Tapping into your intuition and giving it permission to lead the way

Steve Jobs once said “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” Intuition is the power to know something immediately through an innate feeling without conscious reasoning. You have experienced intuition whenever you have a gut feeling, a “sixth sense”, or received insight from your inner voice. This cognition is cultivated through an instinctual response coming from a combination of past experience, self and the environment. This visceral, inner communication is deeply connected to self, and even to your highest and future self (superconscious). With continued development of intuition, it can lead you to make fulfilling decisions in alignment with your biggest dreams and deepest desires. Your intuition is running parallel to your sense of purpose and is pointing you in the right direction towards it. The higher intelligence we receive from our intuition are messages from the soul, telling us who we are and what we’re here to do. As you continue to tap into your intuition and listen to it over time, your inner voice becomes clearer, and you’ll develop confidence in the messages you are receiving from it. Get to know this voice and learn how to identify with it. Trusting your intuition is trusting yourself and what you feel. In surrendering to your own wisdom and having faith in it, you are following your own guidance. You are allowing your heart to lead the way. This deep trust in yourself is the way to a meaningful, fulfilling, and whole life, running parallel with your purpose for being. Self-awareness is the key to understanding and harnessing intuition within you. Becoming aware of your intuition is a practice of mindfulness. By paying attention to how you feel when making decisions in certain environments, around particular people, or in any situations/circumstances, you can identify patterns in your energy that shine a light on your intuition. Giving yourself permission to feel, no matter how euphoric or uncomfortable, is imperative in this practice because doing so will sharpen your ability to understand the emotion behind your inner voice. And emotion signals that something important requires your attention. With increased awareness of your intuition, you’ll be able to make decisions in better alignment with it. As you focus on your intuition with presence, you’ll come to realize your feelings are there to guide you back to a state of balance. It is a choice to follow your inner voice, but harnessing it will take time, effort, and diligent awareness. With progressive, mindful practice, you can become more conscious of your intuition and learn how to cultivate it over time. 1. Make decisions on your own in low pressure environments – take your own advice instead of seeking counsel from others Try to stop asking others for advice on decisions you can make that will have little to no consequence. Take note of how you feel before, during, and after the choice is made (Where to go out to dinner with a friend, picking the next vacation, grocery shopping, etc.) What does your gut instinct tell you to do? What is the first thought that comes to mind? What is your energy like when you’re in the middle of the activity? How does it feel to follow through on your own guidance? Reflect on the decision made considering how you felt throughout the whole process. 2. Take inventory of dreams, desires, and passions that have popped up in different forms, “signs”, over the course of your life Maybe your childhood dream was to become an artist someday. After reflecting, you realize you’ve always gone to art galleries, museums, and surrounded yourself with artist friends. What intuitive next step can you take to realize this calling within? 3. Reflect on past success when you trusted yourself and followed your own guidance Journal about moments in your life where everything worked out for the better because you believed in your inner voice. You felt great clarity and certainty at this time. Replay the memory in your mind and body, call back your power, embody this state in the present, and go create your future. 4. Body scan meditation and heart awareness meditation to develop somatic awareness Set an intention to attune to your intuition as you bring awareness to each point of the body and sense your energy there. Notice any sensations, vibrations, feelings, tensions, blocks, or tightness that comes to your attention. You can also practice a heart awareness meditation – bring your attention to your heart and listen from this place. Develop a relationship with your heart energy by taking “heart breaths” – in through the back of the heart and out through the front. You can also place a hand over your heart with the healing intention of compassion and loving-kindness. This practice enhances your ability to connect to your emotions in the present and derive insight based on your experience. 5. Mindful pauses to listen and feel everyday Pause, breathe, and listen. Practice mindful pauses around certain people and in different environments. What is the quality of your energy around these people, places, and things? You’ll be able to decode your energy by raising awareness of your feeling in a given environment. With practice, you are building a relationship with your mind-body connection as you learn how to sense and read your own energy. 6. Identify your core values and assess where you’re at in life In order to get clear intuition, you need to connect with your sense of self. If you are grounded in personal value, you are connected to the energy of trust, confidence, and inspiration – the energy of intuition. 7. Take one intuitive step at a time towards a big goal that feels scary What small action can you take today that makes you feel safe and grounded but is in the direction of a dream goal? Intuitive baby steps in the direction of your sensed purpose will help you develop resilience. As you realize small progress being made, it will affirm honor and faith in your intuition. With a focused intention to raise awareness of your intuition, your own wisdom will become clear to you. You will intuit how to respond to life through deep knowing and feeling. The more distinct and refined your inner voice is, the more comfortable you will be trusting it to make bigger decisions. By letting your heart captain the ship of your life, you’ll evolve at a faster rate than you’re used to. As exciting as growth is, it will force you to get out of your comfort zone, in which fear and discomfort naturally arise. At times, the messages you’ll receive from your intuition can be overwhelming as you are led to the unknown and are prompted to change. Your intuition will direct you to let go of things that are no longer serving you. It will inform you to detach from energies that are not supportive of your higher path. These parts of you may feel safe and secure, but deep down you know are holding you back from the place your inner voice wants to take you too. These decisions made out of tough love for yourself are the inevitable reality of transformation. The known life force energy within you is eager to transcend your deepest fear by taking action, but with experience, you will develop strength and courage. As you uncover the true value of living authentically aligned to your highest potential, you’ll be brave enough to persevere through the storms along the way. And your intuition is you, so in theory it knows what’s best for you and has your best interests at heart. You’ll embark on new experiences that will teach what you need to discover, accept, and understand about yourself. The valuable lessons that come out of following your heart will refine your values, lifestyle, future relationships, and everyday actions. Your intuition is bringing you to your truth, eliciting you to rewrite your own story. When follow your own guidance to create your most fulfilling life, you’ll realize your intuition is your true source of power. Listening to and following it is the key to self-realization and unlocking your purpose for being. By becoming a master of your inner world with consistent attention to it, outwardly you are bound to reflect a life that aligns with your fundamental understanding of what is true for you within. Intuition will present synchronicities in your life that are connected to your sense of purpose, identity, and destiny. When you tap into the universe within you, the universe conspires to lead the way outside of you (in the physical world). “Right place, right time”. “Perfect match”. “Full circle”. “Everything happens for a reason”. These affirming signs from the world will empower you to have faith in its messages and have the courage to act on them. Your own wisdom will continue to hint at the path you know you are meant to take. The path will unfold as you take each step. When you look back on the journey forged, at all the times you trusted yourself, you’ll understand everything that happened was on purpose and for you to know your true self. All roads lead back to your heart. What if we believed in our own wisdom and followed it wholeheartedly?