Svaha: the time between seeing lightning and hearing the thunder
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What are you overlooking?
What whispered messages from the still, small voice of intuition are you tuning out?
What creeping feeling, what knowing, are you preferring not to notice?
Everyone does it. Everyone is an ostrich about something — usually several somethings.
It could be something big — such as a deep, fearful sense that you’re the next one on the layoff list.
Or it could be something small — like a sneaky feeling that the sweater you’re knitting is the wrong size.
It could be as exciting as a persistent urge to take your business in a new direction.
Or it could be as everyday as a nagging worry that something’s wrong with your car.
Whatever it is, when it finally turns out to be real and true, you swear you’ll never be an ostrich again.
And then you are anyway. Because there’s something seductive about being an ostrich. It’s tempting to ignore messages from your intuition, especially when there’s a fear factor involved.
That, of course, is the key: the fear factor. It’s fear that keeps you hiding from whatever it is your intuition is trying to point out. But in the long run being an ostrich doesn’t pay. In fact, if you look back over the last few times you hid from what your intuition was trying to tell you, you’ll see that listening to it would have saved you time, pain, struggle, and maybe even money.
How can you avoid being an ostrich? Here are a few suggestions.
Make a commitment to yourself to tune in to that quiet voice.
That’s often easier said than done.
It’s called the “still, small” voice for a reason: it doesn’t make a lot of noise. It doesn’t yell, and it doesn’t ever justify itself.
Your logical mind wants reasons why. It wants concrete things it can agree with. So when your intuition says, “Something’s wrong with my car,” your brain responds, “The mechanic said it was okay. It’s running fine. Stop bugging me.”
And your fear is whispering, “I can’t afford a big repair bill. I can’t afford a new car. There’s nothing wrong.”
Between your logic and your fear, your intuition hasn’t got a chance — unless you make the commitment to tune in, hear what it’s saying, and take action.
If I’d tuned in when my intuition was bugging me about my car, I’d’ve saved myself the cost of repairing a cracked head gasket.
Your mind doesn’t like trusting anything that comes without logical, clear reasons why. No matter how many times you’ve been burned by being an ostrich, your mind will come up with plenty of reasons not to trust your intuition.
Start small. Once you’ve tuned in, pick something that doesn’t feel too risky and test it out. As you practice hearing what your intuition says, you’ll find it much easier to take action on what you hear.
If you’re really stuck, keep an intuition journal. Once a week, or even every day, take a moment or two to jot down things your intuition has whispered. Review past entries and see how often it was right — and consider what different choices you might have made.
I suggest this to my clients who want practice in trusting their intuition. You’ll probably be just as surprised as they are at how accurate that still, small voice can be.
When your intuition is hinting that something big could be about to happen, it’s even more tempting to be an ostrich. It often feels safer to ignore what you’re hearing than to consider taking action.
Not true. In fact, these are the times when it’s even more important to pay attention.
Clients who listened when their intuition warned of layoffs were able to begin putting plans in place, whether to create a business of their own, or to spruce up their resumes and start job hunting.
Those who didn’t listen — and I number myself in that group, in the days before I started my own business — have had to start from scratch while simultaneously trying to recover from the emotional impact of the layoff.
The true voice of intuition doesn’t encourage you to indulge in unhealthy frivolity or needless anxiety.
When you’ve learned how to hear it — when you’ve tuned in and begun to trust — you’ll find you can easily discern the true voice of intuition from the urgings of indulgence.
Until you discover that discernment, just remember: intuition doesn’t justify and explain itself. But the voice of indulgence will provide plenty of reasons why you should do (or not do) something, or why you should be worrying and fearful.
Your intuition will lead you into amazing places if you let it.
Allow your intuition to have an impact on your life. Follow its prompting as you develop your business. Let it guide you in creating and nurturing relationships with people you love — or could love.
Following your intuition means you’ll stretch and grow and be vulnerable in ways you might not always find comfortable.
It also means you’re more likely to be prepared for the unexpected things in life. And it certainly means your life will be richer and more rewarding.
You might even avoid horrendous auto-repair bills and knitting disasters!
“The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover will be yourself.” Alan Alda, 1936-, American actor, director, and screenwriter.
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” Steve Jobs, 1955-, co-founder and CEO of Apple, Inc.
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