Your body knows first
Your body knows first. Think back about when you met someone for the first time and knew there was something off about them. Your body may have tensed. Your muscles may have clenched. And THEN, your mind got the hint.
What exactly is intuition?
Our intuition helps us make decisions without us having a reason for why we are making a decision.
Intuition is a gut feeling. A nudge that you can’t explain where it came from. The voice in your head may have told you. You may have felt it. You may have just known it. Or you may have seen a vision. Intuition comes from love. It’s like an inner guidance or compass that will lead you to your best life, if you will, because as humans, we not only strive to survive, but also thrive. For most of us, the latter ironically takes a lot of practice and deconditioning of limiting beliefs we’ve been taught by society.
But — intuition can also make you question everything and scare you because it’s irrational.
Intuition vs common sense and how we define them:
Common sense for me is knowing something and being able to find evidence for why you’re acting in a certain manner. For example, using common sense when crossing the street: you don’t walk when there’s a fast car approaching or — usually — when the light is red. Common sense can be attributed to our logical brain. Common sense will have consequences which you know for certain or which you gauge based on your knowledge or experiences. In the case of the street crossing example, consequences are obvious.
How are intuition and common sense different from one another?
Intuition on the other hand, is not based on facts or evidence. Imagine driving down a street and getting a gut feeling to turn left and listening to it, even though you don’t know what will be happening if you were to have kept driving your intended direction. Later, you find out there was an accident on your firstly intended route. But you couldn’t have known this. There were no facts or evidence for you to base your decision on other than a feeling, a voice, or a vision.
Or: If you get an intuitive hit out of nowhere, i.e. about a person you’re meeting for the first time and you’re feeling that you’re not liking them, there are no known consequences. And because you’ve never met this person before, there wasn’t any prior evidence or facts about them known to you as to why you’re feeling off about them.
If your intuition speaks to you after you expressed a desire and provides you with the How To for achieving this particular desire, consequences are also not clear.
The positive aspects of being in touch with your intuition along with a story to explain what I mean:
I have so many stories to choose from because I work with my intuition on a daily basis, but let me give you some really cool, very different examples.
In 2015, I had my first hypnosis session. I had sought help because I had been feeling lost with work and getting myself into the most self sabotaging situations with men and alcohol. The next morning I woke up around 5 a.m. and the following thought did not leave my head: Quit your job and just travel the world while working online. This was so scary at first because I didn’t know how I would do that, but, my god, I have never ever looked back after making this decision. This intuitive hit led me to travel 30+ countries within 4 years, mostly on my own, and experience safaris in Sub Saharan Africa, hot air balloons over the Valleys of Kings and Queens in Luxor, and hiking Trolltunga in Norway overnight during the full moon because I wanted to see the sunrise. And by the way, the latter turned out to be an intuition-led idea as well, for which my friends were very grateful, and which other hikers coming down the mountain while we were walking up, envied.
Once I was trying to come up with money for a business class flight as well as a mastermind and some extra cash to spend on a hair appointment and shopping. I asked my intuition to guide me on how to receive this money. During a walk, I got this feeling to send out a specific email to my list. An old client resigned after reading it and paid the EXACT amount I had desired.
Another time, my friend and I were in Tel Aviv, a city we didn’t know, walking through an area with not a lot going on and shops closing. We were craving hummus badly. So we asked our intuition to guide us. Left, right, and straight, and we walked into a shop that was about to close, but which sold us the best hummus we’ve ever had. We went to the beach, enjoyed it, and had so much fun talking about our intuition that my friend spit out a bunch of tomato seeds on me while laughing so hard (#truestory).
Here’s another example: a family member of mine had introduced me to her first boyfriend. My intuition told me he was going to shatter her heart into a million pieces. About 12 months later, I had been on my yearly Germany trip, and this guy broke up with her while I was at her house!
Also, the same family member’s mother was dating a guy much younger than her. When I looked into his eyes for the very first time, my intuition told me he was dishonest (to say the least) and he would cause a lot of trouble. Nobody believed me, even after I had told them he had cheated with a person I knew. Turns out he had lived a double life with a wife and a child in another country. Then, my intuition finally was believed by my family members. Thanks, intuition!
There are no egative aspects to being guided by intuition and here is why:
Because intuition comes from love and wants to help you thrive, intuition itself does not have any negative aspects at all.
There are two scenarios, however, that can hold you back from listening to your intuition:
1. If your intuition tells you to do something that scares you because either in the past you did the same and things didn’t work out the way you wanted to.
2. If your intuition tells you to do something you have never done before and you don’t think this something is going to work out for you because you have never done it before.
In both cases, fear stemming from either past negative experiences or from stories other people have told you is holding you back. That’s why it’s important to learn how to differentiate between fear and intuition.
And let’s say you did end up listening to your fear instead of your intuition, and made a decision that didn’t end up working out in your favor. You may now blame your intuition for this decision and may not trust yourself anymore. I’ve been there, and it sucks!
When should you make a decision based on intuition and when should you use other methods?
You could use logic to help you with your decision, but logic will only get you as far as your logical mind wants to take you. This means, you will stay in your comfort zone because your brain wants to keep you safe.
However, if you’re ready to leave your comfort zone, the easy answer here would be to always listen to our intuition, because, again, intuition comes from love, and wants to help you thrive.
However, we’re all human and are going through phases in life that aren’t as pretty (to say the least). So, while we’re in these phases and have difficulties connecting with our intuition, there are ways to reconnect, so that we don’t have to use logic to decide, but can rely on our intuition.
Let’s pretend you’re having a really bad day, week, or month, and emotions are heightened. You’re feeling scared, anxious, sad, and you’re spiraling downwards. Any decision made from this state would lead to results based on the aforementioned emotions. We don’t want that.
Therefore, it is important to release these emotions from your body and then calm ourselves prior to wanting to make an intuitive decision. This can be done via a walk in nature, exercise, dance, shaking, breathwork — anything that can get you into our body, so your body can feel better. Oftentimes, this will make your mind feel better already and intuitive messages will come through while you’re moving. If you haven’t received any intuitive messages during movement, you can follow this up by a few minutes of relaxation, meditation, or hypnosis. If the intuitive message you’re seeking still hasn’t arrived, go about your day and trust that it will come.
In this video, I also share 5 ways to improve your connection with your intuition, which you can read about below as well. As with everything, the more you practice, the better you become.
What holds us back from connecting with our intuition?
As I mentioned above, people’s past experiences, stories they hear from others, and / or a lack of trust in themselves hold them back from listening to and trusting their intuition.
People love to stay in their comfort zone. They love to stick with what they know. They’re afraid of change. Afraid of consequences. And afraid of their own damn power.
Sometimes, intuitive hits can be so absurd that we don’t trust ourselves to execute them. The best example was my feeling about quitting my job and traveling the world: Like, huh? You want me to do WHAT? Noooo. No, no, no, no, no. Surely not. This would have to mean leaving my home, my car, my friends, my co-workers, my city, my everything. This is crazy!
But I learned that the more I thought about the absurdity and considered it, as well as thought about the positive what if’s that could happen if I followed my intuition, the more I learned about ways to make the absurdity happen in real life. I saw other people do what my intuition told me to do. And then I was like: if they can do it, I can, too!
Also, let’s say your intuition is giving you a task nobody has ever done before, i.e. you get an intuitive message about a program or invention you could create, think about this: Angelou, Einstein, Tesla, and every other trailblazer received intuitive messages BEFORE they went through with their inventions, formulas, written texts, and whatever else they brought into this world. Their minds saw it first before they materialized it. You are not alone with absurd requests from your intuition 😉 You are in great company!
Here are 5 methods that will help you connect with your intuition:
1 . Test your body (muscle tests and feeling into something).
Your body knows first. Think back about when you met someone for the first time and knew there was something off about them. Your body may have tensed. Your muscles may have clenched. And THEN, your mind got the hint.
So, if you want to work with your body to improve your intuition, here are some ways to do that. The simplest thing is to ask your body about what it is craving. Let’s say you can’t decide between grapes and a pastry.
You can do the Sway Test.
Stand upright and close your eyes. Ask your body a test question to determine a yes or no answer.
“My name is Jenny.” My body will sway forward if it’s the truth. If your name isn’t Jenny, it’ll sway backward.
Next, your age: “I’m 88 years old.” My body would sway backwards because this isn’t true.
Now you ask your body:
“Do I want to eat grapes?” See where your body sways.
“Do I want to eat the pastry?” See where your body sways.
Let’s say your body wants the pastry but you know grapes would be more healthy. You can ask:
“Would it be in my highest good to eat the pastry?” See where your body sways.
You can do the same kind of testing by creating two interlocked rings with your fingers. For this, form a ring with your left pointer finger and thumb, and a ring with your right pointer finger and thumb. Proceed to link them, so that if you kept your fingers in a ring and strong, they wouldn’t part easily.
If you ask the same questions as above, you will notice that when something is right or truthful or you feel positive towards it, your muscles will tense, and your rings will be very hard to take apart, if at all, when trying to pull your hands apart. If you’re feeling something is wrong, not the truth, or feels negative, your rings will part more easily or even very easily when you’re trying to pull your hands apart.
The third option is to close your eyes and think deeply about the grapes. Watch how your body feels when you’re thinking about the grapes. Does it tense up? Does it feel good? Is your mouth watering? What happens when you think about the pastry? What does your body do? Watch its reactions.
The fourth option can be done with another person, so you can help them make a decision. This brilliant method is also used to give people who are unable to speak due to illness or disability, or who are in a coma, the opportunity to communicate.
The person who wants to make a decision must stand upright and hold out their arm, just with enough tension that the arm stays up. The other person can now start testing the decision maker with the aforementioned questions by slightly pushing down their arm. If something is right, truthful or the decision maker feels positive about it, the decision maker’s arm will stay up once the other person tries to slightly push it down. If something is wrong, untrue, or feels negative, the decision maker’s arm will be able to be pushed down easily.
2. Using external tools (pendulum and tarot cards, rods)
There are a variety of external tools, which you can use to practice your intuition.
Above I explained how you can use your body by itself, now we will get into a few tools that will support your body with becoming more in touch with your intuition.
Pendulums and dowsing rods are your body’s extensions of muscle contractions and you will have a tool outside of yourself help you make a decision with more certainty.
As you’re holding the pendulum while you’re sitting upright and straightening it out, begin to ask yes questions, to see how the pendulum swings. For me, it usually swings from back to front (that’s my body’s signals of a positive feeling towards something or true or YES answer to something). When I think of something that is untrue or someone I can’t stand, the pendulum swings in a circle for me. For you, this can be different, so use the questions to determine YOUR body’s signals.
Dowsing or Divining rods also give yes or no answers depending on your body’s signals.
Tarot or oracle cards can also be used to receive messages. Cleanse them before using (i.e. with sage or palo santo), call in your spirit team or Source or the Universe — whatever your belief is — and start thinking about your question as you’re shuffling. If a card flies out the deck, that’s your answer. If nothing falls out, pull the card you’re drawn to. For more in depth instructions on how to use cards, read their accompanying booklet of your card deck.
3 . Practice with TikTok
#intuitionpractice or #intuitionexercises will give you everything you need. TikTok creators either hide an object in their and let you guess its shape and color or they hide an object underneath one out of four cups, for example. These are super fun!
4 . Practice with your friends
When practicing with your friends, you can ask them to think about an object or person or number and guess it. Have them write it down before, so they don’t cheat ;). And don’t watch them write either, so you’re not guessing based on their hand movements.
5 . Silence and relaxation (meditation,hypnosis, walks, doing something you love)
I have saved the best for last. All the above exercises give you somewhat proof for your intuitive messages that are coming through. Now with these exercises I’m about to mention, you will receive no exact proof or confirmation, you will have to go, try your intuition’s advice, and see if it was really your intuition that led you. But because you’re asking for something while you’re n a relaxed state, chances are very high that you can hear your intuition loud and clear.
Meditation or hypnosis: Before you raise your eyebrow at me for suggesting hypnosis — hypnosis is simply like a guided meditation with a purpose. YouTube has a plethora of guided meditations and hypnosis videos you can use if you want to be guided by someone else.
A hypnotherapist can also help you distinguish between fear and intuition. In person or via a recording.
When you decide you want to meditate by yourself with the objective to become more in touch with your intuition, begin your meditation with a prayer or ask along the lines of: “Dear God / Creator / Allah (whatever you believe in), I have a question about X (or: I’m not sure about X). Please provide me with clear guidance and clear signs and answers in my meditation.” Make these words your own as you like and so they feel good for you. You may or may not receive clear guidance during meditation. If you do, great. If you don’t, watch for signs and guidance throughout the day or repeat your meditation including your ask another time.
You can go on a walking meditation as well. If possible, leave your phone at home or turn it onto airplane mode. Before you start your walk or as you have begun walking, ask for clear guidance or answers, along the lines of what I wrote in the latter paragraph. Enjoy nature, forget about your ask, and see what your intuition brings you as you walk.
The action of walking can also be replaced by exercising or doing something you love. Because as you’re exercising or doing something you love, you can forget all time and space and people around you and your conscious mind (the thinking, analyzing, criticizing and judging part of your brain) turns off. Intuitive messages are received clearly. Here are some examples: dancing, drawing, crocheting, coloring in, kayaking, playing any other sports or doing any crafts.
Also, how many of you can relate to receiving great ideas or guidance while showering or while taking a number 2? Anyone — or is it just me ;)? That’s your intuition!
If you want to learn more about intuition, take my free course Master Your Intuition
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