Everything isn’t concrete and therefore you need intuition. Everybody has it but it’s like having a map which you cannot read.

It’s also like a plant, if you tend to it carefully and nourish it properly then it will surely bear something. A fruit or fragrance.

It sounds mystical and so the skeptic might question its dependability. How reliable is intuition really?

Having a hunch, a gut feeling is something that we all have experienced some or the other time.

Signs and cryptic messages hidden in the mundane.

You were not looking for it but it just suddenly clicked.

Our life is very dynamic, every day a plethora of things happens to us.

Sometimes we find ourselves at crossroads and wonder where do I go from here? Is it the right way? Should I wait for better guidance? “I don’t even know what I am doing I wish someone would show me the way.” “There’s just so much of confusion and so many options, I don’t even know what do I truly want?” is this the right choice for me?

Questions like that could drag you down and stop you in your tracks out of the fear of the unknown.

Or maybe could also make you run away.

Both of them are survival instincts, to keep you safe one of them is usually utilized and that is when you start procrastinating.

However, safety does not guarantee growth, it does not guarantee adventure and it definitely does not bring much satisfaction.

Sometimes difficult decisions need to be made with a hunch.

All things in life won’t make sense and therefore something equally senseless should be used to tackle such challenges.

Something just beyond our 5 senses.

In this post we will cover what is intuition, why is it important and how can intuition help you make the most out of your life.

So let us begin.

What is intuition?

According to Deepak Chopra in the video above:

“Intuition is an intelligence beyond your rational mind. It’s beyond winning and losing and it eavesdrops on the context of the universal mind.”

Which, is the clearest and easy definition of intuition I have found online. It’s precisely that.

Intuition is something that eavesdrops on the context of the universal mind.

Eavesdropping on such a vast amount of reference and data is definitely useful.

See for an Ant, your house is their world. Some parts of your house are completely alien worlds for them but to us, it’s always just a few steps away.

A problem that might seem too big for us is minuscule in nature for the universe.

To the universe, we are not even an atom.

A third person can always advise us better on our situation, better than what we ourselves can figure out.

The reason is simple, perspective matters.

It’s hard for a person to get a detached view or a universal perspective on their situation because of their immense involvement with it.

All your faculties, most importantly your brain and critical thinking are so engaged at any given moment that there isn’t any room left for anything else. Most importantly some things are entirely out of the scope of our logical reach.

We just don’t have the required reference or data to make a clear move.

We are also so attached to the outcome that instead of paying attention to the clear signs or facts, we always bias our moves around our intention and desire. Even if there’s a clear indication towards a particular choice we often neglect it in the favor of hoping for what we want.

So intuition is a hunch beyond the logical, it’s beyond reasoning and pure because your own reasoning is clouded by your own desires.

Practice paying attention to it and move when it wants you to.

Your body will want to get up and do something, it might not feel very well planned or logical but if you or someone else is not going to die, then you should move on that hunch.

That’s the best strategy for moving out of your comfort zone.

The science of Intuition

In an article on the Oprah.com, named, The Science of Intuition: An Eye-Opening Guide to Your Sixth Sense the writer Annie Murphy cites research where the researchers say,

“that our instincts often hit us first on a visceral level, telling us what we need to know well before our consciousness catches up.”

Visceral meaning, something based on deep feelings or emotional reactions rather than logic or thought.

Also related to your large body organs like the heart, lungs, stomach, and intestines.

Meaning, remember that sinking feeling at the sight of something, pounding heart because of some presence and a shift in your perspiration?

Also, Mom’s saying all over the world that they feel something is not right.

Well, for your information, women are more intuitive than men.

Because Men are more logic and less emotion. Women as we all know are emotions primary.

That is your body signaling you even before you notice something consciously.

Emotional reactions happen faster than your conscious mind can register a thought or data.

All that you see, hear, eat, smell and touch is data.

You might not see a billboard or store you are looking for on the streets but the most random of faces will get registered in your subconscious mind, even if you saw them just for a split second.

Your conscious mind might miss the things you are looking for but nothing goes unnoticed by your subconscious mind.

If you could tap into your subconscious mind you can bring forth the most random of memories you never knew you collected.

The lessons you forgot after studying are still deep down inside your mind, you just cannot access them consciously.

Even a formula you saw just once is there in your head, a technique you saw just once is still ready to be practiced if you remember it.

Practice and discipline just make the unconscious learning conscious.

You being able to access and utilize the stored information consciously.

In that article, the writer has shared and cited multiple types of research where they explain how our intuition signals us and how to tune into it better. You should really go read that one to get better insight.

Meanwhile, let me tell you what all it pointed out in brief.

It spoke about how eating intuitively leads to better health and body weight.

How blind people can see or kind of feel the expressions on the face of another person by

utilizing their blind-sight. A sight which we all have but it’s not consciously available.

Earlier when I said that the most random of things are stored inside your mind, that happens through this.

How some things just click when you are doing the most random of things

and how deep sleep helps you trigger your intuition.

When you focus on something else for a while and not the immediate problem you are trying to solve, the mind gets time to tap into the unconscious reserve and organize and make sense of the vast data you collected.

Eureka moments are born out of rest and composure and not out of force and anxiety.

Archimedes had it in a bathtub while relaxing.

Why is intuition important?

Intuition is important because of these 3 precise reasons:

1. Life is very dynamic in general and nothing about it is concrete. No amount of fact or data can predict what’s going to happen tomorrow in case if there’s going to be a sudden crash or natural calamity. Animals are attuned to nature and therefore they move away from the center of a natural calamity days before it happens. Being attuned like that also strengthens your intuition and because animals are so viscerally driven rather than logic or data they are able to achieve that.
2. Life is confusing, life has a lot of data to process for our small brain and one cannot be certain about what to do next in a situation that demands immediate action. In such a situation most people do nothing and some only do just the obvious. Obvious in the sense, which is either accepted by the society or our peer group or is validated by the consensus of the masses. Great decisions if you observe or if you have read a lot of biographies, some I have listed here, will make it ample clear for you, that the greatest of decisions taken by some of the greatest people were taken on a hunch and not fact. Most importantly, in an adverse situation, they could only move swiftly because they dared to act on their gut feeling. Sometimes more than accuracy, movement is important. Just doing something is important. So If anyway you don’t know what to do next, try listening to what your intuition has to say, maybe that will help, if not then you at least did try something bold rather than just sitting cold in a chair mulling over your inability to do something.
3. It deepens your understanding of yourself. It helps you understand yourself better. When you so often check with your soul, body, and mind whether they feel positive about what you are about to do, you learn a great deal about yourself and about the type of person you really are. You don’t have to be confined to the roles determined for you by the world. You can break free and really do things that make you feel complete.

How intuition can help you live better

Intuition can help you make better choices in life if you just pay attention to the undertone of its suggestions.

Say if you are hungry and the first big image that pops up in your head when you think of a satisfying meal is a pizza, then it does not mean Pizza is healthy for you, it simply means, your body is signaling towards the nutrient constituents contained in the pizza.

So figure this out,

1. Does your body need fat? Fat in the sense, healthy oils or fatty substances. Our brain needs healthy fat to function properly. A tiring day, a depressing day, or on days when you are overworked, you are more likely to crave such super fatty foods.
2. Does your body need protein, calcium, or carbohydrates? Carbohydrates are our main source of energy, complex carbs are a good source for us, whereas simple carbs are only needed during immediate deficiencies. sugary foods have them too. You craving chocolates or doughnuts is something similar. Majority of doughs used in making pizzas are made up of simple carbohydrates. Wheat-based bases are somewhat useful.

All of the nutrients mentioned above are contained within a Pizza but that does not make a Pizza the optimum or right source of energy and nutrients for your consumption.

So if you are constantly craving such food items, figure out what your body is really asking for.

Learn to comprehend and understand the undertones of the signals sent by your body and you will strengthen and cure yourself out of a lot of your problems.

Now I don’t mean to say that you must not eat Pizza but what I am saying is that you should at least choose a healthy source of those nutrients 7 times out of 10.

3 times Pizza is good.

Now apply that approach in all walks of your life. When you want something or want to do something figure out what’s the real purpose behind that desire and do what’s actually beneficial for your life.

How to pay attention to your intuition and make it stronger

Other than paying attention to your intuition and moving as often as possible by the pull of your gut feeling one should not do anything special to improve their intuition.

Being healthy, eating healthy, exercising, practicing Yoga and pranayama will naturally boost your intuition but those activities are not specifically meant to target just that, they serve a more holistic purpose.

Those activities clear your mind and body of any impurities and allow the emergence of clear thought and action.

I encourage you to follow them.

Avoiding gossip, negative interactions, and dull media like the reality TV will also ensure its nourishment.

You can also go forward and nourish your mind with great thoughts and positive outlook and that will also sharpen your intuition.

Everybody likes a listening ear and so does our intuition.

The more you listen to it the stronger it will become.

Any specialized practices at least as per my understanding should be strictly avoided.

Habits like mediation indeed help you strengthen it but you shouldn’t limit the power of meditation by using it for this purpose.

Meditation serves a bigger purpose that we cannot comprehend at the moment.

If one day you decide to meditate, then meditate for the sake of it and the beauty of its silence and nothing else.

To understand meditation better read these 2 books:

1. Autobiography of a Yogi
2. Inner Engineering

Secondly,

Here are 7 ways by which you can pay attention to your intuition

1. Have you ever felt relieved after doing something and completely disturbed after doing another? well, that is your intuition signaling you to do more of which that made you feel relieved and avoid/stop or change the behavior which made you feel disturbed.
2. How free and open did you feel after doing something and how completely en-caged you felt after avoiding doing something?
3. Feeling like eating one food over the other, instant repulsion at the sight of one, and feeling satiated by just the smell of another.
4. Inclination towards choosing one color over another to wear.
5. Letting your body move somewhere when it wants to. Return to your original position if you want to but don’t withdraw from the urge of moving. Just move.
6. Feel like drawing, draw. Feel like writing, write. The same goes on for any new hobby you want to pick up suddenly out of the blue.
7. Your intuition has a way of nudging you from within to pay attention to certain things, notice which is the recurring theme, and act on it. A book that you might want to pick up and visiting a new place that pulls your attention towards it.

Now I don’t mean you to give up using your logic entirely but I am only encouraging you to let your emotions sway you a little more.

Let them guide you some time rather than just your finite logic.

You might fall into the trap of using intuition to stay within your comfort zone.

Please don’t do that, it’s for your growth and progress.

Positive and holistic to be precise.

Don’t favor one action over the other just because you feel like it, some things are counterintuitive.

Be conscious, adopt this success thought process, and use the power of your emotions to do good and be great.

Conclusion

Intuition is one of the Human qualities. One of the qualities of any life on earth to be precise.

The over importance of logic over everything else is hindering a lot of our progress.

A kid who intuitively picked up a paintbrush shouldn’t be handed a stethoscope to be a doctor.

Every individual soul on our planet knows exactly what they want out of this life and if not smeared by too much logic, all life here can find their way beautifully.

Logic has gotten everyone chasing the wrong things for themselves and to add to that, people are not even using their own logic, it’s mostly borrowed.

Sadly a lot of our emotions these days are borrowed too because they stem from the borrowed logic.

To truly free yourself from the shackles of such understanding, learn to be driven by your inner instinct and it will lead you to your own personal wisdom.

It’s going to take courage because everything won’t happen according to you but whatever you learn will last for a lifetime to come.