One of the most common questions I receive from people when I speak on the subject of intuition development is how to learn how to listen to and work with their own intuition.

I believe that the ability to know and receive information beyond the confines of our rational mind is something we all have the ability to access and is a skill we can further develop with continued practice.

Intuition is not a rare phenomenon, it has been my experience that it is actually more rare to find someone who has never had a experience that could be considered to be within the realm of the intuitive.

Due to the value our culture places on logic, facts and the rational mind, intuitive experiences are often over looked or discounted (often to our regret later down the road). I do want to be sure to honour that intuition development this is a process that takes time. It is something I have been working with and doing my own work on for close to ten years now and it still continues to evolve. I understand the feelings of impatience and excitement of wanting to ‘get there’ and to know what your gifts are (like they are presents waiting to be unwrapped).

Yet at least for me (and the majority of clients I have worked with) this has not been how the process has worked. The way intuitive information comes through and the depth and ease at which is arrives has been something that has continued to evolve and unfold over time and with practice.

Have patience in yourself and in the process.

However there are common steps to the process that are helpful:

To identify your own primary or dominant intuitive sense(s)
To build trust over time
To have a regular meditation or spiritual practice
To continue to do your own work

Intuitive information comes to us through the gateway of our sensory experience but tends to have a different quality to it.
Once you learn which sense(s) are the easiest for you to access and the more you make an effort to practice connecting to this sensory awareness the more your ability to receive intuitive information will expand. Over time it is also common that other sensory channels will also open. For me my most dominant sense was initially Clarisentience or clear feeling but with time and practice I now receive information through all the senses.

Clairvoyance (Clear seeing): Intuitive information that comes through the sensory gateway of vision may be received as something that catches our eye or ‘pops’ out in our visual field that has a deeper meaning to us. It also shows up as our inner vision, like imagination when we close our eyes or the picture in our mind’s eye. For some people may see things in their visual field with their eyes open (flashes of light, aura’s, spirit guides/ancestors, etc.), however this type of visual information tends to be more rare.

Clairaudience (Clear hearing): Intuitive information that comes through the sense of hearing can be a message that grabs our attention or seems to jump out at us (could be from tv, the radio, overhearing a conversation) that has a deeper meaning to us. It also can present as a similar quality as our own self-talk or inner dialogue (but tends to have a different quality to it from our day to day inner talk). For some it also may present as a voice heard outside in the three dimensional world

Clarisentience (Clear feeling): Intuitive information that comes through the sense of body based feelings is also often referred to Empathic abilities. This could be feeling physical sensations or emotional sensations in your own body that are not actually yours. It can also be experienced as a gut feeling or knowing.

Clairalience (Clear smelling): Intuitive information that comes though the gateway of smells shows up as a clear smell without any physical cause. This can often be tied to a memory or something significant. Often if there are others in the area they will not smell it (unless they are more dominant in this sense).

Clairgustance (Clear tasting): Intuitive information that comes through as taste is the experience of tasting something without any physical cause. Again this is often tied to a memory or other important information.

Claircognizance (Clear knowing):Intuitive information that comes in the form of knowing is the experience of a clear knowing without knowing the logical behind how or why you know.

2) It often takes time to build trust in the intuitive information we receive.

In our culture and society we have been trained from an early age to value rational and logical thought above all else. Learning to listen to and to trust intuitive information takes a leap of faith and is a shift in the way our culture teaches us to live. Often one of the biggest challenges with learning to trust our intuitive awareness is that intuitive senses tend to give us only what we need to know in the divine timing we need to know it. Our logical mind wants the whole 5 to 10 year plan with each step on the way, it wants to be in control in order to feel that we are safe. Intuition will challenge us to let go and be in the moment, to trust the guidance we are receiving without knowing how it is all going to work out in the end. Allow time to build trust and for your rational mind to have experience of gathering evidence in the support of intuitive awareness. When making any major decisions for myself information from my intuition and logic need to both be on board. However, if the logic lines up but the intuitive is saying no, intuition gets the veto vote. It took time to get to this place of trust, and experiences of not listening to my gut and intuition only to deeply regret it later. It took time for my rational mind to get to a point where it can say to the Intuitive “I don’t really understand you, but I know you have access to information that I don’t and you have alway been right.” and from this place it is only logical that my rational mind would listen.

3) We need to take time to slow down to actually create the space for intuitive awareness to come through.

When our rational minds are so busy on the hamster wheel of life that we have no time to get quiet or to go within, there is no space for the deeper knowing to come through or we are not slowing down enough to listen to receive the messages. The state of consciousness where intuitive information is most accessible is in a relaxed, meditative type state. This may involve taking time for meditation on a regular basis, to go for quiet walk in nature, to set aside time where you will not be disturbed to free flow journal or whatever practice speaks to you. The key is to give yourself permission to slow down and allow the messages to come to you (without dictating how or when they show up).

4) The importance of continuing to do your own work:

We all have our own baggage from the past and our work will continue to show up throughout our lives in different layers. It is very difficult to receive clear intuitive guidance about issues or questions that have a high degree of emotional investment for us. This is why it is often easier to practice with others who we do not know well or with ‘lighter’ types of questions. When intuitive information rubs up against our own past trauma it has the potential to also trigger us and makes it difficult to sort our the pure intuitive information from the fear response it has set off. The more we do our own work the clearer we become and the better we are at recognizing when it is our own ‘stuff’ that is coming up.

I would love to hear more about your own journey with Intuition Development, what was helpful for you? Where do you find yourself getting stuck?