Develop Your Intuition

Developing your intuition is a very important skill for life. Those that pay attention to their intuition lead lives that are more satisfying than those that don’t. How do I know? When I teach on this topic, I ask the audience, “How many of you have ignored your intuition and later suffered the consequences of that decision?” People always raise their hands and if asked, they tell stories of heartache and loss that they encountered as a result of ignoring their intuition.

Intuition is very important – it gives you information that is in addition to the five senses you use every day when navigating the world around you. This added information can mean the difference between life and death sometimes. Other times, it offers direction or protection against danger. Ask those you trust for their stories about intuition – you’ll be surprised how important it is and yet we never receive specific training in how to develop it, much less any encouragement to pay attention to it.

Intuition reminds me of the character Jiminy Cricket in the animated film Pinocchio. Do you remember that little guy who would advise Pinocchio and help to keep him out of trouble? That’s a pretty good visual of what your intuition does. Whenever Pinocchio listened to Jiminy, everything went well. When he ignored him, he got into a lot of trouble … remember the whale?

If you’d like to develop your intuition, start by paying more attention to it. People often comment by saying, “I had a bad feeling about that.” or similar sentiments. Intuition is sometimes felt in your physical body. Other times it comes as an inner “knowing”. Someone might say, “I just knew I couldn’t trust that man!” How did they know? Intuition.

We all experience it to one degree or another. The more you pay attention to it, the more sensitive you become to what it is trying to tell you. Listen, respond and take action on the information it gives you. If you have a bad feeling about a person, then don’t associate with them. If going to a certain place makes you uncomfortable, don’t go there anymore. If a decision you are making doesn’t “feel right”, then don’t make that decision right now. Wait for more information or choose a different direction.

We often argue with our intuition. We compare what our five senses are telling us (i.e. he looks like a nice person) with what our gut is telling us (i.e. don’t trust him). Every time you ignore your gut instinct, you will suffer negative consequences.

It also works with positive scenarios. If you are choosing between two job offers and one makes you feel happy or excited, that may be your gut telling you to take that job. Think it over carefully to make sure you are not being too idealistic and if you still feel really drawn to one job over the other, then choose that job.

There are exercises you can do to strengthen your intuition. Later this week I will post one I use with my clients. It is worth your time and effort to develop this skill – it can save you a lot of heartache and headaches over a lifetime of decisions. Ignore it to your peril!

Feel free to comment below. You can contact me privately through my website www.destinysfreedom.com.