Intuition

Intuition is a calm, quiet, consistent wisdom within each of us – it is time to slow down, breathe and listen to it.

When life gets hectic, crazy or feels out of control the critical, judgmental often fearful voice in our head can get really loud. The last thing we want to do is slow down, tune in and listen within.

But that is exactly what we need to do.

Who wants to stop and listen to that critical voice?

It is important to understand that it is not the critical voice we stop and listen to – it is our intuition that we to tune into.

We come out of our head and we drop into our heart

Within our intuition lies the answers, creative solutions and epiphanies that will lead us out of our crazy stressful lives and situations and guide us towards a better experience and ultimately a happier life.

The longer we avoid slowing down and listening within – the louder the fearful, critical voice gets and unfortunately too many people then turn to unhealthy habits to shut out the critic within.

The inner critic and our intuition are not the same energy. They are completely opposite.

The inner critic comes from our thinking mind and has opinions and judgements based on past memories, circumstances and fears.

Our intuition comes from our heart. It is the essence of who we truly are. Our true self is beneath the masks we wear, the roles we play, our fears and the lies we believe about ourselves.

Our thinking mind does not need to be the “enemy” here though – when we can practice tuning into the wisdom within our body, our intuition,  we can turn our suffering around and see all obstacles as opportunities.

The outer world is always going to have its challenges – however when we tune into our intuition, the wisdom within us – we not only see things differently, we feel and experience them differently. When this happens we make conscious choices and purposely think different thoughts to create new beliefs. This is the journey from fear to love or suffering to happiness and we cannot take this journey without embracing and listening in to our intuition.

The questions I always get is – “How do I know if I’m listening to my thinking-mind or my intuition?”

First off our mind thinks and our intuition feels.

Our thinking-mind and our intuition want to protect and keep us safe. Both will alert us to get us out of any dangerous situation.  The thinking-mind will say “Go/run/stop” whatever action is required to move away from the danger. Our intuition though kicks in a tad bit sooner – sensing danger – which triggers the thinking-mind to speak and our body to react.

The main difference between the two is that once we are out of danger the thinking-mind holds onto the experience and replays it over and over again. Whether as a visual image (seeing it happen again & again in our mind) or as a verbal reminder (telling the story of the experience over & over again) both of these replays trigger our emotional response to the experience, ultimately feeding our fears.

Our intuition on the other hand – warns us of the danger and then once we are safe – it is over. There is no memory attachment to it. We may feel sensations in our body in the aftermath of the danger – but there is no attachment to a story about it – it is the emotions of the thinking-mind that keep us in the story, the drama and the stress of the situation.

When we slow down, breathe deeply and sit with the wisdom of our intuition we allow ourselves to feel all the emotions we need to feel and when we have allowed the feelings to move though us without resisting them – we get clarity in awareness that the danger is over and there is no more fear – only gratitude and an opportunity to move beyond. When we sit after an ordeal we also allow our body to return to its natural state of wholeness and healing (homeostasis).

These next questions usually follow;

1. What if it isn’t a clear cut situation?
2. What if we simply have a dilemma and we don’t know what to do or what direction to take? How do we know if it is our thinking-mind or intuition?

Here are a few awareness tips to know when asking inward for some guidance;

The thinking-mind will sort out the dilemma using language, for example it may use;

• A pros vs cons concept
• Past experiences and memories as references
• Advice or opinions of others to make a decision
• Go back & forth between different scenarios
• It may play out every situation in its mind
• It is definitely all over the place with ideas, fears, doubts, judgements and worries.

These keep us in our head. We need to drop into our heart.

Our intuition doesn’t use language. It is a feeling and a sense within (sixth sense). It is not an emotion – it is a sense or a sensation – such as;

• A gut instinct
• A hunch
• A vibe or a niggly feeling either moving you towards what feels good or away from what doesn’t feel good.
• An energetic feeling in the body
• A wisdom
• a knowing – without knowing how you know
• an epiphany, idea or inspiration.

I will often describe it as a whisper, however when we tune into this beautiful energy, the whispers become louder and the “knowing” gets stronger. There is a deep wisdom within each of us – when we can access this wisdom through our intuition – our life flows. Life can be very magical when we open ourselves up to receiving the gifts of our intuition.

The “magical” trick is to listen and trust the vibe or the hunch – our thinking-minds like to talk us out of our first initial gut-instinct.

There will be many times when our intuition makes no logical sense to our rational thinking-mind. This is the beauty of intuition and our sixth sense, it uncovers what our thinking-mind cannot yet imagine or fathom, it uncovers pure potential and possibilities.

Trusting in our intuition requires us to trust in the unknown.  As we practice tuning into our intuition we realize there is so much wisdom in the unknown and in uncertainty!

The bottom line is;

• Intuition is like a muscle – the more we “work with it” the stronger it get.
• Intuition is based on love vs the thinking mind’s fear
• We don’t need to believe everything our thinking mind says and believes. Our intuition takes us beyond the limitations of our fears and beliefs.
• Intuition supports best case scenario’s – the thinking-mind tends towards worst case scenario’s
• Intuition is a process of allowing – the thinking-mind is a process of force and control.
• Intuition leads us to peace, understanding, happiness and joy – the thinking-mind keeps us stuck in struggle, judgement, and discontentment – unless it tunes into the intuitive wisdom of the body.

This week be curious and tune into your sixth sense. Take the time to slow down, sit in stillness and silence (meditation) and simply observe. Take a yoga class, tai chi, qi gong or breath-work class and notice what you experience in the connection with your body and mind. The connection between your body and your mind is your Soul. Your heart center is the seat of your Soul and when we sit and tune in we will hear whispers from our Soul – this is our intuition speaking to us.

There is never anything scary about intuition. It is calm, quiet and consistently coming from love.

If you are experiencing fear – it is always the workings of the ego thinking-mind.

Play with your intuition. Practice tuning in. Look for signs, synchronicities, serendipities and better yet –expect them!

This Week’s Intention

1. Set the intention to tune into your intuition.
2. Slow down, breathe, feel and allow.
3. Be curious – open your mind and observe everything without judgement.
4. Notice and simply observe the voice of fear, guilt and resentment versus the whispers of inspiration and love. Observe in your body where each emotion resides.
5. Meditate daily
6. Practice Yoga, Qi gong or Tai Chi
7. Play with your intuition. Ask for signs – smile and whisper “thank you” whenever you notice the synchronicities and serendipities.
8. Practice self-love

Have an absolutely fabulous week!

Be well my friends!

Leslie

leslie@wellnessdefined.ca

780 722-3442