Sacred Intuition Continued...

    

     It is said that we will experience this shift in outward signs of earth changes such as is hinted at in Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, and also we will experience massive internal changes.  Our reasoning mind may not hold answers for us and so we will be turning to our intuition to guide us through these changes. The restlessness in the earth and sea and sky will but reflect our own inner turmoil as we attemp to find an understanding of ourselves and our place on this earth.  

     Many of us with any awareness at all, can feel this vibrational angst in the air. We are questioning our purpose more sincerely now than ever, and we are indeed hungering for more purposeful lives. We long to understand the deeper meaning of our existence and the world events around us. We are no longer satisfied with the promises of the good life that involve greater personal material gains and accomplishments, but we want something deeper. And so we are asking ourselves if we can love ourselves enough to go beyond "doing" and instead "becoming" who we truly are and express this in the world. Can we become the peace and the healing that we are praying for? 

    These questions are global. It is as if all of us, in every culture, are feeling a call to be on alert. A kind of urgency to find our place in the advancement of our human evolution. And it is as the Celestine Prophecy suggests that we are feeling the pressure of critical mass. The masses of like-minded individuals that are yearning for a new awareness to take universal root. This awareness will raise us above the power struggles and into a new dimension where we can enjoy and discover our spiritual destiny. 

    However, each of us has our own work to do here. But what exactly is it? How do we get onto this evolutionary path? I believe that we each have our own internal navigation system that will guide us through all the changes and circumstances that are to come and this is... our sacred intuition. 

     I call it sacred because it is our direct link with God, in whatever way we experience God. It is that part of us that speaks for the right choice. It is our divine birthright and gift, but as with any gift, we can use it or keep it unopened on a shelf. 

     Now to follow our intuition or a hunch or our gut feelings requires great courage and deep listening.  Because intuition often does not lead us to do the safe or correct thing, but it always leads us to do the true thing for us.  It leads us to do the true thing for our soul’s evolution. And it aligns us with our Source. So, intuition is not the least bit interested in satisfying social values or keeping religious promises or conforming to our culture and family values.  Instead, intuition brings great clarity and light to all within you and around you. Then it is up to you to carve away all that is revealed as not useful to your spiritual development. 

    How do we access this intuition and how do we know that the voice we hear is for our good?  This takes deep and sincere listening and using our feelings as our guide. Your feelings are your internal guidance system. As you listen quietly you will feel subtle shifts as to what is the more peaceful choice.  Your choices never fall down the line of 50% one way and 50 % the other. No, you will see if you listen and look carefully that they are always 49/51 %. Your task is to feel your way to the 51% decision that gives you more peace. Now it is not enough that you hear intuition, you must also heed it. That is the rub!You can ignore it, but often it will call to you even louder. And if you continue to ignore that which is for your highest good, it will then allow the body to get your attention.

   I know this to be true as I experienced it personally. About 25 years ago, I was not heeding my intuition which was guiding me to change my relationship patterns. So, instead I became very sick and depressed. However, my intuition was working hand in hand with my body to get me to the right place. I went to a holistic doctor who prescribed some herbs and amino acids but most importantly he advised me to meet with Sister Helen Provost. He suggested her because I told him I couldn't sleep due to my dreams. She was a Jungian expert in dream anaylsis and spiritual healing.

    I made an appointment with her and a magical world unfolded before me. When you take just one tiny step towards your healing, God will take a thousand forward to meet you. I found myself winding down a long dirt road somewhere in the back roads of Chepachet, RI and landed outside of a cottage resembling that of Snow White's little dwarfs home. Smoke was swirling out of the chimney and poppies were growing all around the edges of this charming dwelling. I walked up to the door gingerly and knocked. A smiling face greeted me. It was a hermit nun named Sister Helen Provost. She ushered me in to sit while she finished stirring her home made jam and she also stirred my life completely around. With that visit, my entire life began to change. I met with her every week to analyze my dreams and discover their guidance and meaning. I didn't make the changes immediately, but within a few years, I was out of my difficult relationship, into a new and exciting career, and living in a different state. I only regret that I had allowed myself to get so ill with depression before listening more closely to my intuition, but that was my path. I hope that you will hasten your journey towards healing by listening to your heart early on. Do not be frightened if at first all seems a bit confusing.

You will find that this is common. When you first follow your intuition, it may lead you through a chaotic time, but you will have a peace that "passeth all understanding."  It does not make you passive. A passive choice can be made from fear. But a peaceful choice is made from strength.  I often wonder how much time and pain I would have saved myself if I had heeded that intuition earlier, but it happened as it happened. Now I am here to encourage you to make that connection to your intuition and then to have the faith to follow it. 

    There are many definitions for intuition. Metaphysical writer, Florence Schinn, has a simplistic version that I like. She says that prayer and meditation is when we telephone God. And intuition is God telephoning us. But how often does God get the busy signal. This is created by our worrying and scheming and planning. When we work so hard to push our personal agendas, we find ourselves on a path full of angst and striving that blocks the voice of intuition which would come to us in calm, and peace, and it would be irresistible. 

     Clarissa Pinkola Estes has a wonderful metaphor for intuition. She compares it to a wolf because it has claws that dig deep for the truth, and eyes that see through the dark shield of any personality we meet to the essence of the person. And it has ears that hear beyond mere human talk to what is really being said.  Intuition needs to be fed. And the way we feed it is with the events of our lives and we feed it attentively. Then we listen for its guidance. Again, I remind you that it will take great courage to follow that intuition at times, for as Clarissa says it will show you the disfigured and divine aspects of yourself and others and it will reveal to you what you had hoped wasn’t there. But it will give you courage and call forth right action.

       Intuition will always brings you choices. It rarely dictates a single choice. You will feel your way to what is good for you. Often intuition gives us something to ponder for a day and a night. Then we can take our action. But when a quick decision is needed, you will know what to do instantly as you practice. 

     Another lovely source on intuition is The Course in Miracles.  It tells us that only love and fear exist on earth and fear is unreal. Leave it behind and you discover that as you follow your inner voice, where you expected grief, you will find lightheartedness and where you expected sacrifice you will find "a gift bestowed." And so as we continue to follow our intuition more closely, we notice that we become these gentle creatures and no one fears us for we would do no harm. Instead we are following our truth and that truth disarms those around us one way or another. And as we evolve into being the teachers of God that we are called to be, we find ourselves depending more and more on this intuition and abandoning our old knee jerk reactions that lead to more difficulty.

     We discover that intuition can take us places faster and easier than the mind of reason and logic. There is a place for both, but as we evolve into the spiritual creatures that we are meant to be, the direct stream of connection to our Higher Source will be all we will want and all we will need.