January 8, 2014 — The Gift of Fear

with Louise Kuo Habakus and Alison MacNeil

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Intuition is the strong sense of knowing, so often undervalued as ‘hocus pocus’ and shunted to the ranks of the paranormal by skeptics.

We’ll be discussing the New York Times bestselling book by Gavin De Becker,The Gift of Fear and the companion book Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane) which pull intuition out of the soft, murky depths and into science and straightforward strategy.

Gavin’s interest in intuition has developed through the years as a safety and security expert and this book is packed with pragmatic information on honing one’s ability to predict human behavior, particularly the risk of violence.

When it comes to parenting advice, he chooses not to enter the fray. We, however, will stick our necks out and say that the wisdom he shares has broad and important applicability. Join us for a fascinating discussion about the technology of intuition and the gift of fear:

• Parents, especially mothers, are powerful
• Intuition, and its messenger Fear, as potent allies keeping us safe
• Surprising reasons we don’t use intuition all the time
• Common sense signals we often ignore
• Takeaway lessons for parents

What does intuition feel like for you? Is it a visceral feeling like the hair on the back of your neck standing up? Or do you get a hunch about something or a vibe about someone? You can’t exactly explain it, but you know it when you feel it. De Becker describes the many messengers of intuition and their hierarchy.

What gets in the way of following intuition? Why don’t we give more credence to this  alternate way of knowing? Who in our lives supports us in following our instincts? Who talks us out of them?

What are some parenting situations in which our intuition is of paramount importance? Many of our listeners already know where we’re going with this. Parental (and especially maternal) intuition has served mankind especially well. Yet we admire and give deference to the expert over our gut instincts as parents all the time.

Comment below and tell us about of situations in which you did or didn’t listen to your intuition. We’ll be sharing a few tales of our own. Gavin is traveling out of the country right now so he’s unable to join us for the show. He generously sent us a big box of giveaway books. After the show, continue the conversation here for a chance to win a book.

In his own words: “Everything is different when you have children.”

Louise Kuo Habakus is Executive Director of Fearless Parent, lead host and producer of Fearless Parent Radio, and mom of two. She is a published author, runs the non-profit Center for Personal Rights, lectures widely, and has appeared in numerous media outlets, including ABC World News Tonight, Fox & Friends, and The New York Times. Louise was a Bain consultant and a C-level executive in the financial services industry. She holds two degrees from Stanford University. She is an advisory board member of GreenMedInfo.

Alison MacNeil, MSW, LICSW is a social worker and psychotherapist with more than 15 years of clinical experience. She holds degrees from Trinity College and the Smith College School for Social Work. Her professional background includes positions with a community mental health center in southeastern Massachusetts, Family Services of Greater Boston, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Healthcare Associates. Alison is a published author and a co-founder of the Thinking Moms’ Revolution.