Intuition is a spectacularly useful tool. However, the western tradition and subsequent mythos surrounding it, from ancient times to modern day, from the Oracle at Delphi to dubbing it “women’s” intuition (which let’s face it probably was not a compliment when it got coined) all act to make it seem less than unpredictable. More like unknowable. Neither of which shout practical.
However, I have found over and over that intuition is the most practical and efficient tool I have ever had the good fortune to discover. And I’m a coach, I trip over new tools constantly as a feature of my professional existence.
Once I realised how profoundly useful intuition was, I found uses for it all over the place. It helped me:
to stop overthinking
to say no to stuff that was not right for me
to stop second guessing decisions big and small
So, I wanted to figure out how to make the most of it. Trial and error showed me that there were two key ways. One was to muscle test decisions so I could be sure I’d picked the right one and then get on with getting into action on it. The other, and the most transformative way I could use intuition, was to make time to connect to it regularly and ask one thing:
What is the one thing you would have me to do today?
You can ask this question focused on a specific goal, or desire or outcome. You can ask it for each of your current goals or desires. Or you can ask it in general and let intuition prioritise for you.
This question operates on many levels.
It stops us thinking we need to be in charge or control.
Which in my case pulls me out of overwhelm when the need arises. (And with my neurospicy brain the need arises plenty).
It stops us getting caught up in the spiral of must do more/never enough.
If we tried we could all probably write a list of 50 things we could be doing to get to any given goal. And it’s so easy to fall into believing we aren’t ever doing enough. Sometimes our values make us susceptible to this - looking at you making a difference, equality, justice, ambition and others like you . However living in a capitalist society is sufficient to have us constantly self-judging at for not having done all the things. This kind of self-judgement can put us into a place of feeling undeserving and that is poison to allowing ourselves our desires.
It opens us up to spotting opportunities as a way of being.
And the more we relax into letting intuition guide us the more regular, surprising but impactful those opportunities we spot become.
It requires that we do something.
It’s all too easy to get an intuitive nudge and feel like that’s the whole thing. I love getting an intuitive download. I feel connected to the universe and a little flowy or maybe special or blessed. That is not the whole thing. It feels delicious, sure. But the real magic lies in putting energy into the insight by taking action. Acting on intuition has a multiplier effect. It shows good faith and it shows commitment (however tentative our action may be or however scared we might be as we push a boundary or exit a comfort zone) and those actions get rewarded with either the result we want or another intuitive step on the path to getting what we want.
It causes the action we take to be inspired action.
Any time we do what intuition tells us, we are taking inspired action. Inspired action is the most effective of all the kinds of action. It’s the opposite of busy work. It’s more efficient and effective than this-is-how-everyone-else-does-it or this-is-how-I-usually-do-it actions. It’s the action that is perfect for this moment. It has the connectedness of all things woven into it. It means we know that what we are doing is ours to be done.
It means we are doing what is ours to be done.
And when we do what is ours to be done we get grace or the effortlessness quotient (unmeasurable but undeniable) working for us. This is the effect where intuition guides us to take an action and we often (wrongly) think that this solitary simple action is not enough to get us the results we want. However, if we take it anyway we find that miraculously something bridged the gap. As Amanda Frances says in her book Rich as F*ck. Grace did it. Grace bridged the gap.
Of course what follows is not always a simple process once you’ve asked the question. In my experience hearing what intuition replies is not the hard part for most creators (be that of music/art/beauty or change). Listening to inner guidance is par for the course of creating anything.
Some of us though, can get a bit stuck sometimes and then we can't hear intuition through all the noise in our head.
If this is a sticking place for you the solution will lie in any activity that takes you out of your head and gets you present or into your body. I immerse myself in water. Water is an excellent conduit for intuition.
Getting out into nature or any meditative practice (for you) be it walking, running, driving, yoga, meditating, journaling or simply conscious breathing will offer intuition an opportunity to send you its guidance as you become more present in your body or less caught in your head.
It could also be that anxiety or a similar is interrupting your ability to hear what intuition is telling you. I call anxiety the noise cancelling headphones for intuition. Generally speaking any of the above suggestions will reduce your anxiety levels enough to hear your intuition.
So, let's start.
Put some time aside. Get quiet. And ask:
What is the one thing you would have me to do today?
And to turn this into an intuitive practice?
I suggest asking this question every day of your working week.
(If that’s seven days - stop it immediately! Everybody needs rest. Especially creative people.) Five times a week will do nicely.
I also suggest you try to do what comes through as yours to be done as soon as you can.
So you can get the next piece of guidance as soon as possible. It builds trust in your intuition and in yourself. This practical approach to using your intuition is transformative and wildly efficient. Quite often my clients find that asking what’s the one thing somehow leads to getting their desire or their goal achieved with just doing that one action. That one thing. That is intuition's extraordinary gift to us if we're willing to receive it.
