I was putting together a workshop on intention and found myself revisiting the process of how we listen and respond to our inner intuition and guidance, or how we push it away, override it, or generally ignore it as we move through the day.  There is a constant flow of inspiration available to us if we pay attention, and it comes to us in different ways.

Sometimes, we have a thought or an idea drop in that perfectly answers a question we have, or a dilemma we need to solve.  Sometimes, inspiration arrives in a flash of an image that conveys to us a deep understanding we didn't have a moment before.  Sometimes we encounter a person or situation that reveals to us an answer we seek.  There are countless ways our intuition constantly communicates with us.  The challenge is how we can train ourselves to listen and then respond to what arrives in our conscious awareness that wasn't there a moment before.

And so, for this week's experiment, I invite you to pay attention to your relationship with your intuition, and with the moments of inspiration that arrive in your conscious awareness often when you least expect them.  For example, ask yourself questions and then let the question go, as if you were sending it out into your deeper consciousness the way you might send an email.  Imagine "Message Sent" and know that you've done your part for now.  Let go of thinking about the issue and then, perhaps later that day or some other time, notice what you may have discovered or experienced in relation to your question.

The key thing when courting and responding to your intuition is that you leave relaxed room for messages from your deeper guidance to arrive into conscious awareness.  What doesn't help is to work at receiving an answer, or to strain to listen.  The process is all about soft awareness, about being open and relaxed with your questions and with the easy stance with which you allow yourself to receive guidance from your deeper wisdom.

Recently, I was feeling pressed by a situation that felt very complicated and stressful.  I asked for help in resolving it - which I often do when I don't have an answer available - and then let it go.  Later that day, I realized that there was someone I could ask to help me with the situation and, coming from my background, the thought of asking for help was a new one.  When it dropped it, it's as though something that hadn't been on the radar suddenly was the only reasonable way to go.  It's as though reality shifted in that moment.  Just before, the option wasn't even in my universe of possibility; the next moment, it was the obvious solution and I couldn't imagine why I hadn't thought of it before.  That's how it can feel sometimes when you listen and respond.

As with all the experiments, this one is offered in the spirit of practice and exploration - an invitation to play with possibilities.  The key thing is to allow yourself to notice what helps you relax into releasing your question into the context of your deeper wisdom after you've formulated it - to give up having to "make" anything happen.

Remember to bring curiosity along as your constant companion, and have fun playing with listening and responding in whatever ways work for you.