If you’re like me you have dedicated a large amount of time and energy to building your intellect, and using your rational Mind to overpower your “irrational” intuition. In many situations this is the right thing to do. But not always. Taking this to the extreme and optimizing for pure rationality is a pathology. Our intuition exists for a reason. At minimum it’s the output of our subconscious mind which is processing many orders of magnitude more bits of information than our conscious mind. Another time we can discuss if it goes even deeper than that.

Intellect and intuition. It’s an AND, not an OR. Like going from one dimension to two. Like discovering complex numbers for the first time. A well-balanced human is a master of both her intellect and her intuition. She uses both as superpowers to make the best choices in service of herself, those she cares about and the universe at large.

Logic is like satellite view on a map. You can see the bigger picture, the relationship between your departure point and destination, how things are connected. Intuition is like turn-by-turn directions in a dark room. You know the next step to take but you don’t necessarily know why.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” - Steve Jobs at Stanford, 2005

If you are right-handed you can manipulate objects with more dexterity with your right hand, it’s stronger. But you wouldn’t amputate your left hand do everything with your right hand only. You have experienced success in life using your rational mind but don’t amputate your intuition. Use both hands! Use everything that is available to you. Bring your whole self.

There are practices you can use to develop intuition. It starts with increasing sensitivity, an awareness of what you are feeling in your body, an understanding of the way your nervous system was shaped by past trauma, a willingness to open and surrender rather than tense and close (Relaxation as Spiritual Awakening)