In this blog I've discussed public issues and also personal ones. Today's blog is a personal one. I have touched on this topic before, but I am finding I need to discuss it again as I'm curious about other people's experience with it. Here goes...
I have been thinking a lot lately about callings, intuition and where creative ideas come from. Is intuition to be trusted? Can we rely on our gut alone?
As Thomas Edison once observed, creativity is two percent illumination and the rest love and discipline. Although I am a huge believer and user of my own intuition, I am beginning to see Mr. Edison's point.
Before I started my business, I was a teacher. I had been working in a teaching job that didn't feel quite right for some time. There was a voice inside of me saying that I needed to leave. It got to a point where I no longer could fight the inner voice. In June 2007 I left the job.
As most of us know it is no easy thing to give up the security of a paycheck, health insurance and a supportive community. On the other hand, it can be even more difficult to suffer with the truth of what you know inside and not act on it.
I felt pretty confident that I was doing the right thing as life had shown me before that if I took a leap of faith by responding to my inner guide I would end up in a good place. However, I was finding it difficult to explain to other people what in the world I was doing with my life. As those who have gone through this know, there is usually a window of time where there is a ton of unknown. Even though I am someone who is dedicated to personal growth and have gone through a lot of transitions, this mystery stage doesn't seem to get any easier to explain. Especially when I had NO idea of what was next.
And then comes that one day or one moment when the spirit moves through you and you have that incredible "aha" moment that you never could have imagined because your brain would have never put that possibility together on its own. Usually, at least in my experience, these callings are not very rational, and in many cases, seem out of left field.
The one that came to me on that July day qualified as out of left field. Start a clothing line? What? I hadn't worked in retail since I was 17, never designed a stitch and never wrote "run a clothing business" on my goal list! But when a calling calls, I have always been one to listen and get right on it. As Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, said recently, "Creativity does not always function rationally and can feel downright paranormal." I think this applies to creating a business too.
For me one of the biggest lessons this time around has been about coupling intuition with good old-fashioned hard work, consistency and follow-through just like Edison suggested.
I am curious to know how does intuition play a part in your life? And how is it for you explaining an intuitive choice to someone who may not think that way?