Your heart is full of fertile seeds, waiting to sprout.
Morihei Ueshiba
Born with Instinct
While planting sunflower seeds not long ago, I accidentally dropped one seed.
For some reason, I decided to ignore the seed. I had finished planting the number I intended to plant, so I thought I would let that one just sit there. I didn’t bother to cover it with soil.
Fast forward to seven days later, the seed that fell on the soil, sprouted like the others. I was mesmerized! Of course, as I watered the others in the pot, this new shoot was automatically watered. In time, it took root and bloomed like the planted ones.
Looking at the gorgeous sunflowers gracing the pot, you would think they were all planted. But no; one had planted itself.
Intuitive Knowing
As I thought about this unplanted seed that had now become a beautiful flower in my porch, one word came to mind: INSTINCT.
Instinct is an innate or inborn ability almost all living organisms possess; it is a certain knowing which we cannot explain but somehow we know. When a child is born, no one teaches that child to breathe. We blink automatically when a finger is coming too close to our eyes – instinct.
Undoubtedly, when the seed fell onto the soil, it responded to an instinctive knowledge that said ‘it is time to crack open your shell and start taking root.’
It is possible the seed looked at the others, planted, and questioned why it was not covered with soil, and why it was ‘abandoned’ on top of the soil. I would never know what that seed thought or felt. But I do know that it ignored its external reality, took advantage of the fact that it was sitting on soil not concrete, and responded to what it has always known – that it is a seed carrying a plant, capable of sinking roots in any soil. How did the seed know how many days to break its shelf? How did the seed know its root must go down into the soil and not up?
“You are born with the instinct to win! Trust your instinct; it is the closest thing to an instructional manual you can get. ”
Trust Your Instincts
In contrast to seeds and animals, human beings have become rather good at ignoring our instincts instead of letting them guide us as they do the plants and animals. We meet people that somehow we feel ‘funny’ about; we cannot pin-point what or why. Over time, our ‘funny feeling’ is confirmed by events. That is instinct.
In my previous article, Success is in Our DNA, I shared how a seed grew out of a compost bag. I didn’t plant that seed; it found itself in a composting environment yet it found a way to thrive.
Like my sunflower seed, and like the seed in my compost bag, you don’t have to wait to be planted. Follow your instincts and flourish. You don’t have to wait for conditions to be perfect; follow your instincts, dig in, and take root.
You are born with the instinct to win! Trust your instinct; it is the closest thing to an instructional manual you can get.
Augustina O. Oti-Twumasi is a communications strategist, and L&D practitioner. she loves to inspire change in herself and in others. She does this through her work as a Training and Workshop Facilitator, Learning and Development Consultant, Creative Writer, Life Coach, and Integrated Marketing Communications Strategist.
