The Cheapest Room in the House

Intuition isn't what you think it is.
Far from being some form of "logic-lite," intuition is the internal compass to the map of your own unfolding and differentiation. It is as organic and essential as breathing. Powered by a radically unconditioned and authentic view of life, it is the fresh wind that takes trite and superficial living and turns it inside out. Reshaping it, giving it juicy intent, passion and vitality. Its the skilled artist within us that can make an intricate origami crane from a disposable paper napkin at a fast food restaurant.

There are some other common misunderstandings about intuition. One is based on the very human but unrealistic expectations we have about how life is supposed to treat us. Some of the students I have worked with begin their intuition training with confusion that arises because they feel they have a right to a life of ease, free of conflict and challenge. Intuition, they hope, will give them the tools for making good on these feelings.

We've all heard dramatic stories about intuition's role in saving someone from danger of one kind or another. Maybe you've experienced an intuitive insight that cautioned you away from accepting a ride from a friend, or made you so uneasy about a seemingly positive new job or relationship that you declined. Discovering later that had you been there, injury, accident or even death might have occurred. From stories such as these many people arrive at the conclusion that developing their intuition will serve as a cosmic "vaccination" against bad things happening in their life.

The 14th century Iranian poet and mystic Hafiz said: "Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I'd like to see you in better living conditions." For many of us, living in this run down room for years on end, we see the world through the distorted windows of fear's biased view. The world seems dangerous and we're filled with an fear of failure. Past mistakes and disappointments hang on the walls of memory as constant reminders of life's unfulfilled promises, its unexpected losses. Each a vividly clear image of embarrassment, sorrow or loss of dignity. This fearful, small room that Hafiz talks about keeps us from accessing our inner resources for change, growth and healing. Or so it seems.

I enjoy working with people who want to develop their intuition. These people, more than most, are actively curious about their world and their place in it. They are generally sensitive and empathic and interested in what it means to be fully alive. As we work together, week in and week out, I encourage them to trust their experience and to listen to their impulses and to their inner conversations. With some students it is important to talk about how they've been limited by fear.

They tell of their own experiences of living in the "cheapest room in the house" and of their heartbreaking attempts at making do. I let them know that this kind of captivity is a very real hazard for anyone who has denied their own inner knowing. Many of these stories have common themes. Those who learn early in life to distrust the need to live inwardly directed lives, learn to follow the crowd. Eventually, right over a cliff. There is a price we pay for losing touch with our direct experience. We remain undiscovered, self rejecting and oddly unable to extract ourselves from the issues of our families of origin.

Developing our intuition doesn't mean that we won't make mistakes or be disappointed in love or brought down by unexpected outcomes. Instead, intuition promises that no matter what happens in our lives we'll discover unexpected resources, we'll be opened by new viewpoints and find fresh teachings in our daily life. Opening to our intuition's calling, we come to understand its curious nature. It isn't going to take us where we want to go. Instead, it will take us where we need to go.

Dudley Lynch and Paul Kordis, in their book "Strategy Of The Dolphin" tell a wonderful story that makes this point vividly. "A middle aged man was so progressively paralyzed by agoraphobia (a fear of unfamiliar places which often leaves its victims house bound) that he found it unbearable to go even to the supermarket. Finally, deciding that he could stand it no longer, he planned to commit suicide. He would do this by over taxing his heart through great stress, causing a hear attack. His plan was simple: he would get into his car and force himself to drive to a nearby mountain. His expectation was that within a few blocks he would be so frightened that he would be dead. To his surprise, he drove all the way to the mountain and back with no ill effects. He has remained fully cured of his phobia since."

Your intuition is part messenger and part merry prankster. Intuition is not going to be content agreeing with your every choice, but if you allow it to, it will show you ways in which you’ve been limiting your life. When we welcome intuition into our lives it begins to open the doors and the windows of our experience. It takes us outside our routine into a more energizing reality. Life regains its vividness, you’ll feel less defensive of your moment to moment experience. Learning to relax with the unexpected, you’ll find there is enormous wisdom in the choices you are guided to make.

Honoring intuition means to take seriously your own inner invitations to live as yourself and no other. Practicing wholeheartedly with intuition we relax a bit about needing to know how everything is going to turn out. We realize that no matter what, we will find value in this tender life of ours. Walking this path of "training in the middle of the fire."





For more information about my work please see my website:
http://www.kellypowers.com