“She Goes on Her Own…” Literal or Metaphorical Meaning?

It is important to discern whether intuitive hunches are meant to be interpreted quite literally, or whether they should be taken as a clue related to something else that is not meant to be literal at all. Stories abound of dreams and other types of premonitions about the World Trade Center collapse, a stock market crash, earthquakes, or other significant mass events. Only through hindsight does interpretation become crystal clear

For example, here is an intuitive insight I published on an old website in 2001, exactly as posted at the time, one month before the attack on the World Trade Center:

August 13, 2001
“Image: The phrase “She goes on her own.” The “she” is a well-known individual or political leader, or the Statue of Liberty.
Meanings:

  • There is the possibility of an announcement by Hillary Clinton that she will formally divorce her husband.
  • The country separates and isolates itself further from ideals of liberty and privacy. The Statue of Liberty goes on her own, no longer connected to the historical legacy of her people. Some new legislation is written or passed that limits personal freedom, or some action is taken to limit prior collaboration between the USA and its European colleagues.”

While unsurprising, there is sadness on both counts. When liberty must set herself apart and go on her own in order to be free, the world weeps for her and for itself. It weeps for lost innocence, lost hope, lost legacy.”

The column included a statement that the Statue of Liberty “goes on her own.” At the time it was uncertain whether that intuitive hunch had something to do with Hillary Clinton, who may have been in the news at that time, the United States, or the city of New York. Clinton did not announce a divorce. Following the world Trade Center disaster, however, numerous national magazines published photographs of the Statue of Liberty no longer flanked by the World Trade Center towers in the background: “she goes on her own.”

The article also included references to the world weeping for lost freedom. As a result of the attacks on September 11th, a century’s worth of gained personal domestic freedoms were abolished overnight as the United States moved into military readiness through passage of The Patriot Act and a raft of Executive Orders.

This is a perfect example of the combination of intuitive information in metaphorical form, that also hinted at literal events. It takes skill, practice, and…best of all…the benefit of hindsight to know for certain what interpretation to give to intuitive information.

If one had asked me in August 2001 the meaning of my very own column, it is unlikely I could have said with clarity that there would be a mass event on the order of September 11, 2001. Had I gotten close enough to assume a mass event of great importance, I might have more likely interpreted the information to have direct bearing on the Statue of Liberty, not on the World Trade Towers. The photographs were stark evidence of the Statue of Liberty’s going on her own, but the deeper meaning was much more extraordinary…the obliteration of the Towers, and also of the sense of confidence, peace, privacy, and safety in the world.

The interpretation might also have signaled increased displeasure with the policies of the United States as the country’s invasion of Iraq went against international public opinion. Had someone asked additional follow-up questions, which often occurs in regular “salons” I hold or sessions for clients, then we might have fleshed out much more interpretive detail and perhaps even the literal meaning of these now extraordinary words typed quickly while I was alone at my computer trying to meet a website publication deadline.

Only time, practice, attention, and increasingly honed ability can make full use of intuitive information, including information about business opportunities or challenges. With regular practice, however, the interpretation of complex situations becomes more and more specific and refined. In this way hitting target outcomes or numbers occurs more quickly, with smaller deviations from the actual, as data are measured and corroborated over time.

Insights Leading Up to the October 2008 Stock Market Crash

The following are excerpts from a series of private emails I wrote during the period  December 2007 through September 2008, foreshadowing major events of global proportion that would impact the financial markets. The “Crash of October 2008” officially began on October 6th of that year, but some accounts state that the crash actually began on October 1st and continued principally through October 10, 2008, when the market would drop a total of 2,399.47 points, or 22.11%. The extreme volatility continued for a time longer with another dramatic decline of 312.30 points on October 24, 2008. According to money-zine.com, the source of this market information, the 1929 and 1987 crashes also occurred in October, a fact of which I was completely unaware as I wrote these emails beginning in December 2007. There were already concerns about the markets being expressed in 2007, and it was  questions about those concerns that triggered the intuitive information. I didn’t come up with all of this information (much of which remains private and undisclosed) in a vacuum: the handwriting was already on the wall by the time I began this series. Often I knew nothing about current news events, however, and was “writing blind.”

What I wrote was intuitive, often metaphorical, and often a surprise to me. This is a perfect example of the power that hindsight gives to intuitive information. Much of what I wrote at the time made little sense to me at the time of writing, but poured out with a certain intensity that cannot be fully grasped when reading the text now, some three and a half years later. For money-zine.com’s account of the crash timeline, go to http://www.money-zine.com/Investing/Stocks/Stock-Market-Crash-of-2008/
For a timeline on about.com, go to http://useconomy.about.com/od/Financial-Crisis/a/Stock-Market-Crash-2008.htm

From a private email, 2 December 2007 written over 3 months before Bear Stearns went under in March 2008; 9 months before Lehman Brothers collapsed and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac went into conservatorship in September 2008; and 10 months before the formal “crash” of October 2008.

“Guilt and blame no longer matter, whether directed at the poor whose backs are broken, or at the rich who loaded them up for bear. The only issue now is the discovery that backs big and small litter the streets with their charges, their burdens. Who is left to clean up the streets when all backs are broken and no one can wield a broom?

That is the moment of bottom, when all drop to their knees at the same time, forming one large net and holding hands across the globe to catch the remaining items before they are trampled on the street or dropped into the ocean.

When all hands are joined together to form a safety net, there are no fingers left or available to point. Turnaround can begin in earnest.”

From a private email, 10 December 2007:
“Something happens that, had it not happened before, would have been surprising. It is not that this is a repetitive cycle, exactly; rather it is that some event or series of events that, while rare, has happened before in recent history and is therefore less of a surprise than it ordinarily would or might have been.”

From a private email, 20 December 2007:
“This is the way of the world: the way of the world that we know ends for the time being. The phase is a rather protracted one and takes its toll on many who would otherwise or normally be untouched. The poor will remain so and will notice little change. This time the change affects the wealthier among us, who [come to] understand the nature of poverty and the close line, the fine line, between having much and having nothing.

The belly and heart of the world soften, and in softening through understanding or compassion, things turn around again. Not for the foreseeable future, however, no matter how hard some hold on to past glory.”

From a private email, 1 January 2008:
“This is the year the world turns on its axis on many levels at once. What is the pecking order of countries? What are the priorities of humanity? What is truly new or visionary? This is not a year for tired or repeated old formulations. Only new formulations rule; only new ideas can weather the requirements of a new time.

Written in January 2008 about the third quarter of that year:
“Q3 [2008]: ‘Fall into the fall.’ This requires suppleness….The question is not whether or if you fall, but how you fall and land on your feet. Some large financial institution may go under – through acquisition or foreign control. There may be attempts to minimize the implications and the damage to financial structures, but insiders will know and quiver in their shoes….” [The financial crash or fall of 2008 began in the fall; this intuitive insight about the third quarter was written some 10 months prior to the crash.]

Follow-up:
7 Sept 08: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which owned or guaranteed nearly $6Trillion in mortgage loans for individuals as well as companies, was placed into conservatorship by the Federal Housing Finance Agency
14 Sept 08: Merrill Lynch is acquired by Bank of America in a last ditch effort to save the company
15 Sept 08: Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is not saved the way Merrill Lynch was through acquisition or bailout
16 Sept 08: AIG shares lose 95% of their value and report a $13.2B loss in the first six months of the year.
All of these companies were considered to be unsinkable and untouchable prior to this time.]
20 Sept 08: Dow Jones Industrial Average suffers its worst point drop ever: 777 points.

From a private email, 13 January 2008:
“Something goes for the broke. New infusions, new hope, new recession woes….’Goes for the broke’ means coming up with something that helps those who have nothing or nothing left; those who are broke.”

From a private email, 2 March 2008:
“Challenges ahead. Be on the lookout.
Then  it stops. The whole world stops to watch some major event on the horizon with global implications. After three weeks none of it makes any sense. New forms, new criteria…. Ship of Fools [from the old movie title with Oskar Werner and Simone Signoret re: the beginning signs of WWII]. Prelude to war? Perhaps a war of a different kind?

Something new kicks in of global proportion, political and other. Feels like another 9/11 type event, or political moment that captures world attention. elements of both tearing apart and bringing together for good….

[Follow-up: The three weeks from October 6-24 changed the world and the way we think about things. The fallout continues throughout the world, into and including the Arab Spring and the potential demise of the Eurozone as European country after country teeters on the verge of bankruptcy, or falls over its edge in the summer of 2012.]

Some major feeling of impropriety at high levels.”

[Follow-up: The heads of the eight largest banks are called to Washington to testify before Congress about potential malfeasance in the fall of the U.S. housing industry and their use of credit default swaps and other derivatives instruments. Goldman Sachs is called to task for betting against its own loans, knowing full well that the loans would be defaulted.]

From a private email, 17 March 2008:

Europe is under some pressure now, and this leads to political fallout and consequences of an enormous nature. The ill will towards the U.S. grows dramatically as the walls begin to press in on the European economy. This kicks the continent into retrograde thinking, failing to take a true and deeper look at contemporary complexities and issues….”

From a private email, 17 April 2008:
“Some new twist on insider trading or price-fixing phenomena. Charge of collusion to pass risk and loss on to consumer will follow on the heels of subprime issues and trigger more than a slap on the wrist of financial institutions. There are some who are looking for punishment.”

Follow-up: In 2012 two individuals were found guilty of insider trading and sentenced to prison.

From a private email, 9 May 2008:
“This is the way the world ends; not with a bang but a cigarette. The vices continue uninterrupted, and increase….Recession driven social constraint and social rebellion[both at once].”

From a private email, 22 May 2008:
“All of the resources of government and certain sectors of business will be devoted to mercenary and rogue treasure hunts….The impact as other news unfolds over the next 2 years will be nothing short of amazing….[revealing a] Machiavellian approach of certain individuals in leadership circles.”

From a private email, 23 June 2008:
“Another awakening before all settles down and settles in….it’s not over for the short term.

Taking on too much water makes the boat sink. When water is coming in, unloading is better than taking on. If you think the ocean will not know the boat has sprung a leak [because you have placed furniture over the hole], think again. Nothing…nothing is outside the all-encompassing ocean.”

From a private email, 29 June 2008:
“Gets a thrashing like never before.
Yes, this is the way down to the flood plain. Washout…and more. Going to go this way before the rest is finished.
Disaster. Then she flies out of the ashes like before: beautiful, strong, clear on her role in the world….Lots of losses before the rainbow this time.”

From a private email, 15 July 2008:
“Not the way it is going to be for a long time. This isn’t over: the toll goes on and on into the future. This great depression will be remembered for along time to come, and the impacts are just beginning to trickle up to an intensity that makes all take severe and sincere notice.

It is no longer a question of being acquired or sold or merged; it is a question of ceasing to exist, and this strikes many. Zero value. Zero degrees of separation. Zero potentiality for rescue.”

From a private email, 21 July 2008:
“‘This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.’”
Godot doesn’t live here anymore. It is pointless to wait for a savior who no longer saves.”

From a private email, 1 September 2008:
“This isn’t the one that goes away. And then you must wonder what the rest is about. There are other stories not told that surface just as the water subsides. Watch and wait. Listen for the undertow, the rip tide that is still to come….

Going to go away….The end of all that we know now and later. Some critical shift in the air….”

From a private email, 9 September 2008:
“They still cant’ believe the numbers. Wait until they really, really know what they have to do.”

From a private email, 14 September 2008:
“There are those tho have begun to see the handwriting on the wall, the true meaning of ‘What goes around comes around.’ This has to do with economic policy and practice; with shortsightedness regarding actions taken long ago; with a realization that the empire could fold without [the presence of] heart….

This dates from the end of WWII. Some consequences or implications on the horizon now date from these economic, political, military decisions.”

From a private email, 21 September 2008:
“Pay attention to Europe. There is pain and suffering there that is not addressed in these measures. Confidence may be restored in the U.S., but anger comes along with the restoration. The carnage is unmistakable and unintentional, surpassing any and all expectations and calculations. The toll cannot be computed unless you bring in the physicists, who are used to infinite numbers and factors of trillions. The societies will be leveled. And while there will be those alive to tell the stories, many get dragged into this undertow.

The rip tide from the hurricanes is matched by and reflects the rip tides in the world’s economies.

This is only the beginning. Actually a short-term middle that stems from a past older than 9/11 or [the stock market crash of] 1987.

This is the beginning of the end of time for others….

Another institution bites the dust. Or it could be a rescue plan that does not rescue.”

Fracking and Other Tales of Mass Destruction

Website Blog Piece written on 1 August 2011, emailed privately on 4 August 2011; reprinted here in unedited form, following the 5.9 August 23rd 2011 earthquake in Virginia. Now officially “On the Record.”

“Each one feels it is the only, its cause the most important. Each finds a way to rumble beneath the growing discomfort of the mantle of the earth. The shuddering that takes the whole world by surprise, finds its voice in the cracking and crackling of resentment and refusal to be violated any more.

This voice is heard far and wide, and comes from the very center of its being. Not another moment of being pierced in these unforgivable ways. Not another excuse for making the planet better, for “development.”

This action [probably hydraulic fracturing], more than any other except nuclear attack, asteroid or meteor craters, and natural tectonic plate movement, threatens the very infrastructure of the earth.

Take heed, be aware, and beware of the unanticipated consequences of hiding out beneath the surface of the earth in a futile attempt to go unseen and undetected by conventional measures of electronic surveillance. The other – inner – forms of knowing supersede the heavy, ungainly, ineffective measures of knowing what the “other” is up to, is doing to threaten one’s own survival [related to military measures]:

•    Hydraulic fracturing for natural gas
•    Bridge pilings [new and retrofits]
•    Railway revitalization and freeway widening
•    Earthquake retrofitting and preparation for high rise buildings
•    Fossil fuel extraction both underground and above ground
Nuclear and non-nuclear testing
Underground shelters for military and civilian uses

All of these measures create sound effects and ripple effects that are not fully understood, and that reach far beyond the locus of the activity. All except nuclear building and testing have clear immediate benefits, and yet must be moderated and modulated to avoid long term cracks in land and marine populations.

Add to this the natural motion of continued Pangeatic expansion, and you have a disaster of unheard of proportion looming on the horizon. Forget asteroids and comets. There is enough internal fracturing to take us to the brink of extinction or near-death as a civilized planet.

There is water table seepage deeper into the earth (and less available to wells) as a result of these various forms of fracking, and drilling interventions means that potable or potentially potable water is now replacing fossil fuels in these areas gaps where the fuels used to be, contributing to increased vulnerabilities. The water is farther away, out of reach, and the fossil fuel “cushion” for the movement of tectonic plates no longer exists. Water simply cannot play that role, so it is lost for consumption and recedes deeper into the earth, where heat evaporates it and the steam produced accelerates the interior rumblings. Imagine inserting water into places where gels are needed to avoid abrading elements. No solutions there….

…the danger is real and already in play.”

[Earthquake measuring 5.9, centered in Virginia, felt from Martha’s Vineyard to Ohio and Michigan according to CNBC television reporting.]

[CNN Newsbreak: “Ten nuclear plants in four states have declared ‘unusual events’ — lowest level emergency alerts — after earthquake”]

What Is Seven Second Decision Making?

Hitting the Target

IN A NUTSHELL …..

Seven Second Decision Making is the natural blend of reason, experience and intuition. In a remarkably brief moment the mind can sift through endless data and simply KNOW the best course of action or most likely outcome for business or life. It is knowing repeatedly and with certainty, without understanding exactly how one knows. It is gut feeling on demand with high levels of accuracy, and it can have an extraordinary impact on business success and personal fulfillment.

Seven Second Decision Making is:

A Methodology, a process: for obtaining consistent, accurate, ethical, intuitive insight on demand, especially in the domains of business and frontier science.

Seven Second Decision Making requires:

Focus: that and only that. In a field of many variables and almost limitless probabilities, what is the most likely course of events? What information is available to change that probable course if desired, or to arrive at that chosen destination or outcome with the greatest amount of ease?

Discernment: the capacity to distinguish. What is mine? What is yours? What is truly relevant in this particular situation?

Interpretation: What does the information mean for this person or this company or this situation at this time? Are there symbols to be interpreted, or images, or numbers, or emotions? Interpretation is possible when the other tools are strong.

Integrity: only the highest ethical standards will do. No implicit or explicit conflicts of interest.

Trust: in the self; in the other; in the future; in the world; in human nature; in fundamental good intention; in life itself.

Which Intuitive Tools to Use When?

What to do?

If you are framing a question for intuitive response, how do you know which of the tools in your intuitive toolbox would be the best to use, would hit the bull’s eye on your target?

If your question is pretty straightforward and simple, a yes-no response can work fine. The catch is that in order to avoid your own bias if you already know the content of the question, you’ve got to ask someone else who doesn’t know the content, whether the answer is yes or no. Or perhaps the answer is neither yes nor no, but maybe…

Once you get to the “maybe” response, you start introducing conditions and variables. Then the question is no longer a simple one, and you need to bring in one of the other intuitive tools to round out your understanding. Yes – No is simply not enough.

  • Perhaps you can journey mentally into the future to see the outcome of the yes and the no, so you can choose or modify the outcome that best suits your desires and intention, say 5 years from now
  • Perhaps you can ask your future self (who is at least as wise as any  oracle) how things turned out. You literally take a flight of fancy into the future and find yourself there, or the person you had been thinking about, and simply observe how they are and what they are doing. If you are bold, you might even get up the nerve to ask them [mentally, of course] how they got there and what decisions they made when they were where you are now. One good trick is to ask that future self for a gift, which you look at internally and then find later in your three-dimensional world. Finding that object that looks like the gift in your mental journey will signal to you that you are on the right track to your goal.
  • If you are thinking about a long held dream of yours that has not yet been realized, perhaps the quick and dirty vision board would be the way to go, or a full-fledged collage, where you actually glue the chosen items to poster board and look at a permanent, finished product.
  • Rank-ordered lists are always the best, of course, when considering possible options, such as places to live, jobs to take, or candidates to hire.
  • Then you might use one of the other intuitive tools to take a deeper look and answer the “Why?” question: why this place or job or candidate, rather than another? For this you’ll need a deeper look, through your own or a friend’s intuitive eyes.

There are other intuitive tools as well. You might glance through some of the other entries posted here to help you figure out which approach, which intuitive tool, might be the best to use with your particular question or concern. Remember that framing the question is an art and a skill. Framing a question well means creating the possibility of truly meaningful intuitive information on the other side of the equation. Take the time to frame the question carefully and deliberately, and then, with lightning speed, take the very first answer that pops into your mind.

“Goes the Whole Way:” Intuitive Shorthand

There are certain phrases that just “show up” mentally one day, and then become a kind of repeated shorthand for intuitive information. For example, in working with clients over the years one particular phrase, “She/he goes the whole way,” has come to mean several things:

  • An individual or institution with the capacity to endure for the long haul (for me institutions and agencies are usually “she,” perhaps because of the feminine form of the article for similar words in French and English)
  • A source of support that can be trusted to stick with you personally or  institutionally as you grow and diversify
  • Someone with the capacity to morph with a changing situation or market need
  • An industry or a country or a market segment or a product

When a client wants to know about the short- or long-term prospect for a candidate or service provider or partnership, this phrase or it’s opposite, “She/He doesn’t go the whole way,” will pop into my mind. Or perhaps something like, “Fine for now; not for later.” This clue becomes the starting point for an intuitive evaluation regarding the potential success of working with the entity under consideration.  “Fine for now” doesn’t mean avoid this commitment; it simply means don’t count on this relationship or this person to be all you need for the long haul, and don’t be surprised if you need to change down the road. It might also mean that the person decides to leave before you complete the intended project. You could be thinking about working with a law firm or insurance company, or hiring an executive assistant, or a publicist. This phrase, or one of your own like it, can help cut to the chase and avoid surprise in the middle of an undertaking.

When you pay attention, you will find such phrases of your own popping into your head, phrases that your subconscious mind will tuck away for future reference. You will automatically remember both the rational and emotional qualities of the phrase, and you will know immediately which outcome is most likely as you consider a particular course of action.

Once you find and develop your personal list of special shorthand phrases, you can move to flesh out the unique details of each situation, along with any specific recommendations for action or decision making. And as always with intuition, this is just one of many other supportive tools to help you and your business thrive.

Intuition Hot spots: Bed, Bath, Beyond…

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Just like Wifi hot spots, there are certain hot spots for intuition, too. These are places and times when intuitive information just streams in effortlessly, whether by chance or on demand.

Over the years I have discovered intuition hot spots that work for me, and have learned how to slow down the moment and harness the information. Here are my personal favorites, and my stories might trigger you to find your own.

The Bed

The bed is a place where the rational mind can partner with the intuitive mind, instead of feeling compelled to lead it. In the bed, whether lying down or sitting propped up on pillows, I have full permission to relax. There is no need for constricting clothes nor concern for public image. I have privacy, and with that privacy comes permission to let my mind wander. At last there is room for intuitive information to surface, outside the normal constrictions of time and social expectation.

For me personally the moments just before falling asleep are an especially good time to set my intentions for the next day and to listen for intuitive clues. Ideas will suddenly pop into the mind,  seemingly from nowhere. I have learned to follow these ideas while nodding off to sleep because they could provide a clue to some present challenge, or because they could become the anchor for something that becomes part of the rest of my life.

Try this when you are in bed: you don’t need to do anything special; just pay attention to all the thoughts that stream in, even if they feel disorganized. If something strikes you deeply and you feel a certain emotional intensity to the thought, then write it down. Keep a pad of paper and a good, smooth writing pen beside your bed so you can scribble quickly and effortlessly. This could be an issue you want to work on to enhance your personal effectiveness, or it could turn out to be solution you have been mulling over at work for a long time without resolution.

The moments following sleep are simply the most productive moments of the day, bar none. Revel in them, savor them, and actively arrange your life so you can lounge in bed for 15-20 minutes each morning before facing your day and the rest of your routine. These moments can possibly become the most important moments of your life if you learn to use them well.

If you have the opportunity and can train yourself to take a short nap during the day or evening, then you can double or triple these key moments of sleep and waking in your intuitive development, thereby fast tracking your success and your sense of fulfillment.

The Bath

For me, there is nothing like hot water. It is my refuge, my therapy, a key component of my sensuality, my intuitive moment.

The water allows my body to relax, and even permits me to forget about my body for a moment as the hot water assures me that it is well taken care of. I am free to engage in flights of fancy. Ideas pop into the mind effortlessly in hot water, because there is no resistance: no physical resistance and no mental resistance. When the body is warm and comfortable and safe, the rational mind couldn’t care less – unless, of course, you just finished watching “Psycho” on television.

Water also enhances sound, so thoughts can travel to you and be “heard” with ease. When I put my head under water past my ears, I can’t help but relax and hear and feel the beating of my heart. Lying there, in perfect harmony with my body, thoughts race into my mind: sometimes things to remember to do, or phone calls to make. But most often, once that flurry has tapered off, intuitive ideas, creative thoughts , even wild ideas that could be patented perhaps, stream in and tickle my fancy. Ideas for an article I’m writing, or for a regular client, also come in and give clues about where my formal writing may go once I return to “professional” mode. These moments are delicious and extremely valuable, often saving time, and always saving effort.

If I can hold that thought once I get out of the water, I’ll grab a piece of paper and jot down a brief note or outline for that moment when the rational mind returns from its coffee or water break.

Even if you don’t write them down right away,  intuitive hits or teasers that come in those moments before or after sleep, or while standing in a warm shower or soaking in a hot bath, will stick with you and return in other forms more suited to normal consciousness and daily waking life. Pay attention and learn to pick up on them when they whisk by, there just beside your full regular awareness.

I have written here about accessing your intuition while being in the bed awake. There is plenty of other material available on dreams, dream interpretation, and lucid dreaming. You can allow your dreams to simply happen and try to sort them out, or you could become a “dream pioneer” and extract intuitive precognitive information, among other elements, from your dreaming state. One great resource for lucid dreaming – which is waking up in a dream and realizing that you are dreaming – is Robert Waggoner’s new book entitled Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self.

One last thought for the bathroom before moving away from the home-based intuition hot spots:

The Toilet

The toilet can be the equivalent of the “one minute manager” for intuitive information. If you are stumped at home or at work, taking a brief moment to go to the bathroom can help enormously. Just as you listen to your physical body when it is appropriate or inappropriate to eliminate, you can also train your intuitive body to show up quickly and effortlessly when you take that three-minute bathroom break.

A single breath, a moment to shift gears, and you can get intuitive information to help you avoid an argument, understand a complicated formula, develop a character in a story, or unwind a clue to your past.

Toilets are great places at home and at work; a true intuition hot spot. Use those moments to get information your inner wisdom quickly retrieves – useful information – and then get out. That brief moment will be the equivalent of a quick, refreshing nap, and perhaps even the linchpin to a better rational day.

The Café

Libraries are sometimes overwhelming and can put me to sleep. I have a home office, but sitting in there because it is time to work, or checking that endless email can ruin any writing or reflecting moment and make work feel like a “chore.”

On the other hand, there are a couple of restaurants in my small town that are dog friendly on the patio. I won’t mention their names here, or that friendliness may go punished and end one of my very favorite intuition hot spots.

So I love cafés, especially French style outdoor cafés. The sound and the music act as a kind of white noise, even if the music is fairly loud. I take a moment to look around, feel grand in the world, smiling at the stories going on around me, and start to write in very quick, often automatic writing style. Many intuitive consults are written in such places,whether right here in my home town (where I’m writing at this very moment), or at a little corner café in the 15ème of Paris.

I wrote the bulk of my doctoral dissertation in another similar place in Harvard Square many years ago, long before I was consciously aware that there are such things as intuitive hot spots. The sense of feeling “at home” permits me to put the rational mind at rest, while I take off on flights of intuitive and artistic fancy. All of the knowledge of the rational mind is present, mind you: I have not completely “disappeared.”The difference here is that the usual mental constraints, the rules of the scientific and rational method to which I can return later, no longer apply.

The title of this blog, for example, just popped into my mind sitting at a café. I had recently talked about this subject at a conference and was still musing over our conversations, so the percolating had already taken place. My thoughts were being framed in the subconscious mind, ready to pop into conscious awareness as soon as I stopped long enough to pay attention and consciously write them down. Then I became aware that the entire subject was there and waiting for me if I wanted to notice, to be an intuitive “scribe” for what already existed and was waiting for me in the “blue ether.”

Find your own café-type intuitive hot spot. It may not be an actual café, it could be a sports bar or a park. The key for me is that it be a public place, were I don’t have to worry about dusting or cooking for myself – or worry about emails!

You will be amazed at how quickly and easily thoughts flow in such environments. No need for it to be quiet, even, as long as you feel relaxed and safe, knowing that the body can take care of itself and that you are part of a teeming and fun exterior environment.

The Car

Quite a few sociological studies have been conducted on the extent to which rideshare commuters open up to each other during daily trips to and from work. In that enclosed space, where there is nothing to do until the destination is reached, everybody enters a kind of “altered state.” What an opportunity to roll out those intuitive wheels!

If you are riding, just let thoughts float into and through you consciousness without choosing a particular focus or asking specific questions. Remember that the questions have already been percolating in your dreams and your conscious waking states. Pay attention, though, and keep a tiny pocket-sized notebook handy (or notes applications on your smartphone), for when those ideas pop into your head that excite you and tease you, and prompt you to explore further. Surprises await!

If you are driving and have a bluetooth, you can use voice memo apps to say the thoughts out loud so you won’t forget, or you can actually pull over and jot a quick or a long note while the thoughts are flowing.

Long trips are especially fascinating as intuition hot spots, as you will have plenty of time to think through and follow thoughts in silence. I never get sleepy driving when I use the drive as an intuitive hot spot!

The Park

My knees are shot, so I walk a lot these days instead of running. My dog gives me ample opportunity to explore the local parks and the nearby Junior College campus as intuitive hot spots. Furthermore, I made a conscious decision to stay off my cell phone while I spend time with my dog, but the beautiful weather and exercise and relaxation ensure that ideas will pop into my awareness while we walk and sniff out various realities together.

Jogging is great for intuitive information, because the mind goes into a different brainwave pattern from the exercise. In part it is my past habit of jogging that I have to thank for triggering the name I came up with for  the sociological concept of buffering, which was the linchpin for my doctoral dissertation. After struggling with what to call the concept I was developing, “buffering” popped into my mind as I jogged around Fresh Pond in Cambridge, Massachusetts many years ago. Later I did some research on the word in the library, and its usefulness as a sociological concept instead of its typical use in the field of chemistry.

Thus the ideas pop in during a jog or a hot bath, or upon awakening from a long sleep or short nap. The automatic writing happens in bed or in a nearby café, and the research, typing, and footnote citations occur in the usual places of reason: the office or the library (unless you have a smartphone and do some of your research on the fly). In the old days before there were word processors, the typing actually took longer often than the thinking and the writing.

So play with these and other intuitive hot spots in your own life and your own context. See and welcome the surprises that are about to burst onto your field of consciousness.

By the way, these intuitive hot spots work as effectively for business considerations as for personal and academic ones. You can frame a question if you like, or you can simply be there in the moment and see what comes up for you. You will be pleasantly surprised, and infinitely more effective in your rational world!

Intuition Hot Spots II: The Kitchen

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“Come here often?” That was the sign on my mom’s refrigerator when she began changing her eating habits following a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. A tiny woman, she died several years ago at the age of 86, but that phrase on her fridge has stuck with me ever since.

I used to complain a lot about being in the kitchen, and usually found myself in full martyr mode. “Nobody else is cooking or cleaning up after themselves! I ‘m having to do it all! …blah, blah, blah.”

Then at a conference we did some muscle testing games about deeply held beliefs. I chose my resentment about being in the kitchen as an example of my clearly held negative belief. Much to my surprise, however, my body’s nonverbal response through muscle testing seemed to indicate that I actually liked the kitchen! So I decided to pursue that mental trail a bit farther….

Then it hit me. Precisely because nobody else dared go in there, the kitchen had actually become my refuge over time, my one private place in the house where my thoughts could flow uninterrupted by regular household goings on and regular thoughts.

Furthermore, at the time this was happening, the kitchen sink in our home in Santa Fe offered an unobstructed view of wild cottontail rabbits and jackrabbits, and birds playing and jousting in the high desert grasses, just outside the window.

My “chores” had given me unbridled access to my intuition, and to the beauty of life around me. I loved looking out that window, while I complained vociferously about having to do the dishes – again!

So many thoughts came to me during those times, about the nature of communication among animals, and between animals and humans. I reveled at how those rabbits managed to play all around that prickly cactus without getting clobbered the way I did when I got too close to one of those painful needles. I talked to them in my mind, and felt them respond to me, sitting still and staring directly into the kitchen window exactly where I stood for long periods of time.

I developed a relationship with these rabbits, and even began leaving them food and water, until I realized that I was developing a dependency I could not promise to fulfill when we inevitably moved away. So I stopped intervening and just enjoyed the show. That little lesson taught me a lot about my human codependency as well, but that is another story.

Thus standing over that kitchen sink became and remains a haven for me to this day. I finally stopped complaining, and now use that time in a different house with no dependents to play with intuitive thoughts while I watch the progression of the sun and moon across the sky, or the neighbor’s garden change with the seasons. It is the single most consistent spot where I get information about people in my life, precognitive phone calls and contacts, and ideas to pursue intellectually or metaphysically. It is certainly more than musing about  what to put in my stomach, my fridge, or on my shopping list!

The kitchen is a terrific intuition hot spot, and like the bedroom and bathroom, I actually do “come here often.” What about you?

Here are a just few intuitive games you can play in the kitchen:

  • Without looking at the package directions, guess how long your food should take to cook in the microwave and try it. You can read the package after you pick a number, just to see if you are in the ball park. As you continue to practice, watch how much better you get at estimating the perfect cooking time.
  • Ask your body what it feels like eating, take the very first thought that comes to mind, and eat that.
  • As  you eat your breakfast or prepare your lunch, ask yourself the question, “What is the one thing I need to know today?” If you think you will forget later, write that one thing down on your calendar or a notepad.
  • As you prepare food for your children or your pets, look at them for a moment and ask the question, “How are they feeling? Is there anything they need, or need me to pay attention to on their behalf?”

Now that I understand the important role of the fridge and the entire kitchen in my intuitive flights of fancy, I can come here often without having to eat everything in sight when I do! Maybe I can translate that deeper yearning into an idea that sticks, rather than into a pound of flesh that sticks instead.

Hmmm, maybe I’ll go into the kitchen now and test out my new idea…or maybe I’ll have another piece of toast! Oops, scratch that. Maybe now that I’m thinking differently about eating, I’ll have another bite of, uh, kale! YUMM!!!

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Intuition and Time

Time

From the perspective of intuition, past, present, and future are equidistant in terms of our capacity to retrieve information. All possibilities, all probabilities, stem from and are shaped by this particular moment in time. Current perception always rules, or what some call the “moment point.”

There are many intuitives who dare not venture into the future, either for fear of being wrong, fear of taking power away from clients, or fear of the unknown. I have a different perspective on this issue and jump into making statements about past, present, and future with both feet. I gave up worrying about being wrong a long time ago, at least the ego part of being wrong. Let me be clear: I always want to provide the best and most accurate information for clients; and an accurate understanding of past events and future probabilities helps them make wise and powerful decisions. On the other hand, I have no power over anyone or anything, nor would I seek it if it were possible. It is not. No amount of insight on my part can take away the authority and responsibility and knowing of individuals to make decisions that serve their own best interest and greatest fulfillment, including those interests of an individual client or a company. So I don’t have to worry: I simply pick up on their inner journey and report back what I see on their path.

Venturing across time is designed to help decide whether what is most likely to occur in the future (based on what is happening now), is what the individual or company really wishes to be or to accomplish. An intuitive look at the future permits an immediate response, such as:
“Yes, let’s go there!”
Or a “Yes, with conditions.”
Or a “No, that doesn’t look good. We need to re-evaluate and make different choices.”

Time, especially time with the benefit of intuition, is a friend, neither a feared adversary nor a superstitious bogeyman. No one, and I truly mean no one, can take away the authority of another individual on some level – a deep level – to decide which actions to take, and which ways to be over time. On the contrary, what I am continually told is, “You helped me frame what I already knew to be the appropriate action in my own heart and mind.”

Since typically little or no information is provided to me in advance regarding a professional consultation, I am relying principally on intuition to discern what that client’s “true heart’s desire” might be. And my intuition is working with and across time to provide me information that is useful and accurate for my client. When I work with individuals on a regular basis, some basic information will eventually “stick” with me after our conversation, but most often, even in these situations, each consultation is fresh and new. Usually I have to be reminded what we discussed before, and do not check prior notes or records ahead of time to “prepare” for an intuitive session. When the consultation is more “traditional,” then I try to reconstruct or remember a little of the past discussion so I will know where to proceed next. All sessions eventually end up being a blend of both styles, flitting back and forth in and out of time as the variables or questions indicate.

We all know that in the dream state time does not matter. In the intuitive state time does not matter either. Intuition is a servant of time, and using intuition to take a peek at past patterns, present actions, and future probabilities serves the individual, the group, and the company.

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The rule of thumb for me is, “If it can be imagined, it already exists in the field of probabilities.” Intuition helps visit that field without having to book an airline ticket; it helps travel inwardly, and in that interior domain reason and apparent nonsense work closely together, noticing and blending variables that would be ignored if one were using the rational mind alone. 

In addition, it is possible to actually visit the you whom you will most likely be in the future with the help of intuition, the one who is most fulfilled, and to ask that “probable” you what it took to get there, to be so radiant in your future personal and professional life. Here’s a little device to help you connect with your future self:

Imagine you are standing on a hill, perhaps at dusk, and you look over and see the lights of a distant town or village off in the distance. 
See yourself walking there (or driving or flying!) towards the inviting lights of that place in the future. When you get there, look around. What kind of place is this? Look at the locale, look at the people, if any. Where is it? What is going on generally?

Now look around the place until you find yourself somewhere there. Think of this future form of yourself in the third person for the time being: what is he or she doing? If this is a company, what is going on in the company, and what is your role in this? What is happening that is making you shimmer with delight, and making you radiate that delight outwards?

In this space outside of time, you can actually talk to that future version of yourself and ask that self what it is doing, and more importantly even, what it did in the past to create that present satisfaction and joy and fulfillment. Not only can you ask, but you can also get answers! From the perspective of this future self, this is an easy question to answer, as your present dilemma is now a part of its past, which was already resolved in one way or the other. The response will be something like, “Oh, that’s easy, I just…”

Because your present is your future self’s past, things are so much easier to look at, so detached from the emotion of the present crisis, that decision making becomes quite easy.

Take advantage of that future perspective, this experienced wisdom of that future self, to help you make decisions NOW. Play with probabilities and possibilities across time in this way and thrive.

As a professional intuitive I have the same kind of detachment that your future self has. Since time is equidistant on interior levels, I just “go there” look around and report. I may not actually get visual images the way you might if you took that mental journey, but the information comes from tuning into that future probability and reporting back with words that make sense to you instead of pictures.

If the scenario is desirable, I can know with compassion and detachment that a particular option or choice simply does not work the way you might have intended. I can also see multiple probabilities and futures in one sweeping look (and so can you!) This look may not necessarily be visual in a literal sense, although it could be, but the sense of contentment is unmistakable, and the circumstances of that contentment come pouring into my awareness, just as it can come rushing into yours.

This is decision making across time and space, in the nether reaches of the mind that can hold and visit numerous probabilities with total ease, all from that most important present moment.

When the present moment shifts – say you look at next week instead of today, or next year – that future self will adapt to your changed circumstances and interim decisions in the twinkling of an eye, adjust, and show you the best possible future self from that new place.

You can also have a conversation with that self across time, a conversation that occurs in the past as easily as the future, to notice and remove past blockages to fulfillment. Your conversation can be as general or detailed as you wish.

One nice little device when you visit the future in this way, is to mentally ask that future self for a gift, usually a small gift that can fit in the palm of your hand. Look at the gift in your mind’s eye, and hold it in your mental hand.

One day in your actual experienced future, the one that occurs inside of time, you will come across that gift, that object. When you do , you will recognize it immediately, and you will have a clue, a material indication, that you are indeed on the best path toward becoming the fulfilled future self you saw in your mental journey.

This is literally playing with time, and with the help of intuition you learn to play in the field of probabilities with absolute and concrete success. This process is somewhat tricky to describe in words, but quite easy to do, and great fun to experience. Bon voyage!

“The Bank That Rules…For Now”

In July and September 2008 I wrote the following in private emails in the midst of the looming national financial crisis. At the time, Wells Fargo was ranked approximately #5 overall among the top domestic commercial banks in terms of asset value and other criteria, with no expectation that it could overtake the largest commercial and investment banks located principally on the East Coast:

15 July 2008: “ The bank’s value [Wells Fargo’s] increases with each disaster.“
21 September 2008: “Wells is going to stay and lead, even beyond some of its larger sister and cousin institutions.”

Follow-up 25 May 2012 [almost 4 years later]:
Here is a short excerpt from Maxwell Fisher’s Motley Fool Bloggers Network longer article published on 24 May 2012, that merits my going “on the record” on this matter several years later:

From a CNN Money Alert, mentioning a Motley Fool article: “Wells Fargo is the King of Banking for Now” – 05/24/2012
<http://beta.fool.com/stockcroc1/2012/05/24/wells-fargo-king-banking-now/4737/?logvisit=y&published=2012-05-24&source=eptcnnlnk0000001&gt;

“In sharp contrast to the travails of its major competitors, Wells Fargo appears to have made, at least in my reckoning, several smart moves that distinguish its performance from the likes of Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM). It has focused on maintaining its dominant position in the mortgage market and its disciplined manner of functioning has enabled to avoid the worst excesses of the subprime fiasco while placing it in a good position to capitalize on the recovery of the US economy.  This indicates that the focus is on its core business and the first-quarter results are testimony to the success of the strategy.
Wells Fargo has also proved itself to be superior to its rivals in its PR strategy where large banks are generally regarded with suspicion and distrust because of the financial crisis of the last few years.  It has shown its willingness and eagerness to work with nonprofit organizations and has even won an award for its assistance to local communities.  I must confess that the same cannot be said of several other major banks.“

From a Motley Fool Article, 2 August 2012:
Wells Fargo Is the Last Bank Standing at a New High (WFC).

“The banking industry has not been a good place to invest over the past few years. Wells Fargo is the exception that proves the rule, as it is now the only major bank you can buy that’s had a positive performance since just before the housing bust:….”

[Update November 2020]

Wells paid the price of deviating from its mission and core values. When the internal voices that insisted on integrity left or were pushed out, the company went downhill fast, even though it took a few years for the results of those poor decisions to reach public awareness, with significant negative consequences. A customer service orientation supports, rather than threatens, a company’s bottom line. Period. So much for the emphasis on shareholder value when scandal after scandal rocks the markets and destroys trust. Should be pretty simple, but…

Drought and more… Updated 10 January 2013

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[Scroll to the end of the blog for most recent update entry]

From a private email written by me on 4 August 2011:

“There will also be earthquakes in unanticipated places, and a second dust bowl is possible in the heartland. Cornering the commodities markets continues and is in full swing. Prices skyrocket, especially for untainted seafood and drought-stricken grain.”

CNBC 11 July 2012:
“The U.S. government declared more than 1,000 counties in 26 states drought disasters, as the economic impact of the worst crop condition in 24 years begins to be felt….”

“The hardest hit areas have been across the southern and eastern areas of the corn belt. ‘We haven’t had a drought like this since 1988. We’ve had regional droughts, but nothing that goes from the Rockies to the Appalachians,’ said Shawn McCambridge of Jeffrey Backer.”

CNN 17 July 2012:
“The USDA has designated 39 additional counties in eight states as primary natural disaster areas due to damage and losses caused by drought and excessive heat, CNN’s Brianna Keilar reports. During the 2012 crop year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 1,297 counties across 29 states as disaster areas, making all qualified farm operators in the area eligible for low-interest emergency loans….”

“The U.S. is facing the largest drought since the 1950’s, The National Climatic Data Center reported Monday, saying that about 55% of the country was in at least moderate short-term drought in June for the first time since December 1956, when 58% of the country was in a moderate to extreme drought”

“…. June, which ranked as the third driest month nationally in at least 118 years…”

CNN 1 August 2012:
“More than half of all U.S. counties have been designated disaster zones, the Department of Agriculture reported Wednesday (1 August), blaming excessive heat and a devastating drought that’s spread across the Corn Belt and is contributing to rising food prices.…
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday declared disaster zone designations for an additional 218 counties in 12 states because of damage and losses caused by drought and excessive heat. See more by following the link below:

Historic Drought

CNN 21 August 2012:
“An 11-mile stretch of the Mississippi River near Greenville Mississippi, was closed Monday to most vessel traffic because of low water levels, idling nearly a hundred boats and barges in the stream, according to the U.S. Coast Guard….”

“A historic drought and excessive heat have reduced water levels and scorched wide sections of the U.S. Midwest. Flooding last year may have worsened the situation on the Mississippi by leaving deposits of silt and debris in areas that would normally be clear. [Coast Guard Spokesman] Tippiets [sic] said he was unsure when the river would reopen or, once that happens, how long it would take to undo the gridlock.”

CNN 21 August 2012:
“Record radiation found in fish near Fukushima Plant”

CNN 9 January 2013:
“Hundreds of U.S. counties named disaster areas due to #drought….The U.S. Agriculture Department cited drought and heat on Wednesday in designating 597 counties in 14 states as primary natural disaster areas….The announcement comes a day after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that 2012 had been the hottest year on the record for the continental United States and the second-worst for ‘extreme’ weather such as hurricanes, droughts or floods.”

Justin Gillis in the New York Times 10 January 2013. See full article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/science/earth/2012-was-hottest-year-ever-in-us.html?hpw&_r=0

“The numbers are in: 2012, the year of a surreal March heat wave, a severe drought in the Corn Belt and a huge storm that caused broad devastation in the Middle Atlantic States, turns out to have been the hottest year ever recorded in the continuous United States….With the end of the growing season, coverage of the drought has waned, but the drought itself has not. Mr. Crouch pointed out that at the beginning of January, 61 percent of the country was still in moderate to severe drought conditions. ‘I foresee that it’s going to be a big story moving forward in 2013,” he said.”

Defining Intuition My Way

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” John Muir

Intuition is a continuous signal providing  information about the nature of the world, the universe, the Whole or any of its component parts. I believe this signal to be comprised of energy “signatures” that operate in both material and non-material domains.

Intuition can reach beyond the past and present to identify, interpret, and actually create patterns in the future, as easily as it responds to those patterns in the here and now, or recognizes them from the past. Intuition is not bound by linear equations. The mind can bounce from one type of information or processing without skipping a beat, and can link the rational, emotional, intuitive, and analytical together as pearls in a single strand of necklace. Working in a domain outside space and time, intuition permits non-sequiturs and apparent nonsense to flow into the conscious mind without having to be linked rationally to any past pattern or action. In this unusual way, pivotal factors and elements that might otherwise be eliminated from consideration can be considered together, forming new and as yet unrecognizable patterns for the future.

In my view, and waxing a bit more poetic than rational, I believe that intuition is the non-verbal language of the soul of the cosmos. I call intuition language because its purpose is communication – within, between, and among parts of the whole – whatever the parts look like, act like, or become.

It is intuition that holds the whole together, moving in unison like the flock of birds flying south for the winter, dipping, diving, turning in mind boggling synchrony, heading sometimes for a destination they have never seen, but know exists.

•The knowing is intuition.

•The maneuvering is possible because of intuition.

•The destination calls to them through intuition.

•The pattern of flight is maintained through intuition.

•The sun and moon and weather talk to them through intuition.

Intuition is the call of the wild untamed heart, the raging river, and the precise movement of a sophisticated timepiece. It is organic and inorganic, elemental, biological, emotional, divine. Intuition is the language of HOME, the breath of the universe.

It is as if everything is held together by a colossal network that conducts signals instantaneously to any outpost of literally all that exists. It records the flapping of a butterfly’s wings, the travel of a photon, the heartbeat of lovers locked in ecstasy or battle, the rotation of suns and moons, the birth of stars and galaxies. Each particle, quantum, whatever that unit ultimately is determined to be, has its own signature and is aware of its own existence and the existence of all other units of the whole. It does not matter whether these units are identified individually or collectively as they change form and expression; their identity is inviolate and known by all others.

Business applications of intuition take special advantage of this “connection to the whole” to provide an intuitive edge for human resource decisions, new product development, and global financial markets. The developed hunch can flesh out the impact or consequences of decisions made now, thereby avoiding productivity or financial pitfalls in the future.

Because we are connected to the whole through our capacity for intuition, we can compute probabilities in a flash and identify the most probable outcome of any particular action or choice from any moment in time. What a boon to business!

Intuition is not a substitute for scientific inquiry; it is a different and additional tool using the inner senses rather than the outer ones. According to Carl Jung, “This term does not denote something contrary to reason, but something outside the province of reason.”

Intuition can provide foresight and insight into possible scientific discoveries before the technology or research have been developed to “prove” their reliability or validity. By their own admission, thoughtful scientists routinely use intuition, including scientists who have been widely acclaimed for certain mainstream discoveries. While it is not yet safe to name the use of this resource for fear of being ridiculed or dismissed professionally, the time is fast approaching when intuition can be an open partner to business and science, rather than its mistress.

The conscious use of intuition in everyday life, which I like to call seven “second decision making,” holds the promise of transforming the nature of personal, social, political, and business relationships. Paying attention to what we know without knowing how we know, and trusting that deep knowing, makes it easier to collaborate productively and harder to be fooled or manipulated. Learning the proper use of intuition may be a revolutionary act!

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