Reprinted from The Austin Homesteader, 2003

When folks ask what I do,  I tell them I’m a Feng Shui Consultant, Intuition trainer, and Professional Organizer.  It’s always  interesting to watch and hear their responses, which range from barely disguised rolling-of-the-eyes to  fascination.  The first question is usually:  “You mean you can TEACH INTUITION?”   and closely followed by:  “What’s it got to do with Feng Shui and Organization?”  Nearly everyone has a story about some time in their life that they knew something without knowing why they knew it.  Some will even admit it!

We All Have It

First the answers.  Yes, you can teach intuition, but it’s a little more like training than teaching.  Teaching implies an “it”  that is outside of us, knowledge we don’t already have.  Training, on the other hand, seems more about learning to use something we have access to or we have the option to access, if we only had the tools. 

That’s INTUITION: we all have it, have had it since birth – but in varying degrees have been:

• trained out of relying on it
• learned to distrust (because it’s not visible or “scientific”)
• scoffed at
• told it’s only our imagination
• told it’s only a “dream”

Westerners , as a society have a certain amount of pride in more left-brained/linear  pursuits.  We are only now – in the last 10 years – beginning to publicly acknowledge our curiosity with and need for more right-brained, creative, non-linear  approaches to life, health, and problem solving. 

To the second question, “What Intuition got to do with it?”  I would say first, that Feng Shui is about being aware of our environments, the symbolism that surrounds us, and  how to use that awareness to our best advantage.   That awareness includes not only what we can see with our literal eyes, but what we can “see and feel” with the other senses. 

Awareness

Intuition is one of those senses that, while always present, is left to languish from under-use.  Who needs to tune into what’s happening “out there” when we have telephones, computers, paparazzi and the government telling us what’s “true, real and proven.”  If you felt a slight twinge with that last statement, I think you’re ripe for wanting to develop that 6^th sense that will guide you along your own path and to deciphering for your own truth.

Here’s the deal:  as kids we cried when something didn’t feel right and received certain feed back that either confirmed the feeling or ignored it.  Those kids that were always ignored, might have learned to turn off that sensor. 

Survival

Further, as physical organisms, we are designed to respond only to those stimuli that are necessary for our survival.  For example, frogs brains register a response only to visual stimuli which alert them to food or danger being present.  Froggie EKG  have shown that they respond to rapid shifts in light patterns and sharp, erratic movements.  Both are indicators that a nice, juicy bug is within striking distance. Or possibly, “something big comes this way,” signaling the end is near.    That fact might explain why you see so flattened frogs – cars (for the most part) aren’t darting within tongue range and by the time you can see the shadow – well, you get the idea…

Information Overload

As humans, we receive SO MANY stimuli, that if we responded to all of them,  our brains would be in constant overload.  So we must filter to receive those that are most pressing.  The dilemma as I see it is, that we have so MUCH information coming in now, that we need to rely on something other than the linear-analysis paradigm to determine what’s relevant.

There’s not enough time in this life time to apply the linear approach to the information we receive in a couple of days.  So we need to apply a smarter filter (intuition), then use the linear method to fine tune.    It reminds me of something I read from another Professional Organizer, and will paraphrase:  ‘We receive so much data each day it would take us a year to process all of it.  It’s a little like drinking from a Fire Hose.’

Intuition as a Filter

Harnessing your intuition is like using an Anti-Virus program.  Your Intuition-filter deletes the information you don’t need,  allowing you more time to focus to use  the most relevant data.

Once you become a bit proficient or start recognizing and trusting the signals you receive, the practical applications are boundless.  In my earlier years of learning to identify relevant information, I had no idea what do to with it.  And frankly, sometimes you might receive information and have it verified ONLY to let you know that a certain feeling is a signal to “pay attention,” and that you are – in fact –  on track.  Here are a few examples from my own experience. 

The Dream

When my sons were young (ages  two and four I think), I had a dream  I knew to be precognitive.    It had that particular feel of dreams that had manifested in exact detail on other occasions. In the dream, I was driving with my boys and encountered high water.  This was totally unexpected, and as the dream ended, roiling, muddy waters were threatening to wash us off the road.

At the time of the dream, it was 105 degrees outside. Furthermore, we were experiencing one of the most severe droughts in memory.   So, when I put three life jackets in the back seat, friends thought I’d gone a little daft.  They  were still there when  my oldest son, Travis, was invited to be the Ring Bearer in a friend’s wedding.  It was  February  and torrential rains were the order of the day, along with bitter cold, and the flu.  When the wedding-day came, we were all sick and didn’t really want to go anywhere – especially to a wedding an hour-and-a-half drive away.

We departed, and about two miles out of town I had the most bizarre urge to stop at a  Dry Cleaners to call and verify that the wedding had not been postponed.  It felt pretty ridiculous, but I had the feeling I needed to stop, and justified it with the phone call.  No such luck – we were still on. 

Early Warning System

As I hung up, a man walked in the door and said “ I have no idea why I’m here, except that I thought I might find someone on the way to Fredericksburg. I need to let them know that the river is cresting.  If they try to cross, they’ll be swept off the bridge.  It’s very dangerous!  Please tell anyone headed in that direction to turn around.”  I didn’t need to be hit in the head by the proverbial 2X4. I knew that information was my signal.  That’s the river we would have to cross to get there, and it was still  an hour away. 

We made another call,  turned around and headed home – where I took the life jackets out of the car. 

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