Supriya, author of a recent piece on Spirituality published
on Professionelle, here turns her attention to intuition. It's full
of great examples and challenging thoughts. We loved it and hope
you will too. Please send in your comments and feedback.
What is intuition?
Intuition is defined as the act of knowing or sensing without
the use of any rational processes. It is often replaced with words
like insight, instinct or perception. We all have it and we all use
it to varying degrees. Nature has enabled women to develop their
intuitive skills to a greater degree than most men. I like to
believe that it is due to the fact that women are more closely
connected to the cycle of life.
Philosophers consider intuition to be the power of obtaining
knowledge that cannot be acquired either by inference or
observation, by reason or experience. As such, intuition is thought
of as an original, independent source of knowledge, since it is
designed to account for just those kinds of knowledge that other
sources do not provide. Knowledge of necessary truths and of moral
principles is sometimes explained in this way.
In psychology, sensing and intuition are the
information-gathering (perceiving) functions. They describe how new
information is understood and interpreted. Individuals who prefer
sensing are more likely to trust information that is in the
present, tangible and concrete, that is, information that can be
understood by the five senses. They look for details and facts. The
meaning is in the data. Those who prefer intuition tend to trust
information that is more abstract. They trust the unconscious mind.
The meaning is in how the data relates to the pattern or
theory.
In spirituality, it is about keeping yourself open and part of
the stream of wider consciousness. It entails being attuned to
yourself and receiving information from all channels, seen and
unseen. One way of explaining would be that the world is a giant TV
tower that broadcasts numerous frequencies and transmits audio and
video waves which we receive as signals. Our soul receives these
signals much in the same way the television's antenna does. The
more attuned you are, the clearer the message.
Logically, intuition can and often is a combination of physical,
emotional and mental processes and takes place in a context of
space, time and consciousness. If one is attuned to one's
surrounding, any change will often be immediately noted and
catalogued. If one has a decision to make, one will often feel
stronger about one option than the other. It can be sense of
wrongness or rightness or a strong sense of action that needs to be
taken. As mothers the world over can attest, it can be anything
from knowing when your child is up to no good to when your child
needs help.
We prefer facts, thank you!
As children our intuition is strong and we tend to depend very
highly on it to sense what is going on around us. As we grow older,
we are trained to be more 'rational' and 'logical' with a reliance
on facts and science and less on 'feelings' and 'emotions'. Our
education and training all are generally focused on developing the
intellect and understanding the world around as we see it/know it
physically. We are taught to get our facts before we make our
decisions. Our communications are based on presenting a perspective
and backing it up with supporting evidence. A huge number of people
refuse to believe in anything that cannot be explained by science
and is intangible. In business, executives pay attention to what
they refer to as 'gut instinct' but a huge number of decisions are
based on recommendations backed up with facts even if you 'know'
that it is not necessarily the right thing to do.
Recent studies
According to a team led by Professor Gerard Hodgkinson of the
Centre for Organisational Strategy, Learning and Change at Leeds
University Business School, intuition is the result of the way our
brains store, process and retrieve information on a subconscious
level and so is a real psychological phenomenon which needs further
study to help us harness its potential.
Through analysis of a wide range of research papers examining
the phenomenon, the researchers concluded that intuition is the
brain drawing on past experiences and external cues to make a
decision - but one that happens so fast the reaction is at a
non-conscious level. All we're aware of is a general feeling that
something is right or wrong.
Professor Hodgkinson cites the recorded case of a Formula One
driver who braked sharply when nearing a hairpin bend without
knowing why - and as a result avoided hitting a pile-up of cars on
the track ahead, which undoubtedly saved his life.
"The driver couldn't explain why he felt he should
stop, but the urge was much stronger than his desire to win the
race," explains Professor Hodgkinson. "The driver underwent
forensic analysis by psychologists afterwards, where he was shown a
video to mentally relive the event. In hindsight he realised that
the crowd, which would have normally been cheering him on, wasn't
looking at him coming up to the bend but was looking the other way
in a static, frozen way. That was the cue. He didn't consciously
process this, but he knew something was wrong and stopped in
time."
Some other examples of intuition in action
Masaru Ibuka, founder and chairman of Japan's Sony Corp was
asked in an interview, "What is the secret of your success?" He
said he had a ritual. Preceding a business decision, he would drink
herbal tea. Before he drank, he asked himself, "Should I make this
deal or not?" If the tea gave him indigestion, he wouldn't make the
deal. "I trust my gut, and I know how it works," he said. "My mind
is not that smart, but my body is."
Tom Peters, management consultant and best selling author,
says,
Leaders trust their guts. 'Intuition' is one of
those good words that has gotten a bad rap. For some reason,
intuition has become a "soft" notion. Garbage! Intuition is the new
physics. It's an Einsteinian, seven-sense, practical way to make
tough decisions. Bottom line, circa 2001 to 2010: The crazier the
times are, the more important it is for leaders to develop and to
trust their intuition
Intuitive information or impulse?
Some people may have trouble differentiating impulse from
intuition. How do you know the difference? Intuition is often a
knowing as opposed to a strong urge which characterizes most
impulses. Impulses are often of a short duration as opposed to
intuitive information which is persistent and has an accompanying
sense of rightness or warning. Intuition is also often accompanied
by a sense of clarity, of knowledge and direction.
Tips on honing intuitive skills
We are surrounded by a multitude of stimuli of varying nature
today, all of which along with emotional clutter and stress that
seems a part of our everyday lives, makes it difficult for a lot of
us to connect and use our intuitive skills, the same way we do with
our other senses and skills. The focus on rational and logical
thinking pushes us further away from developing our innate
intuitive skills and a lot of us, by the time we are adults, pay
absolutely no heed to the flashes of intuition we get time to time,
much to our detriment. How often have we heard people saying, "I
felt it was not the right thing to do, but I did it anyways. I
wished I had paid attention."
I rely highly on intuition and have found that staying calm and
not getting overtly emotional or stressed really helps. Knowing
that I can't do much about a given situation but I can control my
reaction, at least most times, helps me retain control and stay
connected to what I sense. Also, I pay attention to what I sense
and feel.
It is often the case that the knowledge rests within us and just
needs us to focus and pay attention to it.
And trust it!
Acknowledgement
Supriya is passionate about engagement particularly with the
community and developing and using programmes strategically to
engage and involve internal and external stakeholders to achieve
objectives and goals for mutual benefit.
She also loves to write and has written for websites, magazines
and newspapers both in New Zealand and India. She believes all of
us have something to give and a couple of her favourite words are
'possibilities' and 'potential'. She would love to hear from you
and is available on email.