Trust yourself.
It’s such a simple statement but what does it actually mean? And how do you do it?
Your first step is to get out of your head. Which means you have to quiet your mind and settle all those racing thoughts. Your brain is designed to keep you safe and protect you which means anything and everything can set off its alarm bells.
You can quiet it by sitting in a peaceful place, free from distraction. Then close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Feel the rising of your belly as you inhale and the emptying of your chest as you exhale. Feel how your body falls into its own natural rhythm. See that?
The way to get out of your head is to feel what’s happening in your body. Which gives you your first clue.
The body is the window to the soul.
Your body is your soul’s conduit and connector, housing all the energies, feelings, and intuitive sparks sent your way. If you want to learn how to trust yourself, you have to learn how to tune into the messages coming to you through your body.
One of my favorite exercises during my morning meditation is practicing feeling true and false statements in my body.
Notice I said practice. Learning to trust yourself and your intuition takes practice. We spend the majority of the time in our heads, rationalizing our decisions, using logic to solve problems, and learning as much as we can about the situation at hand. Listening to our bodies, and our intuition, requires effort over time.
To practice tuning into your intuition, start with these six steps:
1. Quiet your mind
Find a calming, peaceful place, free from distraction. Close your eyes and begin focusing on your breathing. Notice the rising and falling of your diaphragm. Notice how your body relaxes into its own rhythm.
2. Do a body check
After quieting your mind and focusing on your breathing, notice how your body is feeling. Where is it tense? Where is it hot? Cold? What sensations can you detect? Spend some time checking in with your body.
3. Get in alignment
Before moving forward with the exercise, assure your body that your mind isn’t going to commandeer the ship. You want all parts of yourself working together — mind, body, and spirit.
One of the best ways to get in alignment is to chant: I trust myself. I trust myself. I trust myself. As you continue to breathe in and out.
I trust myself.
As you repeat the statement in your head, you’re changing your thought patterns and eliciting a corresponding emotion which you feel in your body. Usually, when I repeat this phrase to myself, I feel more confident and in control, and I sit up a bit straighter. As I do so, my chest naturally opens and I’m ready to receive any intuitive messages waiting for me.
4. Feel how truth feels in your body
Start by introducing the simplest true statement: “I am”.
Notice how your body feels when you say it. It’s simple. It’s true. Where do you feel that truth?
Then say something else that’s true.
I am…
I love…
I’m here to…
I know…
Notice how the true statements feel. Pay attention to where you feel them. Is it your chest? Your gut? Your head? Do they feel light or heavy? Are they warm or cold? What other sensations do you feel? Do you see any color? Do you sense any light or darkness?
5. Feel how false feels in your body
Now present a false statement and feel how that feels in your body. Start with something simple and obvious. Something like, “I like coming home to a messy house.” (I don’t know this to be true for anyone!)
Then present another. And another.
What do the false statements feel like? Where do you feel them? Do they feel light or heavy? Are they warm or cold? What sensations go along with them? Do you see any color? Do you sense light or darkness?
6. Notice the difference
As you continue presenting true and false statements, you’ll begin to detect a difference. Maybe you feel the true statements as a warm sensation growing across your chest and the false statements as a rising shiver that starts in your gut.
Pay attention to where they are and how they feel. That’s your intuition speaking and your body acting as its conduit. That’s what you have to learn to trust. To tune into. To ask questions of.
Once you get to the place where you can distinctly feel the difference, you can begin posing questions about your next steps, your desires, and your vision for the future. When you state your plans out loud, what feels right? What feels true?
The next time you have a decision to make, try tuning into your intuition before going immediately to problem-solver mode. Your intuition knows what’s best because it’s connected to your true desires, your true nature, and ultimately the Source of all goodness, love, and abundance. It won’t steer you wrong.