Last month I wrote about Professor Richard Wiseman’s research into the lives led by lucky and unlucky people. According to Wiseman, one of the distinguishing features of lucky people is that they listen to, and act on, their lucky hunches. We also call lucky hunches intuition, that ability to draw on deep-seated impulses to act in a certain way without too much pre-determined thought.
It’s not magic. Intuition is about tapping in to the reservoirs of knowledge and experience that are deeply embedded in our subconscious. When we act intuitively, we don’t need to reflect or analyse; we just know. I’m a great believer in intuitions. Many of the life-changing decisions I’ve made have been based on my instincts, rather than on more detached, rational assessment of the pros and cons of a given situation. But as I’ve read more widely on intuitions since making the commitment to write about them, I’ve realised that there are pitfalls to intuition, too. George Bush is a person who famously claims to be intuitive. In an interview last year he said “It's easy to lose resolve if you made decisions based upon polls. If you make decisions based upon what you believe in your heart of hearts, you stay resolved.” He boasts of being a gut player and relying on his instincts. And we can all see the mess that has got him in. Perhaps his mistake here is that he bases his gut reactions on a blind externally-driven faith, rather than relying on the deep vein of creative help which is in his sub-conscious.
In David Myers’ Intuition: Its Powers and Perils there are many examples of how often people relying on their gut instincts misinterpret reality. He highlights overconfidence when responding to factual questions and predicting behaviour as two of the pitfalls of intuition. His conclusion is “Let us welcome the creative whispers of the unseen mind, but as the beginning of inquiry. Smart thinking, critical thinking, often begins with self-reliant hunches, but continues as one examines assumptions, evaluates evidence, invites critique, and tests conclusions.” I think that good hunches can also be the result of much careful thought and consideration in the past.
I like Myers’ note of caution, but think that, on the whole, I’m a believer in the power of intuition. Why not take a look at your own life and make a list of the times you followed your intuition. Balance this against a list of times you didn’t. Which list is the one which led to the best decisions? My hunch is that for most of us, our intuitive decisions are the best ones.
There are things we can do to develop our intuitions. As they’re about tapping into our subconscious reservoirs of experience and knowledge, it’s important to develop these reservoirs. Make sure you are out there, living, not locked up inside your own head. Or, dare I say it, living in a virtual world. A good cook knows intuitively how much of each ingredient to combine in a dish, but he knows this because he’s done it so many times. You need to practise something before you can do it intuitively.
As with so much of life, using and boosting your intuitions is about finding a balance. You do need to examine assumptions, evaluate evidence and test conclusions. Especially if your decision is as monumental as President Bush’s. But for most of us, boosting our intuitive powers would be beneficial. I suggest five ways to do this below.
1. Take time out
Many of us lead lives that are full. We have little time for contemplation or quiet. It’s in the quieter moments, when our minds are clearest, that we often have our best ideas. If your life is too busy, what can you do to take time out? How often do you sit down and really listen to music, or notice the moon, or take in the beauty of a scene? Make a plan to have some more contemplative times. Write them in your diary if this helps. Create space to rest your mind and see what happens.
2. Keep notes of good ideas
Have you ever kicked yourself because you’ve forgotten a brilliant idea that you had a few hours (or even days) previously? I think it’s important to capture good ideas as they come. I have a notebook for the bigger things in life and a page in my diary where I write more mundane things such as films I’d like to see or books I’d like to read. See how you get on with recording the good ideas you have. My hunch is that this will help to prime the pump of your creativity, which leads me on to tip three…
3. Unleash your creativity
What can you do to express your creative side more fully? It may be as simple as picking up a pencil and some paper and drawing the scene you’re looking at. Drawing could also help you to take time out as I encouraged in tip one. Maybe you express your creativity through cooking, or entertaining, or caring. Whatever it is, make a plan to do more of it.
4. Develop your skills and experience
As intuitions are all about drawing subconsciously on all our knowledge and experience that we have stored, it’s important to develop these aspects of yourself. What are the areas you’d like to develop? Are there things you’d like to know more about? What can you do to learn about them? Are there courses available, or books you could read? Write down all the possible things you could do, and make a plan to do some of them.
5. Be wary of things you don’t know much about
A final note of caution on intuition: if don’t know much about something, be careful about trusting your intuitions. Find out more before making any hasty decisions. There are limits to the usefulness of intuitions.
I believe that for most of the big decisions in life, our intuitions provide us with a means to understand effortlessly what we should do. Trust yourself to make the right decisions. Make them, and don’t look back.
