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Posted on July 10, 2013 under Career & Work, Coaching
My intuition works like this…I think of someone and then they show up. Just like that. They literally parachute in from nowhere. Just like me seen here parachuting over The Remarkables mountain range of the South Island of New Zealand.
I started noticing it when I was a teenager. I would randomly think of a friend who I hadn't seen all summer, and then there would be an invitation to her birthday party in the mailbox. The phone would ring and I knew who it was before I answered. It happens most frequently when I'm in motion – either exercising, doing chores, or in some mode of transportation.
As I got older, I became much less receptive to receiving this kind of “quirky” information about people and situations. I listened too much to others' opinions about how being rational and practical was the safe and secure-fire way to journey through life. I unconsciously pushed down my intuition, like turning off a really great radio station.
That approach was fine for a while. But life became more complicated, and quite frankly disorienting.
I worked in the PR industry which is notorious for long-hours and high-burnout. I got married, and then I got divorced. I moved from Massachusetts to Connecticut and then to New York City. I made big decisions like buying a co-op apartment, going back to school to get my MBA, and changing agencies after 10+ years. I traveled around the world to 25 countries. Many of my closest friends got married, had babies, and fled the city. I did everything a perfect girl does. The list goes on.
And then in 2008 the bottom fell out. In June, the supposed love of my life dumped me. In September, the stock market crashed and took about half of my retirement and our client portfolio too. In October, my father nearly died in China (on vacation!) and I learned days later.
When the external world stopped making sense, I was forced to look inward. A lot. A whole lot.
I practiced meditation, yoga, writing, and the creative arts. I also thought about my future and how I wanted to shape it. I did my 9-month coaching certification program in 2009-2010, and things really started to shift for me. I was excited about my life again but deeply scared about moving forward. The golden handcuffs are for real. But I dug down deep and found the courage to reclaim my work and life.
That's when people started “parachuting” in again. The radio was back on. I started seeing so many situations differently.
I experienced a ton of regret about decisions that I made, or worse didn't make, when I “knew better” in my gut. Like saying yes to bosses and clients who weren't a good fit, marrying/dating men who didn't have my interest at heart, inking deals with untrustworthy business partners, and spending money on distractions and dysfunction.
The hardest part was that my gut was never wrong. It took decades of convincing myself, but it's the truth. I've always known what was right for me and what was wrong but sadly I just didn't have the chutzpah to do what was best for me. Once I opened up to doing the right thing for myself, my intuition rapidly snowballed in strength.
Then the party was really on. The right kind of business partners, clients, opportunities, friends and loved ones started showing up for me. Things started to fall into place instead of having to kill myself on something that was hard like a rock.
In May, my coaching school colleague and dear friend Emilah Dawn DeToro contacted me out of the blue. She said she'd been thinking about me and had a strong feeling she should reach out to me. She wanted to know “what was coming up” for me. She's an incredibly powerful intuitive and we laughed when we realized how ready we both were to create something together.
Our creation is the 1-day workshop called “Intuition at Work: Empowering Leaders to Go with the Gut”. It's for leaders like you and me to learn how to cultivate your intuition and apply it in the workplace for better business results.
Intuition at Work is for YOU if: * You’re ready to uncover what’s behind your intuition at work * You want competitive edge in cutting deals, hiring/firing, and crisis * You’re ready to own and apply your intuition on the spot * You need to improve decision-making skills and don’t know where to turn * You’re curious, creative and innovative and want more validation
If you answered YES!, join us and other business leaders for Intuition at Work by registering HERE.
In the meantime, be open to intuition and let it flow in. Make friends with it, because it is the real you.
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