The Scary Guy on the Subway + Accessing Your Intuition
Moment to Moment You Know What to Do Next
Years ago I was riding alone on the New York City subway when a disheveled, intimidatingly large man burst onto the train and bellowed out, “Does anyone have a dollar? I just need a dollar!”
He was an intense guy and as he walked down the aisle toward me, my heart began to pound. He wouldn’t quit belting out, “Come on, people! Someone has a dollar!”
We were all white knuckling our bags when in a flash, I knew he wasn’t going to hurt anyone. In that instant, he transformed in front of my eyes from being a terrifying threat to a guy who just really wanted a dollar.
When he got to me I handed him a dollar.
He took it with a grateful nod of the head, plunked down next to me, and began focused folding. A few stops later he handed the dollar back to me in the form of a meticulous origami heart. A fantastic conversation ensued. His name was Vernon. I’ve kept that heart in my desk drawer all these years and through a few moves.
***
From the tiny turns to major decisions, intuition has played a powerful role in my life. It often takes the angst out of otherwise tough choices (when I listen to it), and seems to be the trusted source of wisdom I can rely on no matter what.
The question for me isn’t whether I have a wise inner knowing ready to guide me at every moment, the question for me is if I can settle my mind so I can hear what’s often called that ‘still small voice’ within.
Do We All Have Intuition?
I once knew a paramedic who could tell firefighters where people were inside burning buildings. She would close her eyes and use her hands like antennas. One night, at the scene of a motorcycle crash on a country road, she had to find the disembodied finger of the young rider in a sea of grass. She closed her eyes, felt which way to walk, took a few steps, then looked down, and there it was — just in the nick of time. That finger got sewn back on.
Have you felt it before, that ah-ha and sudden knowing? Sometimes intuition is less dramatic and doesn’t hit us until we give up trying so hard to wrench the answers into existence. Dimitri Mendeleev, the scientist who discovered the periodic table of the elements fell asleep exhausted from effort and reported later,
“I saw in a dream, a table, where all the elements fell into place as required.”
Nikola Tesla called it “instinct” and was convinced that we all have it,
“… instinct is something which transcends knowledge. We have, undoubtedly, certain finer fibers that enable us to perceive truths when logical deduction, or any other willful effort of the brain, is futile.”
I heard once in ancient times some tribes would not cut their hair as it was seen as the body’s best conductor to accessing Divine wisdom, the more hair the better the connection. Perhaps Tesla was pointing to something similar. Once we’re cut off from that higher understanding, and connection to the universal mind, we’re left to solve problems only from the individual human mind.
Albert Einstein said,
“The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it Intuition or what you will, the solution comes to you and you don’t know how or why.”
He called intuition a “sacred gift,” a “knowing without knowing,” “thinking with your heart,” or following a “gut feeling.” Sometimes answers came to him in a realization, or information arrived from “unseen forces.” Most people simply “know” something in the form of insight — that spark, that ah-ha! moment.
Do you believe that kind of knowing is a special gift?
After lots of observation, I feel that we all possess it. The line between intuitive clarity and chasing solutions may simply be the difference between giving intuition the time and space to show up or not.
As Tesla suggested, maybe we all have inborn mechanisms that guide us, but for the most part we aren’t raised in a culture that fosters connecting with our inner knowing. You may even say, it’s discouraged and taught out of us, seen as naive, or even a fairytale.
Author of Limitless Mind, physicist and director of the Stanford Research Institute on extra-sensory perception, Russell Targ, said:
“For decades the work of scientists has demonstrated that our minds have extraordinary abilities we are only beginning to understand. Learning to use these abilities — from remote viewing to precognition to intuitive medical diagnosis to distant healing — leads to the experience of the interconnectedness of all beings, and, ultimately, the transformation of consciousness.”
Even a glance in the direction of the untapped potential of the human mind begs the question: Is there a way to consistently access our intuition when we need it the most?
Sleep On It: Accessing Your Intuition
Some knowing comes suddenly, or under pressure in a high-stakes situation. Some people find answers in the shower, working in the yard, or doing something else totally unrelated to the problem when they’re in a relaxed state of mind. Annie Lamott, author of Operating Instructions, said, “You get your intuition back when you make space for it.”
When I want to access my intuition, but it won’t come to me when I’m awake, I turn it over to my higher-self in sleep state. These steps aren’t a formula but rather notes from the field of personal experience:
- Imagine the issue before bed. Sit quietly and imagine the challenge you would welcome fresh new thinking around. Think of it as if you are watching a movie. Think in vivid details, seeing colors and crisp shapes in your mind’s eye. It’s okay if it feels a bit upsetting, you’re going to move on soon.
- Imagine that the issue is solved. What does that look like, feel like, smell like, and sound like now that you’re on the other side? Allow all of the good feelings to rise up within you. Stay inside the feeling of the solution even if you have no idea how to bring it to pass.
- Hand the issue over to higher intelligence. Finally, take your mental movie, and in any way that feels right to you, hand it over to higher intelligence — the intelligence that regulates life from the micro to the macro, regulates the planets, and all of Life’s inner workings, known and unknown. It’s a force that’s got your back, but you’ve got to ask.
- Notice what comes to you upon waking. As soon as you wake in the morning jot down any ideas or dreams that come to you. If nothing comes just welcome the day and pay attention as your day unfolds.
- Give higher intelligence three days and trust the answer is coming. Be patient. Don’t be like that little kid who wants to open birthday presents a week early. Trust the answer is on its way. You’re surrendering the issue and releasing it fully so the answer has space to come. If you don’t get a completely clear answer within three days, go through the steps again.
Your answer may come in many forms, so be on the lookout. It may come in the form of a picture, an idea, a feeling, or a sense of how you may feel if you follow your inner nudging, one seemingly small step at a time, putting your reservations aside. You may feel a sense to go to a certain park, or coffee shop where you’ll chance to have a conversation, or see a posting on the wall that will connect you, or get a lead in another way altogether. You may feel a sense of gratitude, a new found ability to recognize that you already knew what to do, or a sudden sense of freedom.
No matter how your intuition shows up, know that it’s there. Like the little kid that is told to be quiet so many times that he finally gives up trying to be heard, your inner voice may need to be given some space by you before it believes it’s invited back into your life. So, be patient. Try holding its hand instead of screaming at it.
If you’ve had experiences with your intuition that you’re up for sharing, I’d love to hear about it in the comments. Thank you for being on the page with me, I appreciate you and our community here.
All the very best to you,
~ Dorothy
