2 Steps for the intuition-guided life

Follow your intuition, listen to your gut, trust your Inner Voice… Sounds very simple and natural, but on the other hand how do we actually do it? 

That’s what I was thinking about walking in the forest… Those who know me, know that Intuition is one of the topics I am passionate about and I would like to demystify it and help us all to use more of this innate wisdom for our Leadership and Life journeys (It surely won’t hurt to un-dust and fine-tune of our build-in intuitive GPS to keep up with the evolution of the AI). 

Back to the actual topic – It all comes down to two major steps:

1. Receiving the message – hearing/feeling/seeing/sensing – and getting clear on what it is saying, what exact direction it is pointing you towards – some practice in decoding the language of your internal wisdom council could be needed. 

2. Acting on it – trusting it enough to allow it to be the strongest voice in your inner boardroom and following its guidance – letting your inner GPS actually lead you. This is usually the hardest step to do. Your Intuition is seldom the loudest voice in your head, but always the wisest.

What step are you more adept at? – hearing and decoding the message your inner guidance is trying to get you or following through on it – or both, or none, or you have no clue what it is all about… 

Taking Fun Seriously

Why don’t we take fun more seriously? Can personal development and life be more fun?

This topic came out from the two interesting conversations that I had last week, one with a coaching colleague, another one with a client, hight potential female leader. 

What came out was that we take everything seriously, often too seriously. I have nothing against being logical, responsible and a matter of fact. There are surely situations that call for seriousness, rolling-up-your-sleeves and a stern look at your face.

Bringing more fun and joy into our lives could be one of them. It might be time, to take fun and joy seriously, very very seriously. Because it feels like there is a sever deficiency of child-like fun and a heart-felt joy. The last two become endangered spies in our emotional gardens, it feels like fear and anxiety took over the gardens of our hearts… Narrowing the whole purpose of our existence to a sheer survival of a next crisis, of inflation, of the puberty of your kids, midlife crisis, of your job until the retirement…

I would like to encourage all of us (who isn’t a natural in enjoying life and co-creating with it) to take fun seriously and become very diligent about incorporating a good dose of fun (ok, at the beginning a homeopathic doses will do) into your professional and personal life starting this spring.  There is nothing more important for our well being, success and happiness than being able to shift gears and tune into fun, joy and creativity of our lives. 

Just try it. It most probably will be quite hard, scary and nervwrecking if you are not used to it. A tons of to-dos will come up, what others will think, I don’t have time… Fun requires courage, letting go out control, being playful and completely present. So having fun isn’t for the fainted of hearts nowadays. Having fun is a serious task that will pay off. 

It will pay off with more creativity, insights, efficiency, energy, joy, increased resilience, better relationships and even improved leadership skills (just think about a leader whom you admire…) and most importantly with a very precious feeling of being truly alive.

What is your way to be silly, to do nonsense and to tickle some serious laughter out of your (Buddha) belly? 

And by the way having fun, is a great way to turn into your intuition and creativity. So I am off to following my own advice and it’s scary as s… for a (slowly) recovering control freak. Truly yours. 

Taking Fun Seriously

Why don’t we take fun more seriously? Can personal development and life be more fun?

This topic came out from the two interesting conversations that I had last week, one with a coaching colleague, another one with a client, hight potential female leader. 

What came out was that we take everything seriously, often too seriously. I have nothing against being logical, responsible and a matter of fact. There are surely situations that call for seriousness, rolling-up-your-sleeves and a stern look at your face.

Bringing more fun and joy into our lives could be one of them. It might be time, to take fun and joy seriously, very very seriously. Because it feels like there is a sever deficiency of child-like fun and a heart-felt joy. The last two become endangered spies in our emotional gardens, it feels like fear and anxiety took over the gardens of our hearts… Narrowing the whole purpose of our existence to a sheer survival of a next crisis, of inflation, of the puberty of your kids, midlife crisis, of your job until the retirement…

I would like to encourage all of us (who isn’t a natural in enjoying life and co-creating with it) to take fun seriously and become very diligent about incorporating a good dose of fun (ok, at the beginning a homeopathic doses will do) into your professional and personal life starting this spring.  There is nothing more important for our well being, success and happiness than being able to shift gears and tune into fun, joy and creativity of our lives. 

Just try it. It most probably will be quite hard, scary and nervwrecking if you are not used to it. A tons of to-dos will come up, what others will think, I don’t have time… Fun requires courage, letting go out control, being playful and completely present. So having fun isn’t for the fainted of hearts nowadays. Having fun is a serious task that will pay off. 

It will pay off with more creativity, insights, efficiency, energy, joy, increased resilience, better relationships and even improved leadership skills (just think about a leader whom you admire…) and most importantly with a very precious feeling of being truly alive.

What is your way to be silly, to do nonsense and to tickle some serious laughter out of your (Buddha) belly? 

And by the way having fun, is a great way to turn into your intuition and creativity. So I am off to following my own advice and it’s scary as s… for a (slowly) recovering control freak. Truly yours. 

Intuition on Vacation

Summer is a great time to relax, recharge your energy, explore new places, enjoy the warm weather (actually I am absolutely done with enjoying this enormous heat, but lets stay positive or at least sane and continue…), and to give your intuition extra attention and time.

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Here are some ideas how to please this mysterious lady called Intuition:

1. Intuition is a very freedom loving lady – she loves to follow her own schedule.  Throw away your planner, alarm clock and “I am a perfect organiser”-side-of -your-personality and let your intuition design a day or at least an evening for you.
2. Intuition is also extremely fond of spontaneity – together with a time plan, throw away any preconceived free-time ideas – let your intuition show you new ways to make the best out of your summer evenings – see where she will lead you – to what places you will be attracted, where do you what to linger longer, where you would like to stay for life….
3. Intuition is incredibly intelligent and this intelligence usually expresses itself through your precious body. Try your best to switch of your head during vacation or your work-free time (don’t chop it off, although sometimes it seams like an easier way), and let your (probably very sweaty) body lead  – before making a choice close your eyes and imagine where your body wants to be, with whom, how long…then follow its wisdom and go there…

 

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Giving your intuition extra time and attention is also a great opportunity for self-exploration – to spend some time with your wonderful Self and to get to know it a little bit better. Additionally,  intuition takes your leadership skills to the next level. If this is not a wonderful side effect, I don’t know what is:

“Intuition, balanced with rational analysis, is a key capacity of the Creative Mind. Developing it opens us to uncommon insight, wisdom, and creative capacity for innovation. Creative Leadership is courageous, authentic, purpose-driven, visionary, strategic, emotionally intelegent, and inspirational.All of this is informed by intuition” – Mastering Leadership by Robert Anderson and William Adams

Truly Yours

P.S. Due to extremely hot weather and my melted brains, please excuse any typos or nonsense ideas, leave only extremely flattering comments, don’t ask any deep questions and come over for a glass of cooled German Riesling. If this weather won’t change soon, my next post will be about effects of a Capuccino-Ice-Cream-Riesling – diet.

PP.S. All of the above, not especially profound but genuine insights, were inspired by my own experiences while exploring Singapore, Bali and Lombok this July . “Letting go of control “ was my intention for the whole trip. It meant letting go of unnecessary plans, expectations and micromanaging the trip of my wonderful family.  Letting the higher wisdom of my intuition take the lead instead. It proved to be very challenging. So I’m still working on controlling less and trusting my intuition more…

 

What I learned from Basquiat about art, creativity and intuition

How is this art? My son asked, as he saw a trailer about the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition “Boom for real” in Frankfurt. From the viewpoint of a teenager, he surely had a point.

So I was very eager to find out how it is  art and why did Jean-Michel Basqiuat become one of the most important artists of the 20^th Century at the age of 19?

This what was revealed to us by an amazing art historian Lauren F. as she guided us through the Schirn exhibition of Basquiat’s masterpieces, books, letters and memorabilia:

• Basquiat believed in the mission of the art not just to provide a sense of beauty but to challenge the status quo and to hold a frank, often very unpleasant mirror to the society by addressing the topics of racism, prejudice, police violence…
• Basquiat challenged the artistic establishment by becoming a famous artist despite his young age, race and absence of any formal education (he didn’t even have a high school diploma and went his own way)
• Basquiat  possessed an incredible power of believing in himself  from am early age – “Why wait for others to give you a crown, if you can give yourself one”- and chose a crown as his symbol (talking about personal brand:))
• There are surely many more captivating facts about him but these three fascinated me the most

For me, it is a great example of a courageous genius, with a hugely developed intuition to know himself and sense the pulse of time so accurately. It inspired me to write this article, to give myself a crown of being good enough, to be more spontaneous, creative and playful (at least for a couple of moments ).. and challenge my own status quo more often…

I wish, we all could be a little bit more of an artist, a little bit more creative, and a little bit more daring in our daily lives by:

• feeling what needs to be changed and going for it
• giving ourselves a crown (or at least being more kind and compassionate to ourselves) instead of waiting for others to grant us a permission or give an approval
• and allow the power of our intuition to inspire, guide and propel us forward.

“Let the season be merry and bright”

Let the season be merry and bright. Let the season be.  Let the life be. Let it be ok just as it is.  Let’s assume just for a moment that it IS already ok. It might be messy, full of uncertainty and far from ideal. But it is, so let it be. Let it be ok.

It might be that you are among the lucky once and your life is absolutely wonderful right now.  Enjoy and let it be ok as well without any feelings of guilt, fears that it won’t last and “I don’t deserve it”s. Everything is Ok exactly as it is.

Let our loved once be ok exactly as they are. Perfectly Ok. (yes, even with all their annoying habits and traits that come popping up every holiday season).

And now assume that we are also ok. Ok with all our shortcomings and non-achievements. Ok with all our brilliant and dark sides, beautiful and ugly ones. Let’s just assume we are ok and give ourselves a gift of self-acceptance and compassion.

Let’s stop struggling with the questions and doubts and just for a couple of days in this magical for all religions season live into open door of answers. Let’s assume just for a couple of days that the answers have been there long before we asked the questions. Let’s assume that Life with all that is right now is perfect as it is and provides all the answers.

Let’s get out of our heads for a couple of days and let be, feel, laugh, smile, taste, smile again, hug, hear, cry, listen… Out of the heads with all their worries, fears, struggles, grudges, doubts, regrets, and expectations and into the open spaces of our hearts full of love, joy and light…

Let YOUR season be merry and bright, full of magic and light!

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

 

Stuck on a project? 4 steps to get ideas and intuiton to flow again

Stuck on a project? Intuition and Creativity aren’t flowing? Ideas aren’t coming?

Just yesterday I experienced such a moment of stuck-ness. The deadline for submitting an application was approaching at a speed of the lightning (exactly when I needed it time to slow down and to take on more mindful attitude the most). And my creative juices didn’t want to flow no matter what I did (going to the fridge, checking e-mails, meditating, surfing on FB, going to the kitchen again wasn’t producing usual results…), and the clock was ticking…without any good ideas paying me a

Sounds familiar?

You are stuck in a face of a decision, deadline, an important choice and you seem not to be able to connect to that illusive gut feeling, that fleeting intuition, that fabled creativity. They just rudely  refuse to talk to you and to give you a so badly needed answer, inspiration or idea when you need it the most to finish your project on time?

What to do to get these moody “divas” to talk to you again:

1. Realize that something is in your way and your are definitely stuck – stop hitting your head against the wall, (going to the cafe corner, grabbing a snack, checking LinkedIn or FB …), ok? Stop.

1. Re-assess – look at the situation once again, now from an observer perspective (once you calmed down) –  maybe it’s not a wall but a door you have been bumping your head against it with all your might without noticing it?

1. Recognize the answer is there – most probably your intuition and creativity aren’t blocked at all, they are trying to give you an answer. But the answer is so unexpected, unusual, unconventional, uncomfortable that you simply overlook it and don’t recognize for what it is.

1. Risk to act on the answer, idea, insight you are getting – pull the handle and open the new door instead of damaging it with your head – and see you creative juices flowing again…most probably in a very different direction.

If you would like to get some support in getting unstuck to figure out what your intuition is trying to convey, feel free to schedule a free sample session: ttps://my.timetrade.com/book/3QP8

Safe Harbor

Yesterday, as I hiked with my family through the picturesque Calanques of Cassis, a wonderful tiny harbor caught my camera. And an old phrase “Safe Harbor” jumped to mind. Safe Harbors in our lives and my coaching.

Having a safe harbor is a wonderful thing, it’s a place to re-charge, re-connect, clean and maintain our boat…. All in preparation for the next journey to some big waters of an open sea. This is the sole purpose of the harbor. Boats never were meant to stay there for ever. Never.

Similar,  none of us has been created for staying in our comfort zones, our Safe Harbors, forever. There are times and situations where we need our harbors to relax, recenter and reenergize. Although more often then not, we tend to linger in these cozy familiar harbors longer than we actually need to. And the longer we stay there, the harder it gets to get your boat off the anchor and put on the sail…

So I am curios in what areas of your life you have stayed in your comfort zone long enough (maybe even much longer than enough, much much longer…)? A good indicator that you have overextended your stay in your comfort zone is when you even forgot the smell of the open sea, you think the safe harbor is all that is…and, most importantly, the joy and excitement have started to fade away and to leave your deck. ( Although, for some of us it could also be a time to return to their harbor to recharge and recenter? )

Where is the boat of your Life right now? What is your next destination? Where you actually want it to be by the end of this year?

If you would like some company on your side, to help you to clear your map, to turn in your compass and to raise your sail, I would be delighted to hear from you and to introduce you to my beloved waters of Co-active Coaching and Leadership. Please feel free to schedule a sample session with me at: ttps://my.timetrade.com/book/3QP8

My own boat is also ready to get out into the sea… It’s about time to feel my own sails with excitement and a thrill of adventure. The next destination this year is to dive even deeper into the world of intuitive action and to connect from an open heart to Life and as many people on the way as possible…

Intuition over Fear – another test-drive

“Follow my intuition” I wanted, “develop my spiritual side” I claimed. Another opportunity to choose my intuition over my fears presented itself this week in a form of decision about attending a silence retreat… (This internal battle of yesterday might be a good illustration of how our saboteurs interfere with our intuition)

Silence retreat  – what a big deal?! –  sign up, join a bunch of “wacky hippies” who are always searching for something, shut up for a week and don’t sweat about it. There is even no need to prepare, everyone who can sit and keep quite is qualified (…ok, you should have  sat cross-legged and “closed eyed” battling your thoughts, back pain and sleep as you chased nirvana at least for a while).

Surely, nothing scary…an exiting opportunity to meet myself and boost my awareness… will surely do it… some day…when there is more time, money, knowledge, stability, security…So I thought, until a silence retreat threatened to become a reality.

My intuition jumped on that wagon and said: “Yes”! That is it!”as a meditation teacher recommended a silence retreat that starts tomorrow.  I gladly obeyed and signed up. That spontaneous act woke up all my old fears that were happily dozing away (recovering from my oversharing and writing…).  And I thought they were gone, these dark days of occupation by my saboteurs. I secretly hopped, I will only witness them from a side as I help my clients and friends…  Probably, I needed a good reminder of how it actually feels…

For a day, there was a battle between my light-hearted intuition and my common sense inner critics that almost paralyzed my every day activities. My saboteur disguised as my voice of reason pulled out his whole arsenal:

First came the guilt – good and responsible mom doesn’t leave her children during the summer break, as well as a good wife doesn’t leave a side of her husband for such nonsense (didn’t even know this pre-historic thinking was still in my head).

Financial insecurities followed – look at the instability in Europe, it is pure self indulgence to spend money on meditation and silence, just wait when a finical situation in the world  is more stable, and actually think about your financial situation…(then you can throw money away and don’t even need to exchange it for silence)

Fear of meeting my inner demons, my dark sides, seeing my true self, and at the same time a  fear of disappointment – what if I don’t have any incredible inner encounters and won’t make any progress..

Fear of finally finding out that I’m really no good in what I’m drawn to (how did the competitiveness and the achievement drive manage to sneak even here?!), etc.

They all came! Not even one was too lazy. (I wish all my thoughts would be this flint and handy when I need to do some less exiting stuff).

Then the army of the doubts marched ahead:  – is it a good program? a suitable time? a perfect teacher for me ? will I get out what I want?… maybe it’s better to wait, there are surely some even better and more impactful silence retreats  – just take your time and look around (so the doubts could have even more fun watching me to struggle though a multiple choice…)

The whole gang was accompanied by a loyal couple Mr. “Make everything perfect” and Mrs. “Fear of failure”.

There I was,  going through the day magnetized by this great internal parade. Until my saboteur crossed the line and culminated the show with his last shot  – forget all the nonsense about intuition and  spirituality, get back to earth and get real.

To attack what I am just starting allowing myself to embrace was a fatal mistake of my saboteur and a turning point of the battle. My internal and external discussions  (huge thanks to all my intimate friends who beared with me yesterday) were suddenly over.

From this point, a clarity emerged, a clarity to use another chance to follow my intuition, to honor my desires, a clarity that I want to dare, dare to fall and grow some wings  as I do (or to land painfully on my butt – I know, there are no guarantees except a sure death at some point).

It might be not an absolutely perfect silence retreat, not a perfect time, it might not bring all the insights I am longing for, I am spending too much money on a personal development this year (trying to make up for all these years I denied myself even to be interested in this stuff), etc…

And maybe, just maybe it is one of legitimate ways to approach life – follow intuitive urges, follow my heart, my curiosity, go through the valleys of fear… and trust that it will be good for something at the end…

An open heart

Is your heart open? Can you feel it? Do you know what it is saying?

Our heart always knows the truth, the right decision, the perfect choice… it knows all. But somewhere along the life path we lose the connection. The heart knows and we don’t. We got busy in our lives, our jobs, our relationships, we don’t know what a right design is, what offer to accept, what kinds of food to eat, how to raise our children, being really intimate with our partners, deeply connect to others, talk to a friend in need…

One of the reasons we don’t dial the line to our hearts is fear. We are scared to death. Because one day long time ago we did, we listened, we opened it and it hurt so much.  So much that we cut the line and closed some doors in our hearts for certain situations, certain kind of people, certain feelings. We closed up a certain area of our sensitive hearts, locked it tight, and over time forgot even where we put the key.

Little we know that with all the pain we locked away the same amount of joy, love and compassion. Years passed by, we have forgotten the door ever existed. We complied, adapted and moved on to the countless hours that didn’t hurt but didn’t feel like anything either (like this taste-free, calorie-free, any sensation-free crackers). Years of tasteless, life-less moments that just passed by…

Until a major crisis, a separation, an illness, (in best case an enlightened teacher or great training course), etc.  – banged on that tightly closed door – unexpectedly and brutally.  Suddenly the parts of our hearts that we locked away screamed up und caused enormous pain. And although it sounds that only the pain is screaming, the voices of love, joy and compassion are in the chorus as well. We only have a hard time recognizing them…

At this point, I guess all we need is just genuinely listen. Listen directly into the wounded heart past all the circumstances that caused the crisis. Sit with it, breath, cry and listen. Listen to the pain we locked away many years ago and thought we had dealt with it because we were too little, we didn’t know how, we needed to survive and adapt. Now it’s our responsibility to take all our maturity, courage and resources and find the way to look into our hearts and maybe for the first time in our lives have a real conversation with our heart. Because it’s also our responsibility to free that love, joy, humility and compassion that we locked away years ago.

If there is no major crisis in sight,  it’s time for a self-initiated inspection. (In that unfortunate case we have to relay on our self-motivation again and may want to hire a coach). We don’t need to start with the very old and painful doors. Maybe open at first those that are less scary, less dusty. Letting out some light and joy.

Maybe it’s not the purpose to guard ourselves from pain and hurt simultaneously, robbing us of any love and joy. Maybe the purpose is to experience all to the fullest? Maybe it’s about letting our hearts train us through marathons and sprints and intervals of life. Becoming ultra athletes of living from open hearts, living full and real lives full of vulnerability and  intimacy,  passion and joy, peaks and valleys?