Many of you may have had experiences with intuition. Perhaps in the form of a 'gut' feeling or picture in your mind. Maybe you do not really give them much thought or understand the source of those unexpected impulses. The question: Is it better to ignore that unexpected flash of light, or act upon it?

Perhaps you can discern the answer to that question yourself. For instance, what have you encountered? I can only give you my impressions from my own life, but maybe some of these also ring true with you.

Ignore:

• Whenever I did not listen to my instincts, I often:
• Experienced more severe suffering; or
• Missed a beneficial opportunity.
• Sometimes, if you disregard the signals from within, it may take a more drastic knock over the head to stop you from discounting that intuition. This was the case in my life.
  For instance, late in life, after working in a dead-end job for many years, the inner spirit had sent many clear signals to leave my job and change directions. I just was not listening. Then, the spirit smacked me across the face with a loud message before I finally listened and responded.

The message came in the form of a devastating illness, forcing me to listen.

Listen and Act:

• Hardships in my life helped me develop my intuition to a greater degree. I had to experience the pain of separation and the hardship of my illness, in order for me to finally act and allow my intellect to move over and let my spirit, in the form of intuition, emerge more fully.
Illness required me to separate from everything: coworkers, friends, and family. I felt alone and miserable. It proved to me that:
• My illness was God's way of putting me on another, more beneficial path.
• When I was at my lowest point, almost ready to kill myself, the spirit came to my rescue, leading me to seek the truth by changing directions, which ultimately resulted in finding happiness. Therefore, the spirit protected me from harm.
• Each time I listened and acted upon on an unexpected gut instinct, I was rewarded in some way.

The bottom-line: when I did listen to my instincts, it paid off big! Therefore, I know it is the right thing to do. Why? I discovered for myself that my intuition was a message from the spirit of God, residing within me.

I now choose to let the spirit guide me to a more beneficial path. After all, life is already fraught with hardships. Now that I know the source of those messages, and that I may either miss constructive opportunities or experience additional pain, why would I want to ignore them? Would you?