Wisdom grows from life experiences. Own your pain and give up your long suffering. Keep your strengths and grit and court your softness and inner guidance through the grace of intuition.

The Land Beyond Intellect

I’ve been asked why I named my book beyond intellect instead of unleash the power of your intuition. That’s a fair question, so I thought I’d try to answer it.

We live in a task-oriented, skill-based society. After the question, “What is your name?” is answered; the next question is usually, “What do you do?” Normally our intellect is the designated driver, as we speed down the highway of life following the road signs that will lead us, as quickly as possible, to more and bigger accomplishments.

Intuition is not a skill. It is not one more way to establish how right we are and how much we know. Intuition is not a GPS navigation system to relieve us from having to stop and ask for directions or take the time out to assess where we are going and why so fast.

When we are willing to allow all aspects of ourselves to commune, we begin to form new and varied opportunities to receive specific and timely insights. When we allow our intellect to take the co-pilot position, it can finally rest from its never-ending problem solving, and daydream for a bit. When we encourage our intellect to relax, then our imaginative mind can be rekindled, rejuvenated, and renewed.

When we have amassed enough answers and are secure enough within, it becomes timely to ask ourselves the deeper questions that go beyond self-centered, or other-centered, to the place where soul-centered resides.

When our lives are moving at breakneck speeds, and our eyes are rigidly locked on future external goals, we miss the subtleties and nuances of life. We cannot connect with our inner guidance, or resources, because we have opted for life in the fast lane. We fast-forward through the labyrinth of our minds and hearts, and then we complain when we are stuck with lives that are unfulfilled, and colorless.

When we shift our focus from seeing our lives as a never-ending problem to be solved, and open to our unique life as a vibrant reality to be experienced, we begin to accept and flow with the shifts and changes that allow increased personal expansion of our understanding, knowledge, and peace of mind.

The journey into the wisdom of our intuitive mind requires that we make new choices that begin to connect us with the exquisite sensitivity within our deepest being.

Our inner wisdom houses our passionate longings and our emotion-laden and crippling criticisms that have been allowed to hold us hostage, tied to a treadmill of life-numbing mediocrity.

When we invite our intellect and our emotions to form a sacred partnership, we are forever touched and transformed by the beauty and bravery of what it means to be authentically human. It takes a strong and flexible intellect to be willing to hold the paradox of actively assessing who we are today, while also musing, visualizing and courting our highest and best vision of who we will become.

The benefit of going beyond what we already know is that we enter into the fertile field of imaginative perception. When we quiet our mind, we can begin to transform our lives away from endless striving for elusive perfection, and open to, and allow ourselves to shift towards life choices that enhance our sense of basic goodness and the basic goodness of our lives.

As we move beyond categorizing and locking our thoughts and feelings into compartments labeled good/bad, and right/wrong, we activate our higher intelligence. As we embark on the journey beyond intellect, our inner wisdom calls, beckoning us to enter and explore the doors marked soften, open, deepen, and strengthen. Here is where we discover new ways of seeing. Self-acceptance transforms our lives from striving to thriving, as we learn to make discerning choices that encourage us to enter into a fulfilling and enriching partnership with life.

            If what I am watching evaporated before my eyes, I would remain.  Anne Truitt – Day Book (1982)

Ways of Seeing 

Imagine that your eyes are like a highly sophisticated camera that can be fitted with many different lenses. The lens in use determines how and what you see.

The way that you focus your camera determines how distant or intimate you become with the world around you.

Many of us have become so familiar with our world, that we don’t see it anymore. Therefore, I want to invite you on a journey today that will allow you to shift in and out of different ways of seeing. The intent is to uncover and discover information that you can put to use to enhance your ability to consciously choose the most effective way to view your world.

The first lens we will gaze through is fear. To the fearful eye, everything is threatening. Take a moment to notice that when you look towards your present reality in a fearful way, all you can see and concentrate on are things that can potentially damage or threaten you.

The next lens we will apply is greed. To the greedy eye, everything can be grabbed and possessed. When greedy-eyed, we get stuck in loving things and using people. The greedy person tries to get joy from possessions, but nothing is ever enough. The greedy lens has an insatiable hunger and is always haunted and deflated by what it can’t possess. It can never show up fully in the presence of the present.

To the judgmental eye, everything is categorized, framed and defined. When the judgmental eye looks out, it sees things in terms of good, and bad, right, and wrong. It is always excluding, or separating, and therefore, it never sees in a compassionate or celebratory way. Sadly, the judgmental eye is always equally harsh with itself. It enjoys neither forgiveness, nor imagination to see deeper into the core of things, where truth becomes paradox. It misses the subtleties and nuances of life.

To the resentful eye, everything is seen begrudgingly. The resentful eyed can never enjoy who they are or what they have. They are always looking out toward others with resentment. They are resentful because they see others as more beautiful, more gifted, or richer, than themselves. The resentful eye lives out of its own poverty of spirit and forgets to see or acknowledge its own inner gifts and blessings.

To the indifferent eye, nothing speaks to them, or sparks their involvement. It is said that indifference is often used as a tool to hold control over others by being indifferent to the needs and vulnerabilities of those under their control. Therefore, indifference requires a great commitment to non-seeing. Indifference has the ability to sneak up on you and can place you out of touch with compassion, healing, and love. When you become indifferent, your imagination becomes frozen in the limbo of cynicism, and ultimately, despair.

To the inferior eye, everyone else is greater than you. Others are more brilliant, beautiful, and blessed than you. The inferior eye is always looking away from its own treasures. It can never celebrate its own presence, or potential. The inferior eye is blind to its own beauty.

Our eyes were never designed to look up in a way that inflates another to superiority, or to look down, reducing another to inferiority. When we look someone in the eye, it is a validation of truth, courage, expectation, and innocent curiosity. Each one stands on equal but different ground.

To the loving eye, everything is alive and real. This art of love is neither sentimental or naïve. The loving look creates a climate of connection, celebration, and an inclusive reality. Love is the light in which we see each thing in its true origin, nature, and destiny.

If we could look at the world in a loving way, then the world would have permission to rise up before us full of invitation, possibility, and depth.

The loving eye is bright because it is autonomous, authentic, and free. It can look lovingly upon anything. The look of love refuses to become entangled in the agenda of power or seduction. The loving eye sees through and beyond the superficial image and is fully and instantaneously capable of effecting deep change in how we view our world.

The lens through which you habitually see your world is central to both your presence and your creativity. To recognize how you see things can bring you increased self-knowledge, and can enable you to glimpse more of the wonderful treasures your present life secretly holds.

The eye is the mother of intimacy, bringing everything close to us. When you take the time to gaze lovingly at someone or something, you bring it inside you.

Therefore, there is spirituality, and holiness, available to us this very moment, when we adjust our eyes through the lens of love.

Take a deep breath in and then let it out and take a moment to focus your awareness on your eyes, especially those little muscles around your eyes. Simply tell them to relax and let go of their hyper-vigilance. Now, allow your vision to land on something that is pleasing to you. Take it in and allow it to become a part of you.

Notice that all it takes is a small, gentle shift in your perspective. Making this shift can yield an endless opportunity to drink from the well of vibrant, lively energy that is waiting patiently to fill you with renewed vitality and wellbeing.