The one about September
Afew years ago, I adopted the practice of setting my new year’s resolution in September. This is something that I first discovered in a book, and it made a lot of sense.
For me, September is when the new year begins. Students return to class, colleagues return from vacations, and hockey season starts again. So for this past year, I resolved to understand what intuition means.
- I wanted to learn how to hone my intuition.
- I wanted to act on my intuition.
- I wanted to let my intuition guide my decisions.
As the year wraps up, let’s reflect on how things went.
Hone my intuition
Learning how to hone my intuition has been an evolving journey. To help, I would spend more time in nature, start my mornings with pen and paper, and aim to be fully present on the task at hand. Of course, there would be many moments when I would slip up, but I attribute this to being part of the learning journey.
What is remarkable is that the more I spent time in silence, the more my intuition became clearer. It felt as if my intuition was there all along, but the noise around me was drowning it out.
Act on my intuition
As my intuition became clearer, it became easier to see where my intuition was guiding me.
I would not be working where I am now if I hadn’t followed my intuition to follow a hunch. I would not have such a great relationship with my daughter now if I didn’t follow my intuition to sift through the deluge of parenting information. Last, I would not have some of the most fulfilling friendships that I have now if I didn’t follow my intuition to reach out to a new contact.
Let my intuition guide my decisions.
This one has been a game-changer.
At first glance, this seems similar to #2, but it isn’t. There are moments when we are faced with a decision between two similar choices and unsure what to do next.
An easy example is figuring out what to order on a menu. Instead of spending time analyzing the pros and cons of each particular dish, I started to let my intuition guide me on what to order. This was a low-impact way of letting my intuition guide my decisions. Of course, the same concept can apply to higher impact decisions such as deciding between job offers or navigating a dilemma at home.
Takeaways
While I can’t say that I have mastered intuition, I can say that my life has changed for the better. There have been countless crossroads where I’ve relied on my intuition to make a decision. It has accelerated my personal growth. Looking back, I’m forever thankful that I embarked on this journey of figuring out intuition.
