By Carolyn Gregoire

Intuition is challenging to define, despite the huge role it plays in our everyday lives. Steve Jobs called it, for instance, “more powerful than intellect.” But however we put it into words, we all, well, intuitively know just what it is.

Pretty much everyone has experienced a gut feeling — that unconscious reasoning that propels us to do something without telling us why or how. But the nature of intuition has long eluded us, and has inspired centuries’ worth of research and inquiry in the fields of philosophy and psychology.

“I define intuition as the subtle knowing without ever having any idea why you know it,” Sophy Burnham, bestselling author of The Art of Intuition, tells The Huffington Post. “It’s different from thinking, it’s different from logic or analysis … It’s a knowing without knowing.”

Our intuition is always there, whether we’re aware of it or not. As HuffPost President and Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington puts it in her upcoming book Thrive:

Even when we’re not at a fork in the road, wondering what to do and trying to hear that inner voice, our intuition is always there, always reading the situation, always trying to steer us the right way. But can we hear it? Are we paying attention? Are we living a life that keeps the pathway to our intuition unblocked? Feeding and nurturing our intuition, and living a life in which we can make use of its wisdom, is one key way to thrive, at work and in life.

Cognitive science is beginning to demystify the strong but sometimes inexplicable presence of unconscious reasoning in our lives and thought. Often dismissed as unscientific because of its connections to the psychic and paranormal, intuition isn’t just a bunch of hoo-ha about our “Spidey senses” — the U.S. military is even investigating the power of intuition, which has helped troops to make quick judgments during combat that ended up saving lives.

“There is a growing body of anecdotal evidence, combined with solid research efforts, that suggests intuition is a critical aspect of how we humans interact with our environment and how, ultimately, we make many of our decisions,” Ivy Estabrooke, a program manager at the Office of Naval Research, told the New York Times in 2012.

Here are 10 things that people in touch with their intuition do differently.

They listen to that inner voice.

introspection

“It’s very easy to dismiss intuition,” says Burnham. “But it’s a great gift that needs to be noticed.”

The No. 1 thing that distinguishes intuitive people is that they listen to, rather than ignore, the guidance of their intuitions and gut feelings.

“Everybody is connected to their intuition, but some people don’t pay attention to it as intuition,” Burnham say. “I have yet to meet a successful businessman that didn’t say, ‘I don’t know why I did that, it was just a hunch.’”

In order to make our best decisions, we need a balance of intuition — which serves to bridge the gap between instinct and reasoning — and rational thinking, according to Francis Cholle, author of The Intuitive Compass. But the cultural bias against following one’s instinct or intuition often leads to disregarding our hunches — to our own detriment.

“We don’t have to reject scientific logic in order to benefit from instinct,” says Cholle. “We can honor and call upon all of these tools, and we can seek balance. And by seeking this balance we will finally bring all of the resources of our brain into action.”

They take time for solitude.

intuition

If you want to get in touch with your intuition, a little time alone may be the most effective way. Just as solitude can help give rise to creative thinking, it can also help us connect to our deepest inner wisdom.

Intuitive people are often introverted, according to Burnham. But whether you’re an introvert or not, taking time for solitude can help you engage in deeper thought and reconnect with yourself.

“You have to be able to have a little bit of solitude; a little bit of silence,” she says. “In the middle of craziness … you can’t recognize [intuition] above all of the noise of everyday life.”

They create.

solitude

“Creativity does its best work when it functions intuitively,” writes researcher and author Carla Woolf.

In fact, creative people are highly intuitive, explains Burnham, and just as you can increase your creativity through practice, you can boost your intuition. In fact, practicing one may build up the other.

They practice mindfulness.

Meditation and other mindfulness practices can be an excellent way to tap into your intuition. As the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute explains, “Mindfulness can help you filter out mental chatter, weigh your options objectively, tune into your intuition and ultimately make a decision that you can stand behind completely.”

Mindfulness can also connect you to your intuition by boosting self-knowledge. A 2013 study published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science showed that mindfulness — defined as “paying attention to one’s current experience in a non-judgmental way” — may help us to better understand our own personalities. And as Arianna Huffington notes in Thrive, increased intuition, compassion, creativity and peace are all wonderful side effects of meditating.

They observe everything.

look out window

“The first thing to do is notice — keep a little journal, and notice when odd things happen,” Burnham says. You’ll gain a keen sense for how often coincidences, surprising connections and on-the-dot intuitions occur in your daily life — in other words, you’ll start to tap into your intuition.

They listen to their bodies.

Intuitive people learn to tune into their bodies and heed their “gut feelings.”

If you’ve ever started feeling sick to your stomach when you knew something was wrong but couldn’t put your finger on what, you understand that intuitions can cause a physical sensation in the body. Our gut feelings are called gut feelings for a reason — research suggests that emotion and intuition are very much rooted in the “second brain” in the gut.

They connect deeply with others.

empathy

Mind reading may seem like the stuff of fantasy and pseudo-science, but it’s actually something we do everyday. It’s called empathic accuracy, a term in psychology that refers to the “seemingly magical ability to map someone’s mental terrain from their words, emotions and body language,” according to Psychology Today.

“When you see a spider crawling up someone’s leg, you feel a creepy sensation,” Marcia Reynolds writes in Psychology Today. “Similarly, when you observe someone reach out to a friend and they are pushed away, your brain registers the sensation of rejection. When you watch your team win or a couple embrace on television, you feel their emotions as if you are there. Social emotions like guilt, shame, pride, embarrassment, disgust and lust can all be experienced by watching others.”

Tuning into your own emotions, and spending time both observing and listening to others face-to-face can help boost your powers of empathy, says Reynolds.

They pay attention to their dreams.

dreaming

Burnham recommends paying attention to your dreams as a way to get in touch with your mind’s unconscious thinking processes. Both dreams and intuition spring from the unconscious, so you can begin to tap into this part of your mind by paying attention to your dreams.

“At night, when you’re dreaming, you’re receiving information from the unconscious or intuitive part of your brain,” says Burnham. “If you’re attuned to your dreams, you can get a lot of information about how to live your life.”

They enjoy plenty of down time.

dream studies

Few things stifle intuition as easily as constant busyness, multitasking, connectivity to digital devices and stress and burnout. According to Huffington, we always have an intuitive sense about the people in our lives — on a deep level, we know the good ones from the “flatterers and dissemblers” — but we’re not always awake enough to our intuition to acknowledge the difference to ourselves. The problem is that we’re simply too busy.

“We always get warnings from our heart and our intuition when they appear,” she writes in Thrive. “But we are often too busy to notice.”

They mindfully let go of negative emotions.

Strong emotions — particularly negative ones — can cloud our intuition. Many of us know that we feel out of sorts or “not ourselves” when we’re upset, and it may be because we’re disconnected from our intuition.

“When you are very depressed, you may find your intuition fails,” says Burnham. “When you’re angry or in a heightened emotional state … your intuition [can] fail you completely.”

The evidence isn’t just anecdotal: A 2013 study published in the journal Psychological Science showed that being in a positive mood boosted the ability to make intuitive judgments in a word game.

That’s not to say that intuitive people never get upset — but your intuition will fare better if you’re able to mindfully accept and let go of negative emotions for the most part, rather than suppressing or dwelling on them.

 

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/19/the-habits-of-highly-intu_n_4958778.html

 

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5 COMMENTS

  1. As I perceive it there’s always a balance of positive and negative, a yang/yin dynamic. And so, as I perceive it, when negative emotions are rising, before letting go of them, it’s valuable to find, to feel and see what’s behind the feeling, what’s hidden behind it that holds another deeper level, possibly of a deep longing or hurting.

    Preferably by entering deeply into the physical presence of one’s body and onen’s heart and include it in the private quest for a clue, an answer, instead of a mental excersize in company of many windmills of the mind.

    To me, that step, that quest, is an act of return to one’s divine self, the realm where truth is present in the gentle eyes of love and healing energy, found within our own spirit and our divine self. It must be faced with honesty and acceptance that once we’ve entered that inner realm, there’s never a return or chance to forget.

    It’s the tool we can hold onto, a sword of justice in our hand, offering us confidence in this process of change.

  2. Yes, that wonderful skill of intuition, thank life, what if I didn’t have it? Most of the characteristics, described in this article, I can apply to my own life, except the laying down time lol. I’m too active, jumping around and making waves, although the eagerness is bigger than the waves themselves now, for I’m in my first retirement year and my freedom to do what my hands find doing is something I’m not yet familiar with.
    The little motor inside, of a self-employed woman, is so used to create an income, that it is still running,
    sort of.

    I spend much time alone, just to be in silence with myself, alone on the Moors, with a far view all around me. That’s heaven and it makes me yearn for living on that high place, in a cave or tipi. Although it’s bitter cold in winter! Maybe a summer camp? Observing everything….. yes, I’m an observer, definitely, a wonderer.

    I’d like to offer a bit of teaching from my training and experiences, regarding gutfeeling and intuition, how they’re the same and yet not 100% the same always, for those of you who are interested.

    During the 36 years of energy work and practice of healing and reading of energies, with myself to start with and later with others, there can be a somewhat misleading message in a gut feeling, when we react instinctively, from our lower chakras. Becoming more or less aware of an emotion.

    This emotion can be a wayshower to something we hold inside that acts like a colouring pencil. We colour the trigger of that emotion, be it in judgment of the source of that trigger, a source outside of ourselves, or by blaming ourselves for feeling the emotion, not knowing how to handle it. That usually happens in the moment immediately after the incident. The emotion related to this example is usually anger.

    There’s a unique way for everybody, it’s where free will determines our freedom as creator, to find out what works or what doesn’t work for us and energy is always in motion. Our entire energy system is constantly in motion, adjusting and probing, in trial and error. Kirlian photography shows us insight in this dynamic process.

    There’s always a new choice once we become aware of what moves us and drives us. For we’re offered data to compare our experiences and spin off of decisions, so that we can know of a new approach. It’s the lack of self knowledge or mindfulness that causes tough circumstances and suffering, often in much confusion and repitition of bad experiences too.

    There’s a function in our 7 chakra-system where the first and 7th chakra mirror each other as the two sides of one hand. When the first is blocked, the 7th is usually blocked too, for the earth-energy can’t match with the cosmic energy and when one isn’t aware of that, problems show up in life on a physical, emotional and mental level.

    Manifestation becomes hard, for the flow of life force energy is obstructed for some reason. It’s a tough learning curve and when trauma is involved it’s often the cause of losing touch with the connection to one’s body. It’s when human beings may begin to dwell in the lower levels of the 4th dimension.

    That’s in a way a rescue center with all sorts of pleasures and distractions to draw one’s attention to entities that are fond of astral connections in order to feed on energies provided by these lost Earth.dwellers. This is a condition that can usually be found in lives of black magicians and other people who form a co-operation with entities that serve themselves only. That’s how one can create a position as powerful channeler, guru or healer.

    For many it’s confusing and hard to use discernment, when they witness charismatic figures that show up with the most intriguing skills and powers, siddhi’s and expressive talents. In words and actions. The real game and intention is often experienced later, when the damage is done. The guru or teacher may be in complete ignorance of that damage, due to living an illusion, or rather delusion.

    There’s a special match, made in hell, where needy women fall in love with their guru or therapist and voila…it’s a the most valuable match in the eyes of the entities that are involved. The guru or therapist may feel pleased and served, all in the name of a higher good, for the benefit of a healing process, explaining away the role of the devotee. It’s how New Age in our present time does show up in her marshmellow sweet mirage of illusions. “Oh yes, let’s all be one and disappear in an indefinite amorph blobness”.

    When the earth and cosmic flow of energiy is blocked at both ends of the spectrum, so to speak, the force of will, a function of the solar plexus, can become a way to overcome the obstructed flow of energy, even more so when the heart is closed, so that sympathy with others is lacking. Life can become quite a struggle and much is achieved as a “tour de force”, although the pleasure of winning is nice, of course.

    This condition of obstructed energy flow is similar to blocking the garden hose at one end. The hose become useless. As much as the 1st and 7th chakra mirror each other, the 2nd and 6th chakra mirror each other too and so does the 3rd and the 5th chakra. The heart is the mediator by showing up with love when it’s allowed to be a player in the game of life..

    In the experience of a gut feeling and emotions popping up, our inner eye, the 6th chakra, is a helpful companion so that the experience can be observed from a neutral point of view, pun intended. Often it’s also the pineal gland, the 7th chakra, and maybe even the Higher Self or still higher aspects of ourselves, that helps to complete “the picture”. So that an awareness of what really occurred can be found and an answer to how we came to this spesific reaction. Our companion in the middle, our heart, is the mediator between the two domains, with the lower domain of the gutfeelings and the higher domain with the knowing without knowing why. With the heart in lively presence, we’re able to look at the whole picture with the eyes of compassion. Though without condoning the actions and presence of that which causes damage to life.

    Hopefully all of this happens before we choose to act and after maybe too much words, describing a process that in reality lasts maybe one minute or less, it can save us lots of croquery lol

    • Lo and behold, synchronicity has offered a helping hand. In this video Darryl Anka aka Bashar, discusses the false love present in the New Age world, with his interviewers. It’s about waving a flag with love written on it, while desperately filling a gap inside that becomes a pair of hungry jaws in time. A mirage, created by people in all levels of life, guru, teacher, student, therapist and in relationships between parent and child and spouses.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uv02dGAE9Y

  3. Thank you so much , Yes, I will call divine practices of joy and love within , comes out to manifest no matter how. As the dream project ‘ The New Atlantis”, New Gaia, Nova Earth , Nova Atlantis of Shri shri Saint Germain is now our reality as because , he has known from eons about this place of love and peace is within all beings ,its just we have enlightened by the knowledge of light within , awakened within ourselves now, how in ignorance we were .Namastey .Victory of the light , love and peace forever more.

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