Intuition, Are You There?
Lesson 5 of 10 from the 200 Words-a-Day Challenge
In July 2023, I reluctantly accepted a challenge issued by
to write—and share—at least 200 words a day. Word count wasn’t the point; attempting to break through my resistance to sharing my writing was.This small daily task taught me a lot about myself, my creativity, and my writing practice. So I decided to also share my top ten lessons learned from the challenge in the hopes they’ll support you and your practice as well.
Following the pattern and the practice of the month-long challenge, I’m delivering these 10 lessons learned as micro-essays of at least 200 words.
Intuition, Are You There?
For various reasons, I’ve been disconnected from my intuition most of my life. I’m a believer that we all have it, but we all aren’t great at listening to it. That’s me. So for more than a year, I’ve been purposely learning about intuition and practicing tapping into mine—at times more easily than others.
When I first started writing the micro-essays and prompts, I put deliberate thought into the topics, sometimes worrying all day about what I would write. Then, a week or so into the challenge, I noticed that my subconscious was becoming more alert to ideas. Just going about my day, I’d randomly think, “That’s an idea for a prompt.”
When I finally had a chance to get behind the keyboard (reference Lesson #1: Late Night Writing), my mind brought back that idea my subconscious had so astutely bookmarked earlier in the day. In that way, each new essay and prompt flowed more easily. Even on days when my subconscious wasn’t particularly attentive, when I settled in to write and just… trusted… ideas came.
It seems that:
(a) writing at a different time than I usually do (see Lesson #1)
(b) giving myself permission to “wing it” (see Lesson #3)
and (c) being willing to be vulnerable (see Lesson #4)
…had this weird collective effect that felt… inspiring? carefree? like freedom?
I don’t know how else to explain it except to say when I listened and trusted my intuition, ideas showed up. Those posts, written when I trustingly followed my intuition, were, I think, some of my best and were definitely the most fun to write.
Lesson #5 of 10
Our intuition is for us, not against us, and it’s always there. When we lean into it and listen, it will show us the way. Trust that.
I listened to your most recent podcast earlier this week. It contributed to that final push to share work that will never be "ready" for other eyes. Let's lean into a body of work, not one perfect, shiny thing. Let's wing it and be vulnerable, trusting. (biting nails now...)
Training. It's why the conductor stand before the orchestra of world class musicians and demands: "Once more from the top." The more practice, the more training, the more insight.