George,
I agree that it takes practice, etc. I guess I wasn't interpreting your post correctly (I was probably ignoring the intuitive signals). Paul has some ideas in the book (page 141 of the 3rd edition) like: play games with it, notice information at the periphery of your awareness, explore the sensory perceptions inside you, etc. Some of those are helpful, some aren't so much.
Laura Day provides this procedure in one of her books (I think it was Practical Intuition):
- Get centered
- Focus on a specific question
- Notice the first impressions you receive in response to the question
- Interpret your impressions
- Verify your conclusions
This is probably a bit out of context without the supporting material but what she is saying is: get into a relaxed state by first noticing impressions from each of your five senses (what are you seeing, smelling, hearing, feeling physically, feeling emotionally?). Then ask yourself a question, blah, blah, blah (I think you can get the rest of what she's saying from this context).
She goes a little further to suggest that EVERYTHING we notice (image, sound, smell, feeling...) is an intuitive signal. Our job is to notice it, then learn to interpret it. It's an interesting idea that I really haven't tested out much. She offers up an exercise where you ask yourself a question each morning and suggest to your mind that the first time you experience a certain trigger, the very next thing you notice will be an answer to that question. For instance:
- How can I be more creative?
- My trigger today will be a bird song. After I hear the first bird song today, my very next thought, impression, image, etc. will be helpful information about being creative.
I hope this helps relate her ideas. Unfortunately, I always forget to notice the trigger...
