How to trust your intuition
When it comes to trusting your intuition, it isn't as easy as it sounds. And yet, when you do develop trust in your gut instincts, you stand to benefit.
4 steps to trusting your intuition
1. Write down your intuitive hunches.
This is the single piece of advice I always offer people when they starting learning how to harness their intuition. It’s quick and easy to do – and the written record becomes ‘proof’, which often helps build confidence because you can tangibly see what you felt was right.
Simply grab yourself a journal (or try this digital planner for the modern mystic I created) and a pen. Date all your intuitive observations. Now matter how small the hunch or insight, jot everything down. Notice how you received the intuitive information (was it a vision? Did you ‘just know’ or was it a feeling in your guts? Was it a sign or prophetic dream?). Don’t second guess it, just jot it down.
In time, you will be able to come back to check on the notes you made. You’ll begin to not only build a ‘dictionary’ of your symbols and what they mean, but you will also have notes in front of you to help you better interpret your feelings and hunches too. I include an Interpretation Index in the Head and Heart Planner to record all your signs and their meanings.
2. Give your intuition time by developing a regular intuitive ritual
Be sure to give yourself enough time for your intuition to come to fruition. Sometimes intuition is immediate; sometimes it’s not until days, weeks, months or even years later (all the better for having recorded it to begin with). And if you’re like me and struggle with patience, then waiting years can be painful – but often the work you’ve done in between makes the wait worthwhile.
3. Practice with someone else, or even a whole intuitive community.
You don't have to do this alone! Sharing your spiritual and intuitive journey with others helps build meaning and understanding in what's happening for you. Practicing with someone who is happy to give you feedback can also help, as they can help you build up your repertoire of signs and symbols and your interpretation of them. Again, even better if you’re recording all of this practice!
If you're looking for such a community of intuitive living folk, look no further than Guided, my online hub for the Guided collective.
4. Experiment with tools for intuitive development.
I started out largely with intuitive journaling and automatic writing, but there is a whole range of psychic tools and techniques you can use to receive guidance. There is psychometry, tarot or oracle card readings, guided meditation and many more. I talk about different divination tools in my book, Follow Your Heart: simple daily rituals for honing your intuition.
Try whatever you’re drawn to (there will be a reason why you are drawn to some things and not others) and don’t feel like you can only then stick to that one technique. These tools are really just designed to help you get started – I don’t really need the tools anymore, but they were prompts for me in the beginning.
Experiment with these four tips for building trust in your intuition and review how far you've come.
