Intuition is not a no-brainer; actually, it’s a right brain function. It follows a logic, albeit a logic that’s different from left brain’s. And neuroscience has found that intuition physically exists in the emotional part of the forebrain. So follow the feeling. You can learn how to access and use your “intuitive intelligence”—the essence of your emotional wisdom—and put it into action.
Our right brain or our intuitive intelligence process information by seeing the bigger picture and then deducing; our left brain focuses on details and it measures and analyzes. For example, the right brain goes up a hill, looks down at a passing train, and takes in the whole picture. It sees where the train came from and where it is heading. The left brain stands beside the tracks and counts the number of train cars and takes note of their shape and size. We need both kinds of information. Yet by the time we’re in high school, most of us have had over 18,000 hours of left-brain training and very little right-brain training.
The left brain works with the language of words, the right brain with the language of pictures. By using pictures, we can create a right-brain language that helps us get a read on a situation or person in an instant without analyses or left-brain logic. A picture is worth a thousand words. We can learn how to create this pictographic, intuition-based language.
For example, “see” or imagine a person as a car. What do you see or feel about them as you do this? Follow what you see. Trust the impressions and feelings you get. Is the person a shiny, new, yellow Porsche or an old, beat-up Volkswagen Beetle? That tells you something about them, doesn’t it? Then go inside the car and see how neat and clean it is or isn’t. That tells you something about them, too. Trust the impressions you receive. As you keep exploring other parts of the car, the trunk, under the hood, etc., you will be surprised at how much information you pick up about the person.
Another technique: if you want to look into the future or the past for this person or for yourself, just visualize a car and imagine it in the past or future. What does it look like now?
Have fun playing with this technique. For example, as well, check out what’s in the glove compartment and in the back seat. You’ll be amazed at what you find there, what you can learn about yourself and others, and how accurate this can be.
In my next blog post I will share more fun intuitive “tuning in” techniques.
This is part one of a two-part blog.
