Bill Lamond

At some point in life, every person wonders what it would be like to be a genius–to have an intellectual capacity beyond compare. When we say “genius,” the great cultural icon for towering intellect, Albert Einstein, comes to mind. Did you know that Einstein, whose e=mc2 changed the way we think about the workings of the physical universe, got that equation as a sudden flash of insight? How about James Watson who won the Nobel Prize for co-discovering the DNA molecule–he envisioned the shape of the molecule in a dream of snakes entwined. Clearly, these brilliant insights were NOT intellectual leaps, but rather perceptual/intuitional leaps that synthesized many aspects of intelligence.

In business, people have been said to be able to “smell the deal.” Savvy people have a “gut instinct” which they learn to trust. Others have felt “magnetized” to choices that changed their lives. Still others report that bad decisions were ones their “hearts weren’t into.”

So, though US culture makes intellectual prowess the gold standard, real intelligence often transcends the workings of the intellectual mind and leaps out in ways that often surprise us. After many years of rigidly defining intelligence as intellectual ability, psychologists are now acknowledging many types of genius, e.g. social genius, musical or artistic genius, intuitional genius, physical/athletic genius, mechanical genius, etc.

Suppose every single person is born with a genius of some kind.

I believe that is the case.

The word genius comes from the root word for spirit. It is the essence of a person, including their physical, mental, emotional and perceptual gifts, not just intellect. To discover your own genius, you need only to train yourself to notice input from your body, emotions and mind.

The body has wisdom and intelligence that transcends the intellect. This wisdom comes from the gifts of our animal inheritance, i.e. our ability to smell, feel physical sensation, “read” energy (as in “this place has a bad vibe”), and feel emotion (as in “my heart went out to that family”) and to recognize intrinsic value (as in “I know when we pulled up that this house would be our new home”). You can certainly try to explain these things logically, but at the core of the human experience is something that transcends the logic of intellect and synthesizes all the physical, mental, and emotional data we receive and makes us fully human.

To discover your genius, listen to your instincts. They may surprise you. In the thirty-five years I have paid attention to integrating my body, emotions and mind, I have found that the true “genius” of my life lies in the synthesis of these wonderful input mechanisms. I think of all three as trusted advisors to my spirit and have used them to steer an ingenious course in my health, well-being, and life as a whole.

You have these same advisors. To identify, integrate and use them is the key to genius that will make you the one of a kind, original and unique human being you have the potential to be.

A founding member of the personal coaching profession, Bill Lamond has devoted the last twenty-five years to developing a model of full use of our personal genius. Thousands of people who have worked with Bill have reinvented their lives to be a full pleasure for them. Bill can be reached at 760-992-8633.

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