Are You Using Your Intuition?

This article originally appeared in third issue of The Inspired Guide published online, early September.

You may be aware, we are all made of energy.  Did you know that our energy field extends out beyond our physical body?  For some people this extends out quite far, and for others it’s closer. It’s this energy field that allows us to perceive information before our mind can process what is happening.  

This is our gut feelings, our hunches, our inner knowing.  Whether you are aware of it or not, your intuition is healthy and functioning.  The only reason we aren’t aware we have it, is that, unless we take some time to actively listen, our lives generally aren’t quiet enough to hear it.  Intuition can be cultivated.

Ways to cultivate and strengthen your intuition:

• Meditate.  Messages from your intuition tend to be quiet, so spending time in silence will help you hear and interpret these messages. 
• Be aware.  Start noticing all that you can with your five conventional senses.  Doing so can raise your sensitivity to your sixth sense.  
• Pay attention to your dreams.  When the cognitive (thinking) mind is busy, it can override the intuitive right brain and the subconscious mind, which is the wellspring of intuition.  When you are sleeping, your cognitive mind rests which opens space for the subconscious mind to signal you in your dreams. Don’t just wonder about your dream, really ask yourself, “Where did that come from, and what can I take away from it?”  Keeping a journal of your dreams may help understand messages over time. 
• Get creative.  Engaging in creative activities such as drawing, crafts, or journaling, quiets the cognitive mind allowing your intuition to speak up.  When you think of “paint by numbers” vs the Mona Lisa for example, you will realise the missing ingredient is intuition. Being intentionally creative helps to develop the intuition.  
• Test your hunches. Getting a sense it will rain tomorrow, but the forecast says it won’t?  Do you just know that someone you have just met is bad news? If you have feelings about what might happen in the future, write them down, and check them later.  See how often you were right.
• Consult your body compass.  Your intuition speaks to you through your body.  The more you cultivate this awareness, the more sensitive you become.  If you get an uncomfortable physical feeling when you are trying to make a decision, pay attention.  Are you feeling light or heavy? Expanded or contracted? 
• Escape from your daily routine.  Slow down, take time out.  Find a way to spend some time in new surroundings with nothing planned.  When you are overly busy, it’s hard to be sensitive to the quiet voice of intuition.  Try clearing your schedule, and see if your intuition pipes up. 
• Spend time in Nature.  Being outdoors, away from technology, and the mind’s other temptations, can open up the kind of intuition we needed when we, as a species, lived with nature and relied upon it to keep us safe from the elements, predators, and other true-fear dangers. 
• Learn from the past.  Recall a negative experience, something fairly recent if possible.  Before this thing happened, think back to whether you got any feelings about steering clear.  Maybe you got a gut feeling that something wasn’t right, or you had a foreshadowing dream or vision?  If so, did you pay attention to that feeling, or vision, or did you talk yourself out of it? Try to remember exactly how you felt, recalling as many details as possible.  The more you can get in touch with the part of you that tried to warn you, the more you’ll trust it next time.   
• Feel, don’t think.  The mind thinks, always chattering away, while intuition feels.  If you aren’t sure whether you are listening to your fearful mind, or your trustworthy intuition, see if you can differentiate whether you are thinking or feeling.  
• Engage in repetitive movement.  Run, dance, chop carrots, paint, or play the piano.  These type of physical actions can calm the cognitive mind and open up your intuition.  
• Practice sensing into people before you know them.  See what kind of information you can glean from observing people and feeling their energetic signature before you talk to them or learn anything about them from other people.  The more you pay attention, the more you will realise you already know things you couldn’t possibly know with your cognitive mind.  
• Release your resistance.  Understand you are not crazy when you get an intuitive hunch, and learn to trust your heart and guidance.

Happy practicing!