Intuition — a power available to everyone?

A quiet inner voice that gives advice, a sudden flash of confidence in us, or a more or less noticeable bodily reaction. Einstein called intuition «feeling at your fingertips.»

Although the origin of intuition remains a mystery, neuroscience now recognizes that it can be a valuable ally that makes life easier and helps you move forward. This is not a magical sixth sense or a gift from a select few, but an ability available to all. By tuning in to the sensations, listening to the “quiet inner music”, we can determine what is good for us and what is bad, what will lead us to a dead end and what will open the way.

“When we know something intuitively, we know it in our bones, in our hearts. This knowledge and confidence is reverberated throughout the “body being,” says Judy Gee, founder and director of the School of Intuition. To help you develop your intuition and build your confidence, here are four exercises.

1. Wake up your inner guide

Practice once a day (morning or evening) for at least one week.

Relax completely. Get comfortable. Take a long breath, then begin a cycle of calm and deep breaths, relaxing your muscles. When you relax, imagine that you have moved your consciousness into your belly. With each breath, go deeper into yourself until you feel maximum relaxation.

Define a request. Ask yourself the question — «What problems, what topic do I need to be aware of better?» For example: am I being too demanding or too trusting? Stay with this question and accept without judgment incoming messages: images, words, sensations, emotions. The goal is to listen to your inner guide. If he doesn’t say anything in two or three days, try asking questions such as: “In which direction should I go now? What should I do? Show me».

Record these messages, even if they seem strange or far from your request. Keep records. Over time, a certain word, face, or sensation may take on a meaning that you could not catch the first time, because you thought in terms of cause and effect, and not by analogy.

2. Sort the received messages

It is very helpful to question what we sometimes take too quickly for intuitive insight, when it may be a desire, a projection, a manifestation of anxiety.

Our personality is made up of «subpersonalities» that have emerged in the course of our psychoaffective history, as psychologists Hal and Sidra Stone have shown in their work. Each of the subpersonalities has its own voice.

Make a list of different subpersonalitiesof which you are made up — positive and negative (child, judge, therapist, clown, leader, cautious, risky, and so on). Define them the way you feel is right for you. Do not be guided by the descriptions of your character and behavior that others give, or the labels that they stick on you. Choose three or four subpersonalities from the list. When you need to make a choice, take a sheet of paper and colored pens or felt-tip pens.

Write down the question, then give the floor to the selected subpersonalities, using a separate color for each. Record their responses to the question asked. When the «characters» say what they wanted to say, do not try to choose the best answer right away.

Postpone the decision and return to the exercise with the inner conductor (first exercise). What is the purpose? Consciously pay attention to the difference between the voice of the inner guide (which may be the voice of one of our sub-personalities) and the voices of the roles that we play unconsciously.

3. Try to spend your morning or afternoon relying 100% on your intuition.

Listening to your intuition and picking up on its messages is one thing. Allowing yourself to be guided by it in your actions is another. And it is not always easy to step from one to the other, because our defenses are as numerous as they are stubborn. In order to free yourself from internal inhibitions without being in danger, it is better to introduce this approach into practice gradually. This exercise gives you the opportunity to experiment for one day, completely guided by intuition.

Choose a day of the weekin which you have the least commitment. You do not need to find yourself in a situation of internal conflict, and you do not need the environment to suffer the consequences of your decisions. When you choose this day, start it with the first exercise (inner guide) to increase receptivity throughout the day. Then let the day unfold without resorting to logic, reasoning or habits.

Act as if you were listening only to the instructions of the inner guide. Pay special attention to your experiences and emotions (both positive and negative). Feel free to take notes — this exercise will help develop receptivity and build self-confidence.

Try regularly set aside a “intuition day” for yourself to become more familiar with this way of life.

4. Pay attention to coincidences

You are wondering whether to accept a certain offer, turn on the radio and hear the DJ or guest of the program say: “Of course I refused. There was no question of agreeing.» Or vice versa: «I could not help but take advantage of this opportunity.» The message might also come from a conversation you overheard in a cafe, on public transport, or from a magazine article you were flipping through.

Scattered elements (conversations, images, symbols) that seem to have nothing to do with the issue that interests you, but “come in handy” and catch your eye and ear, are what the father of depth psychology, Carl Gustav Jung, called “manifestations of synchronicity.» These conspicuous “messages,” reminiscent of green or red traffic lights, need to be listened to very carefully, says psychologist Elizabeth Horowitz, author of several books on coincidence and synchronization. Somehow coincidence materializes what we know or feel in the depths of our souls, without always being aware of it. She suggests keeping a diary of manifestations of synchronicity.

Every day, write down a random coincidence in a notebook. (positive or negative) that makes sense to you, even if it is insignificant. In general, every time you ask questions, pay attention to what you see, hear or feel in the environment — it is full of information.