What is intuition?  I like to think about it as a pre-thought.  It doesn’t come to you as a voice, but a ‘knowing.’  It’s like you’ve always known something, and you just remember it when you need it.  Unfortunately, we don’t often listen to our intuition.  We push it under the rug or ignore its message.

What it’s not, is a voice of someone else speaking to you.  Why?  Because your intuition is your greater-self connecting with you to nudge you in a particular direction.  You don’t have to listen, but in my experience, it has never steered me wrong.  In fact, there are times when I should have paid attention to myself and later realized I made a mistake or I made my life more difficult because I chose to ignore it.

Years ago when I was in high school, I offered to give someone a ride home from a party.  When we got to his place before getting out of the car, he asked me if I wanted to go inside for a drink.  It was getting late, so I said no.  I explained to him I had to get up early the next morning and right then I started to get a deep sense to stay in the car.   It was as if I knew I shouldn’t leave and go in with him, but it seemed to be in direct contradiction to my upbringing, which was to go out of my way to work with others.

He asked again, and I again said no.  His next words to me had an edge, “Come on in!” he stated in a demanding voice for the third time.   I learned earlier in the evening this guy was on the university wrestling team, so I knew he could easily overwhelm me if he wanted to.  By now the alarm bells were loudly clanging in my head.

The deep sense I had to stay in the car had morphed into a blaring sense of danger if I left and went inside with him.  I knew at that moment I  shouldn’t let go of the steering wheel.  I made a quick calculation that the wheel would be a strong enough anchor to keep me in the car if he grabbed me and maybe I could bang the horn with my head.  I remember staring down at my hands and gripping the wheel tighter as I refused once again.  I was prepared to start screaming if he didn’t get out of the car and leave, but I wasn’t sure anyone would hear me so late on a cold winter night.  Fortunately, he angrily jumped up from his seat and slammed the door shut.  The old VW Bug shook with the force of the door closing.

I quickly turned the car around on the icy street and headed home shaking as I drove.  The traffic lights were oddly comforting.  They felt like signposts directing me home to safety.  I knew I had just escaped something terrible.  As I drove, I wouldn’t let myself think about what could have happened.

After I calmed myself down, I found myself wondering what had risen from deep inside me to tell me to stay in the car?  It was as if I just knew what I should be doing to remain safe, but no words were spoken.  It was a ‘knowing’ deep inside telling me to remain in the car at all costs with my hands tightly grasping the steering wheel.  It’s hard to describe with words, but it was like my mother very intently telling me to do something with such force and authority that I dare not disobey.

It’s now years later, and I still think about how something was looking out for me that night.  It was a dramatic early lesson in listening to myself.  In fact, it was hard not to hear, but the message was clear, powerful and worth learning – Listen to yourself!

As women, we have a very strong sense of intuition, but we don’t value it, often to our disadvantage.  We don’t pay attention to the ‘feeling or sense’ we have that knowingly urges us to do something.  We let our logic override our intuitive sense.  How many times have we responded to the ‘feeling we should be doing something’ with “it’s nothing, I should do this…” only to realize later that wasn’t the best move for ourselves.

Intuition is such an important gift to connect with a very powerful part of ourselves.  Our greater self.  Why not tap into it more often?

Have you had situations in your life when you’ve followed or ignored your intuition?  Let me know.