"How did you know that?"  It was a question my sons asked of me often, continually surprised at how I knew things they had worked hard at hiding from me.

“Moms know everything,” was my pat answer, and for the most part, when mothers give credence to their intuition, they discover they are aware of more than they, or anyone else, thinks they are. In addition to intuition, I often found that information just fell into my lap when I most needed it – like the hospital bill that inadvertently came to my home for one of my sons who had been injured while at college. He gave the hospital his school address, but it came to me none-the-less. I like to attribute it to a guardian angel who is always on her toes!

In reality, all of us are born with an intuitive sense. For some, it is always a powerful sense that can be both a gift and a challenge. For others, the sense gets lost, or the rational mind takes precedence and buries intuition.

Fortunately, for me, my father was a firm believer in the power of intuition and the subconscious mind, and he nurtured the tools that would allow me to develop my intuitive sense. Most importantly, he encouraged me to embrace silence, to develop inner calm and focus, and to live in the moment.  The process has been a fruitful one, but certainly one filled with challenges. High on the list is the tendency of human nature to become lazy, to be critical of oneself and others, and to run from truth when it is difficult to face.

For Thomas Merton, monk, mystic and teacher, the theme of intuition was a thread woven through his spiritual writings. He encouraged the development of intuition as a means for students to come to a fuller awareness of their existence and of their being grounded in the being of God.

And yet, as we move into another new year, it is the thought of a scientist, Albert Einstein,  that comes to mind. “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

 Image is from http://ministryofthearts.org