Intuition Is Your Superpower: Aligning With Your Intuitive Self
It's time to step into your intuitive power and weave your ‘feeling-self’ throughout your life.
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As 6th Sensory teacher Sonia Choquette says, “The worst handicap is to be disconnected from your intuition.” Wait, I have one of those? Intuition isn’t just for other people with superpowers — although, when one has learned to tap into it, they certainly can leap buildings in a single bound.
Your intuition is the part of you that knows unequivocally what is good and right and pure for YOU. It is a bit of a know-it-all, for good reason — it has your best interests at heart (literally).
Sounds good, right? So where do we go wrong and how do we get so far off the path that we have to read books, attend workshops, light candles and drink green juices to find our way back to it? Well, we actually don’t have to do any of that, but your intuition may enjoy the pampering along the ride. Any action you take in the name of self-care that is aligned with your authentic self — feeds your intuition and fortifies that inner voice, period. It doesn’t matter how you get there, just get there.
So what happened along the way? How did we go from being intuitively tuned-in as kids to disconnected and lost as adults? For some of us, growing up we never even heard the term. For others we decided to abandon it and do it our own way. I grew up in a ‘why because I said so’, deference-to-adults kind of culture. Respect your elders, listen to your teachers…you get the picture. In other words, you’re a kid, what do you know, so fall in line. And yes, there is merit to learning from our elders, but there was no talk of nurturing that little voice within me, trusting that internal GPS that never makes a wrong turn.
Even as I got older, I would chalk things up to ‘coincidence’ before realizing, wait a minute, that’s my powerful intuitive voice sending me an important message.
We interrupt this regularly scheduled program to bring you a newsflash: Stop looking outward for answers you already have!From the time we are young, we go out into the world and become concensus takers, continuously asking, What do you think I should do? Truthfully, this is something we should’ve left in middle school. Like only Glennon Doyle could put it, “We have to stop asking others for directions to places they’ve never been” — like our own hearts. And the more we practice this exterior cultivation, the more we dull our superpowers and the more we take for granted what’s right here, accessible to us at anytime. This is where the smaller choices we make grow into patterns and manifest bigger self-deception. Slowly by slowly, we distance ourselves from that voice. If we are not listening to our own inner guidance, what are we listening to?
When you glance back upon your life story, can you see the places you left your intuition in the dust? Where do I begin? As a young woman I didn’t avail myself of choice — simply checking in and asking if something felt good, if it excited me or if it was a definite YES. That’s kind of the definition of life on autopilot. Conversely, choice allows us to say NO, to pass on opportunities that don’t feel aligned and to refrain from people that don’t lift us up — to do an about face, resetting.
Awareness is the key.
Where are the thoughts and beliefs in your head emanating from? Are they aligned with your heart or are they downloads from the outside world or maybe the influence of a specific individual? Think of it as clearing out your spam folder on your hard drive. Only this hard drive is the motherboard of your precious life.Growing up, I don’t remember my mother ever saying, Ok, now head off and marry Prince Charming so you can ride off into the sunset to live happily ever after — and I certainly didn’t go off into the world in search of a husband, but somehow some of that princess coding found its way in. I thought my ex-husband was my Prince Charming (big mistake). I bet you can guess where this is going. He came forth in my life in a time of uncertainty (rescuing the damsel in distress). Of course I loved him (fyi, you can love anyone). He represented stability. I envisioned settling down after a life of travel and living out of a suitcase. It all sounded like finally, my happy ending had arrived (bigger mistake).
First off, I didn’t need saving and I didn’t need anyone else to provide me with fairytales. It can be so seductive to be swept off your feet and carried off, especially at a point of vulnerability. Look, I am woman hear me roar, but it’s a bit tantalizing to have someone come in and assume to fix all your problems. I know. I know. I got caught up in the Disney version of it all. I carried on planning the gorgeous wedding, fitting the Vera Wang dress…even while knowing 2 weeks before walking down the aisle…that I shouldn’t.
Now, I’m not going to lament about that because it was the path I chose and it was the path that made me a mother. But it was one of the greatest betrayals of self, a total smack in the face of my intuition. Thanks but no thanks. I’ve got this.
But that’s not the way our intuition plays. It sends a message and we choose whether to receive it or not. Some of us can get pretty good at dismissing it all together. Swatting it away like a pesky fly we don’t want to be bothered by. But there’s always something to extract from any experience, from wherever it leads us. 7 years later, the entire marriage and life would implode in pieces. You can run, but you can’t hide. The truth is coming for you one way or another...it always manages to catch up to you. And that’s a good thing. Betrayal of self leads to more betrayal of self and it only begins to pile on, taking you further from your true essence.
You probably have your own version of betrayal in your life — some place where you know you should’ve listened to yourself, somewhere on the path where you should have been brave enough to turn right instead of left, somewhere where you should have just stood up and declared your truth.
Look, the past is the past and it’s looking at your ass. So move on. It’s not about where you’ve been or beating yourself up. It’s about unpacking it — digging through the layers of rubble to find yourself within. When we can get underneath it and explore our motivations, invaluable gifts can emerge. Start by asking:
Why did I choose that?
What was going on in my life at that time that supported that decision?
What was I afraid of?
What price have I paid for it?
Those answers are our roadmap back. Don’t chastise yourself for not having tools or information — that’s just wasting more precious time. Instead, move forward connecting your dots, bringing awareness to your consumption of all things, insert some self-love into the equation and listen to your heart. This is the recipe for aligning with your best self and true happy ever afters.
So how do we access this superpower (especially if it’s buried deep within)?
Probably the single most important tool to access your intuition is finding a way to quiet both your physical and mental self.
It’s necessary to shut out the noise — the background noise of other’s opinions and expectations, caring more about what someone else thinks than how you feel, and the noise that simply keeps us distracted altogether. Quieting yourself is key.
We rarely give ourselves time to step back, press pause and think about what we want to say and do, as if we are on some time clock to respond to others. I was caught in this very cycle myself for many years. Even when it wasn’t about others, I didn’t know how to fully nurture myself. Busyness is the great defender of self-defeating and limited thinking. Don’t allow it to run the show!
Here are a few 1st steps to reconnect with your intuitive self:
Ssshhh: Find quiet. We cannot check in with ourselves with all the noise of the world around us. This noise drowns out our ability to connect with, and heed, our senses. Meditation or prayer can be a useful tool — whether on a cushion or on a walk in silence in the woods.
Time out: When small children are acting out, we remove them from the room and put them in a quiet place to think, calm down and regroup. Go there. Do that for yourself. And when you are ready — come back and join the party. We are not in a race to respond, commit or give answers. Those are the ones we usually regret.
Inventory: Take your pulse — your body, mind, spirit pulse. What is your intuition trying to convey? Ask and you shall receive…but be willing to hear the truth (yep, the real truth). Listen.
Get out of your head and into your heart: While intuition may seem like an abstract thought, it really isn’t complicated. Allow it to flow. Things will very clearly either feel good or not. Settle in. Allow yourself to feel your feelings. Stop pushing back and resisting. Trust.
Put it into practice (repeat): Put into practice what you feel. Yes, that may disappoint others — but they’ll get over it. When you betray yourself, no one wins in the end. Doing things for the wrong reasons will never produce the outcome you want.
We all learn in different ways. We hear and see different things at different times, but when we are open to receive — the messages come, the teachers arrive, life flows. But remember, the greatest teacher and the most-trustworthy guide is that of your heart. And the heart speaks through your intuition. No matter where you go, what paths you travel down, never leave this intuitive partner behind. Don’t leave your superpower in the dust.
““Self-respect is a spiritual practice.””
As always, I LOVE to hear from you. I want to know how you align and stay aligned with your intuition. How does this come up for you? Let me know in the comments below.