Have you ever played with Runes, Tarot Cards or consulted the I Ching to get an answer to a major life question? I have. When I don’t like the answer, I “fish” again until I am satisfied with the outcome. Interpretation is everything. In fact, in my book Follow Your Bliss, Not Your Blisters, I teach a technique for learning how to tap into “happy” at any time. Understanding the role interpretation plays in our lives is fundamental to how much we can rise above negativity and be in control of our thoughts and emotions.

Intuition is the divine guidance we have been given to successfully navigate our lives. At times of indecision, we are very likely to dismiss our gut feeling as just another voice in our head, but it is not. Gut feelings are the “how to” book of your life. Very often we “know” what to do about a situation, but we have so many “reasons” for why we don’t take right action that we go astray.

I was working for Hilton Hotels and was transferred to Atlanta. Prior to that transfer, I had dated a colleague in Florida who had worked in Atlanta and called him for his advice about where to live. When he told me his old address, I went there to find a place. As fate would have it, the ground floor apartment they showed me was his exact old haunt. There was a ditch outside which I envisioned would be a lake one day with a swan on it, the town was cute, so I said, “OK, I’m in.”

Except for one thing. My whole being knew I shouldn’t live there. It felt “dangerous,” but the neighbors seemed nice enough and there was a lovely pool. I called friends and family and inquired if they ever felt bad vibes walking into a place, public or private. I really didn’t need their answers. I knew I shouldn’t be there. Cut to the chase. The day the movers arrived, I went to the apartment only to find a sign HANGING ON MY DOOR warning that there had been personal attacks in the complex and to be careful.

“Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next.” – Jonas Salk

Ignoring my fear that was now confirmed by the note on the door, I moved in. Three days later, my house was broken into while I was asleep and I was, indeed, attacked. One thing I will add is that as the attacker held me with a knife in my neck telling me he was going to kill me, I tried to resist like any 5’2, 101-pound person might. Immediately, I heard a loud voice in my head saying: “Don’t resist.” I followed the sudden intuition screaming at me and that is why I am here to tell the story.

Medical science says our “gut” is in constant and direct communication with our brain and vice-versa. We even use the idiom “my gut tells me” when we want to affirm something. Usually though, when we are not sure what action we should take, we tune into our thoughts. Our thoughts are so very rarely clear. Logic is not perfect and is anti-intuitive. Pros and cons can’t be balanced, but you can count on the feeling in your gut.

The exercise you need to try

Here’s what you do. Let’s say you are offered a job that excites you but requires you to move 3,000 miles away from your friends, family, and the cute doctor you are dating. “What to do, oh my.”

Sit quietly, be mindful of the question, and as you are doing so, sense what is going on physically in your gut. You will either feel expansion – a sense of lightness and excitement, or a sense of dread. It will be clear. It is intuitive. Anything you do after that is up to you, but we all have this guiding light built in. The person you are dating may be smart, funny, and generous but what’s with all those slurs about your weight, your hair color, your family.  Hmmmm, think again. Rather, gut again!

I think even the word intuition is interesting. We pay institutions tuition to get essential knowledge and growth but the path our journey takes us on is an inside job. To follow your intuition is to follow your bliss in the name of positive experience and brilliant expansion.