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Two of the heroes in saving Jaycee Dugard from captivity were University of California, Berkeley campus safety officer, Lisa Campbell, and police officer, Allison Jacobs. When describing what led the officers to detain and question alleged kidnapper, Philip Garrido, both spoke of listening to their intuition. Officer Jacobs told CNN's Anderson Cooper: "My police intuition was kicking in, but I would say it's more of a mother's intuition."
That is an example of intuition in action with spectacular results. But many times we ignore or are unwilling to trust our intuition. When trusting our gut or following a hunch can have such life-changing results it leads me to wonder, how do we learn how to get in touch with intuition, how do we learn to hear what it is whispering to us and how do we learn to trust what that voice is saying?
Getting in touch:
Asking yourself questions and recording the first answer that pops into your head is a great way to start. Sitting quietly you could ask yourself a series of questions or one big one. Then you can record your answers by speaking them into a tape recorder without stopping to censor yourself, you could write out your answers in stream of consciousness fashion without editing or you could draw your answers if you are more visual in nature.
Learning to listen:
Reminder yourself to listen. Perhaps put up a post it note with LISTEN! written on it or post several around your home or workspace. Write it in your calendar or make it your screen saver. And then when you hear your inner voice talking to you, work on remembering to stop and take note. Just mentally record when you hear that inner voice and what it is saying to you. If you can, try to match up what your voice was telling you, what you choose to do and the outcome.
Learning to trust:
As you increasingly pay attention to your inner voice and note how your actions and outcomes match up, you might increasingly find that your intuition is right more often than not and you can begin to learn to trust. It takes courage and moving past fear and resistance so working on building those muscles will help. One trick I like is repeating the empowering affirmation "I absolutely know what to do!"
Using your intuition can help you make decisions or choose which path to take. Practicing using your intuition and building your trust in it will help you use it to make good decisions and not either let it lead you astray or result in you blaming poor choices on intuition. Here is an example I read recently of how a blogger listened to her inner voice:
Just then I heard a voice in my head remind me: 'You'll never be a writer until you choose it.'
Whoa … what? You mean this was up to ME? I'd been thinking I'd be a writer when the phone rang and an agent was telling me about my big book deal. THAT"s when I'd be a real writer, right? After all, I'd already published a novel with Random House that was a dismal failure. So that was certainly no proof!
No, the voice patiently explained, you could be a writer right now … but ONLY if you see it, accept it, and choose it. So choose it I did. And went back to work with a spring in my step, only to learn a few hours later that I was being relieved of my job.
Not to worry, however, for the Universe always provides. Shortly thereafter, in no particular order, I got a call from an agent saying that none other than Shirley MacLaine was optioning the film rights on my failed novel. A magazine called that I'd been trying to sell my first personal essay to, accepting it. AND …. drum roll please … a book deal for How Much Joy Can You Stand? truly came out of nowhere, from a small press that I hadn't even known was looking at it. (A friend had submitted it.)
Suzanne Falter-Barns at Get Known Now Blog: Why Losing Your Job Can Be a Good Thing
Do you have any examples of times when you listened to your intuition and had good results? Please share in the comment. I love a good trusting your gut story!
Related Reading:
Gretchen at Girls Can't What?: Women's Intuition is a Super Power
The part that troubles me is that Garrido had a lot of contact with
