An excerpt from Stop Checking Your Likes by Susie Moore
Your intuition is the inner pressing of the wiser you. It’s the still, small voice inside giving you direction. It’s the oldest, wisest part of you. Notice how every time someone gives you vacation recos, they’ll describe the best activities based on what they did. Their intentions are good, and suggestions are wonderful if you’re feeling them! But sometimes the pressure to “do all the things” in a new city is exhausting. You end up needing a holiday from your holiday. So if you got to Rome and you don’t really feel like seeing the Vatican, the Colosseum, or that “must-visit” gelato bar...don’t! So what? If you’d rather just drink Sangiovese, shop, eat pasta, and take in the atmosphere, then do that! It’s your holiday. And it belongs to you. The same goes for choosing a career, a city, even a couch.
Think of a time when you’ve trusted your intuition, even though it seemed to make no sense at all. What happened? Think of a time when you went against your intuition, because it didn’t seem sensible to follow it. What happened?
Direct Message
Think for a second and take a deep breath. What is that knowing? That something inside? That voice?
It’s your wise AF inner guidance. And no one else can tune in to it but you. It can help you with a million things — from choosing the right career path to meeting your life partner even to saving your life. Yep. It’s that vital.
Your Inner Pilot
You can listen to advice, yes. You can talk things out with people you trust. But only you can ever ultimately know what’s best for you at any moment. The question you want to ask yourself is, In this moment, am I letting my intuition guide me? No one knows what’s inside you, the same way that you don’t know what’s inside others. Your desires, intentions, and instincts are not felt by anyone but you. You have an inner pilot ready to drive your beautifully unique life forward...you just have to use it. It’s your greatest treasure.
Living a Self-Directed Life
Can you stop second-guessing yourself ? Even the most extraordinary among us, those we look to for guidance, have ordinary problems just like we do. Other people don’t know better, even though it can seem that way sometimes. And they certainly don’t know best when it comes to knowing what’s right for you. I’ll never forget the time I heard a well-known spiritual teacher say onstage, “I’ve written six self-help books and I’m a f*cking mess!”
This is where self-approval will save you a thousand times. When you can rely on your inner like button, you’ll be living a self-directed life. And unlike all those people on their deathbeds wishing they’d lived a life truer to themselves, you’ll reach that stage with far fewer regrets. And the sooner you can get there, the better for you. You don’t have to wait until you’re on your deathbed!
When you trust yourself, not only will you make better, aligned decisions, but you’ll have far more fun, too. Your inner guidance doesn’t just want to keep you safe. It wants you to have a rich, full, healthy, vibrant, playful life! Because the basis of a good life is joy, freedom, and personal progress. That is what the universe is always supporting. And using your brain, tradition, or societal rules alone can hinder that.
One January morning, when my regular yoga class became a mat-to-mat experience, I had to laugh a little at the universal New Year’s enthusiasm. But in this particular class, the teacher said something cool to all the newbies in the room: “If you lose your balance and fall, that’s perfect. If you don’t know the pose and have never heard Sanskrit before, that’s perfect, too. Just copy the rest of us and try your best. If you’re confused and regret coming at any time — also perfect! Just enjoy yourself. Explore your body’s limits. Play around.”
And as the class kicked off, I was surprised by something: the experienced yogis seemed to have the least fun of all. I noticed their furrowed brows, their discomfort when toppling during a standing balance, and their rushing ahead instead of flowing with the breath.
As for the newbies, one of them asked, “Hey, what’s an asana?” They were just throwing themselves in wholeheartedly, and it didn’t matter that they didn’t know the terminology. They had the most fun, and probably got the best workout, too. A couple of them even went for it with headstands — something I never even attempt after nearly ten years of going to classes! And it worked, dammit!
Again, take a breath and think of a time when that brain of yours entirely led the way. What happened?
Now take another breath and think of a time when your heart led you fully. What happened?
Reflecting on that for a moment, do you want more of those heart-driven, intuitive moments to create your life? Probably, right?
There’s nothing wrong with using your head. It’s an amazing decision-making filter that keeps you safe and helps you make sound decisions. But the brain isn’t pro-experimentation. It’s not willing to look stupid, take a risk, or make a mistake. Our heads like routine and the perceived security it brings us. But not every decision needs to be sensible. Pure sensibleness blocks opportunity. The universe gave us a brain and a heart. We need to use both in making decisions.
So what’s the heart like as a guide? Well, it doesn’t overthink. It feels. It goes where it’s called. And who knows where that can take you? Maybe something as unexpected as a successful headstand (that would’ve taken your brain more than a decade to arrive at).
Instant Intuition
If you’re still feeling stuck, here’s a potent Instant Intuition technique that will help you make the right decision:
Sit down comfortably.
Take a few deep breaths to clear your mind and settle the body.
Close your eyes.
Visualize your first option. See yourself moving forward with this choice. Picture it happening in the present moment in vivid color. Imagine the activity, the outcome, the ripple effects.
Keep breathing, and notice how your body feels and responds.
Now visualize your second option. See yourself moving forward with this choice. Picture it happening in the present moment in vivid color. Imagine the activity, the outcome, the ripple effects.
Keep breathing, and notice how your body feels and responds.
If there’s a third and fourth option, keep going until you’ve covered them all.
Which option made your body relax? That’s the best decision for you.
See? Your body will support you in making the right choices. Your body houses around 30 to 40 trillion of the most intelligent cells on earth! Respect them!
Anything that creates a spark of curiosity within us or generates some desire that typically lies dormant is often our intuition guiding us to say yes to more. Human beings are different from all other animals. We have the gift of higher consciousness and the ability to make choices using both our instincts and our intellect. We have this wildly helpful thing called instinct, and a brain that’s smarter than any computer that exists. We can feel and think. We can understand doubt, process it, and use our intellect to reason. And when you use everything that’s available to you, you’ll never have to blame anyone else again. You realize how powerful you are in creating your life. And you won’t let yourself down.
Susie Moore is the author of Stop Checking Your Likes and What If It Does Work Out? which was named by Entrepreneur as one of the “8 Business Books Entrepreneurs Must Read to Dominate Their Industry.” A former Silicon Valley sales director turned life coach, she has been featured on The Today Show, as well as in O Magazine, Business Insider, Forbes, Time, and Marie Claire. She lives in Miami, Florida with her husband Heath and their Yorkshire Terrier, Coconut. Find out more about her work at www.Susie-Moore.com.
Excerpted from the book Stop Checking Your Likes. Copyright ©2020 by Susie Moore. Printed with permission from New World Library.