How Trusting Your Intuition Can Help You Make Better Life Decisions

What a Shortage of Lima Bean Salad Taught Me

Our conscious mind is an ignorant know-it-all.

It thinks the truth can only be found in the part of the spectrum it sees and denies that ultra-violet, infrared, or x-rays exist just because they’re invisible. Our unconscious mind can see the whole spectrum and makes more informed decisions. Today taught me just how fast my unconscious mind figures stuff out, and how quickly my conscious mind reasons it away.

What we call “Intuition” is our unconscious wisdom pleading to be taken seriously.

I drove to Richmond, VA for a mini family reunion with my Maui cousins. We had an early 11:30 lunch reservation at Stella’s, a Greek restaurant. We were early so I decided to check out Stella’s grocery store across the street. The shelves were laden with prepared foods.

There were ~50 containers of lima bean salad in the refrigerator.

I paused. Lima bean salad is not your usual to-go go to, and I happen to love lima beans. How could I not? I debated whether to buy some right then or to come back after lunch. I stood, container in hand, waffling.

I had a strong feeling that I should buy the lima bean salad.

I decided instead to listen to the voice of reason telling me the salad should be kept cold. With so much inventory, what was the hurry? An hour and 45 minutes later, I went back, ready to buy.

There was one container sitting on an otherwise bare shelf.

On the drive home I got it. My subconscious knew that if there were so many more containers of a weird salad featuring an unpopular vegetable, it was an anomaly. Lots of tuna or egg salad wouldn’t have been strange. But lima bean salad? Who’d make a ton of that, unless it sold like hotcakes? And if so, the store might run out.

Use the full wisdom spectrum – listen to your intuition. And yes, the salad was delicious.