If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses.

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Whenever I walk through a bookstore, I am amazed by all the books on the shelves for dummies and idiots. I see Sex for Dummies, Raising Chickens for Dummies, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Past Life Regression. Amazon.com lists 754 books for Dummies and 200 books for Complete Idiots.

We must really think we are stupid, to need to purchase so many books for the dim-witted! I sometimes wonder if I could sell any books in a Genius series, such as The Genius’s Guide to Public Speaking, or Dating for Really Smart People. Probably not. We have been so trained to think that we are brainless that when someone suggests we might be brilliant, we feel embarrassed or even argue for our incompetence.

You were not born stupid. You were born smart, with enough wisdom to navigate every passage of your life. But then you were methodically conditioned by other people who believed they were stupid, and passed their perceived ineptitude onto you. They taught you that you do not know, when you do know . . . or you have the capacity to know. My friend’s son went off to his first day of kindergarten and came home crying. “The teacher told us to color in a cartoon of a clown,” the boy explained. “When I colored the clown’s nose green, she told me, ‘That’s all wrong. Everyone knows that a clown’s nose is red.’” While the teacher could have congratulated the boy on his clever imagination, instead she gave him a pass to the Dummies’ Club.

My friend Dr. Robert Holden, a world-renowned psychologist and expert on the science of happiness, recently welcomed his second child into his family. When I asked Robert what he had learned from being a father, he answered, “The idea that children are born as blank slates is complete bunk. Each of my children arrived with a totally unique energy and personality. Clearly they brought their own wisdom with them.”

You, too, have come into this world equipped with all the wisdom you need. You just need to trust it and act on it. Contrary to what you have been told, you are not stupid. You are extremely smart. As smart as God. It’s time to quit playing dumb and start living from your innate smarts.

I used to participate in Orthodox Judaism, which prohibits the use of electric devices on the Sabbath. I needed to awaken around 8 A.M. to get to the temple by 9, without using an alarm clock. So I would go to sleep on the eve of the Sabbath and set an intention to awaken at the right time. I remember several mornings on which I opened my eyes to see the second hand touching the 12 on the clock’s face at precisely 8. Something inside me was perfectly aware of the time.

Something inside you, too, is perfectly aware of not just time, but timing. You know when it is time to do something and when it is time to stop. Often while I am having a conversation or a meal with someone, a moment comes when I sense that it is time to bring it to a close or leave. If I could put words to the feeling, it would say: “The purpose of this meeting is now complete, and you need to get on to your next place.” When I heed that inclination, amazing synchronicities and serendipitous meetings occur, and I recognize that I am in the flow of life.

Trust your intuition and inclinations, and act on them. You are being guided at every moment.