Dr. Emery begins the interview by giving her definition of intuition. She
says it’s different for everyone but it’s whatever brings you to the AHA point in any situation. She says it could be like a lightening
flash, a key that opens a door or a light bulb being turned on. Our subconscious will speak to us in symbols
or metaphors that it sends to our conscious mind.
She also says that intuition is always correct.
The discussion then turns to the fact that intuition alone is
not enough. The intuitive mind must be integrated with the logical mind in order to reach correct solutions
to our problems. Dr. Emery says it’s like a back and forth process and that it doesn’t matter whether your
logical mind starts the process and then your intuitive mind takes over which then sends it back to the logical. It’s
the balance and integration between the two that is important. The point is made that in our culture so much
more emphasis is placed on the logical mind while the intuitive one is neglected. We don’t have very many creative classes
in school and our experience in listening to our intuitive mind is very limited.
Dr. Mishlove points out that in her workshops and seminars for
business people she uses a “whole-brain” approach to problem solving. Dr. Emery explains the process that
she uses for this work. She says that there are many complexities that must be dealt with and one of these is the
way people “see” things. People who are told to close their eyes and see a picture feel left out of the process
if they are unable to accomplish this task.
What she does then is help them “see” in the way that suits them. She
asks some people to tell her what they feel, what they hear, what they smell? It often ends up with the person being
able to achieve the same intuitive goal once they recognize their individual way of “seeing.”
Another of the complexities that she deals with is the one involving
puns. Very often the subconscious will answer our questions using a symbol or metaphor that is a kind
of pun. She gives the example of seeing a bear that actually means b-a-r-e. She teaches ways to interpret these
symbols. Since the symbols have different meanings for each individual she teaches that it’s something you
have to come up with for yourself as to the meaning.
She discusses the technique she uses in these seminars. The
first thing she has them do is to come up with an issue or problem. At first just keep it simple, just a
yes or no answer. Then it needs to be written down so that it cements it into the subconscious. She
suggests that separating the issue from the background is important, too. She uses the example of “should I change
my job?” That is the issue, the background would be, “I’m so bored here, my boss hates me, etc.” It’s
important to separate from the background.
The next step in the process is to center yourself. Centering
allows you to release tension from your mind.
It sends the logical mind into the background giving the intuitive
mind more room to work. Sometimes using an affirmation helps to get centered, which can be done by focusing on
a word, phrase or object. Dr. Emery then uses relaxation techniques because the goal is to be able to reach what
she terms the alpha state where the subconscious may be tapped for the answer to the question or problem. She
has several breathing and relaxation techniques that she teaches in order to help others achieve this state.
After all the techniques have been used what happens now is
that a very incongruous seeming symbol may appear which at first seems to have absolutely no bearing on the question
being asked. Dr. Emery then gives an example of how she uses a free association style train of thought that eventually
helps the person interpret what the symbol means to them and how it can help them. The example she gives is of a client
who needed to know the best way to handle a problem employee. She took her through the techniques to solve
her problem and the client came up with the symbol of an egg. At this point she then began to help the client
free associate what the egg might mean.
After they had been through meanings like, new life, good food, etc.,
the client looked up and said “hard-boiled.”
She had had the AHA experience and the interpretation she had for the
egg was the one that helped solve her problem.
Dr. Emery also acknowledges that even after using her process
there might be a situation where nothing shows up.
At this time, she says, it’s best to just take a rest. The
question has been planted into the subconscious and an answer will come but it may take using another step which
she recommends when necessary – taking a resting period. She also suggests the use of creative imagery
when nothing appears spontaneously.
She gives an example of using two light bulbs, one means yes the other
no, and then seeing which one lights up.
Using creative imagery can be very helpful in these situations.
Having described the process that she uses to ask a simple question,
Dr. Emery says this can also be used for a series of questions. She describes this as a back and forth type of
procedure where for one situation you might get a symbol and for the next one you use creative imagery and then
the next issue sends up a metaphor followed by a return to creative imagery. She calls this process of information
retrieval activating your creative imagery.
At this point Dr. Mishlove brings up the issue of what he terms “gremlins of the mind”
that keep us from getting the correct information.
Dr. Emery calls these emotional culprits and says these are blocks
to our intuition. A couple of examples of these culprits are fear and the positive emotional ones. The
fear culprit shows itself when we ask a question such as, “should I change my job” and we don’t really feel able
to leave the work situation if the answer were yes, or don’t feel capable of handling any extra training that might
be involved. An example of a positive emotional culprit is a lot like having wishful thinking. We just want something to happen so
strongly that we put our own positive spin on any answer we might receive from the intuitive mind. Some
people who think they are using their intuition and later see that what they thought was a true answer didn’t work
for them would think that their intuition was wrong.
Dr. Emery says that intuition is always right and it’s the culprits
that get in the way of the correct answer.
Dr. Emery says that both the positive and negative culprits
pull us off our intuitive center. She suggests using creative imagery to determine if you are getting a “fear” culprit answer
to a question instead of an intuitive one.
In the case of a client who received a negative answer to a question,
she suggested the client pose the question through creative imagery asking whether or not this is a fear culprit
operating? Dr. Mishlove points out that this process could go on and on and that there must be a stopping point
that one reaches. Dr. Emery says that at a certain point the psyche becomes aware of the correct answer and
the feeling or vibration gets very strong.
She then discusses ways in which we can get in touch with our intuitive
centers. Most people feel their intuition through their solar plexus but there are other places this happens
as well; the forehead the back of the neck or just in “uncomfortable or comfortable feelings.” She stresses that these our intuitive
“muscles” that need to be activated and exercised.
Dr. Emery lists a few of the techniques she uses to activate
and exercise our intuitive centers.
One is to relax, find a technique that works for you. Next she says to just let it go, let
everything leave your mind. Thirdly she says to do the breathing, this also helps in the relaxation exercises and the
fourth is to just have fun. She says when we let go and start enjoying ourselves our ideas start flowing, when we are
tense and constricted the intuitive flow stops.
Her fifth step to the activation of our intuitive sense is physical
exercise. She says that the balance between the mental and physical is very important for this process. The
use of dreams is another type of intuitive muscle and she says that it is her personal one. She describes a dream that she had that
turned out to be pre-cognitive. Dr. Mishlove asks what she thinks about science and psychic research when she talks about
such things as pre-cognitive dreams. Dr. Emery describes the term ESP as meaning “extended sense perception” and
that it is just another of the many facets that help us to use our intuition just like visualization, creative
imagery, etc.
Dr. Mishlove then asks if she doesn’t view a human as someone
with feelers that reach out into the surrounding environment. Dr. Emery corrects the image to say that instead
of feelers, she sees senses. These senses can extend even to the future in order to help us prepare for events or provide
ways for us to solve our problems.
She then describes how she uses her dreaming technique to predict whether
or not she’ll have a safe flight the next day.
Dr. Mishlove points out that if she’s nervous about flying anyway isn’t
it possible that the dream images would reflect that fear? She says that it’s possible but then you can
take the dream through the intuitive process that she described earlier in the interview. She says do the centering and relaxing
and asks if the fear culprit is operating.
Dr. Mishlove then says that it seems as though some “self-awareness”
might be necessary in determining those traits and tendencies one has that would lead these intuitive blocks. Dr.
Emery agrees and says that knowing yourself is very important. Helping to make people aware of their emotional
culprits is very enlightening to them.
Knowing the blocks gives you another tool to use in unlocking the wisdom
of your intuition.
Dr. Mishlove brings up the point that psychologists are trained
to help people suppress their subconscious tendencies.
The teaching being that this is where the evil and the aggression of
our inner selves lie. Dr. Emery points out that we can use the wisdom of our subconscious in a healthy way. He
then asks her is she would give some examples of her more advanced techniques for activating intuition. Dr.
Emery says one of the ways she suggests to people who want to re-activate their intuition is to play games. It
starts working the intuitive muscle.
One of the games might be trying to guess how many red lights you’ll
have on the way to work. Try to imagine the face of a stranger on the telephone or who it might be that’s calling
you before you pick up the receiver.
She also feels that people need to practice the three very important
skills of centering, receptivity and imagery.
Being receptive is very important to getting the images to pop up that
will help in problem solving. She also reinforces that some people need to “feel” things or “hear” things and that all
of these skills need to be exercised so that they become an natural part of every day life. The issue of feeling weird or strange
when using intuition is one that many people worry about, but as they get used to using their intuitive muscles
they realize how natural a way of life it is.
Some people even begin to recognize that they’ve been using their intuition
and didn’t even realize it.
Dr. Mishlove then returns to the issue of pre-cognition and
asks her to expound on her opinion.
Dr. Emery describes the information available to all of us as a great
data bank or as she quotes from Carl Jung as a “collective unconscious.” In this case, it can’t be explained
scientifically how intuition or pre-cognition works because it’s all a part of our experiences. She feels that time as we know it, past,
present, future is kind of all jumbled together into that unconscious. Knowing how to access this information
is what’s important.
-Dr. Mishlove says it seems to be a healthy sign that she is working with business people who normally
wouldn’t be able to find this type of information useful. He feels that resistance to using our intuitive
wisdom is easing up a bit. Dr. Emery closes the interview by explaining that in these times were are so overloaded
with information that using our intuitive wisdom helps us to cut to the bottom line and cope with all the changes. The
steps she has outlined for activating our intuitions are very basic and easy to use and this is something that
anyone can do.
