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In this episode, Joel and Antonia talk about the stages of an intuitive awakening and call for you to share the stages of your awakening story.
In this podcast you’ll find:
- Intuitive Awakening program
- Intuitive Awakening Community
- Sensors can have an intuitive awakening.
- Everyone has intuition somewhere in their cognitive function stack.
- We foresee a wave of Intuition much like the recent introvert wave.
- The intuitive awakening is going to happen on a societal level, but it also occurs on a personal level.
- What stages of an intuitive awakening have you experienced?
- 25% of the population in intuitive – 75% is Sensor.
- The world is set up for the majority of the population – Sensors.
- It’s like being left hand dominant in a right-hand dominant world.
- Intuitives are always going to feel kind of alien.
- Intuition may show up as intelligence or awareness.
- You may feel more aware and intelligent than everyone else at times.
- Other times, you may feel utterly inept with things other people do with ease.
- You think different. You see things others don’t understand.
- The first level of the intuitive awakening is Pre-awareness.
- This is where someone knows on some level that they are different.
- a lot of people live their entire lives in this pre-awareness level.
- Some intuitive blending may occur at this level.
- Intuitive Blending: The tendency to ignore your intuitive abilities and try to blend in with others.
- Ignoring the pattern recognition or doubting it because other people don’t mirror it back.
- SPs in the pre-awareness phase call themselves Instinctive.
- SJs in the pre-awareness phase define themselves as Creative.
- For some intuitives, the pre-awareness phase can come with some bitter narrative because of the feeling of isolation and alienation.
- Once someone awakens to the concept of intuitive vs sensation, most intuitives see it as a game changer.
- It explains why they have always felt different.
- The iNtuitive/Sensor dichotomy is powerful.
- Like the Introvert/Extravert dichotomy.
- Once people realize why they feel different, they tend to blame the other side.
- Introverts blame extraverts for making them feel flawed.
- Intuitives blame sensors for the same thing.
- Once we go from pre-awareness to actual awareness, it is the intuitive awakening.
- A lot of people get stuck here, too.
- “I’ve been oppressed my whole life!”
- Not all Extraverts are sociopaths.
- It is hard when someone is in pain not to project intent.
- Most things are not a people problem; it is a system problem.
- Gregory Bateson “When we don’t see systems, we break them.”
- Once someone becomes aware that their mind is wired differently, it is easy to go from bitterness to superiority.
- Superiority gives us an emotionally satisfying hit.
- This level of awakening is merely awareness. Not a lot of effort involved.
- Another part of this stage is the awareness that there are others out there like you.
- The next phase is to move into skill development with your intuition.
- There are two flavors of intuition – Extraverted and Introverted Intuition
- Skill development puts practical discipline with your intuition.
- It’s not about raw talent.
- The second level is about the raw talent. That is why there is bitterness.
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Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom
- Data = Pre-awareness —> Unconscious Incompetence
- Information = Intuitive Awakening —> Conscious Incompetence
- Knowledge = Applied information —> Conscious Competence
- Information has limitations.
- Having info at first feels like a game changer, then it doesn’t.
- Once we pass the relief phase, information stops doing anything for us.
- Info doesn’t move the needle on happiness or improving a person’s life, especially if there is bitterness.
- Just because you are intuitive doesn’t mean your intuition is always right.
- Push it to its limitations. Allow it to fail, then calibrate. Push again.
- It isn’t just a god given right; it’s a muscle that requires exercise.
- You know in which context your intuition does the best.
- Developing judging processes compliment our intuition.
- Intuition is limited without those judging processes.
- Self-esteem develops in this third level of skill building.
- The final stage of the Intuitive Awakening – Intuitive Integration.
- Wisdom = Intuitive Integration —> Unconscious Competence.
- After the skill development, we integrate intuition in our entire persona.
- The ebb and flow in a world that isn’t designed for you.
- The world is getting more complex.
- Our honed and skilled pattern recognition will help the world become a better place.
- Wisdom knows when to use knowledge.
- Sometimes your intuition isn’t the right tool for the job.
- You can tell somebody has integrated their intuition when the world around them is accommodating to them.
- You stop seeing the world as a Sensor world tailored only to Sensors.
- You create an intuitive world around you.
- There are plenty of opportunities to craft the life that is right for you.
- Stop apologizing for yourself and seeing yourself at the receiving end of other people’s behavior.
- Start seeing yourself as a creator of your reality.
- Recognize what in your life needs to change to accommodate your intuition and what doesn’t need to change.
- In integration, we loop back to pre-awareness and stop seeing the distinctions in the world.
- We integrate all the aspects of life and realize that all of us have some level of intuition and sensing.
- Sensors may start out denigrating intuitives or wish they were intuitive.
- “Don’t think I’m not smart just because I’m a Sensor.”
- There can be some pain in the pre-awareness phase for Sensors, too.
- Their awakening is that they have a form of intuition themselves.
- Skill development can come with visiting their intuitive process and exploring the tension between it and the Sensing function.
- Make space for the intuitives in your life to shine.
- Sensors can also use intuition as part of their aspiration.
- They are going to get messages from the intuitive part of them.
- ESFP Profiler Training student teaches language.
- Introverted Intuition is usually really good at understanding the abstraction of language.
- The ESFP integrated her intuitive part by teaching language in a more interesting, physical way.
- Spanish Lessons with Emily
- In pre-awareness, sensors may either reject their intuition or overvalue it.
- In integration, a Sensor can calibrate their intuition and know when to listen and when to reject.
- If you are a Sensor that feels you have gone thru an intuitive awakening, please tell us your story.
- Is there a phase we missed in our discussion about the intuitive awakening?
- Share your story.
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40 comments
Thanks a lot for this great podcast Antonia and Joel, and for giving the chance to share some bits of experience with the PH community!
> Pre-awareness
This first memory dates back to a few decades now. I’m chatting with my adorable 2-year older brother. At that time, he is 14-15, I’m 12-13. Our conversation turns around the meaningfulness of an upcoming party with good friends. Music, games, dancing are on the plans. My face expression must convey some hesitation probably, doubt or suspicion (disdain maybe). His reaction: “well look, we’re not going to spend the evening talking about how to save the world, you hear me?”
> Awareness
Fast-forward, +20 years later. A very long period of stress at work: lots of expectation, huge workload, tight budget, but willingness to achieve. Repetitive tasks, promotion policy frozen, feeling stuck, health affected. Letting an “achiever” sink is no good publicity for the bosses. I’m proposed to benefit from a skill assessment program. I take a mbti test and learn I’m an infj. I search the Internet and come across Personalityhacker website. All I read and hear rings true and right to me. I purchase and follow several PH programs. Enlightenment and a sense of intuitive awakening from my side of the Atlantic. Relief. I now see how the conversation with my brother fits in.
> Questioning and reassessment
Especially, of relationships with siblings and parents, with life-long partner, with friends and acquaintances… and with myself.
There can be anger and blame towards those Sensors who do not see where the problem is with relying over tangible, concrete and proven facts only, who consider that what is not expressed nor articulated is just not real or does not make sense (there are exceptions to this, of course). But how to blame? They are probably the last ones who would need to question the dominant models, even less to find new wording to describe phenomenons they would discard…
And there can also be compassion and self-compassion. “No wonder no one gets me if I do not even honor my own needs, if I don’t express them, and do not consider them at least as important as those of people around me”… Even closed ones who are Introvert and Intuitive may not get the needs of another fellow Intuitive – Introvert, if they are not explicitly told that these needs are…
It’s basically a 360-degree switch that has to occur and this is sometimes so unnatural (for infj-s) that it can be painful: making room for one’s inner voice and intuition, making oneself a priority when your entire life has revolved around the needs of others. Despite the self-development injunctions that surround us, it often feels easier said than done. Besides, one can be held back by culture and upbringing, as well as the people around who might prefer that things remain (in the old) “normal”.
Awareness is gradual and takes time. However, once a certain level has been reached, it then feels counter intuitive not to do anything about it.
> Intuitive integration
Establishing new routines via a series of baby steps in all areas of life is how I started to integrate intuition in my everyday life. A few examples.
. Developing a new normal where one’s priorities are as important than others’
At the beginning, I felt it hard to impose this to my partner but I managed to get over this self-hesitation: “if I can’t make the person I share my life with, understand and accept what my fundamental needs are (alone time, dedicating time to my own interests), how am I going to make things happen in the external world?” I’m now about to go overseas and leave home for several weeks.
. Trusting my gut feeling when spotting Introverts – Intuitives and building a support network has added to the pleasures of life…
I once met an Introvert – Intuitive, and after many months of hesitation, finally arranged a dinner and invited this person… who has become one of my best friend ever since. Mbti test taken, profile confirmed. When we talk to each other, ideas just flow so easily, effortlessly, comfortably…
. Less inhibition (or more confidence depending on how we want to see it) in sharing with Sensors how Intuitives work, thus enriching their experience that effectiveness (or efficiency) leadership, authority can also be displayed in a quieter fashion. Two conversations come back to mind.
One with a former boss who was trained in mbti and was clearly an Extrovert and Sensor: “well, you may have to consider that you’re not made for large organizations after all?” I once heard… One should get prepared to counter such arguments!
A (supposedly) ESFP female colleague recently got married to a person who by her description could be an Introvert and Intuitive gentleman. She fell for his charm and pleasant sense of humor but found his quietness a bit unsettling. “He’s not the super self-imposing type, you see”. Taking advantage of her keenness for psychology, I sent her an mbti quiz.
. Giving oneself the chance to develop a professional activity that resonates with a personal interest
It took me more than a year to operate a mental switch and learn to accept that it was okay to work on something of my own. What helped a lot was the support network I built in the first place.
Means is equally important to ends. Both must be morally just and effective, or the goal is unworthy. A saying I like is: it is not the holy war that sanctifies the means, but holy means that sanctifies the war.
I was SO excited to hear this. I have labeled this “enlightenment” in my life, and because I’m an ENFP, I have become WELL aware of it and its development and learned to use it to my advantage.
I am lying by a fireplace in a cabin while writing this on my phone so I’ve decided to follow the stages as discussed and post when back to civilization:Pre-Awareness:
For me this was in early childhood. I grew up in a very rural place with very little opportunity to make money yet something inside of me always said “YOU can have what you want” which allowed me to spot opportunity. At 7 years old I opened my first checking/savings account (after multiple rounds of debate with my parents) and started filling it by selling deer hides and aluminum cans to a guy who showed up in the grocery store parking lot every other week. From then on I always noticed things that others didn’t seem to and always had more than I needed. That is still with me and over the 29 years has really allowed me to live an amazingly abundant life (by my standards). In my 20’s I found opportunities that allowed me to live in many areas and explore many cultures to further develop this. In my 30’s I’ve taken it to a whole new level by creating “blue ocean” companies to provide real value to the world and capitalize on opportunities that have been hiding in plain sight for decades.
My blind spot in this period was in sports. I played soccer, basketball and football all through school. My teammates always seemed to know where to be and what to do while I never figured it out well enough to consider myself an athlete. It was certainly not for a lack of effort. I believe I tried harder than anyone on any team I played on, and I was a starter, but I never could get the same grasp on the games like the best players had.
Intuitive blending for me in this stage included just about everything I did until College. My hobbies were mostly the hobbies of my culture.
Awareness:
This came after my freshman year of college. I went from using intuitive blending to embracing my differences. Being part of a bigger population and having the opportunity to observe the behavior of others allowed me to confidently move into my own. I adopted a strong “I’m different and that’s okay” mentality. I became an honor student but also hosted the biggest parties in town every Thursday. This is where I realized that few people had such a broad range of interests as me and that created even more curiosity for me to explore my behavior as compared to others.
Knowledge:
This is where I really deviated from my friends and family. For me it was my Sophomore year of college (19 yrs. old) and it started with me deciding to be a cowboy on a ranch in WY even though it was illogical. I didn’t have the money to get out there, I wasn’t really a cowboy, I decided to do it last minute and everyone told me I was crazy and shouldn’t do it. That trip didn’t work out as planned and I could have easily chalked it up as a failure and let it push me back into conventional behavior. Instead, I saw it as a perfect outcome and a good decision which reinforced the use of intuition and catapulted me into a new way of thinking and decision-making that has resulted in a very exciting and unconventional life that not many people understand.
Intuitive Integration:
This is what I have called “enlightenment” in my own life because I didn’t have any material like your podcast to allow me to put a label on it until now. I have grown to a level where I trust my intuition over logic and it has allowed me to “create” a world that provides everything I’ve ever dreamed of. It has allowed me to accept myself and look at the world in an entirely different way. I take full accountability for the “good” and the “bad”, I have no regrets and don’t apologize for being a “weirdo” anymore. I realize that Everything Happens Perfectly (#EHP) and fully trust that everything happening for me is because of me, even the “bad things”.
What did you miss?
This was a great podcast. I really look forward to hearing more as you develop this. I am very curious to hear how this correlates with spirituality for others. I grew up in a God-fearing Methodist church and through the first 2 stages of Intuitive Awakening I was a devout Christian. However, as I developed I carefully observed and considered the perspective of the people I was meeting or reading about and started to test my beliefs against theirs and against my intuitive feelings. I’ll say that I feel closer to God than ever now, even though I totally reject all religion. For me, I didn’t think there could be a stronger certainty than what I labeled “my faith” as an adolescent. Now my beliefs are only based on my own experience and intuition and the “faith” I have dwarfs my previous feelings. It has been very freeing but, like many other aspects of my life, very few people can comprehend my beliefs at this point.
Hi Guys,
Thanks for a great podcast.
I feel like this podcast triggered so many thoughts for me that my INFJ brain started firing off in so many directions!
I’ve been on a journey for the past few years. Although I now identify as an INFJ I grew up in a family of Sensors and now realise most of my friends and the environments I’ve worked has mostly been this way too.
So actually years ago I identified as an ISFJ. I think I answered profiling questions how I was from how I felt I should be. However wasn’t aware of this until later. I’ve always felt different and so years later when I realised I am an INFJ this was a massive thing. It answered the question as to why I felt different. I could identify with what other people shared and felt like I wasn’t alone.
But it wasn’t really until I started to understand the cognitive functions a couple of years ago & finding the car model that I really started to understand how important my Intuitive thinking is. Leading with it means that I now understand why I can feel so stuck in my head and have really taken steps at trying to get better at getting into action and developing my copilot.
I think a barrier for me has always been confidence and when you don’t feel understood then this can keep you in your head even more. I could never understand why people couldn’t see how things were going to pan out. I though people just lacked logic or maybe didn’t care. But I would get frustrated that no one seemed to listen to my concerns of future impacts. Then when those things occurred they would pretty much totally overlook the fact that I predicted them and was trying to be proactive!
Once I realised that my brain fundamentally thought differently to a lot of people. I could start the process of not taking things personally. I found before I would get myself into a cycle of “no one listens so I won’t bother sharing.”
A great step forward to me has been to understand the differences and attempt to explain to others about how my brain naturally links together like a web and seems to be operating with 100s of tabs open at once. And how I will be future focused. However I do think an important development area is around learning how to communicate in the most appropriate ways with sensors.
The nature of the difference means that it’s probably easier for intuitives to understand the difference. If I were a sensor I doubt I would really ‘get it’ 100%. Even though everyone does have it somewhere in their stack. I wasn’t even aware of it for probably 25 years of my life! And I’m still learning about it!
I also have come to totally understand the value of using my sensing to keep myself grounded and my brain in check. I regularly indulge in activities that help balance my intuition which also gives my brain a rest! I think it’s important for intuitives to understand the importance of sensing and vice versa.
I think it’s really important to recognise, your comments, it’s not being a straightforward dichotomy.
So how other people have worked with the sensors in their life to help each other understand each other and communicate better would be really interesting to understand.
I’ll leave my comments there! But good luck with the work on this. It’s very exciting and a really glad I found your site.
Cxx
INFJ here. I feel like I have been on this journey for a long time – I seem to process things quite slowly.
My intuitive awakening was actually years ago, when I first heard the PH podcasts on intuition and INFJs. As you say in this podcast, the major effect of this awakening was relief. Although I immediately recognised myself in your descriptions, it did take me a while to really see how I was using intuition (Ni) in my everyday life, and that Harmony (Fe) really was a major motivator for me.
So a stage of awakeningfor me was really seeing how I was using my cognitive functions.
A difficulty in getting beyond this stage has been my tendency to be a perfectionist. I tend to rub my hands together and want to make a 10 point plan for how I am going to NAIL this transformation in the least possible time. I want to use Accuracy (Ti) to get this thing done!
Something that is helping me move past this obstacle has been focussing intently on compassion and healing. In particular I have been working through the book The Compassionate Mind by Paul Gilbert. The blend of investigation of the evolution and value of compassion in the human mind, and exercises for integrating compassion into your life appeals to my Accuracy and my Harmony equally. This feels like it has gotten me both into my head, to understand Harmony, and out of my head, to bring the healing and compassion needed before and whilst I move forward.
Thanks for this opportunity to share!