We live in a culture that, by and large, values the rationality of the mind over the less easily explained abilities of our intuition. But those who begin to honor those little nudges, gut feelings, and subtle inner promptings often find, over and over again, how wise their intuition can be.
I have learned that I ignore my intuition at my peril. Sometimes, I lose money when I don’t listen to my intuition. Other times, more serious things may occur. Always, it seems, my intuition knows what is best.
A week ago, I needed to find transportation from Denver to my hometown four hours away. I had put out the word through a local Facebook group that I was looking for a ride if anyone was going my way. I had had a couple leads but the timing was off – they were either passing through Denver just before or several days after I needed to return. So my last option was the bus.
Now this is a perfectly good bus, but with my luggage, it would cost me $52 and money was tight as I’d gone through my minimal savings on a trip home to see my mother. But when my day of departure became imminent, I had to face the fact that I would probably need to just bite the bullet and order the darn bus ticket. But something was holding me back. I had the smallest niggling thought that I should wait. And I did, in fact, wait an hour or two. But then my mind started nagging me. “What are you waiting for?” it said. “Surely you’re not going to miraculously get a ride at this late stage of the game!”
If I had been wise, I would have argued with my mind. I would have said, “Actually, miracles do happen, you know. And so do ‘happy coincidences.’ And so do last minute rides. It won’t hurt to simply wait a few more hours.”
But I was silly and I listened to my mind and bought the ticket. Not one hour later, I got a call from the person who had been planning on driving to my hometown several days into the future. Apparently circumstances had changed and he was going tomorrow. Did I still want to come along?
Yes, I certainly did. But damn it! Why did I buy that darn ticket?!!!
Some lessons cost more than money. Several years ago I had a small job driving this absolutely delightful older woman to the hospital to get blood transfusions. I would pick her up at her assisted living apartment, drive her and her wheelchair to the hospital, help her from the car and wheel her to the appropriate department, keep her company and attend to her needs while she was getting transfused, and then drive her home. I truly enjoyed this job as I truly enjoyed this woman. She was smart and funny and had fascinating life stories.
Well, the transfusions were occurring about every three weeks and my last time taking her had been the first week or so of December. A couple weeks later, with Christmas approaching, I found myself thinking of her. I found myself thinking how nice it would be if I dropped in on her to say hi, maybe bringing a gift with me. I kept thinking how nice it would be for her to know that I truly cared about her as a person, not just someone who paid me to do a job. But I “got busy,” as we are wont to do, and I never went.
Around the beginning of January, I got the news that she had died.
That was a sad, sad lesson in what can happen when we don’t listen to our intuition.
A month or two after this woman had passed, I began to get calls from various family members which began raising little red flags in my mind. My Mom’s health was deteriorating a bit, Dad’s memory was starting to fail, and both my brother and my sister were having issues with either their health or their significant other. I began to get a strong sense that I was needed at home.
Now, financial instability happens to be a recurring theme in my life. Sometimes I am a bit flush and sometimes I can barely feed myself. At this particular time, another regular client had died and money was scarce. Buying a round-trip ticket home was not a possibility at that time. But thanks to the painful lesson I learned with my transfusion client, I decided to find a way.
So I made an announcement at the spiritual gathering I went to on Sunday mornings. I told them about my client who had passed away before I’d taken the time to go see her, and I told them about the nagging feeling that I needed to get home for a visit because I was worried about my family. And bless their generous hearts, someone gave me their frequent flyer miles and a few others donated some money for the trip. I quickly booked a flight, arrived home, and just a few short days later, Mom had a serious heart attack followed by a small stroke. I ended up staying to help with her rehabilitation and care, and I tried to be there for the rest of my family as well. In fact, I ended up staying home four years.
Lesson learned! A+ in Listening to My Intuition!
But I don’t always make the grade. I’m currently about 50/50 in listening to my intuition. You would think I’d be wiser by now, but sometimes I still rationalize away that tiny inner voice. My goal is listen more carefully and follow more faithfully. My intuition is a wise guide!
So, friends, please practice the art of listening to that still small voice. It’s very smart and it definitely has your best interest at heart.
cindygreb 