Intelligent Intuition and Inspiration

Once, while sitting in the waiting room of a doctor’s office, I picked up one of those freebie magazines that are often distributed by such places.  This one in particular had an article that caught my eye because it was talking about developing and following our intuition.  The magazine was Natural Awakenings from September of 2011, and the article was “A Path to True Insight:  Write from the Heart.”  According to the author, Nancy Rosanoff, “When we feel good and right about a decision, we often attribute it to having followed our intuition.”  But what happens when we have no intuition?

I am terrible about making decisions.  Any decision.  Even something as mundane as what to wear or what to eat for lunch that day.  I am often either overwhelmed by too many decisions, or else I can’t think of a single one.  So you can imagine how hard it is sometimes for me to start, much less complete a scrapbook page.  Especially one that has special significance, like the bridal page I did for my anniversary.  I have to get completely in my creative zone to get anything done, and even then I pull out some supplies and I stare at them.  I start on it, but then I second-guess myself and do something else.  I pull out all my stamps because I can’t decide which one I want to use. I can drag the simplest project out for hours due to my indecision.

There are some schools of thought that suggest people like me should just go with the first thing that comes to mind.  That might work for some, but not for me, because just as sure as I glue down that die-cut title, I will think up some better way to do it.  Then it is either too late to fix it, or it will require hours of work to change it.  I like the approach of the article, which encouraged readers to use writing to sort out the dilemma.

In the article, Rosanoff talks about developing your intuition using a 4-step writing exercise that helps to move our attention away from the details of a problem and into an awareness of what is truly needed.  Her steps are:

1. Write down your specific concern.
2. Below that, write “What I really want is…” and complete the sentence with your natural, immediate response.  Repeat this several times, completing the sentence with a different thought each time.
3. Next, write, “What this situation really needs is…” and complete it several times as before.
4. Be sure not to add “from me” to the sentences above – not even in your thoughts.

Rosanoff’s theory is that by allowing the ideas to flow through you and onto the page, it will help eliminate any confusion you might feel and will allow you to make choices based on harmony, clarity, and peace.

When I have a hard time working on a project due to my indecision, my wonderful hobby becomes a stressful task that I dread.  And if it is so stressful, why should I continue?  Applying Rosanoff’s steps might help me turn my crafting time from stressful to blissful.  What do you think?

Today’s 365 project is an art journal entry that I did a while back, but it comes much later than originally expected due to the simple fact that I got stuck on one of my entries.  There’s that indecision rearing its ugly head again.  I’m still searching for that inspiration.  I’m hoping these four little steps will help improve it!