How Listening To My Intuition Changed My Life
and transformed it completely
Intuition. Gut feeling. Call it what you want — it plays a crucial role in our lives.
I didn’t always believe in it. As with things of this nature, I needed proof. Until I got it as a big smack in my solar plexus, I didn’t take it seriously.
Intuition can just be a feeling or that voice in our heads that tells us to do something we probably did not even think about until that moment. Crazy eh? And then, when you think about what could have happened if you had not listened — it can really freak you out.
I remember laughing every time my mom said, “my gut feeling tells me . . .” only to feel sheepish later because she was right. Every single time.
“Told you so”.
Sincerely, Your Intuition
Funny thing? I’ve been told I am highly intuitive. Once I started taking it seriously, I am convinced that some of my best decisions — both on the personal and professional front — have been a result of listening to my intuition.
Let me share two separate instances when I listened to my intuition, among the hundreds I’ve personally experienced in my life.
This happened years ago.
I lived about fifteen kilometers from my place of work, which meant I left home quite early. This day was like any other day. I was jauntily walking from the bus stop to my office, feeling especially chipper because I was wearing a new sari and carrying a brand new hand-bag with a brand new walk-man tucked into it. I had a spring in my step from listening to my favorite playlist during the hour-long bus journey. I was also carrying a new lunch bag.
Humming, happy, and feeling quite spiritually high, I was about to cross the
road to get to my office building. Just before I stepped from the sidewalk to the road, I heard a voice telling me not to cross there. Involuntarily I took a step back, and continued to walk on the sidewalk. Curious, I turned to see who had spoken.
There was no one.
What happened in the next few seconds shook me up considerably. A two-tonner lorry hurtled down the road at full speed. I just had enough time to register another guy, pulling a bicycle, dressed in white, leisurely crossing the road at the exact point where I had been about to do so. Two seconds later, his remains were strewn all over the road. The cycle was twisted beyond recognition. Blood everywhere.
That inner voice saved my life. What if I had ignored it? No prizes for guessing — I would not be writing this today.
Intuition is the whisper of the soul.
On a humorous note, my mom always teased me about how I’d never get a lot of things done were it not for the eleventh hour. But my procrastination was always for a reason — because my intuition told me to postpone/ditch something — and all with good results. So far. I know not what the future holds.
Another significant example of how my intuition stood me in good stead was in my career.
My business career began after I graduated from college. As I was a science graduate with no office skills, my folks assumed I could amuse myself as a secretary (more like a glorified typist) until I got married to a “nice boy” and settled down.
I applied to the top ten companies in Chennai where I lived at the time — and luckily, one of the mavericks in a multinational group picked up my application because he spotted the word “French” on my CV.
Long story short, I became speedily employed as a Projects Trainee. Oh, just a glorified title that involved lots of job variety from making coffee to attending or taking notes at business meetings, taking the boss’s wife shopping, and everything in between. The experience was invaluable and this company’s name looked great on my CV.
Two years later I got into advertising, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Then I worked in a transport company as a marketing officer. Shortly after, I moved to an office automation group as a sales manager.
While I loved all my jobs, I knew I had not found my true vocation. So I was great at sales and marketing, but my heart knew that that was not “IT”.
I was transferred to a different branch in a different city, and six months later, I felt a little depressed about my work. In fact, there were days I felt useless. I, who usually exuded confidence and pep-talked everyone. I would whine about it to my mom and she’d assure me that things would change for the better.
I am not sure I believed it at that very moment, because my supervisor was an arrogant man who was unlikely to give me (or anyone else) a good reference if we quit. Two of my colleagues did quit and changed their line of work. It was that bad.
I prayed and prayed for a sign. I tried my best to take stock of the good things in my life. I had a great mom who encouraged me, clients, who trusted me, and I had just gotten through the competitive entrance test to the MBA (Masters in Business Admin) program. I should have been optimistic, but I wasn’t.
It felt like the darkest moments in my life. I knew I did not want to continue in office automation sales, even if it was a great company. I wondered what I would do. The future looked bleak.
Then, in 1992, we had a training program scheduled for the sales force in our office. Our training manager could not make it in time for the first half of the first day thanks to a delayed flight. I offered to step in.
As I volunteered to talk to the group and got myself in front of them — THAT was my A-ha moment. In that instant, I knew I was born to be a trainer! Unfortunately, there was no opening in the company at the time for a position in training. But now that I had “woken up” I was keen to respond to my “calling” and couldn’t wait to take action.
As though fate had ordained it, I met a career consultant who was visiting our office and — as though she could read my mind, she said we should talk. The moment I looked at her smiling at me and holding my hand — I felt peace. It was like she was passing energy and strength into me as we shook hands. All she said was “Will you please meet me at my office tomorrow morning?”
This was July 1992.
When I met her the next morning, a little nervous, wondering why I was drawn to her like a magnet, she asked me what the heck I was doing in my current job. I asked her what other things I could explore. She told me I would be a natural at training. And insisted I attend an interview the next morning.
I did. She connected me with a large group of companies for the position of regional training manager — and as they say, the rest is history. Personal benefits: my salary multiplied 8 times. Yes, you heard that right. Along with it came perks that I had only dreamed of.
Then, two years later, one of the vice presidents of the company recommended me for a better position with a UK-based company that was launching in India, in the location of my choice. I accepted. With everyone’s blessings. My salary doubled.
If I had ignored the sign of that blinding moment of light in 1992, I would have missed the experience of a lifetime.
Listening to your intuition can change your life in a very fulfilling way!
This post is in response to Liberty Forrest, Author’s prompt where she asks:
How has intuition impacted your life — for better or worse? Are there times you listened to it and were so, so extra, super, spectacularly glad you did?
Or have there been times when you were kicking yourself (gently, I hope, with thickly padded soft slippers) for having ignored that gnawing “something” that knew better than you?
How does your intution speak to you?
In her post, she has some excellent tips on how to hone your intuition and use it.
I enjoyed this post by Wendy S. Bradfield where she encourages you to embrace your fear with courage and see what happens. Her post includes two simple exercises to help you grow beyond fear.
