Intuition As Your Super Power
“Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect.” – Steve Jobs
Several years ago, I was drugged by a stranger.
This is what happened.
In my early adulthood, I liked to go out dancing with my friends.
It was a common occurrence throughout the decade of my twenties.
On this particular night, my girlfriends and I had plans to meet at a new bar that had just opened downtown.
The bar was in the loft of an old historic building and to get to the main entrance, you had to ascend a flight of stairs.
I was the first of my friends to arrive and when I walked into the space I had a mild sense of unease come over me. But, I brushed it off attributing the feeling to being in a crowded space, without someone I knew.
I walked to the bar and ordered a drink and was told by the bartender that the waitress would bring it to me.
I chose a small table situated against a wall, where I had a clear view of both the bar and the doorway, so that I could watch for the waitress and also my friends.
A few minutes passed and the waitress walked by, setting my drink down in front of me.
I had only taken two sips, my first of the night, when I realized that something was very wrong.
Everything started spinning in slow motion.
I vividly recall looking at a painting that was hanging above the entrance.
I watched it rotate, seemingly taking the entire wall with it, until the people walking in through the doorway appeared to be walking in horizontally.
I turned my head and looked over at the bar and I saw a man sitting there, watching me.
His lips turned upward with a faint smile, a smug look on his face.
I sat there staring at him, grasping the table so that I would not fall to the floor. A pit settled in my stomach and my heart filled with dread.
In that moment, while staring at that man and grappling with extreme vertigo, I knew that I had been drugged.
Suddenly I heard a voice in my head.
It was loud and crystal clear and shouted at me in a firm tone, “GET OUT.”
I immediately stood up and nearly fell.
I stumbled toward the exit, using chairs, walls, and people…anything I could, to help me stay on my feet.
By the time I reached the stairs, I started to black out.
I don’t recall how I got down to the street, but I do remember walking outside.
It was late and crowded with people.
I sifted through the mass, bumping into person after person.
I looked behind me, and saw the man at the bar just walking out of the doorway and onto the street.
My vision darkened and I blacked out again.
When it returned I was looking into the kind, yet concerned face of a boy that was in my college psychology class.
He was shaking me, and asking repeatedly if I was ok.
I told him that I had been drugged.
He helped me into a cab and took me home, ensuring my safety that night.
If I had not listened to that voice in my head at that exact moment, I would not have run into that kind boy on the street.
That voice was my intuition.
Intuition is our super power.
It’s defined as the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning.
It’s the gut feeling or the thought that you have in the back of your mind that guides you throughout life.
Subtly directing you.
Keeping you on a path that is best suited for you and your life’s goals.
The thing about intuition, is that it’s even more fluid than emotion.
Because of its fluidity, it can be easy to overlook and in some cases ignore.
Let’s look at this for a moment from a more tangible point of view.
If we compare these two aspects to physical elements, emotion would be equal to water and intuition to that of air.
Like water, you can see, hear and feel emotion.
Think of a time when you were vibrantly happy and also think of a bubbling river.
Just like you can see the water happily moving along, swirling around rocks with sunlight shimmering on its surface, you can also look in a mirror and see yourself expressing this happiness. You are probably smiling, your eyes lit up and filled with joy.
You can hear the sounds of that river, the water moving quickly by and you can kneel down and place your hand on its cool surface.
Similarly, you can hear the sounds of your laughter and the slightly raised octave of your voice that accompanies happiness.
You can also feel it within your chest, spreading like light throughout your body.
This makes emotion palpable, just like water.
Intuition, like air, is not as easily seen, heard or felt…but it is still always there, surrounding us.
Really the only time that we easily perceive air, is when it’s trying to get our attention in the form of wind.
Even then, the wind itself is not something that we can see, unless it’s coupled with another element, like dust or leaves that are being swept up, and carried throughout the sky.
When intuition is coupled with an emotion, like fear, as it was in my story, we can perceive it much more clearly.
But that’s not to say that your intuitive senses are only useful in times of danger or stress.
With practice, you can bring awareness to this sense, which will promote growth in your ability to perceive it.
The first step in growing your awareness is to identify the most natural state of your personal intuition.
There are four main ways that intuition works:
Through Sight
Through Sound
Through Feeling
Through Knowing
Let’s look at each of these in detail.
Physical sight.
If your natural intuitive state is through sight, then you may experience the following:
Identify as a “Visual Learner”.
Have a high imagination.
Have a keen eye for detail.
You may have vivid and detailed dreams.
Good at logistical planning.
Have a tendency toward day dreaming.
Physical, external sound.
If your natural intuitive state is through sound, then you may experience the following:
You always notice music wherever you go.
Identify as an “Auditory Learner”.
Hear people calling your name in crowds.
Easily tune into conversations around you.
Feel a deep connection to music.
Often will get a song stuck in your head.
Physical emotion.
If your natural intuitive state is through feeling, then you may experience the following:
Can “feel out” a room when you first enter it.
Sensitive to others emotions.
Ability to feel when others are being truthful or not.
Naturally drawn toward helping others.
High empathy toward others.
You are often the emotional support of family and friends.
Mental logic and brain processing.
If your natural intuitive state is through knowing, then you may experience the following:
Find that you just “know things” without explanation.
Analytical and intellectual in nature.
Have vivid, detailed dreams that are usually remembered.
Thinking of someone and then they call or text you.
Thinking of an object and then you see that object several times throughout your day.
Have strokes of genius or come up with brilliant plans.
As you read through these lists, notice which ones stood out to you. Was there one that made you think, “Yeah, that sounds like me!”
If so, then that is the natural state of your intuition.
Now that you have identified how your personal intuition works, you can begin to use that to your advantage.
As you go throughout your day, pay attention to what is going on around you.
Notice all of the times that your intuition is trying to get your attention in small and subtle ways.
The more that you notice those subtleties, the more often they will appear.
You will be able to use them to guide you.
Whether it be for small decisions like which route to take home from the store, or large decisions like whether or not to partner with someone.
Trust in what you are feeling.
Albert Einstein said, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
Even though it can be easy to brush aside the sense of our intuition because of its fluidity, pay attention to it.
Trust it.
Trust in your ability to sense the right path for you to take.
It will never steer you wrong.