Give your intuition a second chance!

What happens when you don’t follow our inner guidance –you realize fast that it wasn’t that smart of a move and have a familiar “bummer, I knew it… “- moment.?

I had a pleasure to experience it again recently. I took on a new client - everything seemed to be fine, my head and my heart approved, only my body messed up the quorum - nope, not a great match for now - it just wasn’t exited without explaining itself any further (the gut feeling is usually not very chatty).?

But because everything else seemed to be such a perfect match, and there were no logical reasons to say no, except it doesn't feel right, I followed the majority and moved ahead. After the first couple of sessions, it was obvious, it isn’t going to work the way we both envisioned… my body was right.?

My first reaction was - damn it, I knew it, I messed up again, I should trust my intuitions and feelings blindly by now… and I caught myself moving towards a downward spiral.

A couple steps down that rabbit whole, I suddenly I discovered a limiting hiding in the corner - a part of me believed that intuition gives you only one chance and if you didn’t follow it from the beginning, she will be offended, won’t talk to you ever again, cut the line and leave you on your own. Deep down I was afraid to hear “I told you so” … from my gut followed by sullen silence! Sounds familiar??

The Truth is, the inner guidance is always working, it is always there, it is not a sulky know-it-all - she would never ever rub it under your nose “See, I told you so, I have warned you, but you wanted it your way, I am out of here now.” The inner guidance is more like a loving mentor, a very wise guide, and a loyal friend who will tell you, “Don’t worry, it was a good learning, and now let us find a best way to move forward from here”. Intuitive guidance is always available, doesn’t hold a grudge and patiently waits until we make a U-turn and dial back in.?

Our intuitive guidance can also be compared to a perfect GPS, it doesn’t feel insulted if you turn right instead of a suggested left, it will just take a moment to readjust and suggest you a new route from a place where you are right now.?

End of my story, if you are curious: My intuition waited patiently for me to turn my inner ear to her again and ask for her guidance for the rest of the journey. I terminated the coaching earlier than planned and thanks to the intuitive guidance (that I followed to the letter this time) it turned out to be a great learning and a very empowering experience for both me and my client.

If you ever find yourself in a similar situation - press a pause button on any beating-yourself-up-talk that is going on inside your head (“I should have known better” as an example) and turn on your inner GPS back on - What is best way to deal with the situation from this point forwards??

It is especially hard to follow our gut, when the circumstances seem to be perfect otherwise - the mind has an upper hand, and all the gut gives - is “it just doesn’t feel right/ it just feels right”. For many of us it is not yet good enough for a stand-alone reason. It takes time to shift the perspective and start trusting our inner voice enough, that when it signals – “nope, doesn’t feel good, no green light yet” we take it seriously – we pause, we reopen the conversation, we investigate, we follow that lead…instead of simply ignoring it, clicking away like an annoying pop-up window on a screen.

And if despite of all the knowing and wisdom, we find ourselves ignoring the guidance of our gut again (and we will) and ending in a dead-end instead of the anticipated highway. We stop, re-align, and without justifying or beating ourselves up turn to our intuition and our heart, with dignity and humbleness of a true warrior and a life-long adventure - and ask our intuition to lead us from there.??And if we screw up yet again (and we will do that too), we repeat these steps again and again, until “it just doesn’t feel right/it just feels like a right thing to do” becomes an ultimate reason for action. Until it become just another important reason in our decision making to consider along with how much will it cost, who gets involved, what is the impact, who informs the stakeholders??

In addition to all that, my intuition taught me by example to be not only more compassionate and forgiving with myself, but also with others. So next time your team member, your partner or your child fails to follow your wise advice and ends up in a pickle, use your inner wisdom as a role model – instead of “I told you so” that surely will be on the tip of the tongue, pause, and??say something like “I am here, I am sorry it didn’t work out,?I am here, and now let us find a best way to move forward from here”. Because in those moments, when we screwed up and we know we should have known better, we need kindness and connection even more then we need wisdom.

So be kind and you will be wise.

Have a fun ride!?

#intuition #intuitiveleadership #gutfeeling #leadership #presence