Are You in Touch With Your Intuition?
Sarah Rehfuss Bastian
Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash
“The key thing that stops us from being who we really are is our inability to trust in ourselves. That 'gut feel' that we all get is our guiding light, but we are often taught to ignore it. Learning how to trust that is what will bring you success and ultimate happiness".
Vanessa Hall
When asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” most young children are certain of their answer. They dream of being an architect, a veterinarian, a wizard, a fireman, a musician, a fairy, an artist, or president. There are no limitations on their dreams, no societal dogmas at such an early age to steer them in the “appropriate” direction. They seem to be innately in touch with a special knowledge about themselves, their inner rhythms, dreams, and desires for their lives. Children know that they are inherently special beings and indeed powerful beyond measure. How then do these children grow into adults who often feel so disconnected from their inner source, so out-of-tune with their lives, and powerless to create the reality they desire? I believe this happens when we live day-to-day embracing a concrete, yet highly acceptable, view of reality rather than a more abstract and intuitive perception of life.
From the time of conception most of us function typically from our right brain. The right half of the brain is responsible for the more conceptual functions of life such as using feeling, seeing the big picture, using symbols and images, understanding present and future, imagination, spatial perception, fantasy, possibilities, impetuousness, and risk taking. This list sounds similar to what many of us would describe as childhood. In our early days, our vocabularies are not as developed as an adult’s, so we often rely on our feelings, dreams, hunches, and imagination to guide us in play and the other ways in which we operate. As we grow older and are officially accepted into society through the beginning of formal education, we accumulate social ideas and dogmas about how we should think, act, and feel. These beliefs facilitate the quieting of our intuition and a lack of trust in ourselves.
If we start back in the womb and look at the order of our sensory development, we observe that the right brain plays a large part in how we take in information about our world. The first primary sense that develops is touch. Tactilely we are conscious of the rhythm of our heartbeat and can feel it through the vibration of our still soft and just barely developing bones. At eight weeks, an embryo can feel the brush of a strand of hair on its cheek. At twelve weeks, a human fetus has the ability to suck its thumb. The sense of touch, also called the somatosensory system, is actually comprised of three areas: discriminative touch (how things feel), proprioception (body position) and nociception (pain). All three of these areas utilize the right side of the brain to process how we feel when we receive certain types of touch, as well as our unique relationship to the space we exist in. Touch, though, goes much deeper than this. There is now speculation in the scientific and medical communities that our tactile sense may be related to and perhaps strengthen our ability to communicate. Mark Lythgoe, a neurophysiologist at the UCL Institute of Child Health, writes, “You touch to experience, to acquire knowledge, but when another is involved you also touch to communicate. Without thinking you transfer information. We even use the phrase ‘keep in touch’ as a metaphor for speaking in the near future.”
In The Vital Touch, Sharon Heller further discusses the significance of touch in our human development and expressiveness. She considers the physical bond between mother and child as one that lays the foundation for the child’s future emotional life. Heller also asserts that the neural and emotional connections made in early childhood through parental bonding are what nurture a child’s trust in himself and others. According to Sandra J. Weiss, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Community Health Systems at the University of California, San Francisco, "Close, responsive, physical interaction provides babies and young children with the stimulation they need to build a strong sense of physical self." So we require touch to build trust in others and ourselves and to connect with our intuition.
How then do we build this trust in ourselves? I believe that personal responses to each of the following steps will aid us in rebuilding our self-trust. Take some time as you complete each step to really become in tune with yourself on this inner journey.
Trust can be built and our intuition can be strengthened by getting back “in touch” daily with the world through the acknowledgement of our dreams, the recognition of our feelings, and the freedom of truly being who we really are—powerful beings of light.
From the time of conception most of us function typically from our right brain. The right half of the brain is responsible for the more conceptual functions of life such as using feeling, seeing the big picture, using symbols and images, understanding present and future, imagination, spatial perception, fantasy, possibilities, impetuousness, and risk taking. This list sounds similar to what many of us would describe as childhood. In our early days, our vocabularies are not as developed as an adult’s, so we often rely on our feelings, dreams, hunches, and imagination to guide us in play and the other ways in which we operate. As we grow older and are officially accepted into society through the beginning of formal education, we accumulate social ideas and dogmas about how we should think, act, and feel. These beliefs facilitate the quieting of our intuition and a lack of trust in ourselves.
If we start back in the womb and look at the order of our sensory development, we observe that the right brain plays a large part in how we take in information about our world. The first primary sense that develops is touch. Tactilely we are conscious of the rhythm of our heartbeat and can feel it through the vibration of our still soft and just barely developing bones. At eight weeks, an embryo can feel the brush of a strand of hair on its cheek. At twelve weeks, a human fetus has the ability to suck its thumb. The sense of touch, also called the somatosensory system, is actually comprised of three areas: discriminative touch (how things feel), proprioception (body position) and nociception (pain). All three of these areas utilize the right side of the brain to process how we feel when we receive certain types of touch, as well as our unique relationship to the space we exist in. Touch, though, goes much deeper than this. There is now speculation in the scientific and medical communities that our tactile sense may be related to and perhaps strengthen our ability to communicate. Mark Lythgoe, a neurophysiologist at the UCL Institute of Child Health, writes, “You touch to experience, to acquire knowledge, but when another is involved you also touch to communicate. Without thinking you transfer information. We even use the phrase ‘keep in touch’ as a metaphor for speaking in the near future.”
In The Vital Touch, Sharon Heller further discusses the significance of touch in our human development and expressiveness. She considers the physical bond between mother and child as one that lays the foundation for the child’s future emotional life. Heller also asserts that the neural and emotional connections made in early childhood through parental bonding are what nurture a child’s trust in himself and others. According to Sandra J. Weiss, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Community Health Systems at the University of California, San Francisco, "Close, responsive, physical interaction provides babies and young children with the stimulation they need to build a strong sense of physical self." So we require touch to build trust in others and ourselves and to connect with our intuition.
How then do we build this trust in ourselves? I believe that personal responses to each of the following steps will aid us in rebuilding our self-trust. Take some time as you complete each step to really become in tune with yourself on this inner journey.
- Define it. What is trust? Start by searching yourself or perhaps the words of others to determine what trust really means to you. What would your life look like if you were able to trust yourself? Julie Redstone, founder of the Light Omega Center for planetary spiritual change, proposes that trust “ involv[es] not only a willingness to receive something from another level of our being. It also involves a willingness to believe in our own capacity to flow with life and to change what needs to be changed on the outside or on the inside in order to do so.” Create the meaning that resonates with you most, and remind yourself of it often.
- Remember it. Can you remember a time when you trusted yourself? Close your eyes and try to relive it. Perhaps it was not that long ago, or maybe the only time you can remember is from your own childhood. Whatever the situation, try to recollect as much as you can. How did you feel? What did you say? The more you can recall and experience from when you trusted yourself, the easier it will be to move into that space of trust again.
- Believe it. At a core level, it is important to re-establish that sense of touch and connection with others that we lost along our way. This in turn will nurture the faith that we need. Realizing that we all need each other and that we are all connected in this web of life will encourage us to relinquish the desire we often have to make things happen in a certain way. Once we release this control, it makes space for us to trust that whatever happens is meant to happen and is for our highest good.
- Live it. Make a commitment to trust yourself, whether it involves important decisions or simple impressions. Set your intention daily to trust yourself. Honor the messages you receive, the hunches you get, or simply the direction in which you choose to live your life.
Trust can be built and our intuition can be strengthened by getting back “in touch” daily with the world through the acknowledgement of our dreams, the recognition of our feelings, and the freedom of truly being who we really are—powerful beings of light.
Resources
Heller, Sharon. The Vital Touch. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC. 1997.
Lythgoe, Mark. “The World at our Fingertips.” June 9, 2005. The Guardian Unlimited. Viewed 12 June 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/jun/09/1
Parent Map Staff. “Early Touch Holds Key To Healthy Body Awareness.” February 01, 2005. Parent Map. Viewed 12 June 2009. http://www.parentmap.com/content/view/326
Redstone, Julie. “Listening Within: The Awakening of Intuition.” 2005-2009. World Blessings. Viewed 12 June 2009. http://www.worldblessings.com/listening-within.html
First printed in Inner Vision Magazine August 2009. Reprinted here with permission from InnerVision Magazine. www.innervisionmagazine.com
Heller, Sharon. The Vital Touch. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC. 1997.
Lythgoe, Mark. “The World at our Fingertips.” June 9, 2005. The Guardian Unlimited. Viewed 12 June 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/jun/09/1
Parent Map Staff. “Early Touch Holds Key To Healthy Body Awareness.” February 01, 2005. Parent Map. Viewed 12 June 2009. http://www.parentmap.com/content/view/326
Redstone, Julie. “Listening Within: The Awakening of Intuition.” 2005-2009. World Blessings. Viewed 12 June 2009. http://www.worldblessings.com/listening-within.html
First printed in Inner Vision Magazine August 2009. Reprinted here with permission from InnerVision Magazine. www.innervisionmagazine.com