The HR Intuitive

By Samm Smeltzer

It begins here,

with your ability to connect innately

to your people and to yourself.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leadership Arts Associates
• Release date: Oct 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781646490967

Book preview

Introduction

Okay, let’s be real. I am writing this as I am camped out in my car in a mall parking lot, sipping a green detox smoothie because it’s the only thing my stomach can currently tolerate. I am completely lost, heartbroken and numb, yet the voices won’t stop. That’s right, voices. The never ending constant chattering that has been happening for years now. Recently, these voices have become louder and I’m sure it’s because I’ve reached a new evolution in my personal awakening. Or maybe it’s because I’m being stubborn and refusing to do what they ask. What have they been asking me to do? Write. The words of this book have been whispered in my ear for months and I have refused to make time.

The voices chatter that they have now gifted me time so that I may write. Even though I’m overwhelmingly filled with fear in my personal life, here I am writing. You win, Spirit.

Awakening is not pretty. Even after these thirty-three lessons to awaken your soul, you must still remain a student. Though reading this book will provide many answers and clarity, there will still be much you don’t understand. You will need to trust the voices you are inviting during this process. You will need to listen and truly hear.

Awaken What?

First off, let me tell you that you are exactly where you need to be right now. If you have no idea why you are looking at this book or how it came to you, it was meant for you. The words and lessons in this book were meant to serve you. You will have a better understanding of what that means as we continue.

So what are we awakening? We are awakening you. We are awakening your Connected Path. We are awakening all that you brought with you into this lifetime. We won’t go down the path of past lives yet, but let’s simplify it using a Traditional Chinese Medicine term of prenatal Qi (pronounced CHē), otherwise known as the energy that came with you at birth. This is the energy you inherited from your mother and father, but it is also fully loaded with purpose and knowledge to fulfill that purpose.

For those who feel a call to awaken, you may or may not be comfortable with the concept that you are called to do work that is much bigger than yourself. This is what I like to call healing work. You have chosen to return to this world for multiple lifetimes in order to help others awaken and find clarity. The Bible’s book of Revelation provides a glimpse of what’s to come once we all awaken.

But awakening is not so simple; life is hard. It is easy to become distracted and detached. To cope, we often choose to numb our separation with alcohol, processed foods or drugs.

Many, myself included, have no idea what they are missing. Only by being awakened can the pure feelings of love, joy and inner peace be achieved. The coping strategies of drinking and food and substance abuse limit the ability for the universe and Spirit to communicate with you. To be frank, if you are not yet in a place of willingness to listen, they might not even try.

In order to be able to listen again, you may need a nudge or perhaps a full-on intervention. It can be a completely life-shattering moment or it can be as simple as just listening to a speaker or reading a book. That is where the healers come in. They are the speakers, the authors, the therapists and counselors, and even that great friend. But they will only be able to serve your highest self if they are also awakened.

The awakening process allows you to remember the knowledge you have accumulated from your lifetimes; the more times you have come back, the wiser you are. This process also reveals your true intention and reason for being in this life. Learning that you were born to do amazing healing work might seem surprising, but in reality it’s simply a shift in perspective. This process reveals a path, one that I have come to call the Connected Path. The Connected Path is your personal course of intention. It is the way forward filled with a collection of moments that let you know you are exactly in the right place and time. I used to refer to these moments as déjà vu when they occurred, because likening them to a dream was the closest I could get to describing the phenomenon that was occurring. In actuality, my déjà vu terminology was not completely inaccurate because the familiarity that accompanies these moments comes from a place deep within and is only revealed once we begin to awaken.

Readiness

The awakening is acceptance of new eyes to see. This new sight becomes rooted within you and becomes the new guide for your intentions, emotions and thoughts. The awakening corrects your vibration and elevates it so you can access a new level of consciousness and clarity. Our vibration is a physical sensation that signals our progress in our awakening. It is low when we dwell in the misery and wander off our Connected Path. It is high and beautifully in tune with the Divine when we are traveling along in alignment. You’ll learn more about this in Lesson Four: Conflicting Vibrations.

The lessons in this book will elevate your vibration bit by bit, but only if you choose to complete the lesson. To do so, you must have a willingness and openness, and ultimately you must be ready.

I personally spent thirty years refusing to awaken. I had the blessing and curse of pushy guides, whom I believe are angels. Throughout those three decades they would show up, consistently attempting to nudge me down the path of awakening. Yet I refused, because the path is not one that is commonly taken in our culture. It filled me with fear of judgment from others.

When you choose to awaken, you must accept that those around you may not have made the same choice. You may feel called and ready, while being surrounded by others who cannot even begin to comprehend what that means.

This path is not pretty and it is not easy. At times, it is ugly but know that it is also filled with beauty and peace—a peace so profound I cannot find any words to describe its true essence. At times, even I have wanted to run in the opposite direction from the path. I have wanted to numb and disconnect. This newfound peace assures me now that I cannot regret this path and I can never go back.

But this is my truth because I was ready.

You must decide if you are ready to continue, if you are willing and open to what is to come. When I initially encountered these lessons it was with a skeptical heart. I was willing and ready, yet struggled to be fully open. Even so, the lessons were still powerful, and my readiness increased, knowing that those lessons were what I needed.

I challenge you, before moving forward, to check in on your level of readiness. Notice where you are at this moment, as you begin this journey. Know that your level of readiness correlates to your current vibration. To gain the most from these lessons, consider what you are physically experiencing in this moment.

Can you even notice the sudden presence of an internal vibration at all? If so, does it feel dissonant? Make note of this state with an acute awareness moving forward. Attempt to recognize and acknowledge all shifts you may experience no matter how small in sensation. They may seem small, but they are without a doubt significant and a testament to your progress.

My Lessons

Lastly, before we get started, I feel compelled to share that the lessons in this book—despite being intuitively guided—are my lessons. They have been instrumental in my path to awakening. Therefore, regardless of your level of readiness, there is a chance that one or more are not meant for you.

There is also a chance that you have already learned one or more of these lessons through another form of life’s instruction. This work is about going inward, and my hope is that the words inspire and nudge. But ultimately, the guidance you receive from within is what matters most.

If you find yourself reading a lesson and almost immediately gravitating toward the thought I know this, I challenge you to shift your mindset. Using a technique of Marie Forleo, a life and business coach, ask yourself the following questions.

What can I learn from this?

What can I learn that will add to what I already know? Does it give additional clarity? Do I perhaps have completely irrelevant yet relevant takeaways that are essential for my path?

How can I use this?

How can I take what’s resonating with me from this lesson, no matter how small, and apply it? What can I do with it? Can I expand on it? Is it perhaps an invitation to explore another lesson that my heart is sharing?

By turning inward rather than turning off, you can shift into a state of growth and elevate your vibration.

Preface

The Purpose of My Work

The concept of HRart (pronounced härt) first materialized in the conclusion of my earlier book, From Heart to HRart. It was initially articulated as five belief statements that encompassed the clarity I gained from intuitive guidance. It was this clarity that began the HRart movement.

That book attracted all sorts of readers and each one connected to the vulnerable stories I shared. They even connected with the five overriding lessons it revealed. However, when they reached the conclusion—my proud declaration of HRart beliefs—many expressed feeling disjointed. The book was branded as self-help, and although it was, it also contained intimate experiences of my personal self-help journey. I discovered there is not strictly one way to find happiness. It is rooted in something much bigger and began from a passion which stemmed from my professional vocation.

The first ten years of my professional life were dedicated to serving organizations associated with Human Resources that I had fallen in love with. I ate, slept and bled HR. It was and is the ultimate essence and source of inspiration for all of my work. Even my self-help journey was sparked from a desire to become a better practitioner, identifying organizational culture strategies that truly serve those with whom I work. I am driven by the belief that people make the difference; without them, organizations fail. The key to all organizational culture development and engagement strategies is fueled by our ability to innately connect with the people.

I believe there are two aspects of the HR practice that have gone missing, the human element and the recognition of HR responsibilities for leaders, and I am not the only one who recognizes the vacancy. Put the human back in Human Resources, we cry. Sounds great, but what exactly does that entail?

Adding the Human Back

The human element returns to the workplace when three things happen. First, we as leaders and HR practitioners must acknowledge fully that we too are human. This means we are not impervious to disengaging with our work, and we are not impenetrable when it comes to experiencing pain or ache as a result of toxic workplace practices. Therefore, we must acknowledge this fact, but be willing to increase our awareness of how being human ultimately impacts our work.

Second, the true art of connection is only obtainable when we are able to access our intuition. What is commonly recognized as a mere gut feeling is the missing ingredient to the great mystery of human nature. When we are capable of accessing that intuition, we are also able to access the accompanying trans­parency that allows us to see things as they are—not as we assume they are.

It is our intuition that pipes up in moments during our busy day when we must pause and engage with an individual we value. But intuition shares information that cannot be rationalized alongside operational management tactics, and therefore is discounted as nonsense. It is this mindset that has caused the intuitive voice to go silent in so many of us. We mistakenly believe it has no place at work. Yet it is in our workplaces where we seek trust, loyalty and mission-driven passion from our employees. Do these not warrant genuine connection?

Finally, we must know that as leaders, managers or HR practitioners, part of our job is being a healer. If we desire for people to show up in our workplaces able to deliver nothing but their best, we must be able to know how to unleash that best, which is only possible when a path of healing occurs.

Currently as leaders, our mentoring and coaching practices focus on the surface level, directed by workplace observations and occasionally scratching beneath the surface. But as mentors and coaches, we have a responsibility to extend an invitation to a safe place where reaching into the depths is permitted. These depths reveal the healing that is needed for an individual to reach their best and serve their highest good. Sometimes those depths expose something darker that needs a referral, but without our invitation, that darkness may limit an individual indefinitely.

You’re Not Human Resources

In college, my textbook defined Human Resources as the following:

Human Resource Management is the term generally applied to those activities concerning the management of people. (Human Resource Management by Robert L. Mathis and John H. Jackson)

This definition describes our profession in a very broad sense, however its scope should include all activities concerning management of people. Personally, I am tired of the same old story of how organizations dump their people issues on HR. I have always been baffled how one small department—usually a single person—becomes solely responsible for the most valuable and expensive asset to an organization.

Historically, HR positions were created for the purpose of handling administrative tasks associated with personnel. The cumulation of those tasks—like creating policies, managing employee benefits, overseeing payroll and training—is indeed a full-time job. However, over time, the hefty tasks of organizational culture change and employee engagement were added to the job description as well. It paints a disturbing picture that the only person who should care about managing culture and engagement is HR. For me, I can’t help but translate that to: We don’t care about our people.

The purpose of my work is to help all those who do care about the people in their organizations. These are the individuals I like to refer to as having a HRart. I believe we must expand the scope of HR when it comes to the topic of culture and employee engagement. This must include all who participate in  managing people within our organizations, including those informal leaders who serve so frequently as the breath of our organization.

This Book

This book is focused on one aspect of my HRart work. It is designed