Trusting your intuition plays a larger role in making positive choices than you may realise.
My wife Wendy has just had an unsettling experience. She was exchanging messages with a woman on Facebook. As the exchanges went on, she began to get a ‘feeling’ that all was not right, but she continued until the feeling she had could no longer be ignored. At this point, she ceased the conversation with the other woman. It turns out that my wife’s inner voice was absolutely spot on.
So let me ask you, have you ever experienced that sensation, where the voice in your head is telling you to be careful? I know I have. Many times I have changed my mind about somebody or something because my SID, my silent internal dialogue, warned me that all was not as it seemed. Through my personal experiences, and discussions with Ian McDermott, I’ve come to realise that trusting your intuition in this manner can be vital.
the role of Intuition in uneasy situations
I have been lucky over the years to have been helped by many fantastic people. One such person is Ian McDermott. Ian is the Director of training at International Teaching Seminars. For me, he is one of the best teachers, trainers and coaches that I have ever worked with. He is also one of the most abundant folks you will ever meet, prepared to share his ideas and knowledge freely. And, that is what I am going to do in this blog, so I am, as ever, grateful to Ian.
Ian says:
“Feeling uneasy is not something we enjoy. It’s not surprising then that people generally try to avoid feeling this way. But that is a shame because it makes it hard to get the goodies which could be on offer.”
Practical Examples of When to use ‘the Wisdom Within’
Based on Ian’s idea of your ‘wisdom within’, this blog will explore two practical examples that most people can relate to which provoke such feelings of uneasiness. It will then demonstrate what can be learnt from these moments and the importance of trusting your intuition when they arise, so you can get the most out of the experiences.
1). When you feel uneasy about what is being said…
“I heard the words, but I didn’t believe what they were saying”
From my own perspective, I have experienced this on many occasions in my life. I didn’t know why my inner voice was telling me to beware, it just was. Some folks call it their intuition. My wife certainly experienced that this week.
As Ian McDermott says, “Think about a verbal exchange that didn’t convince you. Why not? Almost certainly because, as the song says, “It ain’t what you say, it’s the way that you say it”…
A person’s tone and use of physiology will be incredibly important in determining whether their communication is actually credible to you. If their words (what they say), their tonality (how they say those words) and their physiology (body language) aren’t all of a piece you will rightly wonder whether what they’re saying is true. In NLP parlance, this is the notion of congruence, or maybe incongruence, and is how you can protect yourself from being conned.
2). When you feel uneasy about what is being presented…
“It looked like a good deal, but I just didn’t feel comfortable.”
Some years ago I was presented with a business proposition. It seemed like a really great opportunity. It required an investment of £30,000, which I had available to me. But…..as good as it looked I just didn’t feel right about it. It wasn’t that the deal was a scam. The company was genuine. There was just something.
This situation describes a time when what you see and what you feel are at odds and you can’t reconcile one with the other; you’re picking up different signals in different sensory systems. This is a red flag. This is also a recipe for confusion and, in some cases, a loss of trust. Looking back my confusion was that, while I had the money, a bit of me wasn’t totally in agreement with using it in this way.
Ian McDermott says that he has come to learn that when he is confused there’s usually a very good reason why.
Learning to trust your intuition
So, what can be learnt from feeling uneasy in this way?
Too often people lack the confidence to regard their unease, their confusion or even their distress as something positive which is trying to tell them something. Ian believes that these feelings are feedback to us from ourselves. Paying attention to them can help us tap into what he calls the wisdom within.
So the next time you’re feeling this way remember that there’s a very good reason. Being confused, for instance, is not necessarily embarrassing proof of your inability to understand something; instead, it could be an entirely appropriate response if what someone is saying doesn’t really make sense, hang together or stack up.
As Ian says, “I’ve lost count of the number of business clients who have told me some version of ‘it sounded and looked great, I didn’t feel comfortable but as I couldn’t give a reason for saying ‘no’ I agreed to go ahead.”
More often than not this is followed by them saying how six weeks or six months later the deal went south and they kicked themselves for not trusting their own intuition.
four key steps to judging uneasy situations
Here is a simple list of things to remember the next time you feel uneasy about something:
- Pay attention to the Wisdom Within
- Get curious about what’s triggering it
- Gather more information
- Have the courage to trust your judgement
Only then should you take action.
I’m grateful to Ian McDermott for sharing his wisdom with me so that I can share it with you.