Healing Intuition


To have any meaning at all, the word 'intuition' must have some associations within your mind. If you were to be asked, "what is intuition" you could probably come up with something to say. A more difficult question such as "how do you know your intuition is active, or accurate for that matter?" would be hard to answer. So, lets make some postulations...

Intuition is..."the power or faculty of attaining to direct knowledge or cognition without evident rational thought and inference" as taken from Miriam-Webster online dictionary.

Intuition is...inborn. It is as much a faculty of our consciousness as is sight and sound, taste and smell, touch and kinaethetics.

Intuition is...damaged. It is one of our 'senses,' if you will, a way of knowing; and yet, it is wounded. It needs to be healed.

Healing intuition is an imaginary mental exercise. It is a meditation. It is a game. The following paragraphs will lay out the general process.

If you could give a color to your intuition, what would it be?

And, what shape would that color take?

Look, within your mind's eye, and see this colored shape. This is a visual representation of your intuition, of your 'power or faculty of attaining to direct knowledge or cognition without evident rational thought and inference.'

Imagine yourself in a theatre. You are in the audience. No one else is present. You can see an empty stage in front of you beyond the empty chairs of the theatre. On the stage, you can see intuition, the colored shape you materialized in your mind's eye. Look at intuition...and say, 'thank you.'

Thanking your intuition is acknowledging its power in your life. Just because it is wounded and damaged, does not mean it has not been active. However, being wounded and damaged, the activity has been distorted or even withheld.

After you say thank you, observe any changes; changes in hue, brightness, texture, motion. Intuition can respond to you. It communicates in symbols; visual symbols such as colors and shapes. It can also respond to you in sound. And, it can respond to you in what is referred to as 'kinaesthetics.' Kinaesthetics is perception of movement within the body: muscles, joints, tendons, nerves.

In establishing a communication link with intuition, the first task is to respect the incredible intelligence behind it. So, we thank it for its participation in our life, at whatever level it may be operating.

If it appears that the colored shape upon the stage, i.e., your visual representation of intuition, has not vanished, or given some visual signal of withdrawing or shutting down, then you can answer this next question.

Where in your body do you feel this colored shape? Where in your body do you feel intuition?

If intuition has vanished from the stage or withdrawn, shut down, withered away or in some way appears to reject, deny or not acknowledge the 'thank you' then you accept that. You end your little imaginative game. However, you do this again the next day, first thing upon awakening, and again in bed at night. You just visualize intuition, as a colored shape, on the stage, and say 'thank you.' Observe any response. Continue for days, maybe weeks or even months, until you see intuition respond favorably to your sincere thanks.

The second task is to establish a rudimentary communication link. Visualizing intuition on the stage, you say to it "I would like to communicate with you; I would need to know what a 'yes' signal is. Will you show me a 'yes' signal?" Observe any response; could be visual, could be auditory, could be kinaesthetic. That response from then on means 'yes.' After every response you receive from your intuition, you say 'thank you.' You then ask for a 'no' signal and observe for response. Every time intuition responds, you say 'thank you.'

If you have established the rudimentary communication link between you, i.e., your conscious mind, the mind that is reading this and understanding it, the mind that is aware of its surroundings and a 'self' which is 'you, then you have accomplished a lot. You have acknowledged and honored your intuition and have established a communication link with it. Already, healing is occurring...

Asking closed questions of the intuition, i.e., questions that can only be answered with a yes or no builds a relationship. You can ask your intuition anything, as long as the answer can only be yes or no. However, if you ask silly and ridiculous questions, you will likely get similar answers. Questions of importance, relevance and meaning for you personally tend to yield more significant results. There is an art to asking questions. The proper use of language is necessary. And, intuition is not always literal; in fact, it is far more often symbolic. Intuition is 'knowing' yourself, knowing your needs, your options, your strengths, what's possible, what's probable, various courses of action, and potential consequences. Intuition is comprehensive, holistic and ecological. It can take into account factors the conscious mind easily ignores or is not capable of grasping. It is a faculty, a power, a way of knowing, without rational thought...or inference. That knowing can be communicated to the conscious mind, if the conscious mind is open to it.

And, remember, intuition is damaged. It is wounded. It has been traumatized, repeatedly, by the overwhelming forces of cultural and familial conditioning. It may not be 'thinking' right; it may be scared of punishment, recrimination or ridicule. It may be paralyzed with fear. It may have even been terrorized to the point of abandoning its link with you. Healing intuition is to simply be by its side. For some, this imaginative link we created in the previous paragraphs was established after the first reading. For others, weeks of simply visualizing the colored shape and saying 'thank you' will be needed. Intuition is subtle, delicate, extra-ordinarily sensitive; it may also be withdrawn and hiding, unsure and uncertain of your sincerity, awaiting to be acknowledged, and employed in life as one of your most valuable inner resources.

Ken Fields is a nationally certified licensed mental health counselor. With over 25 years in the mental health field, he has worked as as an individual and family therapist throughout school districts and within communities, a crisis intervention counselor, a clinical supervisor and an administrator in a human service agency. He has taught classes in meditation, visualization, goal setting, self-image psychology, anger and stress management, negotiation, mediation and communication, crisis intervention, and parenting. Mr. Fields specializes in Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Family Systems Therapy and Communication Coaching. As a practicing counseling psychologist, Mr. Fields brings decades of specialized training and applied skills to his work. He now provides quality online counseling and can be found at http://www.openmindcounseling.com