How to achieve your goals in life by following your sixth sense, listening to your inner voice and using your intuitive powers.

By Dennis Fisher

When faced with a difficult situation that requires immediate action, do you believe  it’s possible to know instinctively the best way to act, based on your intuition, gut feeling, hunch or sixth sense, rather than logical, rational, reasoning and analysis?

There are a great many people who firmly believe in the power of intuition, which can be loosely defined as, “instinctive knowing without the use of rational processes.”  They believe the success they have managed to achieve in life has been largely due to their ability to listen to their inner voice and follow their gut feeling.

They also believe that the “sixth sense” is a special gift, certain people are fortunate to have been born with, that gives them the power to instinctively know the correct course of action to take in any situation, without the need to examine the various options and give the matter a great deal of careful thought.

There are many psychologists who are convinced it is definitely possible for certain people, by virtue of the special gifts they possess, to arrive at decisions instinctively and intuitively without conscious reasoning.

This school of psychological thought maintains certain gifted individuals are able to use these special powers to find creative, resourceful, original solutions to problems, discover new processes and inventions, and make correct decisions without logical analysis or thought.

These psychologists consider intuition and a certain “sixth sense”, to be dynamic spiritual or psychic forces unrelated to any of the fundamental five senses of hearing, seeing, smell, taste and touch.

They consider most artistic creations and many inventions to be the spontaneous result of sudden flashes of inspiration that originate in the unconscious mind.

On the other hand, a number of other, equally qualified psychologists oppose this point of view and adopt a more pragmatic approach.  The believe the idea of a sixth sense has no logical or rational basis.

While agreeing that knowledge often comes about automatically and spontaneously, without any conscious remembering or reasoning, they maintain this knowledge is the result of stored information acquired from past experiences.

They also reject, as erroneous, the idea of a special “sixth sense” that some people believe they possess. They hold the view that this “sixth sense” – or “gut feeling” – that directs people to act in a certain way, is not an inherent or innate faculty but an acquired ability based on past experiences.

Although it may appear difficult to reconcile these two opposing points of view, there is, in fact, common meeting ground.

Although both schools of psychological school thought have differences of opinion regarding the correct source and origin of special intuitive powers and a “sixth sense”, both make it clear that these are faculties that can be developed, strengthened and sharpened.

The psychologists who support the idea that intuition is a special skill one is fortunate to be born with, also draw attention to the fact that there are many individuals, who are unaware they possess this unique gift. Because they fail to make use of their latent skills, they remain dormant and undeveloped.

These psychologists believe, however, that these dormant skills can be revived and re-kindled with appropriate mental exercises and special techniques.

It is here that we find common meeting ground between these two opposing points of view.

Those psychologists who reject the notion that “intuition” is the result of sudden flashes of inspiration that originate in the unconscious mind, and believe “intuitive feelings” to be the result of stored knowledge acquired from past experiences, also suggest these powerful feelings can be strengthened.

They draw attention to the fact that creative people in every field happen to be far more observant than others. They are more aware of incidents that go unnoticed by others; more astutely discerning of things that others seem to miss.

Creative, imaginative people, inventors, artists and original thinkers in every field of human activity, notice features and telltale signs that a less observant person may have ignored.

Even a genius like Darwin considered his special gifts were due to “ noticing things that easily escaped the attention of others and observing them carefully”

This reference to the importance of acute powers of observation provides us with a valuable clue with regard to one important way to increase and strengthen intuitive power.

Although there are a number of other effective techniques one can use to develop and strengthen powerful “institutive ” skills, one of the easiest and most straightforward ways is to concentrate on improving all your five natural senses; hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch.

Make every effort to improve these basic five senses as much as humanly possible.

Although there are obviously limits to which this can be done, and it’s physiologically impossible for a human being to develop eyesight as sharp as that of an eagle, the hearing of a rhinoceros or the sense of smell of a dog, you should never underestimate the remarkable extent to which these senses can be improved.

The key word in the improvement of any one of the five basic senses is “focus”- not simply a matter of paying special attention and concentrating on one of your senses, but applying laser-like-focus!

There are some people who can walk into a strange room and “see” every single item of furniture and every ornament in the room at a glance. When questioned about these items later, they can tell you exactly what they saw. The “see” things others haven’t taken the trouble to notice.

This may be a natural talent some people possess. But even if it is not, it is certainly a skill that can be developed.

Some people appear to have remarkable senses of smell. Why? Because different odors mean something to them. They can recognize and identify them.

They “focus” on the great variety of odors they encounter every day.

There is no question that all five of your senses can be dramatically improved by concentrating and focusing attention on them. Not only will there be a marked improvement in your five basic senses, there’s a very good chance you’ll also develop a sixth sense.

This short article is an extract from Dennis Fisher’s e-book, “The Complete Guide to Creative Thinking”, that deals with intuition and the sixth sense in great detail. In addition to a more detailed description of techniques that can be used to improve the basic five senses, the book also describes a great variety of other effective ways to develop and strengthen creative power. Details of this e-book can be found on the author’s website