Jeffrey, senior director of engineering at a consumer electronics company, was talking with Mary, his chief technology officer.

“You always seem so calm,” Jeffrey said. “Everyone is running around like chickens with their heads cut off, and you’re sedately floating through the situation, bringing everything back into order. How do you do it?”

“Well, I’m not always so calm as I evidently appear,” Mary said. “I’m glad my efforts at stability are paying off. I’ve been working on that for a long time.”

“What’s your secret? Meditate every morning? New age music? Woowoo crystals under your desk?”

Mary laughed. “You’ve seen my office. I learned long ago that I need sparse surroundings and total quiet to do my best work. Not many people would call my morning exercise routine meditation. It focuses me, though, and keeps me sharp all day. That does all help my stability. What most helps me keep an even keel during turbulent waters, though, is trusting my intuition.”

Your intuition connects you with everything around you

“Listening to your gut is why you seem so confident amid chaos?”

“Not just my gut. My heart, mind, and spirit, too. I do check in with them frequently. But, it’s more than that. I’ve learned to combine them with a fifth sense that guides me to the right action.”

“You’ve talked about your Council of Counsel before. I always got the sense you rely on them to keep you on the right path. You’re saying there’s a fifth member?”

“Yes. I’ve just been discovering this in the last few months. You know how quantum physics has this theory of spooky action at a distance? Where particles can affect each other across vast distances?”

“Yes, I’ve heard about that.”

“My intuition is kind of like that. Imagine you had a direct connection to every person in the company. That you instantly knew what they were thinking and observing. And that you had the same connection to every one of our customers. And competitors. And everyone else impacting our business.”

“I’d know about problems the second anyone noticed them. So, we could react to changes much faster, and more accurately.”

“Exactly. My intuition works kind of like that. Not that I know what all of our people are noticing, let alone what they’re thinking. That would be a different kind of spooky. But, I do feel connected with everything around me. I’m learning how to read that connection and act on what it’s telling me.”

Your intuition warns you of dangers ahead

“This all seems pretty woowoo. I’d feel embarrassed telling my partner I’m learning how to read the minds of my employees and customers.”

“It’s not about reading their minds. It’s about reading the connections you already have.”

“Now you’re sounding like Ben Kenobi talking about the Force.”

“Let me give you an example. Last weekend, I was driving some twisty country roads. I hadn’t seen anyone else for hours. Suddenly I had this urge to move into the oncoming lane. Dangerous, right? No one in their right mind would do this. Especially with all the twists and turns. Still, I felt compelled to move over. A moment later, I came around a curve and discovered a crashed car completely blocking the lane I had just moved out of. If I had listened to reason and stayed in my lane, I would have plowed right into it.”

“That’s pretty dramatic.”

“I can barely believe it myself. And it happened to me.”

“So, your intuition, connected to everything around you, saw the wreck you could not and told you to get out of the way.”

“Yep. And that’s why I’m so much more stable during chaos these days. My intuition is helping me navigate a safe path.”

Strengthen your intuition through practical practice

“Wow.” Jeffrey paused a beat, then continued, “You said you’ve been working on stability for a long time. Do you mean you’ve been practicing listening to your intuition?”

“Absolutely. Every day.”

“How do you do that? Waiting for high-stakes situations like you just described seems pretty risky.”

“Indeed. There’s a simple, no-risk way to get started, though: ask your intuition anytime you need to make a decision.”

“Even silly things like which socks and tie to wear?”

“Especially silly things like that. No bad consequences if you get that wrong.”

“Well, having might everyone laugh at me.”

“Let’s change ‘no consequences’ to ‘bearable consequences’ then,” Mary laughed.

“So, any decision. Which clothing to wear. What to scrub when in the shower. Which direction to turn when I’m out walking my neighborhood. Which movie to watch with my kids.”

“All great opportunities to practice your intuition.”

Invite your intuition in

“Okay, let me check that I have this straight,” Jeffrey said. “Our intuition connects us with everything around us. It helps us sense what is most likely to help us move forward in our best way. We can practice listening to our intuition by asking it about all the trivial decisions we make each day.”

“Got it in one.”

“This still seems pretty woowoo,” Jeffrey said. “But, it’s clearly working for you. I’m going to try this. Worst case, everyone makes fun of me for my clothing choices.”

“You can always check what your intuition says with the rest of your Council,” Mary pointed out.

“And when it comes to my clothing, my partner,” Jeffrey chuckled.