Can you hear your intuition?

In.tu.i.tion (noun): the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning.

“How do I know if it’s my intuition?” a student asked at a recent daylong retreat. We’d be talking about attending inwardly in the practice of Inquiry, in order to ‘hear’ unexpected answers to life’s questions. But what if you hear nothing, or don’t know which impulse to trust?

Maybe you’re familiar with this dilemma. If you’re anything like me, you spent a good portion of your life denying, debating, contorting and repressing your inner arisings, to the degree that at some point you lost access to a easeful sense of innate knowing. Depending on social location, you may have had different reasons for doing this, but usually it’s some version of: to belong, to be a good ________, to be safe, to not disrupt the status quo.

Regardless of what created the disconnect, at some point, you turn inward to receive an answer, and get nothing but hazy confusion. And that hazy confusion is costly - emotionally, financially, physically, and spiritually. Just think of all the times you moved forward with something you knew wasn’t right, and the resentment, fatigue, dishonesty and delusion that followed. It might have been a little thing or a big thing, about sex, money, relationship or work. I’ve done the accounting (and suggest you do too), it’s all expensive.

…Saying yes when you want to say no.
…Saying no when you want to say yes.
…Mentally spinning into silence when you need to speak up.
…Acquiescing and enduring when what you desire is a change.

Pema Chodron said “The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly.”

The beauty of this work is that it cultivates the courage, respect and honesty to do that very looking and listening. Through practice, we cultivate an openness to see and hear whatever is arising through us, just as it is, even if it confronts our established habits and identities. We learn to hear our yes, hear our no, and receive intuitions before they go through the filter of denial or reasoning. Maybe most importantly, we develop the capacity to discern true inner guidance from fearful projections (while loving our fearful parts at the same time). It takes times and dedication, but it happens.

So if you’re feeling hazy and confused, take a moment. Slow down, look, and listen. What whispers are calling to be heard? You may ask yourself, “If I knew I would be fully loved and supported, what would I do?” Remember, you don’t have to act on what you hear right away, you can simply start with the willingness to listen.