The Power of Trusting Your Intuition

Intuition is an internally guided way of knowing and sensing the truth about people, places and situations without having any supporting evidence or explanations. It is the ‘gut’ feeling or ‘inner voice’ so often referred to when people follow their heart and allow themselves to make decisions based on what feels inherently right. We are all able to use our intuition to guide us in our lives, from making simple decisions about what outfit to wear to work or meal to eat in the evening, to choosing the right job to take, house to buy or man to marry.

So how do you know whether you are following your inner voice of wisdom versus the little gremlin who keeps overriding what you know is best, fearing the unknown and uncomfortable, or questioning yourself? Listening to inner guidance is like listening to the creator within you – it comes in the form of ideas that drop into your head out of the blue, images that present solutions to problems, words you hear that sound as if they were meant just for you and sensations in your body indicating something or someone is right or wrong. Intuition flows when your inner critic is given a holiday. Inner guidance comes from the core of your being and is accompanied by a feeling of peace and calm, or excitement and expansion. It is like an inner ‘Yes’ helping steer you down the river of life. It may direct you to do something challenging or take a risk, nudging you to take action without you necessarily knowing how you’re going to make something work out, but deep down is accompanied by a glittering, gleaming beam of faith that you are being held and supported and that all will turn out well.

Our intuition is always present, often evading our conscious recognition because it is so readily available. We connect with it whenever we allow ourselves to stay in the ‘here and now’, the present moment. When we stop long enough to take a breath and notice how we feel, what we see, hear and inherently know about someone or something. It is like an internal compass guiding us towards all that will bring us our highest learnings, for our highest good. Intuition is repetitive, presenting itself through synchronicities and seemingly orchestrated opportunities. Intuition feels loving and compassionate, encouraging and exciting – often accompanied by an unexplainable sense of joy and enthusiasm.

In contrast, your inner critic or voice of your ego tends to communicate through messages focusing on fear, lack or guilt. The ego tries to keep us safe by encouraging us to play small and stay hidden. It urges us to make decisions and take action driven by a sense that we ‘should’, ‘ought to’ or ‘must’ do something. Ego based guidance does not feel inspiring or fulfilling. As Wayne Dyer puts it, the ego can be viewed as an acronym for ‘Edging God Out’ – preventing us from tuning in to the divine energy experienced when intuitive action is taken. That is not to say though that our ego does not serve any useful purpose. It is what enables us to make a choice in any given situation. The ego shows us the difference between the truth of each moment; that is all that we sense in our body, think in our mind and feel with our emotions; and false beliefs. The ego is as much a part of us as our intuition is. Becoming aware of these two parts and their different energies means that we can learn to be with what is, accept both the truth about situations and illusions we could hold of them. The ego enables us to have the choice between which energy to engage with and when.

The power of learning to trust our intuition is that it can help us to release old patterns and routines and assist us in taking action towards fulfilling our true potential, following our passions and fulfilling our potential. When we connect with our intuition we receive ideas and inspiration that guide us towards the right people, places and opportunities to help us realize our dreams. Your ego wants you to wait for life’s circumstances to be right before taking action, whereas your intuition will nudge to trust what you feel and leap with faith that your net will appear at the perfect time, in the perfect way.

Here are 3 Ways to Check Whether Your Intuition or Ego is doing the talking:

  1. Turn your attention inward– Take three deep breaths inward and notice how you are feeling in your body. How do you feel inside? Intuition is accompanied by a sense of peace and calm or excitement, enthusiasm and expansion. Ego is partnered with a feeling of contraction, tightness, restriction, anxiousness, fear, guilt or panic.
  2. Allow time for repetition– If your intuition is communicating with you the same message will come to you over and over, often in different ways. Be open to signs through all of your senses. You will receive guidance again and again until you take action accompanied with a inherent knowing that something feels right . This guidance may come as something you over hear someone say or a song that seems just for you. You may see a picture or scene that repeats the message symbolically to you. It could be that you have a dream that has the same meaning or that you have an idea drop into your head out of the blue that supports your initial guidance.
  3. Keep a record- Jot down occasions when you have listened to your intuition and taken action and how things worked out when you did. You’ll begin to notice positive patterns of things going well and turning out as if they were meant to be. This will improve your confidence in your intuition and as your confidence increases so too will your competence. Before you know it you’ll be tuning effortlessly to your inner guidance at any time and in any place.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author. All articles published on Life Coach Directory are reviewed by our editorial team.

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