Tapping into the power of intuition
KUWAIT: That distant calm voice coming from within, with its very gentle spark that ignites in certain situations — it’s your intuition speaking to you.
“If a person really needs to make choices that reflect their soul, and fulfills them from the inside, they definitely need to listen to their inner voice,” said
Mariam Ibrahim, a conscious healer and coach.
She believes the power of intuition lies in its distinctive ability to break away from the boundaries of our minds and connect us with the Divine’s subliminal messages and signs.
Intuition, which usually comes from the gut, is mostly underestimated by people. Unfortunately influenced by society, most of us have been programmed to ignore these gut feelings, in favor of logical and rational thinking. We have been taught that this is the safest way towards avoiding any risks or making any mistakes, Ibrahim noted.
While she emphasized the importance of the rational mind, she warned its abilities are still largely limited, as they just work on analyzing facts and data. She referred to a study from HeartMath institute, which proved that neurons not only exist in the mind, but also in our hearts and guts, which explains why scientists call them ‘the three brains’. “This means that there’s always extra information that one will be missing, if they completely ignore their gut feeling,” Ibrahim noted.
In fact, discerning gut feelings from emotional feelings is essential, she said. It’s true that the concept of feelings is common in both, but emotional feelings are more intense, with a pulsing energy, as if you’re trying to force yourself to make a certain decision. They can also sometimes be impulsive and biased because they are usually influenced by previous negative experiences or painful memories, she added.
For instance, a person with a history of a previous failed relationship will probably have feelings of fear before approaching another relationship. Therefore, one must understand where their emotional feelings come from, as they require discipline and control before being followed. On the contrary, gut feelings are more grounded and wiser. They are usually accompanied by feelings of ease, causing your body to relax. Even if they direct you toward a decision that doesn’t seem logical at the time, they bring a sense of reassurance and trust, as if it’s certainly moving you toward your best interest. “It feels more like an inspiration from God,” said Ibrahim.
That’s why, she suggested, that ahead of making any decision, it’s best if a person approached it with their intuitive feelings first, to validate if it’s worth the experiment or not. After that, by assessing all memories, past learnings, personal needs and preferences, the mind, heart and gut work harmoniously together, to help one make the wisest decisions, given the context. Reaching this balance is very challenging, and it might take years for people to reach it, and sometimes there are people who never even make it there, Ibrahim pointed out.
While it is uneasy for some people to bear the uncertainty of trusting their intuition, Ibrahim believes that it’s worth the risk. “The more I personally decided to follow my intuition, the more I felt it becoming stronger and clearer with time,” she said. She pointed out that all what it takes is having faith in God, and in that little voice inside. “I wish more people could know that there’s another way to live life,” she said.