Carolyn Rowland posted this on the blog of the TeleWorkshop: Tapping Into the Feminine, Connecting to Source. She has agreed to let me publish it here. Gets you thinking!
After our last session, I had a number of trips for work - two contrasted so completely and so related to listening to our intuition that I thought I would share my adventures. Intuition is a funny thing - when you listen to it, its as if everything works to make it happen and when you don't, the universe steps in to let you know what a big mistake that is.
I had a work event that I had to submit for several months ago and at the time had the distinct feeling I shouldnt do so. It involved an out of town trip, inviting a client and sounded like fun so instead of listening (and since I couldnt find a good rational reason not to do this), I applied for it. And the universe being what it is, it accommodated and my client was selected for the firm retreat, which also meant I was going. As soon as I saw the date I knew why I had had the feeling - it was the same weekend I had already scheduled something personal that hadnt made it onto my calendar.
So as happens often, my right brain immediately kicked in to figure out how to solve this problem notwithstanding that my intuition already knew better. At first, I thought maybe my client wouldnt be able or want to go. But of course she did. Then I thought I could cut the business part of my trip short and still do the more important of the two day personal trip I had planned. So, confident that I had resolved all the issues, I waited for the trip date to arrive. My first clue that all was not right was when I arrived at the airport to discover that my office had not made my flights. So I spent all day driving between airports to get on a flight out that night. The next day went off well and I thought all had returned to right with the world.
But not quite.... The only flight I could take out that worked with my time frame involved a layover in Denver, which was over an hour - should have been plenty of time. But weather delayed us and since this was a last minute reservation, I was in first class, first row - so when they said it was a half hour delay - our co-pilot apparently decided he could go do something else during that time and he left. When they released us 5 minutes later, he was nowhere to be found and it was 20 minutes until he showed back up - the short version is that we were delayed again before landing and I missed my connection by less than a couple of minutes.
So naturally my right brain steps in and decides to solve this yet again so I can still make my trip - so 1-1/2 hours later, I am headed to Seattle (wrong direction but I am thinking that at least I am on a plane) and there I catch the red-eye back to DC. Arriving at 7:30am - I am at Dulles airport with a flight out at 9am at Reagan airport (45 minutes away) - luggage in hand at 8:15, I am dialing the airlines to try to change my flight to NYC to the 11am shuttle when I realize that I am again in rightbrain mode - I havent had much sleep in the past 4 days, I havent had a shower, I am exhausted and in wrinkled jeans/shirt - I dont have my info with me as to where I am going and I am going to have to pay to change my flights. And so I finally stopped and listened to what I should have listened to in the first place. And then I went home and slept. While I really wanted to continue on, I finally gave in to the fact that it just wasnt in the cards.
In contrast was my trip two weeks before. The person in my office that was supposed to go, couldnt and offered it to me. I had a feeling I should go but I was really busy and it was between two other trips (with the second one being the trip above) - but I went ahead and got it scheduled. Two days before, I was considering cancelling since I was really busy and didnt have the time. I was also in the midst of changing a story because I didnt have a reference for the location I was writing about - the story begins with a character that takes a ferry to an island. But I found myself really fighting myself to make the changes. In the midst of all this, one of the women working on the deal with me that I had never talked to directly, called me and in the middle of our conversation asked if I had ever been to Burlington, Vermont - which was where I was going in two days. Since I dont know her at all, I asked her why she asked and she said that she had had the feeling that I needed to go there and that she needed to tell me. So she had called. And then she told me that I needed to not work too hard while I was there and to get out and walk around the area.
Fortunately, that time, I was listening - I went on the trip and as I was sitting in my hotel room the first evening looking out over Lake Champlain admiring the sunset, I heard a boat horn - and you can guess the rest - it was a ferry heading out. And it gets better - I left Vermont to spend the weekend in Maine with friends and they wanted to take the ferry to one of the islands to explore it. My markup changing my story location went into the trash since I was provided with all of the detail I needed for a location I had no idea that I would see.
I guess my lesson was to learn to better trust that intuition when I hear it even when it makes no rational sense and to quit second quessing what I clearly already know I need.
