. (emphasis mine) Dean jotted down the man’s license plate number. For days she struggled to confirm her suspicions that this was the case of a missing child. Finally, four days later, there was a break.”
Where did that hunch come from? For Tracie Dean,
“It was a God thing…”
CBS News further reports,
“Dean’s instinct (emphasis mine) and perseverance helped turn up evidence that led to the arrest of Jack Wiley and Glenna Faye Cavender, who were charged with rape and child abuse of the little girl, who had looked so scared, and abuse of her 17-year-old brother.”
Instinct. Intuition. Hunch. That which does or doesn’t seem right. Sixth sense. All expressions used for that inner voice that tells us which way to go, what to do. And in this case, Dean listened to some inner knowing that happened instantaneously and reached a powerful and life-saving conclusion that saved the life of not just a beautiful little girl, but her 17-year old brother as well. Let us all gain the power to use that which is within to do tremendous good in the world around us.
For me, God is the source of my intuition. I am determined to practice using it so that I can feel comfortable that when it is time for me to make split second decisions, I will feel that I will do what is right for that moment, for that circumstance.
Thank you, God, for the power to make good decisions “in the blink of an eye.”
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Topics: "Women Who Run With The Wolves", About Women, Personal Development, Spiritual Growth | 10 Comments »
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April 17th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Hey KWiz!
It just occurs to me that this thing you’re calling intuition other folks might refer to as God…
Any possible relationship there..? This kinda stuff really fascinates me. Always has.
April 17th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Absolutely, most definitely. Actually, the way I see it is that God, through the Holy Spirit, speaks to my spirit, infusing what I call intuition. It seems there has to be a conduit. I think our minds play an important role, but we can go too far with reason sometimes. Like if Tracie had reasoned and said something like, “Oh, it happened too many hours ago, I’ll never find them,” and not listened to God telling her spirit, “Go!” the outcome may have been different. I think God helps us to exercise the intuition we have. I don’t think that God is our intuition though.
Great question!
April 17th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Wow, KWiz, pardon the off-topic comment but SOMEBODY has been busy beautify her blog!
I likes, I likes…
You’re reminding me of my days living in Cali, working in San Rafael, about five minutes north of that gorgeous Golden Gate Bridge you’ve got pictured above.
I lived about an hour north of that in Fairfield.
Okay, back to reading you now…but I just had to say, “Nice job!”
Paula
April 17th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Thanks Paula! It’s just a different theme. And because it’s a prepackaged theme, I suspect it’s already out there somewhere. So we’ll see how long I last with this one. I happen to love it, and I’m glad I’m getting good reactions to it!
April 18th, 2007 at 1:34 am
An insightful post.Best wishes.
April 18th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Hi KWiz. On the subject of intuition, sometimes it’s a matter of just listening to that intuition and not second guessing yourself all the time; something I find myself doing time and time again.
On the new theme: It is very nice and so what if it’s already out there. It’s what YOU do with it that counts!
Have a great afternoon!
April 18th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Hi Surjit,
Thank you for visiting my site. I so appreciate your response.
April 18th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Hi Anna,
I’m with you about that second guessing thing. Yet, I still find that the listening piece is difficult. Consistency with my journaling helps me with that.
And thank you for warm thoughts about the new theme!
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:18 am
Hi KWiz,
Great post! I totally agree with you about practicing… I think the more we practice listening to our intuition the more we trust it. The more we trust it, the less we “second guess” it.
Thanks for the link!
Kirsten
May 6th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Your welcome Dr. Harrell!