Intuition is a funny thing. Just like mental health, it’s invisible on the outside, but we can feel it on the inside. Because of this, we often question it, suppress it, or overpower it with our egos. At any moment, most of us have at least one thing going on that can cloud our mental clarity, which is why I frequently talk about self-awareness as a key component of mental health and subsequently, your intuition. But before I get into how you can strengthen your intuition, I first want to share a story about trusting your intuition.

As usual, a conversation inspired the content for this article. I had a lengthy discussion recently with someone who I consider to be a mentor and who also happens to be someone who I have hired my personal coach on a couple of occasions. He wanted to interview active clients in order to gather more information to help him create programs and services that address his target group’s needs.

We spoke for about an hour. Several times during this conversation, he replied to my feedback by saying things like, “you’re two steps ahead of me” and echoed my commentary on some of previous programs by saying, “I felt that way too.” Towards the end of our conversation, I said to him, “sounds like your intuition is right on target” to which he replied that he agreed, but he still needed to hear it from clients. This struck me as sort of funny.

I should pause a second to say that I approached my job as an interviewee with a sense of wonderment. There’s always something to learn even if you’re the one providing answers. It was his discovery call, yet it also had a purpose for me.

Here he was gathering information from me, however, there was also an important message for me: listen to your intuition. He needed my confirmation for something he already knew. Why was that? It’s a normal, and smart, business practice to gather information through research, which includes talking to your customers. It’s also normal for even the most secure of us to need reassurance. Amazingly, however, he knew the answers all along.

The point here is that we don’t typically have enough time to get confirmations (i.e., proof that what we are feeling is correct) in most situations. Sometimes, and probably most of the time, you just have to follow your intuition and those whispers from your soul. Your inner voice will give you signals like emotions and messages to guide you. It’s up to you to listen.

How can you strengthen your intuition?

If you’re having trouble hearing or feeling your intuition, here are some tips to help you strengthen those signals and heighten your awareness.

1. Learn to recognize your ego vs. your intuition. The more mentally clear you are, the more you’ll be able to manage your ego and trust your intuition. You absolutely have to quiet your mind in order to do this. Your ego will feed you thoughts that will keep you going around in a mental circle feeling things like uncertainty, uneasiness, self-doubt, etc. Even at the slightest level, those feelings can cloud your clarity. In contrast, your intuition will feel peaceful and clear. When you hear someone say, “something told me…” that’s your soul’s voice. In summary, your ego questions what your soul, spirit, intuition, and faith already know. When you’re unsure in any given moment or feeling uneasy, pause for a moment, take a deep breath, and ask yourself, is this my ego or my intuition?

2. Clear the way for clarity. A busy mind, rushed scheduled, deadlines, and personal and professional pressure are all things that we deal with. In order to manage our daily lives, a lot of the times we turn on our automatic pilot mind leaving no room to listen to our inner voice. Try practicing self-awareness in meditation. Lift your vibration by making an effort to feel good. Literally count your blessings and say “thank you” for each one. Those little pauses are tremendously helpful for slowing down your ego mind.

3. Lose the judgment. When you have a hunch, don’t judge it, follow it. I’ll share an example of something silly that happened to me, but it’s a perfect illustration of this concept.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a meeting at a client’s office. I know parking can be an issue there. Because of the way the parking lot is designed, some spots are easier to maneuver in and out of than others are. Well, the parking lot was packed but I did see an open spot even though it wasn’t ideal. At first I thought, that doesn’t look like a good place to park and then as I realized I didn’t have a whole lot of options and I risked running late to the meeting, I thought, I’m just being worried for nothing and proceeded to pull in the space. As it turns out, when I went to leave, someone had parked next to me making it impossible for me to back out without hitting one of the cars on either side of me or the yellow barrier that was behind my car. I backed in and out of that spot a good five times before I went inside to ask for help. A woman came outside to try to help me navigate, but nope, I was still stuck. So I had to ask the person to move their car. To make matters even more embarrassing, I wasn’t in a spot marked for my client’s office. The lady who was parked next to me, however, did work in that office and she was not happy with me and lectured us about not parking there. That didn’t bother me because I knew it was just a mistake I made and it was better than hitting her car, but all along throughout this fiasco I just kept thinking, I should have listened to myself. Had I listened to myself, I would have saved about 20 minutes in my day and not have had to listen to this woman’s polite, yet annoying lecture.

Moral of the story, don’t judge your first thought, as your initial reactions are typically correct.

4. Have more faith. As Napoleon Hill wrote in Think and Grow Rich, “Faith is a state of mind…” Faith and trust is a disciplined mindset. Rather than questioning everything, resolve to have more faith and to feel good about life. This is important to intuition because you remove the doubt and fear that muddies up your clarity. Try repeating affirmations throughout the day to help you stay on track. Here’s an example: “Just for today, I have faith and trust that everything is good. Just for today, I feel good and appreciate the positivity of life flowing to me.” When you believe in yourself and resolve to feel good, you’re much more likely to hear and feel your intuition.

To recap:

1. Your soul knows so give yourself the space to hear it. Slow down long enough to recognize ego vs. intuition.
2. You don’t need to change your lifestyle to hear your intuition, but you do need to make a disciplined effort to pause and clear your thoughts.
3. Listen to yourself without judgment. Your first thought or feeling is usually correct.
4. Have faith every single day that all is well and good things are happening. Intend to feel good. The higher your vibration, the more you’re connected with your spirit, which is essentially the source of your intuition.

Want to chat more about your intuition and mental health and wellness? Contact me to learn more about coaching.