Leading from an arising future
All leaders need the ability to Chart the Course and pave new pathways into the future for their organization. We live in a world where technology is evolving at an exponential pace and our customer’s needs are rapidly changing. More data has been created in the past 2 years than in the entire previous history of the human race. Every decade our overall rate of progress is doubling which means that the future is approaching us much faster than we realize, and we have much less time to make far more decisions. In a Pristine Creations Quantum Innovation Circle (QIC), leaders have the opportunity to tap into an arising future to make the best possible decisions about future possibilities.
At Pristine Creations, we focus on facilitating the creation of disruptive innovation, the kind of innovation that makes existing problems obsolete. We create QICsusing several technologies. In this article, we will focus on a technology we use in our QICs that allows successful leaders to tap into the arising future. Neuroscientists call this specific kind of intuition Nonlocal Intuition. The ability is about tapping into a reality that exists outside the fabrics of space and time.
What is an arising future?
An arising future is a future that is very near, typically a few seconds away from happening. You can access the arising future through nonlocal intuition, but it cannot be explained by past or forgotten knowledge, or by sensing environmental signals. You might be wondering if you need to be psychic to access an arising future and the answer is “no”. The future accessed in the arising future is very short term. People with psychic abilities that can tap into the future that is years from now. That is not what we are doing in QICs.
Examples of tapping into an arising future with nonlocal intuition include: 1) when a parent senses something is about to happen to his or her child who is many miles away and 2) the repeated, successful nonlocal intuition experienced by entrepreneurs about factors related to making effective business decisions. Sometimes it is as simple as a feeling we get that something is about to happen a few seconds before it actually does. For example, receiving a phone call and knowing who it is before answering the phone, or “randomly” thinking of someone and they suddenly show up right in front of you. Sometimes you can hear what someone is about to say just before they say it, or you complete their sentence to their surprise wondering how did you know? This intuitive sense is called nonlocal intuition in the scientific community.
Nonlocal Intuition scientific experiments
The Heart Math Institute (HMI), founded in 1991, has been investigating and researching nonlocal intuition. HMI research includes performing 9 experiments with over 1,000 subjects and 26 different studies measuring the human physiological responses occurring before a future event. The outcome of the future event could not otherwise be anticipated through any knownmethods. These rigorous experiments and studies created compelling scientific evidence to suggest that the physical heart is coupled to a field of information not bound by the classical limits of time and space. In fact, it was discovered that the heart receives and processes information about a future event before the event actually happens. (Reference: Science of the Heart Volume 2: Exploring the Role of the Heart in Human Performance By the HeartMath Institute Research Staff)
The Computer images experiment
In the computer images experiment, individuals were put in front of a computer screen and shown a series of images designed to evoke an emotional response when randomly selected, emotionally arousing or calming photographs were displayed. The brain response (EEG) and heart-rhythm activity (ECG) were measured. It was discovered that both the brain and the heart received pre-stimulus information some 4-5 seconds before a future emotional picture was randomly selected by the computer. The heart actually received this information about 1.5 seconds before the brain received it.
This experiment was also conducted in Iran (a non-western culture) with a group of 30 repeat entrepreneurs who demonstrated repeat success with their business ventures. Repeat entrepreneurs were chosen for this study because they are most likely to have demonstrated that their success is not the result of luck alone and they have beaten the odds against success. Each experiment was conducted with over 45 trials in the science and technology parks of the city of Tehran and similar results were confirmed. (Reference: Science of the Heart Volume 2: Exploring the Role of the Heart in Human Performance By the HeartMath Institute Research Staff)
Is nonlocal intuition random?
While you might experience nonlocal intuition on a random basis, it appears from the HMI experiments that it is an innate human ability with a consistent physiological detection pattern. This begs the questions: How can we increase the frequency of this kind of intuition? What conditions can enhance our access to our nonlocal intuitive senses?
Based upon currently emerging techniques in applying neuroscience to business and prototyping, we use these 3 approaches:
- Coherence– Establishing a state of coherence based upon HMI research.
- Sensing– Focusing our awareness on our senses through Mindfulness approaches gaining popularity at Google and Amazon, among others.
- Emotional intelligence (EQ) – paying attention to a rapid shift in emotions. According to Forbes New York Business Council article “Emotional Intelligence in Business and Leadership”, In a study that involved over 2,600 hiring managers, 71% said they value high EQ over high IQ.
1. Coherence
There is a state of being that is referred to as Coherence. When a leader is in a state of coherence, they experience clarity of thought, speech and emotional composure. In physiology, such coherence, also referred to as cross-coherence, occurs when two or more of the body’s oscillatory systems, such as respiration and heart rhythm, become entrained and operate at the same frequency.
A nonscientific way of experiencing coherence is aligning your mind, your heart and your gut. It is when the “whole you” is saying “YES” to something. It is a deep knowing that is felt at the same frequency throughout your body. It is when no conflicting intentions or doubts are present. It is often felt as expansiveness, ease, peacefulness, deep knowing, clarity of truth to what is.
How to achieve a state of coherence?
Living in a fast-paced environment, racing to accomplish more and more in less time, the state of coherence is more challenging to achieve. There is a growing awareness of the benefits of mindfulness practices in the work place such as meditation, taking breaks for reflection and developing awareness of our bodies. There are simple proven practices that increase coherence that take only 3-5 min. These practices have been developed and validated by the HMI and include focusing on gratitude, love, and positive experiences or emotions. These heartfelt emotions generate a state of coherence. The HMI has also developed sensors and Apps that can measure the level of coherence. These sensors work well in our experience.
2. Sensing
Our senses are our physiological capacity to provide data to create our perceptions. We have a multitude of sensors. The 5 traditional senses are sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. We have many other sensing abilities such as temperature, kinesthetic sense, proprioception – a sense of the position and movement of parts relative to one’s own body, pain, balance, vibration, hunger, thirst and internal body sensations.
Typically, we pay attention to our senses when they attract our attention. If you bang your foot into a table leg and feel pain, the pain attracts your attention. Otherwise you would not randomly pay attention to how your feet are feeling. Paying attention to all of our senses all the time can be overwhelming and not needed.
Consider that your senses provide an extraordinary amount of information that includes information about the arising future through nonlocal intuition. To access it, you will need to pay more attention to your senses. To do that without over burdening your mind we use the scanning method.
The scanning method
Periodically, especially when your intention is to tap into an arising future in the moment, scan your body using all of your senses to notice the information that is provided to you. For example, I often engage such a scan in meetings, while listening to people speak. I lower the volume of the conversation to amplify my other senses and engage them in data collection. I might notice things such as the energy of the room dropping, there may be a sense of time moving really slow, or perhaps a sense of tension when everyone is afraid to talk about the elephant in the room. Such information not only tunes you into what wants to happen (the arising future) but also guides you with how to respond to the situation, how to navigate the meeting in a way that others might not be noticing.
In a recent board meeting I attended, I used the scanning method. When we started the meeting with a review of the meeting agenda, I sensed that 2 of the participants were carrying an intense emotional charge. It was clear to me that in no time (arising future) a war would erupt between these two participants during the meeting. It was up to me as the facilitator to identify the issue and address it before it actually happened. The resolution was to create a space outside of the meeting to handle the apparent conflict, in a more appropriate time and space.
I can recommend great meditation practices like Yoga Nidra or Vipassana to increase your ability to collect data from your body parts using the scanning method.
3. Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
A third approach used to successfully tap into an emerging future is by connecting to our emotional intelligence. According to Wikipedia, EQ is the capability of individuals to recognize their own emotions and those of others, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, and manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt to environments or achieve one’s goal.
Recall the HMI computer experiments discussed earlier. The participants responded emotionally to the emotionally charged images while they were still in the future. The emotional experience provides us with access to a future event or reality that is evident in a shift in our emotional experience in the moment.
Noticing a rapid shift in how you feel, especially not in response to any environmental signals, will give you access to sensing an arising future. For example, you make a request, you feel the instant feeling of tension and you already know the answer will be a NO. Alternatively, you feel relieved and you already know the answer will be a YES.
I was in a meeting when I felt the instant feeling of time pressure to communicate an important point. I looked at the clock and we had 30 minutes remaining, so the feeling of time pressure did not make sense. 5 seconds later, the person I was meeting with received an emergency call and had to leave immediately.
The key to using emotional intelligence as a tool to connect to an arising future is to pay attention to the rapid shifts in emotions and moods. Pause to sense what is arising, trust it and act accordingly.
Practicing tapping into the Arising Future
Like any new skill it takes practice and more practice to master. Some of us are naturally more in tune with this phenomenon, some of us require more experiences and practice. You can practice it anywhere. It is like playing a game to “predict” what will happen without knowing why you predicted it. When someone throws a ball to you, you can sense where the ball is landing and navigate yourself to catch it. What else can you sense that is about to happen?
Consider that you make an average of 35,000 conscious decisions a day, which is about one decision every 2 seconds. Consider that all the big decisions you make, carrying the biggest consequences to your organization or your life, are made up of tiny decisions along the timeline always made in the present moment. We receive tiny pieces of information about the future all of the time. On their own they may not make sense, but we know that they might be an important piece of the puzzle. Noticing, through the techniques described above, and collecting these pieces of information over time creates a trail to follow in completing the puzzle. The path emerges when enough pieces are in place. Imagine that for each decision you make, you had a 5 seconds advantage preview into the future? What future could you create with that kind of access?
Tapping into an Arising Future in Quantum Innovation Circles
The Quantum Innovation Circle experience provides a safe and collaborative environment in which to practice and master your ability to tap into an arising future through nonlocal intuition. Scientific studies performed by HMI correlates the success of entrepreneurs with the use of nonlocal intuition. Their studies also validate that nonlocal intuition can be accessed more easily when we are in a state of coherence. High emotional intelligence (EQ) and sensing are also effective techniques which is why we incorporate all three approaches into our QIC. Increasing the EQ of your organization has been shown to have many benefits beyond tapping into an arising future. If employers can raise the collective level of their employees’ emotional intelligence, organizations of all sizes will benefit from stronger teams, more effective leaders and increased bottom-line performance.
Steven Ringelstein & Gail Taylor-Smith