Louder Than The Signal

“You get your intuition back when you make space for it, when you stop the chattering of the rational mind.”
– Anne Lamott

Dear Reader,

A while back, I wrote to you about trusting your intuition, that quiet inner knowing that’s often wiser than the noise around it.

This week, I’d like to share with you what happened when I didn’t take my own advice.

Last year, I had a feeling that something was off. I couldn’t explain it. There was no evidence, no obvious reason to suspect anything. Just a quiet, persistent sense that something wasn’t right.

I usually trust that feeling. Our intuition takes in far more than the conscious mind can put into words: the subtle things, the details underneath the surface. That’s where I tend to place my weight.

But this time was different. I had created a story around how I wanted things to go, what it all meant, how it would play out, what I hoped was true. And that story was louder than the signal.

So I ignored the feeling and told myself what I wanted to hear.

What followed was months of struggling. Things would swing from good to bad and back again, always with that same undercurrent of being off balance. Something in me knew, even as I kept overriding it and it kept getting louder. It was going to get my attention.

Eventually I stepped back, not to prove anything. Rather, I felt pushed past my limit and needed to get centered again. And in that space, with the noise finally quiet, the picture became clear. The very thing I had sensed at the beginning turned out to be true.

Here’s what I want you to take from this, and it isn’t self-blame.

Your intuition rarely fails you. What overrides it is the story you want to be true – the version you’re attached to, the outcome you’re hoping for. The signal is still there underneath. You just have to get quiet enough to hear it, and trust yourself enough to honor it, even without all the evidence in hand.

I know that’s hard to do. It means trusting the part of you that can’t build a case for itself, choosing the quiet knowing over the rational mind that wants proof.

So check in with yourself this week. Make some space. Listen for what you already know.

My question for you this week:

Where is your inner knowing trying to tell you something you’ve been talking yourself out of?

Sit with that.

– Ken