Years ago, the concept of intuition was completely foreign to me. For those who know me now, you might find that surprising. Oh sure, I had heard of ‘women’s intuition’; but it seemed to me to be some kind of ‘spooky’ random thing that happened to women on occasion. I had no idea that I could learn to tap into my intuition or that I could receive guidance stemming from knowledge existing outside of our space/time continuum. Intrigued?
My first spiritual teacher and best friend, Katie, introduced me to intuition. Up to that point in my life, my few glimpses of ‘something more’, were indeed fleeting and random. After a lunch date, Katie needed to stop at the drug store to pick up some shampoo. We walked down the shampoo aisle, and Katie scanned the shelves. She picked one bottle, held it close to her body, closed her eyes, and began to gently sway back and forth. Then she did the same thing with a few more bottles. I looked around, embarrassed, to see if anyone was looking. I didn’t know what to think; my intellectual mind went straight to judgement, which, of course, is precisely what it does.
She chose her shampoo, paid and we walked outside. I was curious and wanted to know exactly what she was doing and why. I queried, “I noticed the way you held each of the shampoo bottles; what were you doing with your eyes closed?”
“Oh,” she replied matter-of-factly, “I was tuning in.”
“Ahhh… “ I replied and paused for a few moments before adding, “tuning into what?”
She smiled and said, “My inner wisdom, my intuition.”
I wondered if I, too, had access to inner wisdom or intuition. With that thought, I decided to find out. I am really a skeptic at heart who needs to experience things before believing them, so I started running my own personal intuition experiments. I wasn’t sure if I could do it, but I was open and willing to give it a try. The first thing I learned is that I needed to be able to distinguish between the voice of my intuition and that of my fear or intellect. This is incredibly important, since both fear and intellect are very adept at masquerading as the voice of intuition. Making the distinction took a lot of practice, patience and awareness.
Over time, I became pretty good at distinguishing the various voices and apparently I was ready to receive a very profound lesson. I learned, first-hand, that when I tap into my intuition, I access wisdom from outside our physical space/time continuum. While the issue wasn’t important, the experience was profound. Here’s how it happened.
I wanted to surprise my Mom with tickets to a play for her birthday. I called the box office to see if tickets were available. They were. I called my mom to see if she was available. She was. It was all good, except that every time I picked up the phone to order the tickets, I felt a sensation in my gut and heard the word ‘no’ from inside my mind. Not an angry or fearful ‘no’, just a calm, quiet ‘no’. An intuitive ‘no’. I’d put down the phone and would feel ‘normal‘ again. This process actually went on for a few weeks, with me trying to buy tickets every few days and having the same experience. Several times I double checked and triple A checked; my mom was available and the tickets were available so why couldn’t I order the darn tickets?
As the date for the play grew closer, I grew increasingly annoyed. Over and over I puzzled about the reason why I couldn’t order the tickets. It made no sense whatsoever. At this point my ego decided to take this as a personal affront:
Who is this ‘intuition’ that is trying to usurp my power? Doesn’t it realize that I am in control? I am smart, and I checked and double checked and it all works, so I’m going to buy the tickets!
Yet, every time I tried to buy the tickets the same thing happened. Finally, I had had enough. The date to purchase tickets over the phone had passed, so I had to drive down to the box office personally. As I stood in line, I had the same overwhelming sense in my gut that I shouldn’t buy them.
But now I, and my ego, were determined! I waited patiently in the long line. At the counter, I requested the tickets I wanted; as I started to pull my VISA card from my wallet, it literally flew out of my fingers and across the room. I ran over to retrieve it, more determined than ever to buy the stupid tickets. And I did. I over-rode the feeling in my gut and the gentle but firm, ‘no’ in my mind. Done. Over.
The morning of the performance I was feeling rather smug. “See,” my ego said with pride, “your mom loved receiving the tickets and tonight she will get to see the show.” I’m sure I even heard a ‘ha’ thrown in for good measure. Shortly after, I received a phone call from my Dad, telling me that my Mom had been admitted to hospital for a minor emergency. They wouldn’t be able to attend the show, so they wanted us to pick up the tickets and attend in their place.
We went to the show that evening, and I ….. was ….. humbled. The show was not exactly my La cup of tea, but my Mom and Dad would have loved it. I was right about that. Interestingly, the whole experience created more questions than answers. Was it coincidence? While possible, having lived the experience, I am highly skeptical that it was coincidence. Yet, a nagging question remained, “How could my intuition have known, in advance, that my mother would be admitted to hospital on the day – not the day after – and would not be able to attend the performance?”
After trying to figure it out intellectually and failing miserably, I decided that it was a mystery; I simply needed to honour and trust my intuition from that time forward. I learned that there is information, knowledge and wisdom beyond what we know in our physical space/time continuum. There has to be. It’s the only explanation that makes sense. And indeed this learning has been validated many times over the years.
I am so grateful to have had this experience! It provided such a powerful lesson. I have since learned that the more I follow my intuition, regardless of whether my ego or intellectual mind understand or like the message, the stronger my connection grows, and the easier it is to receive messages and stay connected. I find it interesting to note that we often talk of ‘tapping into’ our intuition, implying that there is a constant, steady stream that we are able to tap into. I believe this is literally true. Quantum physicists would agree.
I invite you to tap into and find your own source of inner wisdom, your intuition. Don’t take my word for it; run your own experiments! Life is a great learning lab. As always, start by setting your intention to strengthen your connection to your intuition. Then become aware of the sensation of intuition for you. Do you feel it in your body? Hear it in your mind? See a picture or vision? Pay particular attention to the feeling that accompanies your intuition. It is my experience that intuition comes with a calm, open feeling; never an angry or fearful one. The situation may be fearful, but my intuition about it is still calm.
Intuition is one of the most exquisite gifts of the Divine Feminine, and it is available to all who seek with an open heart. Have fun!