Learn to listen to and follow your Intuition
The courage that’s needed the most isn’t the kind that drives you to prevail over others, but the type that allows you to be true to your truest self, no matter what other people want you to be. – Ray Dalio
Everyone has, at some point in their life felt lost, confused, aimless, directionless, fearful and not knowing what will happen next, finding themselves in desperate need to believe in something and trust that all is well. Stress plays a significant role in letting us feeling isolated from our life path.
When we lose touch with our inner guidance anxiety levels soar. A sense of abandonment translates into a deep gut feeling of nervousness and weary burnout. When our heart, soul and mind are out of alignment we feel lost.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift. – Albert Einstein
Researchers at Leeds University concluded that intuition is a psychological process in which the brain uses past experiences and cues from the self and the environment to make a decision. The decision is made fast, and it doesn’t register on a conscious level.
Your intuition is your inbuilt GPS for navigating life. Don’t be surprised if you feel aimless or lost if you are not tuned in with it.
When you connect with your inner guide, you connect with your true self. Practice sitting quietly and relaxed, drawing your attention within focusing on being in the presence of your higher self. When you do this feeling joy, acceptance, awe, love, a sense of reassurance and trust, you will find there is no judgment and that there is peace in the here and now. Do this small exercise often to experience blissful rushes of joy.
There are a few things that you can do to learn to listen to and trust your intuition at higher levels and consciously.
We have heard time and time again that we should follow our gut feeling. Even though our brain is located in our head, we feel the intelligence of the heart and gut throughout our body. Trust your gut when making decisions. If you tend to second guess yourself and doubt try to remember all the choices you made in the past, trusting your gut and how they turned out to be the right decisions.
Following your intuition is as easy as Trusting your gut feeling.
Research shows that emotion and intuition have a physical presence in our gut. The gut is aligned with a network of neurons and is often referred to as the ‘second brain.’ It’s known as the enteric nervous system (ENS), and it contains about 100 million neurons, amounting to more than the spinal cord and peripheral nervous system yet less than the brain. For this reason, we can feel physically ‘sick’ when having to make tough decisions or when under severe stress.
Practice paying attention to your emotions with practice you learn to recognise patterns. You start noticing the subtle feelings that lead you. In this way, you start taking into account your intuition, thus improving the quality of your choices. Be observant of your emotions and their corresponding physical symptoms. Tune in to what your body is telling you.
Your inner wisdom helps you recognise the negative, disempowering, often pessimistic voice of fear. That voice is not your authentic self; Your true self speaks through your heart and your soul.
Listening to our intuition serves us best when we make it a daily practice.
Stop caring so much about what others think. Seeking validation and approval from others when making decisions can feel right because we are asking for help, and we feel less responsible or less pressured when we share our burdens. However, is best not to do anything someone else says we should do when it doesn’t feel right. When we are adults, no one can give us the absolute right advice, especially when it comes to decisions about our life and our future, our dreams, our vision and things we deeply care about. They can only give us their opinion, their thoughts and their views based on their experience, their life long journey and their perspective. These often don’t necessarily apply to you or your life.
Unless you are working with a mentor, in this case, you make a decision to learn from someone else’s life experience and expertise to accelerate your progress.
Feel free to rely on the Intelligence of your Intuition.
Trust your inner guidance. Know that when it feels right, you are on the right path. Intuition is a ‘knowing’ or a gentle warning or persuasion that something is wrong, or great, or needs attention. The knowing is subtle; it doesn’t impose thus it’s easily missed.
Intuition operates effortlessly. It works by assimilating patterns collected by our experience. When we have to make quick decisions we draw on these patterns, it all happens fast and independently from our conscious awareness. Our conscious awareness is slower to respond, more analytical and deliberate.
The subconscious mind communicates with the conscious mind through intuition. The more in-tune you are with your intuition, the more fulfilled your life will be. When we listen to our intuition good things happen.
My top tips for clearing mind clutter and hearing your intuition more often
Feel. Let yourself feel with intensity. Observe your feelings.
Let go of bad emotion. Negative emotion blocks your intuition. Become aware of the emotion that doesn’t serve you, fully acknowledge it and then let go of it. When it persists, make a habit of turning it around by calling out the thoughts that produce that negative emotion and changing those thoughts to better ones.
Pay attention to your surroundings. Tune in with nature anyway you can. Listening to birds sing or noticing how a plant in your home grows is enough to sharpen your intuitive self – also observing and being aware of what happens in your world. For instance, how different people make you feel and how people react to you.
Deliberately socialise with people who empower you and uplift you. Stay away from gossipers, emotional vampires and pessimists.
Meditate. Silence and solitude help you sharpen your intuition. While seating in a meditative state let your mind be open to the messages that might come. When you focus on the present moment, mental clutter disappears, leaving a clear channel for your intuition to speak.
Sleep well and dream better. Our brain processes information that’s leftover from the day through dreams. Dreams have rich feedback on experiences, memories and learning. Treasure your dreams to dive deep into your intuition.
Intuition is powerful. As you learn to let your inner wisdom guide you, you develop a greater sense of self and freer you.