How to trust your intuition and hear its signals
Do you trust your intuition? Some of us have spent so long ignoring ours or pushing it aside, we wonder if we have any.
If you were raised to ignore your needs and wants, self-trust shrinks as a result. You became focused on others and disconnected from yourself.
That makes it near impossible to respond to your intuitive signals. You've probably got many examples of ignoring red flags and the price you paid for that self-abandonment.
Take heart, there are many ways to tap into your intuition and learn to trust yourself again. Here are 6 strategies.
1. Pay attention to your body.
Our bodies send us signals that tell us when something's wrong or we're in danger. In cases of childhood trauma, these signals might be overactive or underactive.
I get these messages in the pit of my stomach. When I worked in a toxic environment, for example, my stomach would hurt on the drive in to the office.
Pay attention to feelings of contraction and expansion. If you're making a decision and when you think about the situation your body contracts, it's likely a 'no'. If, instead, you feel a sense of expansion, that might be a green light.
2. Spend more time doing what you love.
If you're constantly engaged in activities that bring you no pleasure, you're overriding your intuition. If you work at a job you hate and pretend it's okay, you're likewise lying to yourself.
The more you ignore your needs and desires, or wear a social mask, the less able you are to tap into and trust your intuition.
Same goes for the people you spend time with. Is your network filled with folk who make you feel you have to be someone you're not? Time to connect with people who want to know the real you.
3. Get quiet to trust your intuition.
Even if it's only for a few minutes a day in meditation. Eliminate distractions and practice getting in touch with yourself and your emotions.
Getting away from it all can help you hear messages that won't get through when you're too busy. This is why it's important to schedule white space in your calendar.
Rather than overschedule on vacations, take time to do nothing but rest and go within.
4. Don't overthink.
Sometimes when our intuition speaks, we talk ourselves out of it. We get a signal from our bodies, but the mind rushes in to second guess that first impression.
That doesn't mean you have to act impulsively, but consider the possibility your first inkling is the right one. And, on the flip side, it may not be. That's all part of learning to trust your intuition.
5. Resist consulting others.
Often when we lack confidence in our intuition, we'll seek a second opinion to tell us what's true. But what's right for one may not be right for someone else.
When you let your intuition guide you, it's more powerful than any pro and con list. It measures on a deeper level and that's hard to explain and quantify to someone else.
6. Learn from the past to trust your intuition.
Can you remember a time when you ignored your intuition and lived to regret it? When we obey "common sense" or review plusses and minuses, we make spiritual decisions based on earthly metrics.
Think back to a time you chose not to follow your intuition. Maybe you did what your parents wanted, or you chose a partner because he looked good on paper. How did that work out for you?
Chances are it's cost you greatly and you'd do it differently next time. So, now's your chance to listen to your intuition and trust it instead of your advice committee.