I’m listening

✨ Bridget Webber

Published in The Taoist Online

4 days ago (thetaoist.online)

Lately, I’ve pondered which way to go. Should I take this path or that one? I could ask the tarot cards or a pal or write a list of pros and cons. But, none of these ideas appeal. You see, I want to enlist the help of my intuition, not unseen mystical forces or another person, or have to rely on logic, and I think my higher self agrees.

Sometimes, a mysterious snippet of wisdom crosses my mind and shows me what to do next. It doesn’t come from a tangible source, though. I’m left pondering whether it’s viable until life proves it is meaningful.

While my fingers hover over the keyboard, it might whisper, “Oh, don’t write about that. Write about this.” If I do as it suggests, the story I pen is a hit. Sometimes, however, I disagree with Intuition. Logic gives me different advice, and the outcome isn’t favorable.

It’s hard not to take the side of Logic, though. After all, it’s so reasonable, and Intuition isn’t necessarily sensible. Take the other day, for example.

“Don’t walk your selected route. Go to the field over there,” said Intuition.

I argue with it as it seems irrational.

“Look. There’s long grass in the field, and it’s rained overnight. It will be full of slugs to wade through, and my boots will get wet.”

Reluctantly, and feeling silly to have given in, I go to the field and bump into a long-lost friend.

“How serendipitous,” I tell Intuition, who answers, “Well, didn’t you expect something terrific to happen after I told you to come here?”

I remember taking note of Intuition one fateful evening as a kid on my way home from a party.

“Stop!” It shrieked. “That road’s off limits tonight.”

“But it’s the fast way home. We’ll be there in an instant.”

“I’m not coming with you,” it said, so I took its advice and went the long way home. The next day, I found out someone had lain in wait on the road for young girls and attacked them that evening.

“See,” said Intuition. “You ought to listen to me more often.”

Still, Logic often appeals. It offers plenty of excellent reasons to take its side. On Monday, it said, “There’s lots of milk at home. Put that bottle back in the shop’s fridge. Don’t buy it. Your Intuition is wrong this time.”

Obediently, I did as Logic suggested, only to arrive at the house and find Lee, my husband, standing in a pool of milk.

“I dropped it.”

“We can’t buy more now. The shop’s just shut for the night.”

On another occasion, Logic said, “Buy your whole family tickets to the local play. You know they sell like hotcakes.”

Intuition intervened.

“Nope. You’ll be sorry if you do that.”

Logic argued.

“No, she won’t. Her family would love to see it, and she doesn’t want them to miss it.”

“Don’t do it, Bridget.”

“Do it, Bridget.”

What can I say? I purchased the tickets. It snowed hard and fast on the night of the play. No one could make it, and I couldn’t get a refund.

Sometimes, I have listened to Intuition, though.

“There’s something iffy about that man,” it told me. My partner (at the time) introduced me to his new pal, a friendly, seemingly pleasant chap with a cheeky grin.

As he smiled, Intuition piped up, saying, “he’s dodgy! Give him a wide berth.”

Logic insisted he was an agreeable bloke, and there was no good reason to think otherwise, as did my boyfriend.

“I think there’s something off about him,” I mentioned. “Don’t become tight pals with him, will you?”

The next thing I knew, my partner thanked me for giving him the heads up. “Turns out,” he said, “that Mike’s ripped off many people. He’s stolen money and is due for a prison sentence.”

Intuition can sometimes be quiet, and I wonder what’s happening.

“Haven’t you got anything to say,” I ask but get no reply. So, I test it. “I’m thinking of going to the park. What do you think?”

Nothing.

My mind’s a blank. I figure that Intuition has no particular wisdom to impart when it is silent.

Later, in the park, images of a close pal flash into my mind like movie stills. In the pictures, she seems dazed, as though drugged, and can’t focus or get up.

“Is that you, Intuition?” I ask. But there’s no reply other than the image of a huge green tick across the screen of my mind.

I phone my pal when I’m home, only to find she’s in an ambulance parked outside the hospital, waiting for a bed to become available. She’s been given morphine for the pain of her broken leg.

After this, I tell Intuition that I’m giving it free rein. But Logic has something to say about my decision.

“What! Are you thinking clearly today? Don’t you recall when intuition told you to pursue challenging paths when you could have enjoyed an easier ride?”

“Ah. Yes. But Intuition works with my higher self to ensure everything I do serves my greatest good, which involves life lessons. The easy ride is safe but isn’t always the most productive.”

I feel Logic computing in my brain, and it eventually agrees that Intuition is wise sometimes.

“Anyway,” I say to Logic, “You and Intuition can join forces. Why not work together?”

Intuition pipes up: “Logic sometimes gets in the way.”

Logic intrudes: “Your intuition is a bit airy fairy. It can’t be trusted if you let your imagination play with it.”

“I’ll stay grounded,” I say.

Logic’s still a bit huffy: “Like now, you mean, while you’re having a three-way conversation with yourself. That’s not being grounded, is it?”

“I think for a moment. “It’s perfectly normal. Everybody talks to themselves. I’ve worked out a way to make it productive.”

Next, Logic and Intuition fall silent, and I can only imagine that’s because I’m right. So, I’m listening to them both from now on.

Written by ✨ Bridget Webber

·Writer for The Taoist Online

Life story coach, counselor, hypnotherapy, NLP, writer, and avid tea-drinking meditator.Follow

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