Power Tool Assessment

Name: Nancy Hiller Date: 10/18/2012 Student ID: NancyH Email: josie.hiller@gmail.com

Complete your Power Tool in the space below and then email as an attachment to assessment@icoachacademy.com

Intuiting vs. Thinking Have you ever wracked your brain, trying to find a solution or conclude what the best possible choice was? Then, when you finally gave up, and only when you completely surrendered to the fact that you just do NOT know some time later, a calm knowing or answer, often accompanied by a warm feeling in the heart just seems to show up out of nowhere. It took no effort, no linear or deductive reasoning, and it may not even be logical yet you can tell it feels right. Once we arrive at this feeling right place, there seems to be no going back. Should we even attempt to entertain the idea of choosing differently at this point, its as if were scratching a chalkboard with our fingernails it just feels too uncomfortable to go against what we instinctively or intuitively know to be true for us. This is intuiting or it can be expressed as heart thinking instead of brain or mind thinking. It can be fascinating when we become aware of just how often we intuit throughout every day of our lives. Though many associate intuition with extra sensory perception or some sort of mythological witchcraft, there is nary a human being that gets through the day without it like digestion or blood pressure and the rest of our autonomic nervous system, we are constantly making thousands of mini choices throughout every day

wherein we utilize NO effort of logical, linear, or deductive reasoning. Perhaps we do indeed have e.s.p. and perhaps, it isnt exactly extra sensory, but, just a sensory perception were just beginning to discover. Take, for example, that beverage you are sipping perhaps right now. Did you wrack your brain deciding when to take that next sip or how much to sip? Or, even prior to getting your last drink of water, did you logically deduce that the sensations you were feeling added up to the likely possibility that your organs needed 4-5 ounces of the clear liquid known as H20 in order to flush toxins from your body? Perhaps, you simply intuited you would feel a little better if you drank some water. You didnt question that impulse to get a glass of water, nor did you wrack your brain over the decision. There was an element of SELF-TRUST in your essential if not instinctual impulse to get a glass of water and drink it until you FELT you didnt need or simply didnt WANT any more. Many may argue that the above example is instinct and not intuition. The instinct vs. intuition debate has and will go on for many more centuries, but, all seem to agree that what the two have in common is that they do NOT involve thinking or reasoning in the most common definitions of the words. Like geese remarkably flying in formation and acting as one or a baby crying when it is hungry and even grand displays of intuition such as the passenger, for no reason, deciding to get off the airplane at the last minute saving her life by doing so they all involve no thought. So, for purposes of this writing, we will not differentiate and just categorize them both as perception not commonly understood in the 21st century. When we are calm, these decisions or knowings of the best choices seem to just flow one flowing action into another until the day is complete like a graceful ballet. We look back over the day and we say what a good day Maybe we got up, took a shower, went for a walk, got some work done on the computer before lunch, and then went to the post office. Throughout the day, we wore an inner smile and all just seemed to flow. Only later, we may have looked back and observed, everything just seemed to flow with its own purpose today for instance something told me to check again under the car seat and there was the letter I had been looking for and had I not decided to go to the post office at that exact time, I would not have run into Charlie who offered me the editing job I had been dreaming of .and so on. Had we debated over whether or not to go to the post office before or after lunch, or perhaps made two columns of PROs and CONS for 1) going to the post office today vs. going to the post office tomorrow and wracked our brains over this decision, could we EVER have had all the information we would need to make a logical decision for the best possible outcome? An old Professor once told me that he had to rely on his intuition just until he was as smart as God interestingly enough, he was a Physics Professor steeped in methods of deductive reasoning and logical-linear thinking. In other words, can we really get by without this thing called intuition unless we have ALL the information there possibly is to have in order to make truly informed decisions all the time?
Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd. Use is governed by the Terms and Conditions at http://www.icoachacademy.com Last updated Feb 2006

The thinking man depicted so beautifully in bronze by Auguste Rodin in his work the Thinker has been a figure of great admiration and highly esteemed, most especially since the age of the Renaissance. Quotes from laudable figures like Shakespeare, I think, therefore I am give clues to the dawning of the scientific age and the growing disparities of religion vs. science The Salem witch trials of the 17th Century should have been of no surprise after a few centuries of putting the human mind on a pedestal equal to or surpassing the religious icons of the day. Intuition became associated with paganism, devil worship, and all that was deemed inferior if not evil in both the scientific and religious communities. Higher learning, deductive and logical reasoning and scientific proof of all we experience became the mandated precursor to anything we might entertain or incorporate into our belief system. If it couldnt be proved by logic, science or both, it simply didnt exist or was labeled superstition. As often as does happen throughout history, pendulums tend to swing and the thinking vs. intuition debate is no different. Logical reasoning is something we hardly want to live without, as well. Its usefulness is as important as opposing thumbs are to the human being. We not only remember things but, with logical, deductive, and inductive reasoning, we can take those memories and see the relationships that help us to predict simple outcomes saving trial and error. For instance we remember last time it rained the grass was wet for hours afterward therefore, since I know the sprinkler produces water just like rain, and the sprinkler went on this morning just 30 minutes ago, Ill put on my rubber shoes before going out to get the mail. Mathematics, engineering, and the entire human-made world cannot exist without the minds ability to reason, but, were suggesting that it will serve us when the pendulum finishes its swing and finds a restful place in the middle between the two. Its clear that the intuitive process has been not only ignored, but, disparaged in all too recent history and it can benefit us and our clients greatly if we give it the attention that it deserves especially when it comes to the big decisions and transitions in our lives. Perspectives INTUITING Feminine Heart Trusting Unifying Right Brain THINKING Masculine Mind Skeptical Separating Left Brain
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Expanding Warm Spirit/ethereal Unlimited Sensory

Contracting Cool Body/Material Limited Informational

Neither the left side nor the right can be called good or bad per se. Just about everything we do when done well involves both of these, however, only the left column offers us a possibility of choosing very well when the stakes are high when we consider: our knowledge of all that is is like a drop of water in the oceanic universe. To be a peaceful human being we must adopt some measure of trust which includes reliance on our intuition. Listening to our gut and choosing with our hearts may be the logically smartest thing we can do, after all. Application We have also all had those other days. Those days where nothing we do seems to go right and no decision seems to be the right one. We second guess and scold ourselves throughout the day and it only seems to make the bad things worse! Have you ever traced that day backwards to the very beginning of its downturn sometimes we need to trace back weeks or even months. But, always, there seems to be a turning point and that is always associated with an inner disturbance or fear. The common denominator to these other days is always a beginning of lack of peace. The counter to the underlying theme of those good days. The great day has an element of trust and peace while the bad day always begins with an element of fear and doubt. The great news is that there are ways to actually be proactive rather than just let the day create itself. Of course you have noticed some people seem to have many more good days than bad and others always seem to have bad things happening all the time. CREATE CALM in yourself and you will heighten your intuitive abilities. The greater your intuitive sensory mechanisms are working, the better chance you have of allowing that peaceful flow into your life. For small decisions and more importantly for the big decisions, first, tap into what appears to be the seat of intuition and that is your heart. Some refer to it as spirit, but, spiritual avatars and more recently, scientists (see heartmath.org) are finding that when focus and identification with ourselves leaves our head/brain area and moves to our heart area, for some reason, a calm comes about that actually clears and quiets the static negative thinking that seems to act as an interference to this somewhat mysterious activity called intuiting.
Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd. Use is governed by the Terms and Conditions at http://www.icoachacademy.com Last updated Feb 2006

Coaching Application Try beginning your coaching sessions with an intuition-amplifying exercise for both you and your client: HEART-MINDING BREATHING Simply ask your client (and yourself) to relax and take a deep breath and imagine that the breath is coming through your chest area around your hearts. On the out breath, describe the sensation of feeling the breath come out through the heart and the awareness of yourself DROPPING from your head to your heart. Do the breathing two more times with reminder that the sensation is through the heart area of the body and then state something to the effect now leave just a little attention, like a faint smile, in the heart area during the rest of our session Its almost like being completely focused on where you are in the here and now but also being aware that i.e. a baby is in the next room and you are simultaneously paying attention to its needs and wants OR/and similar to just viewing the session from a different chair i.e. the seat of the heart rather from the seat you normally take in the mind / head area. Throughout the session you may want to ask some intuition-developing questions i.e. Read through the above list (Intuiting/Thinking) read each word slowly and tell me, what do you feel with each word? How does that thought, [repeat their statement back to them] make you feel? Can you imagine that you are sitting down in your heart and ask yourself again what you would rather do? Is this what your mind says you should do or is this something your heart wants to do? Is this what you want? or is it what you think you should want? Can you put your hand on your heart and feel good when you state that belief?

Reflection How does your thinking sometimes get in the way of your calm or your ability to make choices that feel right? How could any of the characteristics of INTUITING, listed above, be an asset in your coaching? Could intuiting help you stay more heart-focused before, during, and after the coaching process? References http://www.heartmath.org/research/science-of-the-heart/introduction.html
Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd. Use is governed by the Terms and Conditions at http://www.icoachacademy.com Last updated Feb 2006

 Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd. Use is governed by the Terms and Conditions at http://www.icoachacademy.com Last updated Feb 2006