Is Intuition an activity of the mind?

There is a wealth of information available on intuition which is becoming ever more popular. Talking and writing about this subject is a very personal and subjective process for me. What I attempt to illustrate to you here is my own experience of intuition where I will use a few analogies to simplify what can be a rather complex topic.

A simple illustration is to imagine people sharing a cake. Although the cake is the same, the experience everyone has eating it is different and unique. The same principle applies for intuition.

Intuition is an experience that starts in the body. Sometimes it is a subtle and instantaneous feeling.For instance if you arrive at your best friend’s dinner party and she and her husband just had a terrible argument, no matter how hard they try to conceal it something in you will feel that all is not well. While your logical mind may not understand it, something in you gives a warning. This is your body speaking or a gut feeling which is perceiving something without knowing why.

Experiencing a gut feeling doesn’t mean having a major bodily sensation.  Sometimes this process happens in a split second and we don’t always recognise it. Neither does it need to be a cathartic episode; more a case of feeling something without understanding quite what it is. With practice and awareness you will become more alert and in tune with your surroundings.

If you are wondering how it’s possible for us to pick up energies around us, I believe intuition is a primal instinct present in all of us, passed on from our ancestors who needed it to detect danger in order to survive. Today we don’t use intuition for the same purposes as our predecessors, rather we utilise it to enhance our lives and as a tool in understanding ourselves better.

After the initial bodily experience, or gut feeling, the next step is allowing intuition to travel to the mind. This is when we start consciously asking questions. Now pieces of the puzzle slowly start coming together.

Interpretation and understanding also happen in the mind. This can be truly enlightening because this is where intuition really becomes a skill and where training comes to fruition.

When a feeling or an intuitive thought hits the mind, and we start trying to interpret the meaning of it, many of us get into a panic because we can’t distinguish it between a dream or an imagination. My answer to that conundrum is it doesn’t matter. What matters is awareness, practice and patience.

Much in the same way a computer sees numbers and then decodes them as a photograph, our aim is to decode what our gut is saying, allowing us to interpret these feelings. This process requires a neutral attitude which can be positively influenced by many factors including experience, knowledge, common sense, responsibility, creativity, perception and care.

So, going back to the initial question, “is intuition an activity of the mind”? In my own experience intuition is an activity that includes the whole. Mind, body and spirit.

 

Sophia Colangelo

founder www.whatisintuition.net