You might've heard a lot of people asking you to trust your intuition when you ride but not many tell you what the hell intuition is! Well, to me, intuition is the gut feeling you receive as a message to act, or not to act in a certain way. Intuition is when you just know something without being given any explanation, the information is synced into you from somewhere! Everybody has more than 5 senses, some have learned to get familiar with the other senses and some haven't. Intuition is just another additional sense, one needs to look out for and look out for frequently in order to slot it into the comfort or 'easily accessible' zone.
Ok, so how does one do that? You know those heebie jeebies you get when something's about to go wrong? Or that feeling when you don't feel right about doing something and it's forcing you to discontinue? Yes, that one! That is the feeling you need to trust regardless of who tells you what! Once you learn to trust it, you won't hesitate in trusting it blindly provided you allow yourself to surrender to it. Remember, feelings never lie.
When It comes to motorcycling, there are so many kinds of dynamics involved that you need to be at full charge all the time to be able to manage everything at once that your conscious and subconscious mind do so for you but what about instances when it comes to decision making? The logical mind can keep before you 2 to 3 options to choose from and it may probably suggest the most feasible option that you don't get a very good feeling about. At that point of time, the onus of choosing the next path is on you. If you follow your intuition, it may save you from something or it may probably want to reveal something to you that is of utmost importance. The gut feeling that your soul emits knows what is best for you and what isn't and it knows that better than you know it consciously.
A lot of people sometimes mix up thought with feelings and end up assuming the random thoughts that pass their minds to be feelings. Well, you could receive signs through thoughts but it is always better to stop and ask yourself as to how you're exactly feeling. You may receive a reply instantly or you may have to wait for a minute or two to know how you're exactly feeling but, you will know. You can then see if it matches the though or not and if it doesn't, you may still want to go with the gut feeling. If you're not used to this on a daily basis, you might want to try it the next time you choose to head out on your motorcycle and it will gradually grow upon you.
A similar situation occurred when I was traveling on my motorcycle. From Drass, I was to ride to Jammu through Srinagar, a high tension area with heavy army presence as it faces threats from extremists and terrorists. What's worse, Srinagar is a town known for curfews and it isn't that far away from the border that separates India and Pakistan. I don't hurry during motorcycle travel but this time, something kept pushing me to go faster and get out of that area as quickly as possible. I bypassed Srinagar and reached Patnitop by sundown, a hill station just 100 kms before Jammu which was relatively safer.
The next day morning when I continued towards Jammu, I saw a huge traffic pileup on the other side of the highway that was being used by vehicles headed towards Srinagar. I learned later that there had been an encounter between the Indian Army and Terrorists in Srinagar the previous day, just an hour after I had bypassed it. Fortunately, I crossed Jammu on the same day and made it to a safe zone but later heard of the troubles tourists faced in Srinagar after the rebels were killed as the town was gripped under a curfew for more than 30 days with the national highway being shut down too.
It was probably this reason that my inner gut feeling pushed me to speed up abnormally. If I was still new to trusting my intuition at that moment, I might've ignored the message because speeding and rushing through the highways isn't a safe thing to do but my intuition knew it beforehand that it is better to speed up than get stuck in a place where the day begins with protests and gun fires.
If I had chosen to think logically by riding steadily and merrily, who knows what would've happened. I feel many receive such warnings but often end up getting stuck in an unfavorable situations because they chose to handle things ‘logically’. From my experience in not only motorcycling but also through the 24 years of my existence on this planet, logic has only amplified pride and ego but inner feelings on the other hand have ultimately brought out inner satisfaction and gratitude. In addition, if you completely depend on your intuition, you could be saved off a lot of things or probably, you may end up in a sticky situation that won't be as bad as the other logical alternative but it could be an event that teaches you something extremely valuable.
Intuition can work both ways but what I've know is that it works in the best interest for the long run. Even when it comes to choosing a route on a motorcycle tour, choosing the right luggage, choosing a hotel to stay for the night or for that matter even deciding whether to speed up or not, I look out for the feeling I'm receiving and then act accordingly.
I'm a self taught rider and have moved up from a Honda Dio to a KTM Duke 390 from the time when the chances of me owning a two wheeler were almost nil. I still chose to continue what I liked doing, thereby trusting my intuition and I can surely tell you that it has got me places I never expected. Intuition does that to a person when it is infused into every aspect of life, especially when life itself is motorcycling!
By: Ssaajan Manoj Jogia
Ok, so how does one do that? You know those heebie jeebies you get when something's about to go wrong? Or that feeling when you don't feel right about doing something and it's forcing you to discontinue? Yes, that one! That is the feeling you need to trust regardless of who tells you what! Once you learn to trust it, you won't hesitate in trusting it blindly provided you allow yourself to surrender to it. Remember, feelings never lie.
When It comes to motorcycling, there are so many kinds of dynamics involved that you need to be at full charge all the time to be able to manage everything at once that your conscious and subconscious mind do so for you but what about instances when it comes to decision making? The logical mind can keep before you 2 to 3 options to choose from and it may probably suggest the most feasible option that you don't get a very good feeling about. At that point of time, the onus of choosing the next path is on you. If you follow your intuition, it may save you from something or it may probably want to reveal something to you that is of utmost importance. The gut feeling that your soul emits knows what is best for you and what isn't and it knows that better than you know it consciously. A lot of people sometimes mix up thought with feelings and end up assuming the random thoughts that pass their minds to be feelings. Well, you could receive signs through thoughts but it is always better to stop and ask yourself as to how you're exactly feeling. You may receive a reply instantly or you may have to wait for a minute or two to know how you're exactly feeling but, you will know. You can then see if it matches the though or not and if it doesn't, you may still want to go with the gut feeling. If you're not used to this on a daily basis, you might want to try it the next time you choose to head out on your motorcycle and it will gradually grow upon you.
A similar situation occurred when I was traveling on my motorcycle. From Drass, I was to ride to Jammu through Srinagar, a high tension area with heavy army presence as it faces threats from extremists and terrorists. What's worse, Srinagar is a town known for curfews and it isn't that far away from the border that separates India and Pakistan. I don't hurry during motorcycle travel but this time, something kept pushing me to go faster and get out of that area as quickly as possible. I bypassed Srinagar and reached Patnitop by sundown, a hill station just 100 kms before Jammu which was relatively safer.The next day morning when I continued towards Jammu, I saw a huge traffic pileup on the other side of the highway that was being used by vehicles headed towards Srinagar. I learned later that there had been an encounter between the Indian Army and Terrorists in Srinagar the previous day, just an hour after I had bypassed it. Fortunately, I crossed Jammu on the same day and made it to a safe zone but later heard of the troubles tourists faced in Srinagar after the rebels were killed as the town was gripped under a curfew for more than 30 days with the national highway being shut down too.
It was probably this reason that my inner gut feeling pushed me to speed up abnormally. If I was still new to trusting my intuition at that moment, I might've ignored the message because speeding and rushing through the highways isn't a safe thing to do but my intuition knew it beforehand that it is better to speed up than get stuck in a place where the day begins with protests and gun fires.
If I had chosen to think logically by riding steadily and merrily, who knows what would've happened. I feel many receive such warnings but often end up getting stuck in an unfavorable situations because they chose to handle things ‘logically’. From my experience in not only motorcycling but also through the 24 years of my existence on this planet, logic has only amplified pride and ego but inner feelings on the other hand have ultimately brought out inner satisfaction and gratitude. In addition, if you completely depend on your intuition, you could be saved off a lot of things or probably, you may end up in a sticky situation that won't be as bad as the other logical alternative but it could be an event that teaches you something extremely valuable. Intuition can work both ways but what I've know is that it works in the best interest for the long run. Even when it comes to choosing a route on a motorcycle tour, choosing the right luggage, choosing a hotel to stay for the night or for that matter even deciding whether to speed up or not, I look out for the feeling I'm receiving and then act accordingly.
I'm a self taught rider and have moved up from a Honda Dio to a KTM Duke 390 from the time when the chances of me owning a two wheeler were almost nil. I still chose to continue what I liked doing, thereby trusting my intuition and I can surely tell you that it has got me places I never expected. Intuition does that to a person when it is infused into every aspect of life, especially when life itself is motorcycling!By: Ssaajan Manoj Jogia