INTUITION
Intuition
has been referred to using many terms including
your gut feeling, inner voice, sixth
sense, instinct, inner knowing or a
hunch. Intuition is a sense or feeling that
one gets about a person, situation or event, indicating
that it is generally positive or
negative. Often the feeling will come
"out of the blue", when you are not even thinking about
the topic. Sometimes, you will also get an
intuitive feeling or thought about an action that
you should take, that would be in your best
interest. For example you get a bad "vibe" about
something and avoid the situation or event and than later
find out that something bad happened
there. 
The feeling or sense is generally brief
and subtle, often received when
we are relaxed
and our mind is "quiet". This is because we are
better able to "hear" or "listen to" the sense or
feeling when we are in an open and receptive state of
mind. This state may occur when you are doing
a repetitive or habitual task, where you are present in
the moment and just paying attention to what you are
doing. Some examples include exercise,
dancing, cleaning or brushing your
teeth. This is part of the benefit
of being fully present in the moment which many people
and authors discuss being a healthy way to live and
be. Intuition
has been referred to as a persons built
in compass
to guide them through
life's many twists and turns, more smoothly and
easily. The trick of course is learning how to
listen to, trust and follow it. This is just a
matter of practicing being aware of your feelings
and surroundings.
Developing your
Intuition
Paying attention and listening to your
intuition is the first step toward actually
following it. This can be easier said than done as it
tends to be subtle and brief. What makes it more
difficult is that most people are caught up in being busy and
stressed out, living their lives at a fast pace. There is
so much to do in so little time. Plus alot of people
spend most of their time thinking about the past or worried
about the future. We are often preoccupied with fears,
doubts and questions.
When we do get the
odd flash of intuition, we often
doubt, rationalize
and then
ignore it. Therefore, it is helpful to
spend some time alone or doing relaxing activities
in order to quiet our busy minds. Some ideas are
going for a walk, yoga, meditation, painting or
playing music. Be fully 100% present in the moment
and engaged in whatever you are doing at that time.
This will help you to be able to hear the soft whisper of
your intuition.
When you do get those gut feelings
about something, it is a good idea
to write it
down.
You could even start keeping an intuition journal
to
track and test your intuition. This way you can go back
and see if your intuition was correct or not. It will
take some practice to develop your intuition, so that you
can start to trust it. You will need to learn to tell the
difference between you intuition and your fears or
doubts. As previously mentioned, intuitive feelings tend
to come seemingly "out of the blue" and you "just know"
what the right thing is to do. This is when you should
write it down, right away because the thought or feeling
will be brief and fleeting. A few moments later your
conscious mind will start to question and doubt the
feeling and you will talk yourself out of acting on it.
This is when you need to just trust the feeling and act
on it, even if it does not make any sense. Just practice
listening to, trusting and following your intuition in
any day to day events. For example, you could practice
checking what your instinct tells you who is calling you
before you pick up the
phone.
Pay attention to how you
feel now.
You are following your intuition if it feels right, positive,
exciting and just plain good. You will also notice that there
are more "coincidences" and things happen easily and smoothly.
It is like you are floating downstream with the current and the
wind at your back. You may also experience some fear if it is
new territory that you are being guided into. Now when you are
not following your intuition, the opposite is true. You will
feel negative, heavy, stuck or blocked as you are not taking an
action that instinctively, you know you should be taking. It is
similar to the concept of being true to
yourself.

Listen to, trust and follow your
intuition!
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