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**Carol** · 06-25-2011, 06:19 PM

I have recently been studying the Five Faculties and the Five Powers: saddha, viriya, sati, samadhi and panna, and I think they are quite relevant in the context of your question.

Thanks Woodscooter. I’ve looked up an article ‘The Way of Wisdom - the Five Spiritual Faculties’ on accesstoinsight and will study it a bit later on. Yes, I understand about not allowing your heart to rule your head when it comes to making big decisions in your life. I wasn’t really meaning so much in the context of close personal relationships.

Several years ago I made the decision to move away from the city to where I stay now. I allowed a parent’s wishes to sway my decision, although I managed to convince myself also that there could be many positive outcomes about moving to the area. However, as the time got nearer to make the final decision, I started having panic attacks warning me almost that it would be an unwise thing for me to do.

I didn’t sit down and allow myself to really think seriously about the situation (‘head in the sand’ kind of attitude!), but this strong feeling of intuition that I’d had prior to the move has proved right, and as I said, I often get these feelings about things, and when I don’t listen to my intuition I end up suffering as a result.

So what’s the difference between listening to your intuition - which is often an unexplained feeling that arises without conscious deliberation - and listening to your inner wisdom based on looking deeply at a situation with concentration for a length of time and having faith in yourself?

I sometimes feel if you analyze the intuitive feeling you are getting too much, there is a danger you can talk yourself out of trusting it, because its just a feeling and can’t be proven or based on facts, and we also don‘t have a crystal ball to look into!!

I’m not very good at meditating properly yet, but if with practice I just sit and allow myself to become very aware of all the thoughts and feelings that are passing through my mind, would I have arrived at the same conclusion about the move (unwise decision), but had more insight into why I felt that way? If someone gets a strong intuitive feeling about something, should you then meditate on it, or just allow the free flow of thoughts and feelings to take place and see what arises in your mind?

This is something I’m not sure about. Can you look more deeply into something that is bothering you in life through meditation ‘on purpose‘, or is that not the object of meditation? Should you just not think about anything in particular and let whatever arises be there and take note?

06-25-2011, 06:19 PM	#6
Carol Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 547 Senior Member	I have recently been studying the Five Faculties and the Five Powers: saddha, viriya, sati, samadhi and panna, and I think they are quite relevant in the context of your question. Thanks Woodscooter. I’ve looked up an article ‘The Way of Wisdom - the Five Spiritual Faculties’ on accesstoinsight and will study it a bit later on. Yes, I understand about not allowing your heart to rule your head when it comes to making big decisions in your life. I wasn’t really meaning so much in the context of close personal relationships. Several years ago I made the decision to move away from the city to where I stay now. I allowed a parent’s wishes to sway my decision, although I managed to convince myself also that there could be many positive outcomes about moving to the area. However, as the time got nearer to make the final decision, I started having panic attacks warning me almost that it would be an unwise thing for me to do. I didn’t sit down and allow myself to really think seriously about the situation (‘head in the sand’ kind of attitude!), but this strong feeling of intuition that I’d had prior to the move has proved right, and as I said, I often get these feelings about things, and when I don’t listen to my intuition I end up suffering as a result. So what’s the difference between listening to your intuition - which is often an unexplained feeling that arises without conscious deliberation - and listening to your inner wisdom based on looking deeply at a situation with concentration for a length of time and having faith in yourself? I sometimes feel if you analyze the intuitive feeling you are getting too much, there is a danger you can talk yourself out of trusting it, because its just a feeling and can’t be proven or based on facts, and we also don‘t have a crystal ball to look into!! I’m not very good at meditating properly yet, but if with practice I just sit and allow myself to become very aware of all the thoughts and feelings that are passing through my mind, would I have arrived at the same conclusion about the move (unwise decision), but had more insight into why I felt that way? If someone gets a strong intuitive feeling about something, should you then meditate on it, or just allow the free flow of thoughts and feelings to take place and see what arises in your mind? This is something I’m not sure about. Can you look more deeply into something that is bothering you in life through meditation ‘on purpose‘, or is that not the object of meditation? Should you just not think about anything in particular and let whatever arises be there and take note?
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