Good morning…
As I blogged about Our Retreat In Review, I shared with you our acronym to S.T.I.R. U.P. the Gifts of God.
S. – Savor Six Senses
T. – Trust God’s Time
I. – “I” Must Die
R. – Release All Resistance
U. – Unite With God
P. – Power Rises Up
Grow God’s Gifts
Immediately, a reader responded: “Sue, what are six senses? I only know of five?”
“Holy Spirit intuition,” I replied. “That’s our sixth and most integrative sense.”
A few days later, a friend who had been on our women’s retreat shared with me this interesting article, entitled “Your Sixth Sense.”
I copied this wisdom in my retreat binder.
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The sixth sense is just another way of understanding our world. And like our other senses, it changes with age. Some experts refer to our sixth sense as intuition or “gist”, as Laura Carstensen, professor of Psychology at Stanford University, describes it: “You sort of get a general sense of something, right?, but are lacking the details,” says Carstensen, who notes that research suggests this ability can amplify with age, as accumulated experiences allow us to find the signal and ignore the noise: In one study that Carstensen co-authored, older adults were less affected by negative emotions, which allowed them to make more accurate predictions.
Carstensen cites an example where older physicians working in emergency rooms are better able to assess a patient and immediately sense they need urgent treatment, while younger physicians might rely on a checklist to reach the same conclusion. “It’s more a feeling like This is okay or a feeling that I need to do something about it,” she says. More lived experience, adds Carstensen, likely fine-tunes this (sixth sense) in older adults.
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I love knowing that Holy Spirit intuition amplifies with age. Our accumulated experiences of listening with our sixth sense, trusting our inner gut, these scaffolded experiences allow us to more readily find the spiritual signal from God and ignore the noise of the world.
As we age, might we become less affected by negative emotions and grow more attentive to God’s wise Spirit stirring up within us?
For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity (Proverbs 2:6-7, NLT).
…Sue…
P.S. Getting away with God on retreat can have a profound affect on our ability to fine-tune our listening ear, to amplify our sixth sense. Next Monday and Tuesday, fifteen women from local residential treatment facilities will go on the next Ignatian Spirituality Project (ISP) retreat at Ignatius House Retreat Center. Recovering from addiction and homelessness, these courageous women will learn to listen more attentively for the wisdom the Lord grants.
Our written word community will provide fifteen welcome bags to grace the private rooms of these women as they arrive. Toiletries. Notes of encouragement. Sweet and salty snacks. Fuzzy socks. Gum. Kleenex. Jewelry. Pens. Journals. Retreat after retreat, we joyfully fill these bags generously.
If you would like to help me fill these fifteen bags with symbols of God’s abundant love, please reply to me below. I will share with you the list of items we need for these special welcome bags.
