Ever find yourself thinking way ahead of yourself because your imagination has propelled you into the unknown future? It might provide a pleasant interlude for the moment, but in the long run, nothing realistic or concrete can come from that experience.
In fact, living in the future and engaging in fear-based thinking can be detrimental to our health and well-being, and our business success. Astrologer Rob Brezsny describes the differences between fearful fantasies and true, authentic intuition in a profound, thought-provoking essay. As Brezsny writes, knowing the difference between these two elements is “one of the greatest spiritual powers you can possibly have.”
Fearful fantasies are those scary, alienating pictures that sometimes pop into your imagination. They are ego-driven, and they are false prophecies of events to come. Yet many people confuse these fearful fantasies with their intuition. For example, they may imagine someone they love getting into an accident, or losing a job. But these scary futuristic images are not true intuition, writes Brezsny.
True, authentic intuition, on the other hand, is driven by the soul and is never ruled by fear. It comes from “the wise, loving core of our being. It blooms in us like a slow-motion fountain of warmth. It reveals the objective truth about a person or situation with lucid compassion. It shows us the big picture.”
Powerful, heady stuff.
How many times have you found yourself drifting in fearful fantasyland or made choices based on imaginative half-truths? How many poor decisions have any of us made, believing we were being guided by our intuition, when we actually made those choices out of fear? I think we are all guilty of doing that at some point in our lives.
I think the real difference between fearful fantasies and authentic intuition is the placement of time — the past, present and future. Where are you living — in the now or in some time or place in the future?
In our fearful fantasies, we tend to relive events of the past or create future circumstances that may never materialize the way we imagine, while authentic intuition is based on present circumstances, seeing things as they currently are and not as we wish they could be.
Further, by staying in the moment, our thinking slows down so we are able to process events and people in real time. When we stay in the moment, we are able to tap into our intuition, giving it freedom to guide us and show us the truth of our lives, even if it might be painful or difficult. Our authentic tuition also provides the emotional tools we need to resolve those difficulties, without succumbing to fear-based thinking.
As Brezsny further writes: “True intuition may show us a difficult truth, but it always does so with a suggestion of how to deal gracefully and courageously with that difficult truth. True intuition may reveal imminent changes that could compel us to adjust our behavior, but it always does so in a way that empowers us.”
So how do we flush away those fear-based fantasies fed by our imagination and make room for more truth-based intuition? For starters, shut off images from the TV, social media, and newspapers and spend more time with nature. Stay in silence and meditate often. For many of us, that may be the best way to form a stronger connection with ourselves and avoid the perils of fearful thinking.
The Regal Writer 