Sensing vs Intuitive – How To Keep The Balance

We all use both sensing and intuition in our daily lives. Sensing gains knowledge using our 5 senses sight, smell, sound, taste, touch and creates meaning from conscious linear thought.

Intuition is a deeper knowing that does not require reasoning or interpreting. Intuition stems from the unconscious abstract mind; deeper more creative, relaxing, infinite possibilities space.

How do you gather information about the world around you? Do you pay more attention to what you see, smell, hear, taste and touch or do you pay more attention to your intuition and see the big picture, the opportunity, greater meaning and purpose?

Your personality type will be predominantly one or the other. If you use sensing you are quiet literal, very practical and grounded. If you use your intuition you are more abstract, idealistic and expansive.

This is helpful when relating to others at work, at home, in intimate relationships or with your children. You may be communicating from two very different perspectives. Recognise whether you are sensing or trusting your intuition, then recognise if the other person is being literal and practical (sensing) or communicating in a more abstract, big picture, ideas way (intuitive). When you recognise these characteristics it will help you to communicate by matching the other person and bridging any communication gap.

For example, if your personality is predominantly sensing you will arrive at a meeting or seminar with a pad and penand be prepared to learn and take notes. Your intuitive colleague or friend arrives without a pad and pen (not even thinking of what is practically needed; someone else will provide the detail ie pads and pens) and says “I’m looking forward to learning how I can apply this knowledge to help my family, community, humanity.” As a sensing person, you have not had this idea yet, at least until you have learnt the information; the next practical step would be application. You can help each other by saying “Maybe you want a pad and pen to take notes to help you plan your ideas” and “Maybe as you take notes you can imagine the opportunities this knowledge will provide to contribute to the bigger picture.”

The sensing person sees the trees; the intuitive person sees the forest. Albert Einstein proved that matter and energy are different manifestations of the same thing, that is, everything is energy. Sensing and intuition are two sides of one coin. If your personality type is predominantly sensing to gather information around you, you can expand your awareness to include the abstract realm of energy and your intuition by the following:

• be more aware of and pay attention to your intuition, inner knowing, sixth sense
• confidently trust and act on your intuition
• cultivate your intuition through meditation
• be more curious about life and the meaning of life
• allow your imagination to be creative ie creative visualisation meditation
• expand your awareness to see the bigger picture in situations

A natural Intuitive will:

• see the strategic potential or pitfalls
• cultivate unseen potential in people and situations
• seek the underlying meaning of things

• not be attracted to the material things in life
• sometimes be impractical as you are not firmly grounded
• dream and have lots of ideas without taking action to manifest form
• on occasions neglect physical health as you are not firmly grounded

If your personality type predominantly uses intuition to gather information around you, you can be more present in the moment and grounded by the following:

• enjoy sensory pleasures and create tangible beauty in the home and at work
• take pride in beauty and pleasure of your personal appearance
• be more aware of being grounded and practical when appropriate
• ask how questions “How can I apply this idea?”
• ask who questions “Who can provide more detail to help bring this idea to fruition?”

A natural sensory person will:

• readily see the practical application of ideas
• pay attention to detail
• may lack strategic/big picture direction
• easily indulge in sensory pleasures
• may lack a meaning in life

What do you do when you get an idea, an idea that seems to come from nowhere into your awareness? You can be guided by your intuition or ignore the idea. Let’s say you are driving and you come to an unexpected fork in the road that was not clearly marked on the map. Which way do you go? Do you pull over to check the map (use your sensing) or do you trust your intuition? Your intuition will always look after you.

If you end up driving somewhere you did not think you would, instead of feeling frustrated and making the situation wrong, ask yourself “What is my lesson here? What is there for me to learn, to grow or to simply embrace and enjoy?” Expand your horizons. Everything is always perfect in the moment. You are always at the right place at the right time (to learn your lessons and grow or enjoy). Learn to trust and grow your intuition.

The trick to life is to live with a healthy balance of both sensing and intuition. We live in a material world so we need to be practical and grounded to be present in the moment. At the same time we must also remember we are far more than our physical bodies. Our inner wisdom and intuition is equally important to guide and protect us.

Cultivate your intuition in deep meditation plus embrace the beauty and pleasures of nature and life. The ultimate joy of life is balance. Enjoy!