Experienced Practitioners Provide New Insights on Intuition

People who regularly use intuition in their work typically mention the intentional use of mental images. This important finding comes from Marcia Emery's book, Intuition Workbook: An Expert's Guide to Unlocking the Wisdom of Your Subconscious Mind (Prentice Hall). As an intuition trainer for corporations, she encountered people who already possessed expertise in the use of intuition. Their intuition stories give us helpful hints on developing our own intuition.

One financial analyst explains that he can't get any intuitions when he has a "noisy and worrisome mind." He has to quiet it by using an affirmation: "My intuitive mind will lead me to the right answer." He finds that this thought calms him down and helps him to enter a more intuitive frame of mind.

One salesman described how he used his memory to improve his imagery. After a meeting, for example, he would write down what he saw at the meeting, what he heard, what he touched, what he tasted, and so on. This memory practice made it progressively easier for him to focus on the "as if" or "pretend" dimension in the mind.

Some people use an uncomplicated image system for answering questions. For example--to answer a question about "should I or shouldn't I?"--see if you get an image of a red light or a green light, or see a banner hanging out from a window with a note proclaiming either "Yes!" or "No!" To get an evaluation, try seeing a weather report on TV: do you see a picture of a sunny day or of a storm? To get information about a date when something will happen, see yourself tearing days off a calendar and note the day when you stop tearing.

Imagery is capable of providing more than simple answers. Many people "saw" solutions or even had inspiring "visions" that provided totally new perspectives. In one case, the person simply relaxed and imagined herself lying on the grass gazing up at the clouds. She watched as these clouds formed themselves into a picture that solved her problem. In another example, the person imagined himself relaxing by a body of water. His attention then drifted over the water in search of a solution. Soon he noticed something in the water, and he reached down and pulled it out. The object suggested the solution.

Dr. Emery maintains that we, too, can become experts at intuitive problem solving by risking trusting our intuition on small things and letting our confidence grow with practice. (Digest by Henry Reed)