This Tweet crossed my feedline yesterday. “Our intuition about stress is wrong. Ask most people how to avoid stress & they’ll suggest curling up on the sofa for a Netflix marathon, but the opposite is true. Research shows it’s better to stimulate your brain w/ hard work & engagement–not cocoon it in the familiar.” @Pfagell

Commenting on research is not my area of expertise so I will leave that to those whose area of expertise it is. What I did comment on however was the inferred definition of intuition.

Intuition can be another term for wisdom … innate intelligence …. common sense. In my experience it never suggests sitting in front of Netflix or a television screen when my thinking is creating feelings of overwhelm. In fact, at one point in my life, wisdom suggested I turn the television off completely and in its place write in a journal every day. I did – for over 5 years! Whilst wisdom always points me in the direction of slowing down my mind when it is overwhelmed, screen based relaxation rarely surfaces as a solution for me.

Just yesterday, after a very busy day, I was in that feeling and knew I had to quieten my thinking so that I could relax into what was ahead – a bbq evening meal and hanging out at home – without a screen. To calm my mind, the wisdom that appeared was to ride my bike around a local wetlands lake. Even though I was tired and it was slightly windy, the ride was beautiful. I noticed things I had never seen before, tracks into secret groves of paperbark trees, grasstrees that had obviously been rescued and transplanted with love, and people running, riding, playing … holding hands.

By the time I returned home, I had let go of thinking about tasks to do. It was the thinking that been creating my feelings of overwhelm, not the tasks themselves.  In letting go of my mousewheel thinking, I had brought myself back into the present moment, and also created a space in which work tasks would be freshly considered the following day. Some tasks that in my mousewheel thinking seemed important, would no longer be necessary; whilst others would no longer be urgent. In a calmer state of mind I have greater clarity with a heightened ability to discern ‘idea’ from ‘must do’. Since coming across the three principles understanding, conscious experience of their action in my life has taught me that thoughts accompanied by feelings of tension and fear simply need to be allowed to pass. Letting go allows for a deeper part of me to be liberated.

At one point during my relaxed evening, the thought crossed my mind that my wisdom is not a hard taskmaster. ‘Taskmaster’ thinking is something I have learned to do. I have internalised a thinking pattern which previously I unknowingly accepted as truth. Now I see the playing out of thought in my life. It is the creator of what I am feeling, not external events. Not all thoughts serve each moment well. See the action of thought creating our feelings and everything changes. Seeing this truth gives space to listen to our feelings, pause and exercise free will. What I used to take seriously often now melts into a smile.

In understanding intuition or wisdom, the feeling of whatever is crossing our mind is the key. It is the barometer of whether our thoughts are internalised ones that we continue to ‘work’; or whether our thoughts are coming from the common power of intelligence that runs through us all. Internalised thoughts manifest as familiar patterns, whether they be a Netflix marathon or groundhog days of endlessly running lists of tasks through our heads. They feel well worn, dull and tired. Experiment. The next time you feel this way, stop and listen for something fresh – then follow it. What would you prefer to follow – stale, internalised habits, or streams of thought that open up the possibility of a new you?