Accessing "Your" Intuition...
... is accessing our Collective Embodied Wisdom
Inside: A discussion of what intuition is, how to access it, and a follow along 12 minute video to help you do it!
Tuesday on the Live Chat we had a great conversation about intuition. We wrestled with personal questions (like what to do if you’re not getting along with your room-mate), and collective questions, like, “What do we do collectively when facing the type of devastation and pain we’re seeing in places like Gaza, and around the world?”
First we came up with a working definition for what intuition is:
Intuition is a felt sense of knowing that does not rely on reason or logic as its basis. It is the wisdom of the life force within us, our connection to ancestral memories, and the skills gained through all our sensory experiences. Intuition always leads us towards deep relationship with all our collective kin, and towards liberation for all beings.
Through intuition we tap into the embodied wisdom of the collective. We receive knowledge from all beings that have gone before us, the knowledge that rises through the roots of the trees and rides with the wind.
Intuition resides in the collective Eros. (High five to Derek for naming eros!)
Intuition requires slowness and deep listening. We have to quiet down enough to be able to recognize our embodied yes.
In our 24/7 capitalist lifestyle, we are driven away from our intuition through constant distraction arising from what Jonathan Crary (in his book Scorched Earth: Beyond the Digital Age to a Post-Capitalist World) calls The Internet Complex.
In that book, Crary makes the argument that rather than being liberatory, the Internet relies upon – and fuels – late-stage capitalism. When capitalism falls, the Internet will also fall. Late-stage capitalism needs urgency and distraction, which the Internet creates, to stir up constant chaos SO THAT WE DON’T slow down enough to act on our intuition.
Mystery Cult-er, Melissa P. observed that, “Urgency is capitalism’s love language.” (LOLBCI)
Lately I’ve taken to calling capitalist colonialism the Necrostate, because it runs on death and destruction. Destruction of ecosystems, family systems, indigenous systems, living systems in general.
The Necrostate destroys living systems, feeds on the carcass, then moves on to the next system - until finally there will be nothing left.
But using our intuition taps us into the Embodied Wisdom of the Collective. Our intuition comes to us in service of the life force itself.
Our intuitive work is heartwork, and we must take our heartwork seriously.
We must take it out into our lives and plant it, in our relationships, in our daily actions, with commitment to each other, and to the more-than-human world. Any time we do that, our efforts work to enhance life, pleasure, beauty, health, and vitality for all beings.
As we practice calling in Collective Embodied Wisdom, we are strengthening the power of the life force, which is love, within and around us.
When we slow down and listen to our intuition, the life force grows stronger.
Even though our intuition may not always take us down the easiest and most convenient path, it will always lead us down the path that is in the greatest service of life — both our own lives, and the life of the interdependent web of all beings.
Luckily, intuition is a skill we can all develop. It’s our birthright just for being alive.
How to Access Intuition / Collective Embodied Wisdom
Intuition is a tool, it’s a literal practice. To get good at any practice, you need to know the steps, and then, err… you need to DO them.
When I was learning guitar, the steps to practice for half an hour were: tune the guitar, warm up with scales, choose a section of music I was having difficulty with and practice it for 10 minutes, then, finally, play the full song and enjoy it for the last 10 minutes.
Knowing the steps is CRUCIAL, especially if you’re an art witch with ADHD like me. I really avoid practicing things (even things I really want to do ) if I have to think too hard about how to go about doing it.
For me, with ADHD making decisions is where I get lost and distracted, so the fewer decisions I have to make, the better.
Below I’ve shared a video with the steps I use to access my own intuition, it’s 12 minutes long and it can help you answer any question you have about anything your heart longs to know. Hope you find it helpful!
Love,
Amanda
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Special thanks to all of the folks who contributed to the Live Chat on Tuesday: Elise, Mayra, Birte, Derek, Ashley, Rebecca, Anja, Sara, Samantha, Leo, Holly, Ayla, Rachel, Gaayathri, Melissa, Laura, Jill, Pablo, and anyone else who was there whose name I missed here. I’m still thinking about that rich convo!
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My friend
went to Palestine last year and became friends with a Palestinian grandmother who makes soap in Jerusalem and sells it to tourists, but since the genocidal ethnic cleansing of Gaza, tourism has come to a complete halt.You can directly support a Palestinian elder buy purchasing a package of ten of these beautiful soaps for $100. 100% of that money goes directly to her! You can find out more here. Or just Venmo Dana directly @dana-balicki
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