Intuition, International Texting, iLove

I used to try to override my intuition with non-logic, mostly because I didn't want to believe the things my intuition was telling me were true. In China, I learned to embrace intuition. It's a very large part of Chinese culture, to accept things that cannot be explained and reasoned and logically construed. Often this was frustrating for me; "This makes no sense!" came out of my mouth on maybe an hourly basis my first year there. Once I let go of everything having to make sense or be logical, I was much happier living there. Then it became another of our catchphrases, "TIC." This is China. That explains it. And that's enough.

-That person approaching you across the parking lot in an unsafe manner? Yeah, it's good to be suspicious of that person and tell them to back off. You're not rude. Nice people don't approach girls alone in a parking lot.

-That guy who tells you he is single, but so many clues point to him not being completely honest about what's going on? There's a reason you're suspicious, listen to it. (No matter how much you like him!) Someone willing to place his own ego above your concerns will place his own ego above lots of things that are in your best interest. (And with the availability of pubic information these days, I find it laughable people still think they can fudge the truth about this stuff.)

-Have a feeling something is 'off'? It is! Otherwise you wouldn't be feeling that way.

It can be heartbreaking to accept the reality your intuition is telling you is true.  But in the long run, making decisions based on reality is much healthier for me. My intuition is a powerful tool in helping me navigate through life. I'm glad I had the chance in China to put this into greater practice.

UPDATE: Several of you mentioned the book The Gift of Fear. I read it several years ago. I am currently reading Human Intimacy, which talks about the difference between reality and illusion and making intuitive decisions based on reality in our interpersonal interactions. But yes, I must have internalized the Gift of Fear stuff too. I agree, it's a good book.

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International communication is almost like magic to me and none moreso than texting across the world. I can push a bunch of buttons and instantly, they magically reappear across the world on your phone? I can't explain that at all. I said a few posts ago that email is my thing, and it is, but I do like texting, too. I text my friends regularly, in addition to email. I got a text at 2:30 a.m. Thanksgiving morning, which was Thanksgiving dinnertime in China. An "I miss you/wish you were here" email would have been nice to wake up to, but getting that sentiment in the moment it was being felt? Miraculous.(I overlooked it was 2:30 a.m., it was a holiday after all.) So maybe the email queen can give make a few changes and go text-only for a while and see what happens.

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I have an iPad to do work tasks on and I am IN LOVE. I thought I liked my iTouch, but I had no idea. It has some great tools for me to use for work (visual mapping, handwritten note-taking and scheduling tools) but I love reading on the bigger screen and typing on the bigger keyboard. That little iTouch keyboard killed me! I can create a visual map, save a PDF and wifi it out for feedback. How awesome is that? I don't play games or anything on it, but I do watch Netflix at night before bed. I am addicted to History Channel and A&E documentaries and now I can get my heart's fill.

I had lunch recently with an old work colleague; we lost a friend and coworker to cancer the same time my dad was fighting cancer. He said, "Sometimes I think, 'Dave never even got to own an iPhone. He would've loved it.'" And I had thought that same thing about my dad; he was a tech early adopter and he'd have gotten such a kick out of the iPhone and iPad and all the other new technology we have. I'm sad sometimes I don't get to share this stuff with him. He'd be really excited about how I'm using my iPad for work tasks.

This is the mapping tool I use.

I use this tool a lot, too.