Intuition Into Action

According the latest DSM, soon to come out, there’s a whole bunch of you folks who should not follow your authentic inner voice because you are whacked with a “mental disorder” called “binge eating disorder.” Do any of you “binge eat?” If you pig out once per week for three months, you are sick. OMG! That could be me, along with 6% of the population. Now I know that my intuition will be Ben and Jerry’s skewed and never to be trusted until I stop eating all that ice cream on the weekends. Really? Continue Reading

It’s always been my understanding that intuition operates most clearly and effectively under conditions that I call “balance.”  This suggests to NOT rely upon your intuition for making decisions and assessments when you are out of balance, like overly emotional as in a state of anger, disappointment, stress, sorrow and the like.  Intuition is a spontaneous feeling but not an emotionally charged impulse that comes from a state of unbalance.  You know the difference.

Some would call balance a state of being “normal.”  But the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has found a way to make normal not so normal and, in fact, a “mental disorder.”  Allen Frances, who was the chairman of the 1994 (APA) DSM publication that determines what is normal and who needs psychiatric help, writes of how his panel contributed to three false “epidemics – attention deficit disorder, autism, and childhood bipolar disorder.

This professor emeritus and former chairman of the department of psychiatry at Duke University, says that these “disorders” identified many “patients” who would have been far better off never entering the mental health system. Wow!

If I was identified as one of the disturbed persons, I would certainly not think I was normal and would not trust my intuitive inner guidance.  Instead, I would be taking a pill.  Of course, this intrusive “medicine” would lead me far astray from my naturally balanced self by destroying my sense of personal control and responsibility – which is what intuition does for us.

According to the upcoming DSM, let’s see if you and I are sick and not to be trusted by following our own intuition. Continue Reading

Another reason why it’s so difficult to make a decision amongst many choices is that we want to make the absolutely right choice.  In the book, “The Paradox of Choice” by Barry Schwartz, a professor of psychology at Swarthmore College, he says that we need to become comfortable with the idea of “good enough.”  Seeking the perfect choice as he says, is a “recipe for misery.”  I agree.

This problem of the perfect choice extends even to marriage.  There’s a book by Lori Gottlieb, “Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough,” in which she says that too many women think they have to pick just the right one for a husband.  Instead of wondering, “Am I happy,” they ask, “Is this the best I can do.”

Ah yes, the pesky problem of perfectionism.  Now, this complicates things when things are already complicated enough.  My advice, “Get over it and get on with it.”  Perfect does not exist. If you live for that you are not living, you will be forever deciding.  Make a mistake and live.  We can always get divorced, return our Costco purchase.  It is not clear that more choices give us more freedom, in fact choices could decrease our freedom and happiness.

I like the position that a German professor of psychology, Gerd Gigerenzer says in his book, “Gut Feelings:  The Intelligence of the Unconscious.”  He says, get as much as information as you can digest quickly, sleep on it all overnight, and make an intuitive decision in the morning.

Just remember, it’s by making mistakes that we determine the correct path and truth.  Like Doestoyevsky once wrote, “It is only the fool who would become wise.” Continue Reading

Is it really about your taste buds or something else?  Another study by Benjamin Scheibehenne at the University of Basel in Switzerland concludes that it’s too simple to conclude that many choices are inherently bad or good.  His study that will come out in The Journal of Consumer Research separates the choice overload from information overload.  So, how much are people affected by the number of choices and how much from the lack of information or any prior understanding of the options?

And what about the information we do get about the choices.  Companies often mislead. Really?   And some information is just plain non-understandable, plus information seems endlessly expansive – I could Google a product forever with competing and contradictory information.  What’s important, who’s right?

You could spend the rest of your life doing the research and due diligence, but is that a life?  Choice is supposed to give us more freedom but unless you use your intuition, you end up a slave to a never ending supply of variety and information.

How can you intuition deal with all the info?  Give yourself some kind of general time limit. Scan, read the stuff fast.  This kind of speed of intake naturally brings out some aspects that capture your attention and that’s what you want to focus on.  Your lightning quick intuition elicits what you truly value.

For me to get some kind of cell phone, I quickly found out that I didn’t want to make any kind of big and long commitment.  My intuition (in other words, me) decided to go with the cheapest, easiest deal.  Now, that may not be your way, but remember there is NO objective truth.  It’s all subjective, so determine quickly what’s right for you, irregardless of what others say. Make YOUR choice. Continue Reading

Choices, choices, choices. One of the primary reasons why intuition is so useful and imperative in today’s world is because of the volume of choices we are confronted with.  From telephone plans to groceries to people, there are a lot of choices and decisions.  Never before in human history have we had this plethora of possibility!

How do we make choices?  Nobody has the time to figure it all out, and by the time you’ve tried to logically analyze it all, things have changed.  And besides, it just seems so complex. Plus, I can’t read the small print, unless I have my 300 plus reading glasses, and even then, what am I reading? Put choice, change and complexity together and the only way you can decide anything is to go with your gut.

Now, because of this “challenge of choice,” we have quite a few studies and books that explain this modern phenomenon. Let’s take a quick look at them and how they can help our own decision-making process.

Soon to come out is a book by a professor of business at my alma mater, Columbia University, Sheena Iyengar – “The Art of Choosing.”  She conducted the so-called “jam study.”  In a California gourmet market, she set up a booth of different jams.  Every few hours, they switched from offering a seletion of 24 jams to a group of six jams. Sixty percent of customers were drawn to the large assortment and 40% to the smaller sampling.  But this is the really interesting part, 30% of those who tasted the smaller group, decided to buy some jam, whereas, only 3% of those who sampled the large group bought.

Iyengar’s conclusion is that “people find more and more choice to actually be debilitating.”  So, while we crave choice and variety, it can paralyze us.  The lesson is “keep it simple and it will sell.”

Why is this?  Because people do not trust their intuition that actually does favor one jam over Continue Reading

EMPATHY

Today I was interviewed by a reporter for yahoo.com/hotjobs about the use of intuition in the workplace and specifically in the interview process.  Earlier in the morning, I read a column about how distrusting America is of the so-called “power elite.”  The one thing in common for these two events – empathy!

Empathy is that special intuitive ability that enables us to know what another is feeling and thereby be able to communicate effectively.  To succeed in an interview, empathically put yourself in the shoes of the interviewer so to fit into their desires and expectations.

Empathy is the quality that all the business hotshots who come out of the great business schools and go into banking and finances are lacking, according to the column.  These people have no clue about the context of people in which they live and work and make money from.  Empathy is not about being abstract and brilliant, but about being fitting into your social ecology – the key to building relationships, community, organizations – peace, unity and sustainability. Continue Reading

When it’s in the air, it’s in the air, and by that I mean when you have a strong idea, it will be in the mind of another person.  This “quantum” connection was just shown to me more than ever.

In my talks and teaching, I stress that Voyager Tarot is for intuitive activists, for people who get the insight and roadmap from the cards and then act on it.  Maps get you nowhere, but actions do. I always contrast how some who do the cards are “voyeurs,” simply wanting to look at the cards and be spectators of life.

Today, as I looked at my free Sunday New York Times, there was buried somewhere in the issue a headline that said, “Now Voyager, Now Voyeur.”  OMG!  Did they interview me, in my dreams?  Ah, that pesky little secret, the quantum connection did it.

The article is about the latest greatest internet activity called “chatroulette.”  In this simple online phenomenon, you hit a button that says, Stranger, and you connect to somebody somewhere around the globe (presumably this is the Voyager thing) and see them in action, whatever that is (you are now officially a Voyeur).

What is the value of voyaging into voyeurism?  Actually, alot. When you empathically get yourself involved in another’s activities, because of our ingenious mirror neurons, your cells act as if you were physically doing it, and we become more multi-dimensional in our life experience.  That’s good. And the seeker in us does want to know what others are up to.  We are a curious breed and any kind of insight and intelligence is from an evolutionary perspective, life seeking life.

But, but, but, don’t forget to be a participant in life, not just a voyeur.  So, what do you have to offer that you would like others to see about you and your activities?  I, for one, will play chatroulette and be doing the cards and so when somebody logs onto me, I will pick a card for them. (And this might just be viral marketing strategy Continue Reading

I am on my walk and actually getting into a doubtful and down mental place about all my internet activities. Anyway, there was a Starbucks nearby so I thought about treating myself to a Chai Venti Latte (my one sugar fix). I walk in and there is a complete Sunday New York Times (my reading fix) just sitting on the table… for me? Yes, apparently so. Armed with the paper, I go to order my Chai. Apparently, somebody had ordered the same drink and did not pick it up, so it was mine, for free. And more… two of those drinks were ordered, so now I have a free newspaper and two free lattes (finally, Starbucks does give back?).

Wow. Get to me to the lottery, I was thinking. Instead, I sit down to the paper and as I scan it, there it was, a most amazing synchronicity! Read the next blog… “Now Voyager, Now Voyeur.”

The moral of this story, keep believing in yourself and know that miracles do happen.

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HANG IN THERE – WIN A FREE READING!

The recent art sale of a sculpture for a record $104.3 million gives new and powerful meaning to the phrase of “hang in there, your time will come.”  For me, one of the popular, “street” ways of interpreting the tarot’s archetypal Hanged Man is to hang in there, wait in suspension, “let go and let god.”  Not easy to do when you think you’re drowning or being crucified by change and circumstance.

You’re still hanging in there, so, what’s the contest? It just so happens that in the Voyager Hanged Man, there are two sculpture pieces by the artist whose work just sold for the record amount of any art sale in human history!  Who is that person and what are those two pieces of work in the Voyager Hanged Man?  The winner gets a FREE READING from me.

The life story of this artist well describes the process of the Hanged Man.  He tried different art schools and techniques, but eventually surrendered to his authentic way.  One of the major understandings of the Hanged Man is about surrendering and letting go, just accepting what is and who you are.  It takes faith and trust in yourself and the universe to be yourself when sometimes it’s out of step with fashion and the times.

As the world does turn and the wheel of fortune does pivot, hang in there. You have niche and a purpose.  Fulfill it and you will be fulfilled… eventually.

Perhaps, for all the sacrifices you as an artist makes, there is a “master of the universe” who “sacrifices” millions to buy your service or product and show off his latest peacock feather – an ultimate expression of his ego and status. Continue Reading

Though I’ve been blogging, I finally “get it” – to get attention, it’s all about the “keywords.”  In the old days, like 10 years ago, we’d write something and put a sexy title onto it either by the writer or the headline person.  I love being creative and somewhat provocative with titling, but now… who cares? It’s the keyword!  But what keyword?  I really don’t see myself doing research on keywords, to do that feels like stifling my original creativity. Nevertheless, it’s a struggle for attention, so I’ll try using my intuition for coming up with keywords that I intuitively feel have traction.  So, instead of one of my blogs entitled, “Now Voyager, Now Voyeur,” it’s been reworked to “Chatroulette: Quantum Magic of Synchronicity.”  Hmmmmm….. Continue Reading