I is for Intuition
“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow know what you truly want to become. – Steve Jobs
Do you trust your Intuition?
Intuition can be a difficult concept to define. It can be a different experience for everyone, but you may hear phrases such as “I had a gut feeling” or “I am following my heart”.
These expressions demonstrate that intuition is usually a feeling you experience in your body or a “sixth sense” that draws you towards a decision or situation, even if you can’t explain why.
Your intuition relies on evolutionary, automatic fast mental processing and has been developed through recognising patterns, unconscious experiences and emotional perceptions.
NLP helps us to become aware of that sixth sense, our intuition, and what it may be telling us. In NLP we call it a Congruence Signal.
How Intuition Works:
- Pattern Recognition: Based on past experiences, your brain identifies familiar patterns and makes quick assessments.
- Unconscious Experiences: Your brain constantly gathers information from your surroundings, even if you’re not aware of it. Intuition taps into this hidden data.
- Emotional Intelligence: Intuition often aligns with your emotional state, offering guidance based on how you feel.
Therefore, your intuition will save time and energy for your brain but can also make mistakes because of those natural unconscious biases we hold.
Taking Notice of Your Intuition
I consider intuition to be like the waving of a flag in motor race. It is a sign that you need to be aware of and to help you take the correct action. My clients will often come to me because they know they are missing something. Logically, they have everything; a good job, earning a fair salary and a loving partner or family and yet they know something is missing but don’t know what. This leads to a feeling of confusion and overwhelm.
That is their intuition talking; their Congruence Signal and it is time to explore it further.
Your intuition does not replace logical and analytical thought and analysis. It is an additional tool to listen to and trust to guide your future decision making.