Practical Intuition

“As the end of the second millennium draws near, the limitations of logic, rationality and the ‘scientific method’ as sole means of guiding our lives are becoming all too painfully clear. Increasingly our world is turning to modes of perception and understanding that don’t rely on evidence presented to our senses, modes such as intuition and faith.

“Intuition should be an integral part of your life, like exercise or meditation. . . You develop your intuition by applying it consciously through practice . .

“It has been said that each individual’s life boils down to a single question. Your life is the living of that question, the search for its answer and personal significance. . . You do this not by gaining information from empirical sources, but by questioning yourself and unearthing knowledge you didn’t know you possessed. . . The questions lead us to places unfamiliar and then make these places known to us.

“An insightful psychotherapist once said to me, ‘You want answers to questions that only you could think to ask.’ . . The function of intuition is to lead us to these answers. The function of the mind and heart is to formulate the questions.

“. . . you are already intuitive. You access your ‘sixth sense’ unconsciously all the time. . . You have the ability -- right now -- to get useful information instantly on any topic at any time, whether intellectually you know anything about it or not. This book will help you develop your conscious control over this amazing facility.

“. . . intuitive information often ‘does not make sense,’ especially when it involves the future. As a result, we train ourselves to dismiss it. . . So the key to developing your intuition is no mystery. It’s simply a matter of learning how and where to shift your attention.

“It’s crucial that you become aware of how your logical mind tends to censor your intuitive impressions. A common way this happens is for your mind to label them as ‘interference,’ ‘projections’ or ‘just my imagination.’ These labels are judgments. They are the result of your logical mind asserting itself when it’s forced to work without information.

“Intuition is nothing more than a process of gaining information that does not rely on your senses, your memory, your experience, your feelings, or your other thought processes -- though it does rely on these to interpret that information.

“Intuition simply knows. Instantly. Where reason plods, intuition proceeds in flashes. Intuition gets glimpses of reality in bits and pieces, usually as symbols. These symbols must then be interpreted and assembled for a coherent picture to emerge. . . . Intuitive information doesn’t replace ‘hard facts’; it adds new facts by providing information beyond the reach of traditional methods, such as logic. . . when I need to problem-solve and the information eludes me . . . I sit down, take a deep breath and wait for the answer to arrive.”

--Practical Intuition: How to Harness the Power of Your Instinct and Make It Work for You by Laura Day