Intuition and the Skill of Interpretation

The skill of intuition is not really in the receiving. That part is easy Just close your eyes, take a few slow and deep breaths and draw your attention inwards. In that moment you will probably find that you are aware of something that you hadn't noticed before, even if it is only the sound of the beating of your own heart. When we drop inwards or tune-in, there is nothing we have to do in that moment to make the information "appear". The information is always there, just as the beating of your heart is always there (even when you are not thinking about it).

It is naturally easier to be aware of previously un-noticed information, or new information, if we draw attention away from what ordinarily captures our senses. This is partly why meditation and closing the eyes works so well for triggering new insights. Our consciousness and by that I mean conscious awareness, can only handle so much. In our day to day lives we are constantly being bombarded by sensory data, some putting it at the equivalent of 15 million bits per second. In comparison, what we can mostly consciously process and be aware of, amounts to between 15 and 40 bits per second. These figures vary in the literature but what doesn't vary is that there is a vast difference between what we receive and process subconsciously and what we process consciously. When we let go of some of what has been taking up room in our consciousness, we make space for something new to take our attention. This is really the first step of intuition.

On some levels, letting go of what normally takes our attention is easy. Turn down the lights, shut the door and shut your eyes and you have lessened the quantity of sensory input. If you are learning intuitive awareness as a new skill, all of this will help. These circumstances, however, aren't always convenient and even if they were, there is still the challenge of the thought processes and ways of thinking. Shutting the eyes, whilst calming the mind, doesn't necessarily turn it "off". Our patterned ways of habitual thinking can persist and often do, even if we are now applying that patterned way of thinking to another pocket of information.

The practice of intuition is primarily a practice in thinking differently;thinking more expansively and creatively. It is designed to move us forward in life, to step us into higher levels of creativity and consciousness. We are all inherently intuitive and everyone has moments of spontaneous intuitive awareness, but being intuitive on a conscious level requires practice. Why? Because receiving a different pool of information is just part of the equation. What is equally important, or even more so, is how the information is taken in and interpreted. As we practice, we become more aware of our thought patterns and perceptions and are more able to let go of the limiting ways we perceive and interpret information. We become more aware of our biases and when we are distorting the information to meet pre-existing agendas. We can appreciate something new and fresh; even when we don't understand it or necessarily agree with it (in our logical minds).

Living intuitively is fun. Living creatively as a consequence is a great joy. To be able to take any situation and create newness out of it is a great gift and one, in my mind, to be fostered and shared. It's certainly worth the practice.

https://ezinearticles.com/?Intuition-and-the-Skill-of-Interpretation&id=8610867

You Are Needed More Than You Know

Do you know that you have something inside of you that can make a huge difference in the lives of others? Sometimes we don't realize that there are people who desperately need what we have to offer. We often underestimate our gifting and purpose, not truly being aware that God has uniquely made us to be a blessing in a powerful way to the life of someone else.

One of the best things you may do for yourself and for others is pursue your purpose as a life coach. As a life coach you can have many opportunities to share your gifts and talents with others and with the world. You can do private coaching sessions, group coaching sessions, lead seminars and workshops, and even write articles or e-books. Coaching is a broad profession with broad opportunities. But you will never have a chance to experience those opportunities if you never pursue your purpose as a coach.

If you feel like coaching is the next best move for you, then what needs to happen for you to move forward? What is stopping you from taking the next step to become a coach? Regardless of what obstacles you feel like you are facing, you can't allow anything to stop you from being all that you were born to be. You must be unstoppable in your quest for success. That is truly something that you deserve.

Just one decision to move forward can shift your life in a more positive and financially rewarding direction. Sometimes our blessings are hidden in unique opportunities, and that can be the case as it relates to you becoming a Certified Life Coach.

http://ezinearticles.com/?You-Are-Needed-More-Than-You-Know&id=9359886

Awake, Aware, and Alert

Three Steps In the Process of Living a Life of Gratefulness

         

"There are times, I must admit, when stopping at night to review my day seems to be the first stop on an express train. Then I look back and realize with regret how much I missed."

An act of gratitude is a living whole. To superimpose on its organic flow a mental grid like a series of "steps" will always be somewhat arbitrary. And yet, for the sake of practice, such a delineation can be helpful.

In any process, we can distinguish a beginning, a middle, and an end. We may use this basic three-step grid for the practice of gratitude: What happens at the start, in the middle, and at the end, when we experience gratitude? What fails to happen when we are not grateful?

Before going to bed, I glance back over the day and ask myself: Did I stop and allow myself to be surprised? Or, did I trudge on in a daze?

To be awake, aware, and alert are the beginning, middle, and end of gratitude. This gives us the clue to what the three basic steps of practising gratitude must be.

Step One: Wake Up

To begin with, we never start to be grateful unless we wake up. Wake up to what? To surprise. As long as nothing surprises us, we walk through life in a daze. We need to practice waking up to surprise. I suggest using this simple question as a kind of alarm clock: "Isn't this surprising?" "Yes, indeed!" will be the correct answer, no matter when and where and under what circumstances you ask this question. After all, isn't it surprising that there is anything at all, rather than nothing? Ask yourself at least twice a day, "Isn't this surprising?" and you will soon be more awake to the surprising world in which we live.

Surprise may provide a jolt, enough to wake us up and to stop taking everything for granted. But we may not at all like that surprise. "How can I be grateful for something like this?" we may howl in the midst of a sudden calamity. And why? Because we are not aware of the real gift in this given situation: opportunity.

Step Two: Be Aware of Opportunities 

There is a simple question that helps me to practice the second step of gratitude: "What's my opportunity here?" You will find that most of the time, the opportunity that a given moment offers you is an opportunity to enjoy--to enjoy sounds, smells, tastes, texture, colors, and, with still deeper joy, friendliness, kindness, patience, faithfulness, honesty, and all those gifts that soften the soil of our heart like warm spring rain. The more we practice awareness of the countless opportunities to simply enjoy, the easier it becomes to recognize difficult or painful experiences as opportunities, as gifts.

But while awareness of opportunities inherent in life events and circumstances is the core of gratefulness, awareness alone is not enough. What good is it to be aware of an opportunity, unless we avail ourselves of it? How grateful we are shows itself by the alertness with which we respond to the opportunity.

Step Three: Respond Alertly

Once we are in practice for being awake to surprise and being aware of the opportunity at hand, we will spontaneously be alert in our response, especially when we are offered an opportunity to enjoy something. When a sudden rain shower is no longer just an inconvenience but a surprise gift, you will spontaneously rise to the opportunity for enjoyment. You will enjoy it as much as you did in your kindergarten days, even if you are no longer trying to catch raindrops in your wide-open mouth. Only when the opportunity demands more from you than spontaneous enjoyment will you have to give yourself a bit of an extra push as part of Step Three.

The Review Process It helps me to review my own practice of gratefulness by applying to these three basic steps the rule I learned as a boy for crossing an intersection: "Stop, look, go." Before going to bed, I glance back over the day and ask myself: Did I stop and allow myself to be surprised? Or did I trudge on in a daze? Was I too busy to wake up to surprise? And once I stopped, did I look for the opportunity of that moment? Or did I allow the circumstances to distract me from the gift within the gift? (This tends to happen when the gift's wrappings are not attractive.) And finally, was I alert enough to go after it, to avail myself fully of the opportunity offered to me?

There are times, I must admit, when stopping at night to review my day seems to be the first stop on an express train. Then I look back and realize with regret how much I missed. Not only was I less grateful on those non-stop days, I was less alive, somehow numb. Other days may be just as busy, but I do remember to stop; on those days, I even accomplish more because stopping breaks up the routine. But unless I also look, the stopping alone will not make my day a truly happy one; what difference does it make that I am not on an express train but on a local if I'm not aware of the scenery outside the windows? On some days, I even find in my nightly review that I stopped and I looked, but not with alertness. Just yesterday, I found a huge moth on the sidewalk; I did stop long enough to put it in a safe spot on the lawn, just a foot away, but I didn't crouch down to spend time with this marvelous creature. Only faintly did I remember, at night, those iridescent eyes on the grayish brown wings. My day was diminished by this failure to stay long enough with this surprise gift to deeply look at it and to savor its beauty gratefully.

My simple recipe for a joyful day is this: Stop and wake up; look and be aware of what you see; then go on with all the alertness you can muster for the opportunity the moment offers. Looking back in the evening, on a day on which I made these three steps over and over, is like looking at an apple orchard heavy with fruit.

This recipe for grateful living sounds simple--because it is. But simple does not mean easy. Some of the simplest things are difficult because we have lost our childlike simplicity and have not yet found our mature one. Growth in gratitude is growth in maturity. Growth, of course, is an organic process. And so we come back to what I said at the beginning: To superimpose on the organic flow of gratitude a mental grid like a series of "steps" will remain arbitrary. When I am grateful, I am neither rushing nor slouching through my day--I'm dancing. What is true in dance class is true here too: Only when you forget to think of your steps, do you truly dance. 

http://www.gratefulness.org/readings/dsr_awake.htm