What is intuition?
Essentially, intuition is the deep-knowing without knowing how-you-know process.
In short, you “just know” !
Importantly, intuition can be understood and valued from both a psychological and spiritual perspective.
Intuition in psychology
In psychology, intuition is understood to be the unconscious processing of thousands of points of experience and knowledge which is not based on pure logical thinking.
For example, intuition takes into account subtle environmental factors before the logical mind has a chance to notice, catalogue, and respond to them.
Intuition may also ‘read’ people’s facial expressions, body language, and vocal tones to give a deeper insight into their intentions before the analytical mind has processed their words and meanings.
In this way, intuition can help us assess and respond to a situation faster than our rational mind; and it can also pull together various threads of information to help in making a decision when there is not enough data for a logical conclusion.
Intuition in spirituality
For those of us who are spiritually inclined, intuition plays another meaningful role too. In recognising ourselves as energetic beings, we understand intuition as a source of guidance from our Higher Self, Soul and/or Source.
When we are centred in ourselves (meaning we are secure and guided by our own intrinsic-values rather than living in reaction to external validation and definition) then we are in flow with the universe, and intuition comes smoothly and naturally.
Intuition and logic
Unfortunately, most of us are not raised in families, schools, and societies which recognised – much less encourage – the use of our intuition as a valued and important part of our holistic thinking process.
Logic, which is an invaluable process of the brain’s frontal lobe, has allowed us to excel in technology, engineering, and other amazing feats of modern civilisation. In and of itself, logic is a true gift of our evolution.
However, we have been conditioned to believe that to be intuitive is to deny logic and/or to value logic means we should ignore our intuition. But if you look closely and read widely, you will actually notice that many top CEOs, inventors, and visionaries use BOTH – and this is where true magic happens!
Strengthening your intuition
As most of us are accustomed to the use of logic, it is important that we devote time connecting with and strengthening our intuition, so that we can bring together all possible sources of knowledge and understanding into our everyday living.
Further reading:
Intuition (pt 2) ~ Imagination and connection tools
Intuition (pt 3) ~ 10 steps to strengthen your intuition
Intuition (pt 4) ~ Is it your Ego or Soul speaking?
© Artemiss Keyhani, 2021
Photo: Sarah Keen @Truthfullyau
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