INTUITION IS A LOT MORE THAN A “HUNCH”
Randy W. Green, Ph.D.
“I couldn’t wait for success… so I went ahead without it.”
Jonathan Winters
What is, “intuition?” And is it a sex-linked trait, attributable solely to women? (As in “women’s intuition”). Is it a female instinct– the human version of gathering nuts for winter or sensing danger and blending with the surroundings?. Perhaps, a special kind of female intelligence? Intuition relates to the ability of a person to access very special kinds of information in a manner that is less than obvious. Because of this, intuition seems to acquire a kind of magical quality—a “hunch.”
It actually describes a process of broadening attention to less than obvious events that is, of course, equally available to men. Whether or not men choose to develop that skill is another story. It involves following “hunches” or impressions that arise through internal body signals that occur as sensory experiences (i.e., visions, sounds, feelings) about the physical environment. Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Blink, explained how information that is less than obvious becomes the basis for making decisions. He called it, “thin-slicing.” Successful people often attend to this broad range of information. when making buying and selling decisions. Anticipating the value set held by others with whom they associate, they access this information — often spontaneously—“in the blink of an eye!”
Since intuition refers to a kind of attending that may be unfamiliar, practicing certain useful skills may enhance its occurrence. Think of developing intuition as a kind of fishing expedition.
1) Bait the hook. Have you ever had an experience that something was going on around you all the time, but until that moment, it was out of your awareness? You can increase your recognition of these out-of-conscious sensory experiences. Begin by quickly scanning your environment at several points during the day. Following each “scan”, wait about one minute and then recall anything about what you had scanned. After several days, increase the amount of time you wait before the recall that follows a scan—two; then five, ten, minutes.
2) Cast your thoughts. Create a series of useful questions in several areas for which you seek decisions —work, relationships, investments, and so forth. For example, “How can I enhance my current work position?” “How can I become more effective in relating to co-workers and significant people in my life?” And, “How can I make better role-model decisions for my children?” As opposed to scanning what is less conscious from your environment as in the above, the idea here is to pay attention to less-than- obvious signals from within your body, which occur as pictures, sounds and feelings.
3) Look for bubbles. After paying close attention to your internal sensory experiences for any question you asked yourself above, respond as quickly as possible! Capture your responses on paper or tape as they occur, so they can be reviewed. At this point, it is important to avoid limiting or “editing” your responses. Include them all, regardless how irrelevant or unusual they may seem. For example, to the question, “How do I respond to the needs of significant others?”, if your immediate thought is, “by developing hives”, record it!
4) Reel in your “catch” Recall one or more times in your recent past in which you were at your absolute “best”; a time when life seemed to work perfectly for no reason at all— yet…it did. Pay attention to how this empowered you. Then, while simultaneously attending to the comfort and strength which resulted from being at your “best”, consider your responses above until you have a clear hunch about how to proceed in a particular situation. This will be your decision— your “thin-slice.” Then go for it!
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