I've been thinking a lot about intuition lately. For a long time (in my marriage, to be specific), I ignored what my soul told me. I had nigglings that I ignored, to my own detriment.
Intuition is incredibly valuable, in life and in business. Consider any bad decision you've made in your business. Maybe you hired someone who wasn't up to the job or you made a bad investment. Do you remember feeling a little pit in your stomach when you made that call? That was your intuition, your gut, telling you not to do it.
Intuition vs. Fear
I'm reading Make Some Noise by Andrea Owen (and highly recommend it), and there's a chapter about intuition. She says that many people confuse intuition and fear, but there are key differences:
Intuition is a soft, gentle whisper, while fear is loud and persistent.
With intuition, you can't explain why you feel that way, but fear has a story around it.
Intuition doesn't have an emotional charge; fear does.
Intuition lives in the present and doesn't remind you of the past or create possible future scenarios. Fear is only in the past and future.
Fear is restrictive and small, and intuition is expansive and open.
The next time you need to make a decision in your business, I invite you to consider whether it's coming from fear or intuition. Does the decision you have chosen feel good, feel right? Or is it in response to something you're afraid of?
Let Your Intuition Run the Show
Trust me: it's not always easy to hear your intuition when you've stuffed your ears so you can't hear it for decades the way I did. It can take practice to hear it, to feel it.
One way to practice listening to your intuition is to see how a decision makes your body feel. For me, if it's a bad decision, my stomach hurts. It is literally my gut talking to me. A good decision feels light.
Practice letting your intuition guide you for a day in your life. If you have multiple grocery store options in your area, just pick the first one that your brain decides it wants to go to. On the way home, choose a restaurant without overthinking it. Same with ordering. The less thinking you do, the more listening you can let in.
Like Owen said, when I am acting from an intuitive place, I can't explain it. I just know things will work out. I recently started a coaching certification course that just felt right. I didn't know the woman running the program, but seeing her picture, I just felt a connection. I knew I wouldn't regret the time and money invested. I didn't even know where the program would take me. I was happy to go on the journey. And so far, listening to my intuition on this has been 100% right!