Intuition

Intuition is that gut feeling you get when you need to make a decision. It is not so much a conscious thought, as it is more of an inspired idea. Read on to learn how to identify your intuition as well as follow it through out your life. 

How does intuition communicate to you?

People get that “gut feeling” in various ways. Intuition may manifest itself as…

• An inspired thought
  • As you are making decisions in life, you may hear an impression from a voice out loud or in your head. Something you likely would not have thought yourself.
• Significant signs and symbols
  • Some people will see something that has a lot of meaning to themselves and interpret it as a sign that they are doing the right things, or maybe need to make a change. Ex of symbols: sprit animals, angel numbers, fireworks…
• Other people sharing their inspiration
  • Ideas for your life may come from listening to podcasts, speeches, sermons, lectures…
• A warm feeling in your chest
  • You may find reassurance that you are doing the right things for you, through a deep sense of peace, fulfillment, or purpose.
• Or many other ways
  • I am not sure how common this one is, but I often know my intuition is speaking to me through anxiety.

For me, my gut lets me know when I need to change the direction my life is going, through a strong anxious feeling. I generally know at least what the topic is that I am feeling anxious about. Because it is either a recent change in my life or the topic is a frequent visitor in my thoughts. I get this anxious feeling and I know that if it’s persistent then it won’t go away until I make some sort of change.

Example

A few years back, I was starting a new job in southern Utah that I was really looking forward to. It was a job that allowed me to be outside and work with kids, which is something I love. I ended up moving and started training. It wasn’t until my first day off,  that an anxious feeling popped up and really set in. I dreaded the thought of going to work the next day, feeling a strong sense of uneasiness. There were no logical reasons to be afraid to go back or to be so apprehensive. But I could tell that if I didn’t do something soon, that feeling was not going to go away. I wasn’t sure what I would do for work if I chose to quit, but then I remembered an opportunity given to me months prior.

I was offered a job as a supervisor at a summer camp, but I thought I’d be working in southern Utah for the year, so I had initially turned it down. After a few hours of burning anxiety, I knew I had to take action. I decided that I would quit if that previous summer camp opportunity was still available. With in one hour, I sent the message from my boss, got confirmation, quit my current job, and felt a huge relief.

In this situation I really had to reflect to know if I was quitting for the right reasons. I didn’t want to quit out of any sort of fear(fear of failure, fear of the job…). After reflecting for a bit and talking it though with a friend I could tell that it truly was my Intuition.

Intuition vs fear- how do you know?

This is a very hard thing to distinguish and takes a lot of practice. Sometimes you can feel anxious about something like a new job for example. You could interpret that feeling as your intuition telling you not to do it, or you could interpret it as a fear of yours that you should practice in order to overcome(Faith Without fear). This is where logic and reasoning can serve you when distinguishing the difference between intuition and fear. 

Think about or write down… 

How can this benefit me?

How can I grow from this?

Will this do more harm than good?

Am I going to regret not doing it?

Will I regret doing it?

How much do I actually want to do this?

How much do I want the outcome/benefits?

What am I feeling when thinking about this decision?

Maybe even write a pros and cons list.

Hopefully after some time and reflection, you either discover that you need to push through the fear, or follow the intuition in a different direction. Now it’s one thing to finally know what you want/need to do, but it is another to actually commit and take action.

Start driving

There really is something valuable in the saying, “You can’t drive a parked car”. Meaning, you have to put your life into gear and hit the gas to get anywhere. As safe as staying parked in the same spot may feel, there is no movement, change, growth, or true experiences. Staying stagnant in life can also be filled with anxiety, indecision, confusion, and stagnancy.

The point is, just make a choice and start moving with it.  Even if you take off in the wrong direction, there is no harm in having to turn around. You may start going, realize you were wrong, and have to change your path, but at least now you know. You will be able to look back with no regrets or “what if’s”. Once you are in motion again, you will find so many choices and options come into your path. You may want to hit the breaks each time you run into a decision to figure out the “right way”. But the real trick is learning to just follow the flow in life/ your intuition.

Practice

I know lots of us deal with decision fatigue and indecision. Developing the skills to follow your initial impressions helps relieve the stress of making a million decisions a day. This is a great area to practice. Forget the pros and cons list for a moment as we figure out the small things. 

You may be deciding what to wear, what to have for breakfast, what movie to watch, etc. Simply ask yourself 

What do I want?

What did I first gravitate to?

Don’t over analyze, just commit to the initial impressions. If you were thinking about breakfast and cereal popped into your brain, eat cereal. Don’t question it, just do it. 

If you find that you regret your decision, then you learned and know better for next time. The risk in this example is low, making it the best place to practice. When you develop trust in your judgement for the small things, you will have more confidence making decisions with a little more risk.

Fight it or follow it?

The choice is always there. To either follow your intuition or ignore it. When you fight your intuition, you fall into a state of discomfort, uneasiness, just feeling like something is off. I have noticed in my life that things end up not working out as smoothly, or at all when I ignore my gut. But when I go with the flow and follow my intuition, I find that things just fall into place and I no longer have to force it. The more you do this, the more your life will tend to work out even better than you could have drawn up for yourself. 

Example:

I previously wrote in another blog post about a time my intuition was leading me to drop out of college. I had been feeling so much stress, anxiety, and fear, as the thoughts to drop out were persisting. After some encouragement to practice Faith Over Fear, I committed to ending pausing my college experience. During the few years following that decision I discovered that that decision has led to countless opportunities/adventures. Things that I otherwise would not have been available for if I had chosen to finish school. As I let my gut lead my life, each adventure brought a deeper sense of fulfillment. I was finally in the places/surrounded by the people that allowed me to explore, learn about, and express myself. 

There may be more detail of what I was specifically doing for the past few years in a later post, but I will keep it short for this post. I was essentially able to find seasonal jobs around the US that allowed me to travel, had decent pay, worked out doors with kids, and cultivated a great community of coworkers. The point is, if you let your soul take the wheel, then life turns into a joy ride rather than a race to the finish line. Clearly it is not all sunshine and rainbows 100% of the time, but there is no reason you shouldn’t be enjoying the journey. 

The more you practice following your intuition, the more confidence and trust you will build in yourself. You will be able to quickly recognize when your soul is speaking to you, trust it, and make a decision accordingly. 

Overall, I just want to remind you that most things I write about take time, patience, and practice. Although it takes some effort, it is 100% worth it. You will not regret developing a strong connection to your intuition.

Comment Section Questions:

How do you recognize your intuition?

Do you have any experiences following your intuition?