✨Word of Wonder: Intuition✨

Intuition: often seen as a form of insight that comes without clear evidence or logical reasoning, but still feels accurate or true.

When I first think of intuition, I picture myself sitting behind an electronic control board. In front of me is a clear whiteboard filled with the workings of some grand equation. The whiteboard is important because it represents how I see the world—clear and simple—allowing me to view "shared" reality through my mind's eye.

I believe that we all have the capacity for intuitive recognition. Some people call it a “gut” instinct. For me, I feel intuition first in the middle of my forehead. Only once I’ve noticed it does that feeling shift into my chest. It's not that it moves directly to my chest—rather, the two sensations are simultaneous.

The feeling in my forehead represents the analytical and calculating aspect of intuition. The feeling in my chest is the emotional center, the spiritual part of my earthly form.

Often, this emotion is neutral—neither positive nor negative, so to speak. Intuitive recognitions that produce intense feelings of despair or joy are more rare.

No matter the emotional connection the recognition produces, if I’ve seen it on the whiteboard, it will come to fruition.

There have been times when I’ve had an intuitive thought that makes me laugh out loud. It’s just too wild to believe it would actually happen. Then, when it does, I’m left bewildered. I recall saying aloud on one such occasion, “I can’t believe this is actually happening. This doesn’t make sense.”
But the truth was, it made perfect sense when considering the variables of reality’s equation. In fact, it couldn’t have happened any other way.

Self Fulfilling Prophecy

How do you know it wasn’t just a self-fulfilling prophecy? That’s an easy question to answer: I don’t. Perhaps intuition is the counterpart to manifestation.
I can only speak for myself. For me, intuition usually comes in small bits. Rarely—though not never—does it manifest as a grand realization or epiphany. More often, it appears as tiny fragments of thought: a little plus sign here, an x variable there. Eventually, all the pieces come together, and the grand equation isolates the variables into a comprehensive answer. Then, bam—there’s the manifested intuitive recognition. Take it or leave it.

The ego tells lies, while intuition reveals the uncomfortable truth.

-AverageBenjamin

Taking Action

Taking action based on intuition can be terrifying. How can you know it’s not just fantasy?
Here’s my take on that: intuition feels uncomfortable. Often, it goes against the norms of the “shared” reality, feeling unnatural in comparison. Fantasy doesn’t feel uncomfortable. It feels good, righteous, and deserving. Fantasy is the domain of the ego. The ego is self-destructive. The ego tells lies, while intuition reveals the uncomfortable truth.

I would be the biggest of hypocrites if I sat here telling you not to wait, to act now! I’m the worst at ignoring my intuition. After all, it often feels so impossible. That said, I’m doing my best lately to follow my intuition—to chase down those foggy images and piece together past variables with current information in order to uncover what my intuition is trying to show me. In doing so, I look for little signs in the universe for validation.

Validation

Intuition doesn’t need to be viewed as some magic trick. It’s the recognition of current states of affairs combined with likely outcomes. It’s like solving an algebraic equation. You may not be able to solve for x’s exact value, but you can narrow down the possibilities. I think intuition works the same way. Your mind has a thought—let’s call that “X.” Then something happens in the present—let’s call that “A.” We then use our natural ability to recall similar situations from the past to narrow the field—let’s call that “B.” All that’s left is to solve for x.

Now that I’ve covered my logical side, I want to speak directly from my spiritual perspective. When I first get an intuitive thought, my executive functions go into overdrive, categorizing the thought into one of three actions: act now, save for later, or off to the rubbish bin.

When it's time to act now, my chest enters a kind of hyperfrenzy, and that particular thought becomes my top priority. As I act on this intuitive recognition—whether it takes minutes, months, or years—I look for small signs from the universe. Repeating numbers, random song lyrics, and confirmation through conversations.

Sometimes, when I get these confirmations, I laugh aloud and say something like, “I hear ya” or “Ah, I see what you did there.”
I promise I’m not crazy. Well, probably not.

Conclusion

To put it simply: intuition is like putting together variables from both your inner and outer worlds to solve for x, where x equals the future outcome.

I believe God and the universe are intertwined, and that divine validations exist for the paths we take. For me, these manifest as repeating numbers, random song lyrics, reconnections with old friends and acquaintances, and other rare occurrences.

Here’s one example:

One time, I was having a rough day and just wanted to blow off some steam. I got invited to a party, knowing it was likely I'd end up drinking. But throughout the day, I kept getting these little nudges of guilt, as if something was telling me not to go. I ignored them, determined to go anyway.
I was so set on going—just wanting to let my troubles melt away for a few hours. On my way to the party, I stopped to fuel up my truck. After paying, I hopped back in, threw it into gear, and pressed the accelerator—but the truck didn’t move. My parking brake was on, and I never use it. In that moment, I decided to listen to my intuition. I went home instead.
The party went on without me, and nothing “bad” happened. Sure, this story may seem anticlimactic, but to this day, I believe my intuition kept me from making a bad choice that night. Maybe I would’ve gotten into an argument, a DUI, or even a car accident. Who’s to say what would’ve happened? But I believe I dodged something that night.

Lately, I've had a strong intuitive pull regarding my career. I’m trying to avoid being impulsive, but it raises a big question: Am I delaying the inevitable out of comfort? Or is it time to take a leap of faith? Today, I received a submission from a new reader of averagebenjamin.com, asking about intuition. Divine confirmation? It sure feels like it.
Thank you to perfectly average reader Desiree G. for your Word of Wonder submission, I hope I did it justice.

As always, thank you all for reading. Much love to you all, and remember, that together, we are all perfectly average.

Average Benjamin,
Signing off.