Heres Chicago Event Planning

Most experts in finance will tell you that it is mathematically impossible to consistently beat the market averages, but Soros, in a revealing comment, suggests that he uses more than just mathematics, more than science, more than his considerable intellect.

Here's what impelled me to write on this topic. In his book SOROS ON SOROS (Wiley & Sons Publishers, paperback, 336 pages, 1995), Soros wrote: “I feel the pain. I rely a great deal on instincts. When I was actively running the Fund, I suffered from a backache. I used the onset of acute pain as a signal that there was something wrong in my portfolio. The back didn't tell me what was wrong—you know, lower back for short positions, left shoulder for currencies—but it did prompt me to look for something amiss when I might not have done so otherwise.”

As you know, this is not an investment- advice column. I am featuring Mr. Soros's points because they may aid in many aspects of your life— finances, relationships, family, business, health and even travel. Here is the lesson in what Soros is saying. In the last MIND NOTES edition, I asked you to note and write any physiological occurrences during the moments when you have a hunch, when you sense something without any prior intellectual knowledge of it. You may have noticed your stomach tightening, your shoulders relaxing, a change in your breathing, a sweaty forehead, or your heart beating faster. It is important to have a body awareness. The amazing aspect of intuition is that throughout your entire life, something physical usually happens when you sense something is right or wrong. When you were a child it happened and now through adulthood it happens. It happens when you meet someone you like, it happens when you decide on a purchase, it happens when your child is not home on time, and it happens when someone is not quite on the level with you.

So if you wish to add the special power of intuition to help in making your powers of reason even more effective, do not ignore your body. Mr. Soros himself does not ignore his own physical being. He states that his method of running a portfolio is based on more than simply logic. The great future thinkers, the great inventors, the great investors, the great leaders, even the great parents, and all great decision-makers know that to see the future, and to understand the present, you must balance reason with intuition.

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Intuition is knowing something without knowing why you know it. You just know. And you will know a lot of things in this way when you are aware of your body.

Of course, just because you have an ache in your back tomorrow, don't jump and take your money out of silver and put it into gold. To use the Soros example, he analyzes the psychological, political and economic climate, then balances that knowledge with his instincts, his sensitivities, his intuition to verify the accuracy of his logic. Or he will do just the opposite, beginning with intuition then validating those hunches with thorough research. It's always a combination.

In just about every pursuit, the most effective decisions are made when knowledge is meshed with intuition, when the head is balanced with the heart. For the football quarterback, in the two or three seconds for him to make a decision, he can't overly think, yet he can't play entirely by feel. The Joe Montanas, the Dan Marinos, the Peyton Mannings, the Tom Bradys all knew (know) how to be in a zone where thought and instinct are balanced as one. To make policy, the Franklin D. Roosevelts and the Winston Churchills used thoroughly researched information together with an intuitive feel for how these decisions would impact the future of the world many years hence. And the Dr. Jonas Salks, Dr. Christian Barnards and Dr. Elizabeth Goulds, seeking elusive solutions to cure fatal diseases, blended their best hunches with decades of scientific precedence.

Think about what you do in both your work life and home life and how you can merge your intuition with your knowledge. In fact, just being aware of intuition as an option will begin to increase your intuitive skill. And being aware of your body will increase it even more.

The body is the barometer of the future. There are many other means of developing intuition too, but for now, center your awareness on what your physical being might be telling you. To help with this, I recommend participating in an activity like yoga, Pilates, a martial art, or meditation. Practiced on a regular basis, any one of these will bring you more precisely in tune with your body and will make you mentally cognizant of how it speaks to you. While we're at it, let's clear up a misconception. There is a phrase out there which tends to confine intuition only to women. Every once-in-a-while you hear the words “woman's intuition.” It is true. Women do have intuition, but perhaps the phrase has the implication that the female possesses this special gift while the male is void of any such talent. Yes, we males can be clueless many times, but all of us have intuitive ability, and perhaps more important, both men and women have the choice to use it or not.

“Woman's intuition” is a phrase which exists because I have a hunch that women probably feel freer to use their intuition, and thus women probably use it more liberally and more often. But at last check, George Soros is of the male gender, yet he too seems quite free to allow guidance to come from his sensitive side. So whether you are man or woman, erase any apprehensions, fears or misconceptions about the intuitive power, the gut instinct, the hunch, your sixth sense. You've got it! And to begin using it like Soros, you must now focus on your physical body and its changes. Then you will use intuition like never before. I know you will, because my intuition tells me so.