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MAKE IT A DAILY PRACTICE TO PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR NIGGLING THOUGHTS AND SUSPICIONS.
9. TRUTHFULLY ANSWER THE QUESTION,“ HOW ARE YOU?” On being asked, take a second to check in with yourself and give a real answer. Caution: this might lead to a real conversation.
10. OBEY THE“ HOW DUMB WOULD I FEEL?” RULE.
This rule kicks in when I pull into a parking space with my tote holding my computer on the front seat and think,“ Oh, I don’ t have to put that in the trunk; I’ m sure it will be fine.” Then I think,“ Yup, I’ m sure it will be fine, but how dumb would I feel if I came back out here and it was gone?” I would feel pretty darn dumb, especially since I had just had this conversation with myself. Make it a daily practice to pay attention to your niggling thoughts and suspicions.
LITTLE CHANGES ACTION STEP:
Choose one intuition cultivator from the list above and do it today.
THE INTUITION KILLERS
Just as you can develop your inner wisdom, there are also some easy ways to suppress it. Here are six killers of intuition:
1. The need to be right. The need to be smart, documented, and logical in all of your decisions will cause you to ignore the whispers of your soul and do foolish things, like marrying someone who“ looks good on paper” or taking a job just for the money.
2. The safety of“ I don’ t know.” Sometimes when you say,“ I don’ t know,” it’ s because actually you do know, and you just don’ t like it. Other times you allow yourself to stay confuddled so that you don’ t have to commit to a decision. If this is a habit of yours, try using the life coach’ s trick of saying,“ If I did know the answer, it might be...”
3. Fatigue and dehydration. As we’ ve discussed, physical depletion often leads directly to poor brain function and unreliable interpretations of the signals your inner wisdom is trying to send you.
WISDOM & SELF-GROWTH
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