While I was in India, several years ago, I received a gift in the form of a life lesson.  I was traveling from the Southern mountains of the Nilgiris to the Himalayan foothills of Darjeeling, with a group of tea industry professionals.  At the time, I was founder of an early stage tea startup, so I was in the field to study India’s agricultural and tea production practices.  Along the way of our two-week journey, I also made friends with wonderful new tea brothers and sisters.

At the end of our trip, we were in Kolkata, preparing for our long flights home.  We had an international group, and I was the only one flying back to Los Angeles – so I’d be traveling solo.  I had a night flight, and started to feel uneasy about taking a car service on my own.  During my travels, locals randomly singled me out to say don’t go anywhere alone in India by myself as a woman after sun down.  I was warned not once, but twice, in different parts of the country, by women with knowing and pointed gazes.

I awoke on the morning of my night flight, with a strong urge to book the hotel car service to the airport, instead of the ride that my host was generously arranging.  My intuition told me that I would be okay by myself that night, in the hotel car service.  And though my host was incredibly trustworthy and knowledgeable of India, I kept receiving a strong intuitive nudge about not taking the car he was booking.

With a small pit in my stomach, I met up with our group, and told my tea brother that I preferred to book the hotel car service for my departure.  As any good host might do, he insisted that I allow him to handle the car booking, and he also thought that the hotel service was too expensive, and not worth it.  He noticed that I seemed nervous, and assured me that everything would be OK – he’d monitor my entire trip from his phone.  I decided to go against my intuition, and proceed with his recommendation.

Up until this point in my life, my ratio of listening to my intuition versus other people’s guidance, was probably around fifty percent.  I’m not sure how this came to be, really.  I had a good sense of self love and worth, I had a strong meditation practice, and I was intuitively led.  However, for some reason, I occasionally went against my inner guidance, in favor of others’ advice.

Later that evening, my friends gathered at the curbside to wish me farewell, and opened the car door for me.  My intuition was still screaming:  do not get into this car!  I ignored this, and slid my suitcase onto the seat next to me, since the driver did not bother to open the trunk.  My tea companions waved me off, and we drove.  “Sir, excuse me,” I said politely, “my seatbelt doesn’t work.”  He responded with hostility:  “Deal with it.”  When he began driving in the opposite direction from the GPS navigation, I became more nervous.  His energy matched the vibration of my intuition’s prior nudge.  Plus, I was a female traveling on my own after 6pm – that which I was instructed not to do.  My driver called his friend, and they chatted on speaker phone, in another language that I did not understand – his friend sounded like he was at a gathering.  My driver’s vibes and glances felt increasingly uncomfortable, and my heart was now pounding with an urgency to get out of this car.  When we reached a traffic light on a less travelled street, I noticed a security guard standing outside a building entrance.  I grabbed my bag, jumped out of the car, and stood near this guy, who had a stoic and safe energy.  My driver leapt out of the car, and yelled at me angrily, waving his arms – he demanded that I get back inside.  I shook my head no, and he continued, with wildness.  I stood my ground, thankful that the guard was present, as we were in a more desolate neighborhood.  The driver slammed his door, and left.

I called my host, who then found his way over to me with the hotel car service.  I explained that I had been unsafe.  I was so sure of it.  “You would have been OK – it’s just India,” he said, “Do you need me to stay in this new car with you, to the airport?”  My tea brother’s words about being ‘OK’ were a great reminder to me about the importance of non-judgement, because of course:  my driver was simply in a bad mood, and I very well may have made it to the airport safely, with him.  Unfortunately, the vibe I picked up on in the car was more-so a worst case scenario – the one where I might not have been alive tomorrow if I stayed put.  However, everyone has free will of choice, and my driver was not guilty of anything.  We simply had an incompatible energetic match, and it was me who was at fault for going against my gut.

The hotel driver who met me, had a vibe that matched what I had sensed – warm, nurturing and fatherly.  “No, I do not need you to come with me,” I told my friend, “I feel safe with this guy,”  I was on my way, and at ease.  Now, I would like to underline that there is zero evidence whatsoever that anything bad could have happened to me if I had stayed in the other car.  Was that driver in a bad mood?  Yes!  Did I have a biased fear about traveling alone in India at night as a woman?  Yes!  My first driver was innocent, and free to be himself – though he was not polite, he was expressing himself in the way that he wanted.  The lesson here for me, was that I might have had a much more relaxing and comfortable ride to the airport, if I had just listened to my intuition.

It seems the universe had a greater teaching for me, and so I am very grateful for both of my drivers, who showed up that night, so that I could know the important life lesson of always listening to my intuition.  I am also thankful for my tea brother Raj who reminded me of the importance of non-judgement.  From this point forward, I made the decision to always listen to my inner guidance, no matter what…  and, I choose to receive this innate wisdom through the lens of love and non-judgement.

I believe that our greater community and planet can benefit if more of us pay attention to and follow our intuition.  I personally feel that this can lead us towards our greater collective purpose, on our interconnected life that is a “voyage that’s homeward bound,” as Herman Melville once said.

+ Please Enjoy These Bonus Tips I’ve Learned Along the Way, to Nurture My Intuition

• Physical Space Clearing. On the most tangible level, we’ve got homes, cars, containers and bags, which hold our lives’ souvenirs.  When we keep needless clutter around, without editing and clearing, this can overload or distract our senses.  Often times, deeper loving wisdom wants to come through, and sometimes that is easier to access from a more clear space.  I like to hold onto what is dear, and clear what I can.  Over the years, it has been encouraging to read books like Marie Kondo’s ‘Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ and Jaime Barrett’s ‘Feng Shui Your Life’.  That said, is my home perfectly in order?  Far from it.  It is often quite ‘in progress’.  My car is also a mess.  I am a working, busy, single mom.  However, when I get the urge to clean,  I do notice the differences it makes on many levels.  When the cup is overflowing, it is difficult to allow more in, and it spills all over the table, sometimes damaging things around it.  Clearing is an interesting way to self-reflect.

• Diet and Medical Health. As the saying goes, ‘the body is our temple’, and what we put into ourselves and how we care for our vessels can impact our consciousness.  My journey with my body has had ups and downs.  I’ve had periods of my life where I’ve exercised, done yoga every day, and kept an anti-inflammatory diet.  Other times I was not as healthy, when I ate processed or high in sugar foods, I didn’t exercise, and I had too much alcohol.  I am at the stage of my life now, where I do not drink alcohol, I eat healthy whole foods, and I exercise regularly.  I also enjoy the vitamins and supplements from a company called Cymbiotika.  And as a matter of fact, the talented founder, Chervin Jafarieh, is how I first learned about an incredible process called EBOO/F blood filtration and ozonation.  This medical technology had a life changing impact on me, last summer.  Upon finishing my divorce, selling my home, and suffering with fatigue and brain fog, my intuition somehow still poked through around my forty second birthday, to look into the EBOO/F blood filtration process.  I honored the nudge, and then the consulting doctor’s recommendation to proceed.  Interestingly enough, at my first treatment, the nurses told me they had not seen a blood filter so dirty in years.  I had five more treatments at the doctor’s recommendation for my symptoms, and felt like a new person by the end of the summer.  A full “oil change.”

• Exercise. When we move our body, celebrating and pushing our human abilities, we honor our lifelong chariots.  Over my lifetime, activities like yoga, running, hiking, ice skating, and dancing have all optimized my clarity of mind.  Often times, during these activities, I’d experience intuitive hits, or even recall sweet childhood memories that I’d forgotten about.  Exercising the body is a gift, and I am grateful for the privilege.  Yoga, particularly, is a practice that I’ve experienced heightened states of awareness during.

• Meditation. When our minds become still, I believe that we are able to access new pathways and higher timelines from a unified field, for the greater good of our collective consciousness.  Interestingly enough, I have gravitated towards meditation over my entire life.  To me, it’s always been a natural instinct.  Even as a very young child, my heartfelt guidance showed me how to find solace through meditation.  I recall periods where I’d sit on the couch and journey to interesting places.  Or, I would see a sky in my mind’s eye, and rest in that expansive space, and find peace.  In my early twenties, my friend Galeit and I learned mindfulness meditation from a favorite college professor, Brian.  I discovered my treasured dhyana mudra, which is a way of placing the hands during meditation, said to heighten self-awareness, going inwards, intuition, and more.  In my thirties, when I became a mother, I learned transcendental meditation from my wonderful teacher, Penny.  She gave me a mantra (which was a word for me to return to occasionally, in my mind as I meditated, but it was not to be spoken to anyone else).  I practiced that for many years, and I still do.  I have other meditation practices that I enjoy, and what I find is that I can go into my practice with a very practical life problem, and through the lens of open hearted loving stillness, by the time my meditation is complete… I have gained new insights and understandings for the things that were originally bothering me.

• Embodying loving compassion, community, and service. Through opportunities of loving service with our communities, there are gifts, offerings and connections along the way, to spark our intuition and inspire our journeys.  As Baba Ram Dass said, “We are all just walking each other home.”  Over the years, I have enjoyed joining community nature retreats, spiritual gatherings, and mother groups, all organized to find common ground, connect with one another, and nurture our consciousness.  In Los Angeles where I live, I have personally enjoyed gatherings with compassionate communities at the Lake Shrine, Nashuva, Pure Land Farms, Light on Lotus, and AyAm.  Online gatherings led by Jack Kornfield of Spirit Rock, have also been inspiring for me.

• Being in Nature. Connecting with our mother earth, listening to the birds, feeling the ground beneath our bare feet and the sun on our skin, splashing in the oceans, sitting in the shade of our favorite trees, and celebrating each new day…  Basking in the little big moments of how interconnected it all is… I have found this to open new doorways of possibilities and learning.  There is a favorite beach that I enjoy going to, in Los Angeles, to sit with my feet in the sand, and watch the sun set over the ebbs and flows of the shifting tides.  I am always reminded when I go sit by the sea, of how healing our planet can be, and how just ten minutes with our bare feet on the ground can move energy in a powerful way.

• Journaling, Affirmations, and Gratitude. When we write about our days and our lives, we have a wonderful opportunity to self-audit, gain clarity, and shift perspective.  There is also a process called ‘automatic writing’ which can be helpful for acknowledging and exercising our intuition, where you ask a question or concern, and then you immediately write down whatever comes to mind without judging, for a few minutes.  By engaging in this exercise, we are saying yes to our inner voices, and suspending the thinking mind that evaluates and edits.  I am so grateful for the middle school teacher who taught me and my classmates this interesting skillset, at an early age!  Another beautiful practice is to write down positive affirmations and gratitudes – this is a sweet way to celebrate the gifts of our lives.  It is a great privilege to live and die on Earth.  The more we can lean into this understanding, the greater we can intuitively learn about and remember our higher purposes.  “I am grateful for this new day to continue learning, loving and being peace,” is a wonderful affirmation and gratitude.

• Saying yes to the Inner Guidance. When we follow our intuition, some say it strengthens the senses and enriches our lives.  I have found this to be true.  Sometimes there are blessings in disguise, that appear, when we follow our guidance, which we cannot see at first.  If we ignore our inner teacher, some feel it diminishes the signal.  I believe that when we trust in this great resource and connection, the ‘muscle’ gets stronger, and the symbiotic relationship blossoms… I have noticed that ever since my India trip, my intuition has grown stronger, because I have not ignored it, not even once.  I say yes to following my intuition, my heart source, my inner teacher.

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Rebecca Reagan is an LA-based executive creative producer, integrated life coach, mother, and meditator.  Known as a passionate in the non-profit space as well as a creative visionary, Becky is also a founder of ‘For the Birds: The Birdsong Project’ and co-founder of ‘Amazon Healing’.  You can listen to her guided meditations at Insight here:

https://insighttimer.com/bunnyhawk/guided-meditations