I just got back from attending a fantastic marketing conference for a platinum group coaching program I joined last year.  While the conference was great, it was the overall experience that really blew me away.  Sometimes what we get is much more than we had hoped for. .  .

I set my intentions (as I always do) for what I planned take-away from the event.  Although I left with what I had hoped to receive, which was a clearer vision for future endeavors and possible joint venture partners, I also left Tuscon with so much more than I had envisioned.

Given that school is out, and the conference was taking place at the Ritz Carlton in Tuscon, Arizona, my 13 year old daughter decided to join me.  (She knew that the Ritz would have a great pool and restaurants, and room service!)  Although I encouraged her to accompany me, I have to admit that I was worried that she would be bored and lonely while I attended 9-5 meetings.  However, my intuition told me that it would be a good experience for her.

It turned out that my daughter enjoyed hanging out by the pool every day despite the 90 degree temperatures, and I was able to join her for lunches.  In the evenings she would join me and my colleagues at dinner and sit quietly listening to the conversation.  As conversations with entrepreneurs and coaches usually go, naturally the challenges we’ve all had to face and overcome was discussed.  These personal reflections and revelations didn’t go unnoticed by my teenager.  The irony seemed like divine timing, as teenagers have their own challenges and life decisions to make.

When planning the trip, I had hoped my daughter would have the opportunity to meet with my intuitive colleagues and friends and this came to fruition as well.  I actually hired my friend and well known hand analyst, Nadia Tumas, to do a hand analysis for her because the one she did for me was so eye opening.

Intuitive business coach, Kristen White, gave her an impromtu reading which was almost a mirror of what Nadia had told her about her life purpose and personality traits.  Kristen also encouraged my daughter to tap into her own gifts for being intuitive and gave us some lessons on how to flex the muscle of intuition.

There were others that shared their talents and gifts with her as well.  My friend and colleague Robert Notter offered her some coaching,  and generously had dinner with us and hung out at the pool.  Elyse Parise and Nadia Tumas gave her additional encouragement on how to develop her intuition and gave her a lesson on energy healing. I could literally see how enlightening all of this encouragement and coaching was for her, and I felt such a profound sense of gratitude for my friends’ time and attention, and also for the fact that my child took it all in with such an open heart.

It reminded me of the quote that when the student is ready to learn, the teacher will appear.  My other big take~away came from my daughter’s observation and question, “Why are so many people in your coaching group intuitive?”  I am rather intuitive myself, yet hadn’t thought about this question before.  But upon reflecting I have to say that I think people who are  in the habit of relying upon and are accepting and trusting of their intuitive abilities, are more apt to invest in themselves.

Last October, I committed to spending over $25,000 between two coaching programs I knew I needed.  It tapped out my credit cards and made me feel physically nauseous at the thought of going into so much debt.  But I knew instinctively or intuitively that it was the next step for me to move my business forward quickly.  I doubled my income in the first six months of this year of what I made in 2011, and it was undoubtedly a result of investing in myself and my business and surrounding myself with colleagues and friends who have the same philosophy.

Trusting our intuition doesn’t mean that it’s a fearless process.  Case in point, I felt that my daughter should accompany me to Arizona, yet I was concerned that she would be bored or lonely.  It turned out that she was meant to be there and received coaching and enlightenment that neither of us expected.  She is a completely different person than she was a week ago and is planning on buying books that her new friends recommended.

The power of coaching never fails to impress me. .  . .

Did I have fear around investing money that I didn’t have to further my business?  Did I have fear and concern around going into debt?  Absolutely!!  But it motivated me to make the money back quickly and more importantly, it put me on a path to creating even more success and income than I could have imagined  having even a year ago.

As we browsed magazines before boarding our flight home, we noticed that O magazine had a feature article on the cover this month on how to tap into intuition. (We bought it and read it of course!)  Then, as a final message, a highly intuitive colleague I chatted with the conference boarded the plane and said hello on her way to her seat.  The final take away is that intuition is all around us when we are open to it’s presence.

Do you regularly check in with your intuition or do you ignore it when it appears but brings with it a healthy dose of fear?   Which one of the two, intuition or fear, usually steers you the right direction?  Please leave me a comment below, I’d love to know your thoughts.