We are sense creatures, most of us reacting to our environment through the input of all five senses – seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling. Each of these senses combines to provide us with our perception of the world around us. From this perceptive “reality”, we make decisions and choices.
But there’s a sixth sense, what we call intuition – that immediate understanding of something that lies beyond the sense world.
Think of the last time you had a “gut” feeling about something or someone. You were reacting beyond the realm of what you could see/hear – there was an understanding that just seemed to arise, without conscious thought or action.
Intuition is powerful and useful. It allows individuals to steer through life more effectively; it allows for big, inventive insights; it sets you apart.
How can you boost your intuition? With practice and intentionality and following the simple steps below.
1. Listen closely
You can’t heighten something that you aren’t aware of. The process of building your intuitive skills begins with careful attention to what is going on around you. You can gather a felt sense from all sort of cues around you – the undercurrent behind the words someone says; or a small movement they make as they speak.
We are all processing this kind of information throughout the day. Bring out your Sherlock – notice as much as you can. It can even help to make notes after an interaction. What did you note? What thoughts/feelings came up?
2. Locate your signals
Once you have started to sharpen your observational skills, begin to note where you most locate your intuitive or felt sense of something. For many people, the sense is located in the solar plexus, or lower, in the belly. Hence the term “gut” feeling.
3. Get In tune
Wherever it is for you that you notice these unconscious reactions, learn to attune to that center. Pretty soon it will be as natural as your sense of touch or sight. As you get more in tune with your intuitive self, you will begin to notice even the slightest shifts – picking up a felt sense even earlier than before.
4. Ground yourself
It can be a little unnerving to be honest – always in tune with your intuition about people and situations. Where you might once have brushed off a semi-conscious reaction, now you are attuning to it. In order to give yourself the strength to listen to and live in this field of awareness, it’s important to remain grounded. You can do this by literally focusing on the grounding of your feet on the floor, or the sense of your seat in a chair, really experiencing your body as solid and rooted. Another method for grounding can be to orient yourself to three things in your surroundings. You can note an object that you see, a sound you hear, something that you can touch. Again, you are placing your body in direct physical relation to your surroundings.
5. Practice Querying
Now that you are better attuned to your intuition you can begin to actively use it. Instead of only turning to your thinking self in order to find answers you can begin to work with your felt sense.
Try this heart centered meditation (this is also available here https://youtu.be/hmcX3r3lzs4 available as a guided meditation in case you’d rather have guidance through the meditation).
Sit in a quiet, comfortable place where you know you will be undisturbed for a few minutes.
Do the following with eyes closed.
Bring your attention to your body, notice its groundedness. Take note of where your body is touching the floor, your seat. Feel yourself grounded and secure. Scan your body and note where there might be any tension. On an out breath, release any tense, tight spots. You can take a moment to notice these areas and take care of each one with a gentle out breath.
And now, drop your attention to your heart center. Allow the sense of the heart to open and expand. Feel the sweetness of the heart. Know that you are held in this loving heart that is yours.
And, staying in this heart center, ask yourself “what is my deepest knowing right now?”
Stay quiet, alert and open. The heart will answer.
Practice this query regularly and you will find that you become quite in tune with your heart and with an intuition that can lead you in ways that will be surprising and exquisite.