How The Deepest, Most Insightful People Find Their Wisdom — That You Can Learn, Too
Scientists state intuition is your highest intelligence. How to develop & strengthen intuition!
Aleshyn_Andrei / shutterstock.com To strengthen your intuitive voice, you must connect with the heart rather than the rational mind or ego. Dashing about, trying to manage a rigorous schedule, and living in your head makes it difficult to connect to inner knowing because the external material noise is loud and distracting.
They capture your attention away from the still small voice of intuition. This makes meditation or quiet time a crucial and deliberate activity in developing intuition.
The practice is to step away from the noise. Stop, open your heart and listen.
According to the Journal of Positive Psychology, intuition is especially beneficial when a person is stressed, under time pressure, or dealing with something complex because intuitive processes often lead to insight with higher diagnostic value than the rational-analytic processes of reasoning.
I would add that intuitive judgment sees the entire picture of what is needed — rather than simply solving the small day-to-day requirements of a situation.
Here are some benefits
Intuition is that quiet voice inside that guides you. It lets you know if something is right or wrong for you. By cultivating mental stillness, you connect with your intuitive voice and become insightful.
That insight transfers to situations and relationships and you end up knowing a lot more than meets the eye.
Intuition never steers you wrong because you see events more clearly. Intuition does not emanate from fear, thus decisions that come forth from intuition are not reactionary. They are insightful! Intuition promotes peace because it comes forth from a calm mind. For that reason, confidence and clarity are by-products of intuition.
Intuition may speak to you in various ways. Feelings are always to be noted. But intuition is not limited to feelings. It also shows up in symbols (hitting every green light, seeing a favorite flower or sign on a truck). Also, your day and night dreams are guides and highly intuitive.
Dreams are intuitive energy at work
Here's one example. A client had dreams of earthquakes and tornadoes, and buildings crumbling. This dream indicated the vast state of change she was in and prompted her to get help in transitioning to a new scenario.
And here's a very different example. A student had a dream of being with her mother (who represented unconditional love). She was told to continue what she was doing as everything was exactly as it should be.
Intuition as indicated in these different dreams helped clarify for each dreamer the significance of the situation she was in.
How to connect with intuition
Treating intuitive practice as sacred makes sense.
It is in fact a channel to your greatest intelligence and the answers you seek. Learn to be quiet. Focus on your heart space.
Meditate, breathe deeply, and spend time in nature. In other words, do whatever is necessary to quiet your mind so that you can listen to your heart. If possible, create a sacred space away from noise and distraction so you can let go of “earth” drama. Make it as easy as possible to move into your heart. Keep a notebook handy when answers arise.
Your physical body is a depository of feelings.
Notice if there are feelings coming up for you. An uneasy feeling or one of excitement or expansion are messages. Whatever the physical feeling, explore it. Soon, you will be able to tell if it is coming from your intuition or from fear.
Channeled writing also helps you connect. Write a question at the top of a piece of paper. Then take a few deep breaths, clear your mind, and with your non-dominant hand write whatever appears in your mind. Do not worry about making sense, spelling, grammar, or sentence structure.
You want to access the undomesticated mind and allow it to say whatever comes. Don’t filter or judge this free flow. In time you will trust what comes through as offering help. Sometimes what comes is not what you consciously want but that is part of the deal. Your intuition is your higher mind and is not obliged to cater to the egoic self.
Its interest is growth and expansion. Your intuition is always honest with the message that comes through for you.
Strengthening and trusting your intuition makes you better at decision-making. Your decisions come faster and are congruent with what is best for your life journey. You reduce the stress and anxiety associated with decision-making because you eliminate the agony of pondering every option.
Instead, you have developed a method that provides near-instant feedback about what is the best for you.
How to put this into practice
Consider a scenario of changing jobs. You are not sure what you want to do. Start by thinking about your current situation. Allow yourself to explore the feelings, fears, anxiety, and desires connected to the situation.
Perhaps in considering your present work you ask the following questions: what is the environment? Does it align with your desires, gifts, and passions? How do you feel when you are going to work?
Then fully define the problem you want insight on. Once you are clear on that, come up with some possible solutions to that problem. In this case — should you stay or should you go?
And if you do go, what option is best for you — working for another company? For yourself? Being a full-time employee or contract-based? Changing the type of work you do or moving to a completely different field?
The exercise is to write down each possibility and then connect intuitively to receive guidance. How does each idea feel to you? What feelings come up in your body? Your body is a great barometer for you because your body doesn’t lie.
Your mind can make things up and try to convince you of something, but your body cannot. What sensations do you feel, relaxed, relieved, or peaceful? Then that answer is probably a yes. Or does your body feel tense, anxious, or stressed? In that case, your intuition is telling you that the solution in consideration is not a good one.
If you are not getting clear answers, put the list away for now and come back to it later. When you let it go, you will receive your answer in a completely different way. Keep practicing.
Jean Walters is an international best-selling author, transformational coach, and professional Akashic record reader for over 35 years. You can reach her through her website.