"I don't know---it's just a gut-level feeling." "Just a hunch". "Only woman's intuition." It's funny how deprecating we sound about that quiet knowing that comes right out of our souls. That's what intuition is---the prompting of our soul to go toward the paths that will bring us the highest good in our lives. It speaks to us in different ways. To some people it is the "still, small, voice within." To others, it comes as a picture in the mind in either the waking state or the dream state. It can be a gut-level feeling, a sense of emotional comfort or discomfort. It flows through sensitive and skillful touch, and also the ability to move through the world with luck in timing. It is the flash of full-blown knowing, that drops suddenly into our consciousness from out of the blue, bringing information or inspiration.

Most of us repress the strength of intuition, and insist that it be subordinate to the logical mind. We regard intuition as an unsettling, possibly embarrassing second cousin to the functions of logic, control, and linear thinking that we have been trained to rely on. We ignore intuition's polite suggestions for so long that it either atrophies into total silence or it finds loud dramatic ways of getting through to us. Sometimes we don't listen to what we know until our life pulls off the road in some messy crisis that forces us to give up our reliance to the logical "shoulds" in our minds.

The biggest blocks to using intuition successfully are fear and doubt. This is a historical problem. Intuition, like other aspects of the feminine psyche, has been delegated to the basement by the two major belief-making machines in the Western culture---religion and science. In its darkest days, the Christian Church waged a centuries-long campaign against the feminine. The Burning Times in Europe consumed the bodies of up to nine million women who were accused of the crime of witchcraft. A woman could be accused of being a witch if she was an herbalist, a midwife, or a psychic, careers that had long held honor in the prior Goddess-based religion. She was suspect if she was sexually attractive or a bit too "uppity". People were now expected to be obedient to the Church hierarchy and go to priests for mediation with God. No more listening to your own inner voices---they were most likely evil, the prompting of Satan. The Church established a deep climate of fear that we still carry in our collective mind. On a subconscious level, we are afraid to listen to our inner voices because they might be evil. We are caught in our own doubt about our basic goodness, and our fear of getting in trouble if we seem abnormal in any way.

The culture of scientific materialism grew up in reaction to this crazed church. Early scientists saw the need for a discipline of knowledge that could not be polluted by superstition, politics, or ungrounded mysticism. Science will allow only what can be seen, measured, counted, predicted and proven. "Truth" is what can be demonstrated in controlled, repeatable experiments. This is fine and necessary in certain spheres, but the scientific method can't embrace all that makes a human life worth living. How could you prove a poem? Why should you measure a dance? Predict unconditional love? Ridiculous. And yet, somehow we let the religion of scientific materialism run our lives too. We are afraid of being thought "crazy" if we make decisions that do not lie within the bulging bell curve of "normal". We are afraid to step out of the linear march of our culture's conditioning to follow the call of the heart into some different experiences. We remain caged in self-doubt.

Your intuition is trying to show you only one thing all of the time: how to be happy as you. It's there to make life easier. Your intuition will help you understand and unfold your purpose here, and solve everyday problems. It needs to be reinstated on the throne next to the logical mind, where they can work as partners. Your intuition receives vision for a life direction that will make you happy and will use your unique nature to the fullest. Your planning mind makes a strategy. But it can't make an airtight strategy, because there are always unknowns. Your intuition works through these unknowns, bringing ideas and resources into play right in the present moment. Your logical mind organizes information; it balances your checkbook. Your intuition balances your life. It tells you about health needs, connects you with good friends, and helps you with timing. It leads you into situations that elicit your joy. Together the intuition and the logical mind create a fulfilling and effective life

Intuition operates in large and small ways. A number of years ago my intuition showed me in a dream that I needed to relocate to a different city as soon as possible. My logical mind was appalled and embarrassed---I had no reason to go there, and I had school to finish in my home town. I had a lot of friends and family who would be sad and mystified at my move. But it was a strong feeling, so I did it. I met my beloved husband in a grocery store on my first venture into town. We fell in love instantly. And my health improved dramatically. I had been sick with a variety of complaints for almost two years. Now I discovered that I had been a creature at odds with my old environment, and I was more relaxed and healthy in my new location.

My intuition helps me with smaller challenges too. While driving around on errands my little voice said, Go home right now! My logical mind told me I needed to go to the store first. Really, right now! Go home. My logical mind whined as I turned toward home, prematurely, as far as it was concerned. As I entered my front door, the phone was ringing. It was a person I had tried to get in touch with unsuccessfully for two weeks. We made a quick little transaction that eased my current work project, and I went back out, smiling.

How to Strengthen Intuition

Acknowledge that it's there.
Even if it is atrophied from disuse, your intuition can be awakened and brought into your life. Talk to it. Say, "Hi, I know you're there. I'd like you to be working in my life. Please become active for my highest good."

Notice how your intuition speaks to you.
Do you hear a little voice, almost like the rest of your thoughts, but not quite? Do you see pictures in your mind? Do you know things, but doubt that you know them because you don't have actual "proof"? Does your body give you cues about whether certain people are trustworthy? Discover which of these modes is strongest, and focus on that one.

Take Some Risks.
Start small, but start following those little hunches instead of your conditioned brain. See where your own energy wants to go, not where you think it should go. Do some things because it feels right, not because it makes sense. Follow the "spiritual impulse". Trial and error. Good discrimination between the intuitive mind and the conditioned mind takes time and practice. Don't doubt everything just because you're wrong sometimes. Decide to be accurate with intuition and keep practicing.

Become willing to flow more in your life.
Let your life be easier. Cultivate an appetite for synchronicity and surprise. Being in control all of the time is exhausting and unimaginative. Let the creativity of the Universe into your life and enjoy it!

(now the ears of my ears awake and
the eyes of my eyes are opened)
- e.e. cummings