Tapping Into the Wisdom Within
Article #1 of the "Wisdom Within" Series
One of the gifts of my work is being in frequent conversation with people from many different countries. As we make our way into 2024, so many people are feeling anxious about what the year will bring. While the details may be different from person to person and country to country, the essence of their concern is the same. We’re entering new territory. There is a higher level of volatility, uncertainty, and unease than many of us have experienced in our lifetimes. Those of us who are committed to conscious living and conscious leading will no doubt feel stretched in our capacities to be fully present with “what is” and to navigate, make choices, and take action with clear intention.
Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post, wrote:
We all have this place in us,
a place of strength, harmony, and wisdom,
but most of the time we don't live there.How can we course-correct faster?
How can we encourage each other to
live in that place more?—Arianna Huffington
Those two questions are spot on as we navigate this new territory. Unexpected events, situations, or conversations can throw us off-center. At times, we may even feel untethered from the world we have known. When others look to us for clarity, understanding, and direction, how do we respond when we ourselves are feeling unsettled? Or to use Arianna Huffington’s words, how can we course-correct faster to find that place of strength, harmony, and wisdom within? We can start with stretching beyond the intellectual and analytical mind that is struggling to make sense of things into our more expansive and all-encompassing intuitive mind.
Over the next seven weeks, we’ll take a journey together through a series of articles called “Wisdom Within.” Each week, we’ll look at what is happening around you and within you through a different perspective or “lens” to find greater clarity, understanding, direction, and when appropriate, action. Whether you seek deeper understanding of events, situations, or relationships, these lenses can open pathways towards that place of strength, harmony, and wisdom within.
The Seven Lenses
Common Ground
Connection
Integrity
Relationship
Truth
Vision
Greater Wisdom
Today, we begin with a little background to set the stage for our journey over the coming weeks.
Expanding your capacity for intuitive thinking
Ancient wisdom schools taught that we have Three Intelligences within us: the head, the gut or belly, and the heart. Today, neuroscience shows us that there are neurons and neurotransmitters not just in the brain (head), but also deep within our intestinal tract (belly) and all around the heart. You can learn more about these Three Intelligences and experience them through an exercise in my November 8, 2023 Substack post.
During the last 30 years, research at the HeartMath Institute in California has shown that the electromagnetic field of the heart is 60 times greater than the electromagnetic field of the brain. In other words, the heart intelligence, which is the center of our intuitive mind, can reach out into a field of energy and awareness that is 60 times greater than the field accessible by the brain or intellect alone.
When faced with a problem or confusion, most of us are conditioned to go first to the head or intellect to analyze what is going on, figure out what to do, and then do it. For some situations, that works pretty well. Yet navigating the multiple layers and complexities of today’s world requires more than intellect and analysis. We need the whole of our intelligence and awareness. We need to be able to think intuitively. We need the strength, harmony, and wisdom that Arianna Huffington writes about. Which means starting with the heart and the belly.
In essence, here’s how the Three Intelligences work together. First, the heart reaches out into the energy field of what is happening, gathers information, and then brings that information back to the belly and the intellect. The belly intelligence then helps us tap into the present moment realities and what they mean for us right here, right now. And then the head intelligence (intellect) sorts, organizes, and catalogues that information gathered by the heart and belly and makes a plan for moving forward. And it all happens in an instant. This is how our system is naturally programmed to work. However, since the Age of Reason in the 17th and 18th centuries, we have trained our attention more and more only on the intellect.
When we tap into all three Intelligences, we get a much bigger picture of what is going on. The intuitive mind, although centered in the heart, encompasses all three Intelligences. The more we engage with all three, the more we begin to “think” intuitively. I believe our intuitive intelligence remains one of the next big frontiers to explore in human understanding and interaction.
Going deeper within
While the Three Intelligences offer an entryway into the larger intuitive mind, in the next seven weeks we will go deeper. As a teacher, coach, and mentor, I’m always seeking new ways to access the larger intuitive mind. The seven “lenses” we will explore in the coming weeks came to me in a morning meditation a few months ago. I call them “lenses” because accessing them feels like putting on magical pairs of glasses. Each lens gives me another perspective and further opens my understanding about what is happening.
These seven lenses also correspond to the seven chakras, energy centers within the body through which we exchange information with the world around us. In the modern Western world, people often first hear about these energy centers through studying Eastern practices such as yoga or meditation. However, references to this human energy system can be found in the mystical teachings of many religious and spiritual belief traditions around the world.
For example, St. Teresa of Avila, a 16th century Spanish Christian mystic, wrote a book called The Interior Castle in which she talks about the seven inner mansions of the spiritual journey. These seven inner mansions line up with the seven chakras. There are also correspondences in Jewish mysticism with the Sephirot in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, with the Seven African Powers in Yoruba, as well as in Celtic mysticism and various indigenous religions.
While many people think of the chakras as primarily relating to spirituality and health, our focus in the weeks ahead will be on their relevance and impact in conscious leadership and intentional living. For more than 40 years, the chakras have been teaching me about life and how I walk in the world. These seven lenses represent their most recent “teaching.”
Our journey through the chakras and the seven lenses begins today with four simple two-minute practices for awakening awareness and staying present to the moment. Being fully present right here, right now is an essential key to tapping into the wisdom within. I encourage you to scatter these practices across your day. Give yourself this gift of stillness and focus. Keep the practices simple, and follow what you sense is right for you.
Simple two-minute practices for awakening awareness
In the morning before getting out of bed, spend an extra two minutes lying under the covers and feeling your body in the bed. … Notice your breath coming in and going out. … Become aware of how your bed cradles you and the feeling of the bedcovers on your body. … Notice sounds—close-up sounds and far-away sounds. Even if it is very quiet around you, listen into the quiet. How many layers of sound can you hear? … Focus on being fully present with your experience. There is nothing more to do than this. Just be present with the experience, allowing yourself to be with the quiet. For it’s in the quiet that the intuitive voice is most likely to speak. … After two minutes, calmly arise from your bed and begin your day.
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As you go about your morning and move through your day, pause every couple of hours for just one or two minutes each time. You might even set a gentle ring-tone reminder on your phone or computer to help you remember to pause. Begin by focusing once more on your breath coming in and going out. … Feel the clothes on your skin. … Listen for layers of sound—close-up sounds and far-away sounds. How many layers of sound can you hear? … Then when you are ready, go on with your day.
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Within your daily activities, you might also take just one or two minutes to focus all your attention on just one thing. For example, if you are walking, pay attention to how your foot connects with the ground. Notice the movement of your arms and legs. Pay attention to your posture and your sense of inner alignment. If you are writing or working at your computer, pay attention to how you hold the pen or how your hands hover over the keyboard and make contact with the keys. If you are washing dishes, notice the temperature of the water, the texture of the sponge, the feeling of the dishes or pots and pans in your hands. Whatever you are doing, give that your full attention for two minutes.
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Finally, in the evening before going to bed, relax in a comfortable chair for two minutes. … Focus again on your breath coming in and going out. … Feel the clothes on your skin, your body in the chair, and notice the layers of sounds. … And then when you are ready, go to bed.
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Taking a few minutes every day for these simple practices will help you get the most out of our seven-week journey. And if you find yourself wanting to linger a big longer with any of the practices, give yourself that time. See where it takes you. And then next week, we will explore the Root Chakra and the lens of Common Ground.
Welcome. Your journey to the Wisdom Within has begun.
Upcoming Articles in the “Wisdom Within” Series
Standing on Common Ground
The Mystery of Connection
Living Integrity
Right Relationship
The Truth of the Matter
The Power of Vision
Wisdom Greater than Our Own
This is lucid and helpful, Alan – I love your whole-body, chakra-based, three-intelligence approach. Our bodies are instruments of acute perception, but society conditions us to rely so heavily on our heads, it's as if we're divorced from two-thirds of our wisdom.
I'm eager to go on this journey with you.