Do you hear that inner voice, that whisper? Maybe it’s more of a gut feeling, a vibe, a repetitive thought or vision? Whichever it is, it’s more than likely your intuition communicating with you – that inner knowing we all have because nobody knows you better than yourself.
I believe we are born with a strong connection to our intuition. Some of us maintain this strong connection, but for many of us, it’s weakened and sometimes lost, due to life’s situations. For example, as children we must behave, be respectful, be quiet and mind our manners. Then as we get older, peer pressure can affect our decisions, responsibilities increase and we can start to ignore, to push aside that inner voice. We get focused on pleasing others, on reaching very specific outcomes or goals. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone wants to help, we are inundated with information. We can Google anything these days, which can be helpful, but if we are not careful, it can cause us to stop listening to ourselves.
This is what happened to me when I got stuck in my fertility struggle. I lost the connection with my intuition and became laser-focused on the outcome, which was the goal of conceiving. I know my intuition was trying to communicate with me, but my desire to meet my goal was stronger and my intuition shut down. I powered through and looked outside of myself for the answers.
When we lose touch with our intuition, we lose touch with ourselves. Decisions become difficult and we have a hard time moving forward.
A couple of simple, effective exercises to help you stay in tune with your intuition are:
1) Ask yourself questions before you are going to do something. For example, before grabbing something to eat, Ask yourself, “Am I hungry? What sounds good to eat? or Am I bored, stressed, happy, etc?” Before you commit to going out with a friend, ask yourself, “Do I really feel like going out? or Am I just going because I feel like I should or I do not want to hurt their feelings? Would I rather stay home?” When you first get started it may seem strange, but after a while, it becomes a habit and it gets easier to tune in and listen to yourself and your needs. some time since I had been trigged being around them.
2) Find time to be quiet, still and meditate. I realize that this can be difficult for some. Something helpful I heard from an interview with Eckart Tolle, author of The Power of Now, was to simply find small snippets of time in your day to slow down, breath and set an intention. For example, every time you are standing in a line or maybe getting ready to start your car, take a 30-60 seconds pause to focus on your breath and set an intention for the next hour, afternoon, or day. Your intention may be to drive safe, to be patient, to be kind or to just feel your breath. This is a simple, quick way to tune in throughout your day.
These days I make sure to slow down, to take some time and listen to that inner voice, that gut feeling that knows me, that is there to guide me, if I let it.
“There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.” Rumi