Exercising Your Intuition
In giving Reiki regularly to clients, I find myself giving the same messages over and over again. “Connect to nature, make exercise a regular habit, spend time being creative and have fun, love and forgive yourself, speak your truth” and the absolute most common one, which is “listen to your intuition, your life will be much easier if you do!”
We often tend to weigh the rational/thinking part of our brains heavier than our feelings and emotions. We try to talk ourselves out of a hunch because it’s either not convenient or we think “that’s not logical” or “I have no proof”, etc. We take things at face value and ignore that inner whisper or nudge that our intuition is giving us. That deep gut, visceral feeling of KNOWING without knowing why or how. (By the way, that knowing is called Claircognizance). The truth is, we can always tap into our intuition to guide us. It’s important that we listen because it never steers us wrong. When we don’t listen, our lives are harder and it causes undue stress. We end up berating ourselves, saying “I KNEW it, if only I’d done what I first thought”. I’ve been actively and consciously following my own inner wisdom, tapping in and tuning in to what FEELS right since 2008. But of course, all along it’s been working. Sometimes in ways that were surprising.
In 1999 I was moving into an apartment on my college campus with 3 guys I didn’t know, one of whom became my husband. I knew I thought he was cute, but really didn’t entertain the idea of wanting to date my housemate because that isn’t smart! However, before my actual move-in date I was talking about him to my brother (in a casual way, not anything romantically implied) and when I’d say his name my stomach and heart would flip. I was like to myself “wait a minute here, this feels like I like him!?” I didn’t even know yet that I had a crush on him, but viscerally I knew it and I knew it strong. It was pretty funny to recognize it physically that I had an attraction to him before my mind ever even caught up. (Sept 17, 1999 is our official date of being a couple… 19 years now!)
It’s fun to play with your intuition in light hearted exercises. Nothing crucial, no do or die type scenarios—at first anyway. 😉 The truth will feel right and will lead you in the right direction. Sometimes it can feel like a current, just as you’d feel when in a canoe or small boat. You just go with it and see how where it leads you. While shopping this is fun to explore, kind of just say “okay, I’m open, lead me” and see how the flow takes you (great when you’re at Marshalls or TJ Maxx for a more leisurely b.s. type shopping trip). One time I did this while at a Vitamin Shoppe. It wasn’t the normal store I typically went to and it was arranged differently. I didn’t wanna bother with asking the clerk where to find whatever it was I was there for, so instead I sort of just stepped into the flow. Like a river current, I kind of just observed where it brought me. Before I knew it, I was stopped right in front of the item I came into the store for and I just laughed. It was so fun and cool to let myself be led like that.
My dog just came in the room and energetically nudged me to take her outside, which reminds me of another fun exercise. Sometimes in the early morning when I let her out, I tap into the energy around me and see if I can sense her presence coming closer to the door so I can let her in before she barks. I feel the energetic squish of her closer presence and proceed to the door and she is always standing there. It is a really fun exercise in me trusting what I’m feeling and is so great to see that I am right!
Our intuition won’t judge us or make us feel bad. It has a quiet, gentle persistence to it. It may be a voice in your head, a feeling, a knowing or an image- whatever your psychic strength may be (and even if you think you don’t have one, you do. It just may not be as developed yet). All we have to do is get quiet enough to listen, trust and act on it. Really, very little risk and no harm. Keep it light and practice with play, then the more you lean on it the more reliable it’ll get. It’s like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets. Our intuition is here to make our lives easier! Utilize it!