Awakening Your Intuition

A friend and I were driving along a busy street in town. "Wow, people are really out of it today," he said, as another driver cut in front of our car, without signaling. I noticed it too, and my attention went to the car next to us. The driver stared straight ahead, eyes vacant--she clearly wasn't "present" in the moment. I did a double-take as I realized that she was actually a friend of ours. Her life force--her attention, if you will--was so absent from the car that she didn't even see us.

How many times have you driven home in rush hour traffic and really taken a good look at your fellow drivers? How many of them seemed truly present to you? Have you ever "zoned out" yourself, only to get home with only a partial memory of how you got there?

Daydreaming, wool gathering, "spacing out" or being "out of it": these are all polite ways to say "out of body." There have been many books written about the elusive "out of body experience." But most people don't realize that we do it every day! Out-of-body means out of awareness, and out-of-touch with what is going on around and within you.

Our culture is full of distractions. From cell phones and the radio in your car to television, city noises and idle chatter; it is all around us. We don't know how to be with ourselves, how to hear ourselves think. Often, that means that we don't really listen to others, either.

But listening and observing with all of your attention is the heart of intuition. The first step in reawakening your natural intuition is to Be Here Now (as Ram Dass noted.) Practice being aware of the world around you, both good and bad, beautiful and ugly. Practice noticing things. First, notice your body and how it is feeling. Go through every part of your body, from head to toe, and just check in with it. You may notice a pain here or a complaint there, or perhaps a need to shift position so your foot won't fall asleep! Then, you can extend your awareness outside your body, to the area immediately around you. Listen, look, feel. Cherish and value every sensation you experience. Remember, you're not actively looking for intuitive guidance here--you're simply being in the present moment, and noticing what is going on around you.

The more you practice this awareness of the present moment, the more flashes of intuition you will get at different times when you least expect (and most need) them. Why? Because in spending some time each day in quiet appreciation of where you are at that moment, you create peace amidst life's noise. You make room for your intuition to exist in your life.

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