According to Webster, Intuition is ‘direct perception of truth, fact, etc, independent of any reasoning processes; immediate apprehension’

Einstein also tells us that his genius comes from his irrational mind.

So whether we are a genius like Einstein or someone else, we all have and use Intuition. Now why we are not so confident with it is another question.

Our culture emphasizes the logical thinking over the intuitive thinking because it has been necessary over the ages to think logically. We go to school, we learn that it is important to know things; we are told how to think. Logical thinking is active thinking, whereas Intuitive thing is receptive thinking. We can get by in life without receptive thinking, but not without active thinking. So we emphasize cultivating really great logical thinking, and ignoring things that don’t make sense. It is as is we have been exercising our left arm (logical), lifting weights, using it completely, but not believing that the right arm (intuitive) is of any use. So now we have a beautiful firm, strong left arm where everyone can see it and appreciate it, but since we and others do not value the right arm, it doesn’t matter if it lays there limp and of little use. We simply keep strengthening the left more and more.

Every once in a while the right arm pops up with full strength, and we either are amazed at it or discount it as insignificant. This is what we do with our intuitive thinking.

We have become so accustomed as a society to look lopsided that we are not even noticing that we are not thinking with our whole self. We either see intuition as something flaky or something that we do not have or even really need.

What I have seen over the years is that everyone has intuitive stories, but because it wasn’t a big bang, it went hiding in our memory bank.

So the question is why is intuition important, and how can it help us in our practical day-to-day life.

I believe Intuition is important because it helps us to become clearer in not only who we are, but who others are as well. Intuition can be used along with logic to come up with solutions, it can be used to understand from many angles, and it can even be used to tap into new ideas, hidden talents, and a deeper self. Integrating intuition with logic can certainly make life more enjoyable, more enriched, more directed, and a great adventure. Our logical mind can only take us to certain places of understanding and intuition can take us to other places of understanding, together, life can feel more whole.

There are many ways to exercise (cultivate) our intuition. One way that I find helpful is when I am making a decision. I first sit with and feel the various solutions. How does each solution feel? I then think out the logical solutions to see which seems the best. I then see if the two can come together as a creative solution. Or if my intuitive feels matches the logical choice, I just then go with that. If it doesn’t match, I then look for other solutions until the two sit well together. We often think out logical solutions or just go with the feelings without really putting the two together. Each of the thinking processes really cannot show the whole picture when it stands alone. They are both only showing us one way to see it, which is why it is important to learn to think through both processes.

I would love to hear from you, and your stories of whole brain thinking.