Sometimes We Have to Trust the Process – Even if it’s Driving Us Crazy!

I'm on a relaxing plane ride to San Diego.

It is Friday. I was scheduled to arrive on Wednesday. After two days of stalled travel, I'm frustrated. This experience has also tested my conscious reliance on my intuition.

After years of practice, I figure my intuition should be 100% reliable. I should also be in San Diego by now, experiencing an amazing workshop in the San Diego Writer's Conference. The assumption of reliability is my first downfall, especially when I ignore the signals.

So the last couple days I wondered what my intuition will tell me so that I can understand why I've had flight delays, missed workshops and frustration. One thing I know (and sometimes choose to ignore) is I don't always know why events happen. We aren't always meant to know the outcome.

My first mistake: The weekend before the flight I heard the weather report, yet I chose to ignore it. Snow was expected for midnight Tuesday night. Experienced east coasters I know rescheduled flights for Tuesday evening in order to miss the impending chaos. I decided our family had too much to do on Tuesday night, so didn't reschedule, and I didn't bother to check with my husband to see if it would work for him.

Wrong move.

I received a flight notification by phone on Tuesday night: my Wednesday flight was cancelled. I received a second phone notification that my flight was rescheduled for Thursday morning, 6:18am. It appeared I would make it to the conference on time.

I enjoyed the extra day home. Snow kept falling and we all went sledding and threw snowballs for our dog. Even my husband had fun with us, as his office was also closed that day.

However, appearances are deceiving. Wednesday night, as our kids got ready for bed, I received another phone message. Flight cancelled again! Oh no!!

Even worse, this time I didn't get a notification that I'd been rescheduled. With a feeling of doom, I called the airline. Eventually I spoke to someone who said that there were no flights available until Saturday evening. I couldn't believe it.

My husband told me that there was a flight out there for me. I just had to find it. So I hung up and checked the discount online services, where I found flights for sale! The one that worked involved 2 plane changes, but it would get me to San Diego by Friday night. I almost bought a ticket on the spot, then saw the 'no refunds' policy.

I called the airline back and told a different agent that there were flights available. Her first response was the same as the original agent's: there weren't any flights she could find. This time I was prepared. I repeated the flight numbers I saw on my computer screen from the discount service. She checked them out, saw a seat on that flight, and booked me on it. Yay! I would be late for the first conference day but at least I was going to get there.

So today I boarded this flight. It took off about 20 minutes late, but I was happy to get in there air and glad to finally be getting to the conference after two flight cancellations.

Then… about 45 minutes in the air the pilot announced that, due to heat sensor problems, we were turning around and going back to Newark, New Jersey. Argh!! I could instantly feel the stress rush around my body, increasing my breathing and setting my nerves on fire. I couldn't believe it.

We headed back to our origin and landed. I consciously breathed slowly, feeling my feet on the ground (smirking at how high in the sky I was while getting myself "grounded."). I opened myself up to positive energy, and consciously let negative energy go, all the while breathing slowly and deeply. I was still stressed. I could still feel my body react, and I still consciously breathed it all out.

Once on the ground, I almost made my second mistake.

But this time, instead of taking the wrong path, I let my intuitive voice lead me the right way. As we taxied in, I heard my inner voice and paid attention: I couldn't do anything about the past and had to let it go, I was allowed to be upset, and, even though I had to let go, I still could take action to improve my future. That was the key: let it go and take action.

So as soon as I got off the airline, I bee-lined it for the gate agent to figure out what I could do next. I ignored the others patiently waiting for their gate-checked bags and buzzed past them up the ramp. I should have been one of them but I had a plane to reschedule.

And that is how I ended up here.

That agent sent me to customer service, who told me to run and grab someone to get my carry-on bag off the plane (she literally yelled at me to run!). As I sped away, she rebooked me on the last seat for the next flight - a first class seat direct to San Diego.

So I am currently enjoying my smooth flight. And it will get me to the conference four hours before the three-plane-change flight that just returned to Newark.

Nice.

So what about my intuition? I ignored it on the weekend and landed in the middle of chaos and delays. Once Tuesday passed, I couldn't do anything to change that decision. However, I listened at the end of Friday's turned-around flight. I let go of any attachment to outcome and was given a direct flight in a nice seat to my conference.

What does my intuition say now? Thank you. I am grateful.

Today I miss a few hours of my conference, and I have to put in a claim for my luggage when I land in San Diego, but I get to the conference 4 hours earlier than I was expecting this morning.

I'm looking forward to arriving at the conference, learning a lot and meeting some great people.

One final note: When I packed Thursday night, I moved one change of clothes from my main bag to my carry on. Those clothes I'll need tomorrow. It is nice how things turn out when I listen to my intuition.

Namaste, Leigh

Intuition or Distraction?

As our lives get busier, and we are bombarded with more information through email, phone calls, texting and tv, it helps to try to limit the information that is not necessary to our life's path, and follow the information that will take us where we need to go.

To limit this information, however, we cannot always turn off the phone or email. So we need to become better at choosing what to notice and what to ignore. This includes non-electronic sights and sounds as well.

When we become better choosing what to pay attention to, we become more intuitive. If we don't improve this conscious "choosing" then we may follow the distractions that lead us nowhere, including junk email. Conscious choosing helps us to distinguish intuition from distraction.

So how do we know if it is intuition or merely a distraction?

To find out, we follow our attention and ask ourselves, "does this lead me along the right path in life?" We will not always get an answer, but we need to keep asking, and practice following our attention, wherever it goes, until we can FEEL the difference. Every day we follow our attention anyways, so pick up that newspaper, open that email or call that friend that just came to our mind and follow where the attention goes. Does something come up that is meaningful? If so, this is likely intuitive direction. If not, it could be a distraction.

If we have to think about it before acting on information, then we aren't merely "following." Following is an act of "action," or of "receiving" information, not thinking. It is how our intuition directs us. It is a process of watching objectively where our attention goes, without thinking why.

So what do we do with the distractions, and why are they present? They occur because of our thoughts. Most of us aren't aware of the constant stream of thoughts below the surface of our lives, so we aren't aware how we deal with those thoughts internally. If we were, we'd notice a thought like, "this is such a big project, how do I get started?" We'd then notice how our thoughts diverge on realizing this potential stress. In many cases, our stream of thoughts "finds" a distraction.

Unfortunately, the way we notice those distractions is similar to the way we notice our intuitions, if we don't know the difference.

One difference they have is how they feel. If we continue to follow distractions, we start to feel flustered, scattered, slow, or heavy. Follow intuition and we feel life flow more effortlessly, activities line up in synch with each other, and the day feel more productive.

So, how do we know if it is a distraction or intuition before we act on it? The best way to figure this out is to notice how each one feels (in your gut, for example) as we follow it. We also notice how we start to follow it.

Example:
I find that the actions I take without much thought are my more intuitive actions. If I hesitate, then it is the wrong direction (such as a distraction) or there is something fearful stopping me. If I hesitate to call someone back to book a workshop, then it is highly likely that there is something new I am doing in that workshop and I don't know for sure if it will be successful. When I identify this fear, I pick up the phone and call them back to confirm the workshop. I know this fear is unfounded and I can work past it.

If it is a distraction, I find that my mind wanders even as I pay attention to that distraction. It is as if my whole mind really shouldn't be there anyways.

Notice the Results
When we take action, we notice the results. Simply by taking action, there may be a new opportunity, a referral to someone in our line of work, or a washing machine on sale to replace the one that just broke.

The key to consistently follow your intuition is practice. Follow it in the supermarket (where do they keep agave syrup in this store?), follow it at the start of your work day (what's most important?), or follow it when you are tired, and your child needs you (that's an easy one, even though you're tired).

Soon, you will identify the distractions before you act on them, and follow your intuition to great results.