Intuition – the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning
Trust your Intuition
Recently, I was reading an online forum, and a woman had posed a question about some work she was being asked to do by a former client. She said she really needed the money, but the work involved going to the client’s house, and something about it made her feel very uncomfortable. Immediately, the post’s comments lit up like a Christmas tree telling this woman to listen to her “gut instinct” and not accept this work. In good faith, she needed the money, and I think she was hoping someone would validate that she should accept this work and override that feeling deep within her that was telling her otherwise.
So…..WHAT is that feeling?
Intuition
Some people call it a gut instinct, a hunch, or a feeling in one’s bones. That feeling that barely whispers to you, and carries no emotion, yet carries a powerful punch, one day that might save your life someday. I had the opportunity to see Oprah speak live at a conference I attended. She spoke with conviction and clarity, telling the audience that any poor decision in her life can be traced back to not following her gut instinct. If your gut instinct is not clear to you, you must find the stillness within to listen to that inner guidance. Echo Bodine calls intuition “humanity’s best-kept secret,” and you know what, she’s right. You have access to your own inner calling card with near-perfect accuracy, yet for many, it remains untapped. So many people do not acknowledge and accept the opportunity to listen to that still small voice.
Why is that?
Fear/Ego
Fear of the unknown; fear that your intuition may be telling you the very thing you are not ready to hear & may compromise your “logical” plan for life or your business. Ego is judgmental, negative, self-loathing, full of despair, and is highly logical. Ego is not bad; it will tell you with Google Maps’ preciseness just how much further you need to go. Intuition tells you with accuracy when you have arrived. However, what if intuition was like your own internal compass, guiding you to your best decisions regarding business and life in general. What if, after honing your Intuition, there is an automatic process that happens within you where your intuition shifts into gear and, without saying a word, says to your ego/fear, “Sit down and shut up, you ain’t running this show” This is exactly what happens when you move from a place of fear to a place of truth, and of letting go and acceptance and honoring and listening to your Intuition.
When we listen, we can connect; when we connect, we can live an inspired, aligned life.
Albert Einstein, one of the most brilliant scientific minds of the 20th century, called the intuitive mind a “sacred gift” and acknowledged that we have created a culture that revolves around the rational mind and pays little attention to the sacred gift.
Truth/Intuition
Intuition is not a LOUD booming voice, and it is not scary; it is quiet and subtle, and often no voice associated with it. You may feel something deep within that encourages you to pay attention. Intuition is felt in the stillness, in the space between your anger and fear, or sadness and despair. It will keep you safe and align you with your highest vision, purpose, and reason.
Dropping Gems (little nuggets of truth for your journey)
I took a class a few years ago from a famous and reputable teacher who I asked, “How will I know the difference between messages of fear and anxiety vs. messages from your intuition?” The wise teacher said this: Fear is often contaminated with big emotions, trying to disguise themselves as your intuition. When you are fearful, every alarm in your head may be going off, creating an illusion within you that is not true. Intuition does not have emotion. It is quiet and still. In times of stress and fear, one way to access the intuition is to distract yourself from what is happening, and if your intuition is speaking to you, it will keep nudging you to pay attention. The mental or logical mind often supersede the messages of intuition. Accessing the wisdom within our small voice often takes practice; keep reading for 7 ways to hone your intuition. Jim Carrey once said, “so many of us choose our path based in fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect, so we never dare ask.”
Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level –Dr. Joyce Brothers
Using your Intuition requires practice.
7 surefire ways to trust your intuition
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Pay attention through your senses.
Open up all your senses without judgment about what is happening. Feel everything you can through listening, seeing, touching, smelling, and tasting. Acknowledge and be in the present moment, and be wherever your attention brings you right now. Presence through your senses allows you to surrender to whatever comes your way and keeps you grounded in reality. This increases your capacity for listening to and understanding your 6th sense (intuition).
2. Be Still
Make time to find and be still in your day. The logical mind is bustling, making many decisions, and can very easily overpower your intuitive thoughts and feelings. Find stillness through your breath, meditation, yoga, walking, or any activity that allows you to be contemplative and come back to your breath. We live in a distracted world, which creates a false illusion that we need to be busy or are busy to be happy or fulfilled. A simple exercise is 3 deep breaths. Close your eyes. Take a big cleansing breath in through your nose, hold for 4, and breathe out through your mouth. Repeat 3 times.
3. Be Curious
When you remain curious, you stretch your internal edges of comfort. Explore in your mind or out loud ideas and invitations towards a different way of thinking. Open your capacity for growth by challenging the internal dialogue. Ask questions first rather than making radical judgments about situations that require a bit more investigation. Being Curious opens up a playful vibe that allows your intuitive space room to play and grow
4. Be Creative
Get lost in the creative space that allows you to reach a trance-like state where your mind flows. Creativity opens up the channels in the right side of the brain, fostering complete independence from the logical brain. This independence helps with visualization, imagination, emotions, and the growth mindset. Intuition thrives in this environment.
5. Get Outside
Nature is one of the best opportunities for inner renewal and tapping into space between intuition rests. A few years ago, I was in the desert southwest in Sedona, Arizona, hiking through some of the most beautiful lands in the world. I participated in a Walking Meditation, which encourages you to explore your relationship to nature and journey through unplanned travel and no time constraints but move with a soft gaze and an open heart. Access to that still small voice will be clear, consistent, and not muddled with big emotions.
6. Tune into your Dreams
When you’re awake, your conscious mind is in the driver’s seat, making decisions every day, usually employing big emotions. This can make it hard to hear the messages from your intuition; when you are asleep, the subconscious mind processes what has happened in a day’s work and opens up access to your highest self through symbols and stories. Keep a journal by your bed, and develop a practice of remembering your dreams, no matter how insignificant they may seem. The voice of your intuition is often weaved within the symbols and stories.
7. Release and Let it go
The gift of intuition doesn’t always come wrapped beautiful and tidy. The gift can be messy and the resistance uncomfortable. Releasing expectations for the way we think things should go and just going with the flow of our lives and our intuition’s path can open a wellspring of joy. Release the resistance where our ego lives and surrender to the open mind of your intuition. Learning to listen to your intuition takes practice and involves feeling instead of thinking. Trusting instead of doing and taking a step back to and getting comfortable with the space between where your intuition exists, just waiting to be heard.
BONUS
Activities you can do right now in your day to master your intuition.
- In the car, while driving down the highway, use your intuition to decide when a car(s) will change lanes near you.
- At the grocery store, use your intuition to decide which checkout line will be fastest?
- Tune into your body and really listen to what it is asking of you. Do you need a walk, nap, quiet time, time for yourself? Really listen.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift ~Albert Einstein.
