A common question often asked of me by individuals seeking to understand their own intuitive nature is, how do I know when I am having just a thought or if my thought is an intuitive message? Let’s start by saying this, first and foremost, it is my belief that we all are “gifted” with a perceptive or intuitive knowledge. Who hasn’t felt when a loved one was hurting or you were guided to not do something and it turned out that it was better that you didn’t? Maybe you weren’t aware in that moment or maybe you were, that those feelings and “thoughts” were guiding you. This higher level of knowing was gifted to us from the very beginning as a primal tool and as a means of survival. If someone unknown enters our house, we are not going to take the time to ask them to have tea with us and get to know them before calling the police. That knowing in us says rather, this person is an intruder and I don’t feel safe. You are trusting that immediate sense of danger and not going into your head with thought about “humm, do I first invite them to have tea with me?!
The problem or the radio static if you will occurs as a result of our overthinking it or not trusting that we too could be worthy of something so special. Additional factors for not freely allowing the use of this “gift in your life are the cultural and familia constructs and beliefs that influence us.
Replacing fear with acceptance of the idea that we all have been “gifted” such a beautiful, inspiring and guiding tool is a pretty cool thing! Think about where we were before someone invented the GPS, I would constantly get lost, as I have no sense of geographic direction. Now, you’ll find me relying on google maps on a pretty regular basis. Intuition is like our Souls GPS, we can utilize it or take the unknown route and risk getting lost.
Back to the question in the beginning of this piece, how do I know? In my experience, like all things we want to be better at, we first have to make time for it in our lives. We open up to and allow more time and a create space for it. I often say it’s like learning to play an instrument or learning to speak another language, that more you practice, the better you become at it. Take time each day in stillness. At first it doesn’t have to be formal or even very long but it’s important to create the quiet space so that you can learn to “hear”. When you make time to listen you will start to hear. In addition to, it’s important to allow your whole body to engage. Practice learning to feel things by engaging all of your senses, this will help take it out of your head. How would it feel if that intruder entered your home? No time there for staying in your head about things! As you start to practice you may start to open up and become more curious, seeking out more opportunities to play your instrument better and better. Eventually, as with most things you can arrive at a point of trusting and allowing this level of discernment in a truly welcomed way. You will know it is for you and as I say, not of you, when you ask a question, and the words come. Pay attention to how they settle into the body particularly the heart. The minute you shift back to your head and you loose the connection to the senses in your body, this becomes a clue to you that this is just a thought. Using the intruder as an analogy again, think of how it would feel upon spotting the intruder, stay there for a second and realize what your body is telling you in that moment. If you were to shift into the brain and start asking questions like, do I know this person, do they seem nice, will they hurt me, should I invite them to tea? Way…. Too many thoughts have creeped back in. Trust that initial thought that was accompanied by all those feelings, and then you know you’re on the right track. The more you practice and learn to trust , I promise the better you will be at utilizing and trusting this beautiful, worthy gift.