SPIRIT Journey: Intuition
“Intuition” is from Late Latin "intuitionem" (nominative intuitio)
“a looking at, consideration”.
Psychology Today states that “intuition is the process that gives us the ability to know something directly without analytic reasoning.” Most people define it as a “gut feeling” or an “inner knowing”.
Everyone has intuition, but most are not aware or tapped into it because of too many distractions and exterior stressors that prevent us from checking in with the feelings and sensations in our bodies.
We are a modern society of immediate gratification and constant stimulus to the brain through technology. Thanks to technology and computers, we are a data-driven society that runs on charts, graphs, statistics and only things that are tangible and can be measured, quantified and qualified.
We ignore our gut feelings in favor of spreadsheets, bar graphs, pie charts and other computer-generated viewpoints.
Curiosity, play, creativity and the natural flow of learning
fall by the wayside in school when
everything has to be measured and quantified
and placed in a spreadsheet.
Everything becomes quite formulaic and no one is “looking at” or “considering” any other possibilities other than those presented through the data.
Where are the other variables in the equation like what the child is dealing with at home or health/wellness or who they really are as a person? What kind of children are they becoming when we are defining them as part of a spreadsheet, drawing a picture of their future in a pie chart or or measuring their worth through a bar graph?
When everything and everyone is so controlled and “data-driven”, what happens to dreams then? How are we really robbing children of their potential rather than helping them discover & grow it?
Why are teachers not allowed to “look at” and “consider” what they feel in their heart and “go with their gut” so that they can be more creative and authentic?
According to Positive Psychology, intuition and creativity are intricately linked as “they both involve the transformation of ideas into something tangible, novel, and valuable in communicating ideas and solving problems.”
Furthermore, according to research, “both intuition and creativity appear, at some level, to combine data from multiple sources into something coherent” (Raidl & Lubart, 2001).
And finally, more recent research has identified links between intuition and the early stages of the creative process, including idea generation and evaluation stages (Pétervári, Osman, & Bhattacharya, 2016).
So, does this mean that allowing for intuition and the creative process to work together creates the highest and most complex form of learning, YET…
The current educational system is not allowing teachers or students to be curious, creative, to dream, to explore and to discover on their own nor in their own ways.
Instead of encouraging children to follow the dreams in their hearts, we are presenting them with data and formulaic paths to only those careers in which it will be easy to get a job and/or make a lot of money so that they will be “successful” in life. Or we are packaging them into the “right-sized box”, slapping a label on that box and shipping it out where we think it should go.
It all still goes back to fear that is being generated among teachers, students, parents, administrators, etc. Fear of not being enough. Fear of not doing enough. Fear of failure. The more fear takes over, the more we try to control everything in order to protect ourselves and have a greater sense of comfort.
It is a total illusion though. The more fear we give out to the world, the more fear we get back. It is a vicious, life-sucking cycle. Fear will override and numb out every other emotion and feeling.
When I was walking on the Camino in Spain, the more I allowed my fears to take hold of me mentally, the more debilitated I was emotionally, physically and spiritually.
I had to stop trying to control my experiences and expectations that I had based on what I had read or been told from others. I had to let go of past fears and projected future fears. I had to live in the present moment and tune in to what my heart was telling me was truth for me.
I had to LOOK AT and CONSIDER the possibilities presented before me in every moment and in every experience.
I had to “listen to the ping that made my heart sing” and make choices that supported me rather than depleted me.
I had to follow my own “yellow brick road” to get to the land of “ah’s” and “ah-ha’s” that led me to the next step forward in my journey and on my own path.
The learning journey and the lessons we experience along the way are as unique to each person as their fingerprints.
No prescription, no standard, no checklist, no Google search, no data, no spreadsheet, no guidebook, no failures, no mastery. Just a lifelong learning journey full of multiple opportunities to be curious, explore, look at and consider all the possibilities and dream your life into reality.
Finally, follow the spirit of teaching and incorporate INTUITION into your lesson plans each day. By doing this, you will be setting your intentions from the heart.
This is what it might look like in your plan book:
Essential Question of the Day: INTUITION
What can I look at and consider today that will help me be the best version of myself?
Can Do Statements:
I can be open and curious about my feelings and the feelings of others.
I can use my imagination to dream and create all the possibilities that lie before me.
I can find the answers to all questions if I get still, put my hand on my heart and listen to what it is trying to tell me.
Best Practices for Today:
I make choices from my awareness of those things that renew my spirit rather than deplete it.
I listen to the “ping that makes my heart sing”, and move forward from there.
I start each lesson with a creative spark that will unfold the “why?” and the “what if?” in each student.
Inspirational Videos:
Why business needs intuition (so does education!)
Cover photo credit
“Love Heart” by iProzac is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
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