DEVELOPING THE ART OF INTUITION THROUGH MEDITATION

Your mind has to process thousands of stimuli every second of the day and figure out how to react and survive accordingly. (I’m going to throw out a number I found in my research from a Stanford group of neuroscientist, they discovered it to be in the zone of hundred trillion Hz, to a couple dozen quadrillion Hz. wow) In any moment, your brain is aware of your bodily functions, the temperature, distant conversations, music in your ears or movement in your periphery; even if you only really notice one foot moving in front of the other on the sidewalk or an annoying fly buzzing around your face, your brain recognizes all of it. Your brain is a super power.

Intuition or Universe Knocking?

On a much bigger scale you often find yourself taking actions without realizing them. As you pull up to a set of traffic lights how often do you think, “I’m going to take a left turn now”? Unless you’re following an incredibly slow GPS I’d say not often. Most of the time you’ve already indicated left and changed lanes without thinking about it long before you hit the lights, right? You drive on autopilot. You use the toilet on autopilot, you pickup your kids on autopilot, get where I’m going here? For the most part your life is happening in the past, on some loop of what you’ve done over and over again.

Oh, and you’ve probably also made a really sweet key change when you were singing along with Lady Gaga (at least to you tried too), and I’m willing to bet that was the only thing you really noticed as you made that left turn - because it was something you did consciously, not on autopilot. See the difference?

Sometimes those actions are part of habits formed by many days of taking the same route, other times it just feels like something outside of your control is telling you where to go.

Whether you think of it as plain old intuition or a symptom of your connectedness in the universe, it’s these little unconscious decisions and inconsequential actions that can start to shape who you are in your life.

When something so random and/or unexpected happens it might be easy to shrug it off as a one off and continue on your initial path, but that’s exactly when you need to listen to your intuition and ask yourself, “What is the universe trying to tell me?”

Your intuition has been known to help you avoid catastrophe. Whether it’s deciding to take a different route to work and avoiding a massive accident or recognizing when a minor illness that doctors are shrugging off is actually more serious - that gut instinct is a powerful thing. Seriously, how often are you paying attention to this small wise voice?

Your intuition is the universe telling you which way you’re meant to go and only by truly listening to what you’re being told can you make the right decisions in life.

How to find your place in the universe

There is a beautiful phrase in Native American culture, Mitakuye Oyasin, which roughly translates to “All are related”, and it is a prayer of oneness with all forms of life whether they be people, plants or animals.

One way you can become more attuned to the messages the universe is trying to tell you is by first becoming more connected with your own mind and body through meditation.

Meditation not only helps women to relax and relieve stress, but it also helps with bringing awareness to recognize one’s path in life. Meditation can untangle thoughts and assist with seeing more clearly. There is also a feeling of connection to the body through one’s breath.

Another way you can start paying more attention to what the universe is screaming in your face is by keeping a journal. Whether you note down your dreams when you wake up, or make quick notes of all the coincidences and hunches you experience in your everyday life, when you start being more aware of the serendipitous moments of your day then you’’ll be able to start listening to your intuition as clearly as the music blasting from your headphones.

Start listening to your intuition with this simple meditation exercise:

Set up a space with a cushion, as well as a notebook and pen.
Find a comfortable but alert position to sit in. You don’t necessarily have to have your legs tied in a knot and your back poker straight, you just need to feel comfortable but not so comfortable that you’ll fall asleep as soon as your close your eyes.
Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Breathe in slowly for 5 seconds and exhale for 7 seconds. Repeat. Repeat this breath work for as little as five minutes and as long as 30. No joke you will start shifting and feeling the longer you stay with your breath.
Don’t be afraid to let your mind wander, but just be sure to go along for the ride and recognize where it’s leading you before pulling yourself back to the moment.
Repeat for several minutes until you’re feeling nice and relaxed.
When you’re done meditating grab your pen and make notes of everything that popped into your head, where your mind wandered off to and the thoughts that follow these memories now that you’re making note of them.

If the thoughts that came from these notes spark ideas or all feel like they’re leading you towards one decision, then maybe it is time to listen to what your intuition is trying to tell you and take action. You might be surprised where it leads you!  

Repeat again tomorrow, for your future is only one meditation away from you. See it happening today, and then begin living it.