Dear Friend,

How are you? Did you have a nice weekend? Thom and I had a very low-key weekend. It was great. We just poked around the house, took naps and binge watched Heartland. What did you do?

Logic or Intuition
I’ve been thinking about family lately, and wonder… how did your family express feelings, values, and beliefs? When I grew up feelings and intuition were not respected. Logic was the method to get your point across. At least that’s what they called it. In truth, there was no logic or strategic thinking exhibited at all. I believe that they thought they were being logical, but the foundation of the discussion was quite primal. Exchanges like, “You stupid idiot, you don’t know what you are talking about.” “Why would you feel like that? You are not being logical.” In other words, you aren’t thinking like ME!

To be fair, I was far more “Americanized” than my parents. In the USA, logic and analytical thinking have been the gold standard for the past one-hundred years, so of course I learned how to think in that way. My family was following the beliefs and traditions of their ancestors before them. To my family, the way it had been done in Sicily or Greece WAS the logical way, the way that any intelligent person would go. Even if it was illogical by more formal standards, the old ways were the smart ways.

In spite of it all, I tried to be smart using logic and analysis. In the past 30 years, however, a new way of measuring “smart” has emerged, that of “emotional intelligence.” It is the ability to monitor your own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to help guide your thinking and actions.

A big part of this intelligence is the ability to be intuitive. According to Francis Cholle in Psychology Today, “Intuition is described as a gut feeling, a hunch, a sensation that appears quickly in consciousness, the process that gives us the ability to know something directly without analytic reasoning, bridging the gap between the conscious and nonconscious parts of our mind, and also between instinct and reason.”

Like other types of intelligence, what you practice grows stronger. We have the capacity to grow and learn and expand our thinking if we are dedicated to growth. This is also true in intuition and our abilities when it comes to cultivating strength in intuition. It has taken me years to build a foundation of trust with my intuition, my non-logical, or maybe trans-logical, way of gathering information. Two of the ways that I’ve strengthened my intuition are the practices of meditation and presence.

An interesting tidbit is that, when practicing logic, you are almost always in the past, or in the future, and not in the present moment. Logic depends on pre-established facts: “a. All men are mortal. b. Socrates is a man.” If these are true, then you can conclude that going forward, you can consider Socrates is a man. Such thinking is useful in many cases. But as the title of Ram Dass’ book says, it is also essential to “Be here now.” Or like the sign at the raffle table says, “You must be present to win.” It doesn’t help to know for sure that Socrates is a man if you miss out on getting his autograph while solving the logic problem. Yes, presence is the cornerstone of all intuitive practices and often takes years to fully embrace. So, go get the autograph!

Creativity & Mental Health
Presence is the birthplace of creativity. When you are present you are in touch with yourself in the moment. That is when your unconscious is in a space to become conscious. That’s when so many of our “aha!” moments happen. Presence gives us the opportunity to experience what is important to us now.

Logic is based on what we learned in the past or what we imagine will happen in the future. It doesn’t care what we experience in the present. I am not saying that logic is bad. I think research is good. We learn from what we’ve studied or experienced in the past. We study history, patterns, successes, and failures. Logic and intuition both have their place.

I am more inclined to choose intuition when it comes to creativity and mental health. If I imagine using logic based on the thinking and decisions made when I was in my 20s and 30s, I can’t even imagine. I would never have taken the risks to grow into the person I was designed to become based on those decisions of the past.

Thank you so much for showing up to read my blog.

Don’t forget: Be kind. Be forgiving. Be Brave. Be Loving. Be Grateful. Be generous.

Creatively yours,

Jody