OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
Intuition can be your most powerful ally when it comes to writing your book and taking your message out to the marketplace successfully and with soul. Do you know how to access yours?
An important gateway to conscious creativity, intuition functions beyond the mind and opens the way for intuitive writing. The hallmark of intuition is immediate and direct knowledge without the conscious use of reasoning. Rising above thought but using the mind as a vehicle, intuition is a distinct sense of Knowing.
You will have experienced intuition already even though you may not have been consciously aware that it was guiding you.
Think of a time when you had a strong hunch, a gut feeling that you couldn’t quite explain but which just felt “right”. You may have had an “aha” moment or simply known somehow that you were on the right track.
When it comes to writing, intuition plays a leading role in capturing and communicating your most original and inspired ideas. Intuitive writing will always deliver deeper, richer and more meaningful insights and stories than your rational mind can come up with.
To achieve the best results with your book you need to go the extra mile. Working consciously with your intuition will enable you to do just that!
Here are 3 tips for enhancing your writing by accessing your intuition:
1. Practice deep listening. One of the keys to unlocking intuition is deep listening. There are two components of this complete approach:
Outer listening involves listening to the world around you with curiosity about life, people and relationships …
Inner listening requires turning your focus inwards to what is going on deep inside you.
Take a few moments before you write to listen deeply.
2. Ask your intuition for answers to questions and guidance on important decisions relating to any aspect of your authorship.
Spend some time just before you go to bed settling your body and your mind. Then ask your question clearly and write it down. Set the intention to receive the answer, and then let it go.
Review your thoughts and feelings in the morning and write as soon as possible to reveal ideas which have risen to the surface of your conscious mind. As with all such techniques, real success comes with practice.
3. Act as if your intuition was your most important inner guide. In the early stages of developing intuition, it is important to suspend any disbelief long enough to experience the results you are looking for.
One good way of doing this is to act as if you already have a strong connection to your intuition.
Start with small steps taken one at a time to build your confidence and your experience of being in touch with your intuition. Pay attention to each success, however small. Build your belief up gradually to enjoy the contribution intuition has to make to your writer’s journey.
The IACCW Conscious Writing Summer School is a 1 day virtual workshop on Thursday 25 August. Read more here http://www.iaccw.com/70/summer-school-2011
View Comments (8)
I've been practicing - not always successfully, as I'm a lifelong panic merchant - clearing my head and trusting my instincts lately. Most of the time it involves taking deep breaths and separating the fight-or-flight response from what I'm really feeling. I'll have to try these! Thank you, Julia!
deep listening. I very much like that. Very much.
Great article - thank you Julia.
I've been using a similar method for my writing and find the words flow so much more easily when I write from my soul and not my mind. I highly recommend tapping into your intuition for writing.
This all seems like good advice. My only problem with it is that word "intuition". What you seem to be talking about, Julia, is the unconscious mind, and the techniques you mention are well documented in the scientific literature as being effective ways to tap into what your unconscious can do for you. "Intuition" for me has negative overtones - "women's intuition" for example, has traditionally been a put-down, used when women actually demonstrate intelligent insight. The word also has unfortunate, New Age implications, as if you're tapping some mysterious force rather than just using your brain more effectively.
Thanx to you Joanna for being open to this topic. It's the combination of soul and craft, intuition and practical application, that open the way to reach the richest and most original levels of your creative expression. And more!
Hi Rob - yes, deep breathing is an important key. The panic response (unless you are face to face with a lion or similar!) is usually in the mind and emotions, so taking slow deep breaths helps to reconnect you to your body and to feel grounded. Pure intuition works most effectively when all aspects of yourself are engaged and in alignment.
Glad you like the deep listening Bekah ... and thanx for sharing your experience Angela. The mind can only take you so far with writing or indeed any kind of creative expression. In my own experience of working consciously with intuition for over 20 years, the more you pay attention to it, the more it opens you to possibilities way beyond the rational mind.
Hi Graham - if the word doesn't have positive associations for you then by all means let it go and take the principles on board without using a label. However, intuition is not the same as the unconscious mind as true intuition functions beyond the mind. The best way forwards is to give yourself permission to experiment freely and build up your own personal experience to verify the truth and effectiveness of such techniques. Enjoy ;-)