Have you ever called someone you haven’t spoken to in a while, only to have them say, “I was just thinking about you!”  Have you ever had a ‘gut feeling about something, only to find out your were right?  Have you ever had a hunch you should bring your umbrella with you on a perfectly clear morning, only to get caught in a freak rainstorm in the afternoon?  That is your intuition at work.

Intuition is that natural knowing that comes from inside us. You feel it as a hunch. You sense it as guidance. You know it as a brilliant idea or as inspired insight. Florence Scovel Shinn said that “Intuition is a gift that does not explain, it simply points the way.  It does not tell us why.”  Albert Einstein said, “The only real valuable thing is intuition.”  Intuition is one of our six mental faculties and it is the object of our focus this month.

There is no such thing as ‘poor intuition’ or ‘no intuition’.  We all have an acute intuitive capacity; we differ only in our ability to integrate our  intuitive sense with the rest of our conscious functions. When we say that someone is very intuitive, what we’re really recognizing is that that person has a heightened awareness of his or her intuitive faculty.
Intuition is one of the ways that the subconscious mind communicates with the conscious mind.  Intuition is the tool that enables us to tap into the infinite intelligence of the Universe where there is a solution to every problem and an answer to every question. Thomas Edison knew this.  He took catnaps in his rocking chair where he went into, what he called, ‘the land of the solution’.  There he posed a question and then listened for the answer to come to him via his intuition.

How do I develop my intuitive capacities, you may ask?  The key is to pay attention, to begin noticing it and trusting it. Intuition is a mental muscle, and like all muscles, must be exercised in order to develop. If you have a nudge to call someone, call them.  If you have a hunch in a business meeting, express it.  If you have a sense that it would be better to drive to work a different way, do it. And if you have a problem you need to solve, pose it to the universe, and then listen for the solution.

The Bible called the voice of intuition the ‘still small voice’. Gandhi called it the ‘voice for truth’ and he said it is as loud as our willingness to listen.  You get to know this voice the same way you would get to know the voice of a good friend.  You get interested in it, you pay attention to it, you invest time in it, and over time you learn the sound of this voice over all others.

So this month, I invite you to get to know that voice.  Listen, trust, test, step out, and see what happens.