Recently I was invited to speak at the Seacoast Wellness Summit, which brought local wellness professionals and enthusiasts together to make connections and tackle some of the less talked about issues within our community. The summit opened with a panel discussion on the lack of inclusivity in the larger wellness community, especially with regard to how wellness has been co-opted to mean “skinny, beautiful, young and white”. It was amazing and long overdue. That level of honesty helped create the opportunity for the workshop presenters to lead with the same openness. I was so honored to be there.

My favorite part of leading workshops is when it’s time for attendees to ask questions. I always plan time for an “Ask Me Anything” segment, so people can ask about whatever might have gotten stirred up for them or whatever they are curious about. I usually alternate between taking hands for questions and reading off index cards which have been passed out at the beginning (this is for the introverts in the group who may need time to think about what they really want to ask, and for anyone who wants to ask a meaty question but wants to remain anonymous).

Well, I think I got one of the best questions I’ve ever gotten at the Summit! It was an index card question, and it was so clever I had to try hard not to burst out laughing while I read it. It asked, “How is intuition like Siri?”

This question clearly came from a believer in possibility! Think of all the questions we might ask Siri if we knew we could get an answer: “Siri, am I allergic to wheatgrass?”, “Siri, am I moving to Chicago?”, “Siri, is this dude a player? I mean, do they say that to everyone they date or do they actually mean it??”

We know that our intuition is available to us all the time, assiduously answers any question we have, and most importantly: its purpose is to help us. So yes, it’s almost exactly like Siri!

But here’s the thing: we trust Siri more than we trust our own intuition. Granted, most of the questions we ask her are less complicated than the challenges and struggles we are facing–“Siri, how on earth am I going to make a decision about grad school?” is maybe a tad bit more complicated than “Siri, where is the nearest Starbucks?”. But what if the process were the same? What if we could direct our deepest concerns and wonderings to our intuition and know that even if we didn’t get the whole answer back immediately we could and absolutely would know as soon as possible?

As is often the case with layered queries that have a lot of potential outcomes, your intuition will sometimes give you a rapid-fire, pat answer in response, and sometimes it won’t, which if you think about it is a good, good thing. Our lives are not meant to be robotic (Sorry, Siri). The point is, having the courage to ask anyway often reveals that we knew the answer all along.

True Story ~

Me: Siri, am I allergic to wheatgrass?
Siri: Nope.
Me: But how do you know?
Siri: I don’t know how I know. I just know. Y’know?

Yes, Siri. I do. I do indeed.