Recently, somebody shared a wonderful poem on social media called, “Lockdown”, written by Father Richard Hendrick. Here are a few lines.
“All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbors in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love”.
No Mention of Fear
Yet fear exists. Even down to panic buying it might be rightly argued that the psychological reasoning behind this activity is because it is something the individual can control. They cannot control the virus, so they do something seen as positive to protect themselves from ill-perceived shortages. Out they go and empty the store shelves of toilet paper or, as we discovered yesterday, bread, rice, pasta and flour. So long as they have the funds, they can control what they buy.
Negative Application of Free Will
To an extent, we all have free will although we must acknowledge that our will is free only up to the point of what we think about things and how we allow them to affect our lives. Think for a moment about the source of some of the difficulties that you’ve experienced in your life.
How many of these difficulties could have been managed better or in a different way?
When I was sick following a simple knee fracture, my free will took me down a chronic pain path. If anybody had told me that then, I would have run them down with my wheelchair. My mind was so powerful, I was powerless to consider that the pain was internal and mind-based. It originated in an external source. My free will told me so and I had no control to consider otherwise. Listening to my intuition was completely out of the question. Not that I would have been able to hear it among all the objective reasoning noise in my head.
Hearing The Inner-Voice
Call it the inner-voice, voice of the inner-self or conscience; you decide. To hear this voice, we need to mute the noise of objective reasoning and listen to our intuition. It’s not easy because how we interpret our intuitive thoughts when they are translated by our mental processes is affected by our experience of the world.
Most of us go through life ignorant of intuition because events in our world rule the roost. There is no place for something that sounds quite mystical to many people because our mental processes are limited by experience and keep us from asking questions. Our reasoning is imperfect as is our memory and judgment because our knowledge is limited.
Question Our Reasoning
If we can learn to do this effectively, we gain more value and accuracy to our judgments and choices we make.
Intuitive Experiment
Some people argue that intuition is not something we can work to develop and improve. My experience tells me otherwise and I am far from alone in this thinking. Here’s a simple experiment you can try. Many people won’t have instant results, some might, although with practice, it is something that can become a highly effective tool when life challenges.
The next time you need to know what time it is, don’t look or listen to anything that will tell you the time.
Close your eyes, take a few breaths to relax and concentrate for a few seconds on the question; what time is it?
Keep your eyes closed and be receptive. You are only interested in what the time is, not any other random thoughts trying to invade this space.
If you succeed, you will see the time in your minds-eye. It might be numbers or the fingers on a clock. It will make sense if you see it. Don’t be tempted to argue that what you see isn’t correct. The first-time response is the one you are interested in.
Now go and check the time on a device that you know will be correct.
Repeat Often
Intuition is like a muscle and it needs exercise so repeat often and don’t limit this experiment to time. If the phone, rings, don’t look at the display, ask your intuition who is calling. If an unmarked letter arrives in the post, who is the sender? With repeated practice, you can find that proper concentration and receptivity brings intuitive perception with increasing accuracy.
A Deadly Virus
Based on our experience, how we see the world and our thoughts about it. Humans are divided. Everybody has an opinion on what is good and what is not.
In Italy, people have been playing accordions and singing across courtyards; reminding one 
another that nobody is alone. People are looking at their neighbors in a different way and accepting the current reality. Their intuition is shouting to change the way we look at things. They have free-will and are hearing the message about what really matters.
Love is what matters; loving ourselves is the only way to love another and when we can do that, we have unity. We are all connected.
Tools That Help
Relating to these there are plenty of tools that can help with your Personal Growth and Development. If you would like a free 20-minute coaching session on some of these, please leave your contact details in the comments and you will receive a prompt response.
Toolbox
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Comments and Questions
Leave yours below. Your thoughts or questions may well ignite a positive spark in other readers thinking. You will always receive a prompt response to your questions and there is no such thing as a bad question; only the one that was never asked.
Namasté
I bow to the place in you that is love, light, and joy
Peace & Light
Steve Costello is a British Community & Youth Studies and Psychology honors graduate with over 30-years theoretical and practical experience in the Personal Development public and private sectors. He founded ExGro in 2018 with business partner, friend and clinical psychologist, Leo Faerberg.