How to Improve your Intuition

You can improve your intuition, and get it back, even if it seems impossible. Learning to get in touch with your internal guidance system can improve your life in so many ways. And you can use these simplex exercises to improve your intuition today.

I lost my intuition…

For a long time, I didn’t really think intuition was a real thing. I would joke with friends and family that I had the absolute worst ability to read people.

I saw everyone I met at face-value and believed everything they said. And almost every time it seemed that my initial impression was completely wrong.

Thanks to my loving and caring parents, I never had to face situations where adults lied or misled me. So as I grew up I took everyone at their word, and quickly started to realize that people were not what they seemed or what they said.

Get your intuition back.

I can safely say, this is not the case anymore. After I got burned a few times from different people or “friends,” I started to harden my approach. And ultimately it took looking inward at my own perceptions to figure out the problem.

Not only was intuition a thing, it was something I really needed. But over the years my intuition had been stifled over the years. And instead of cultivating my natural ability to read a situation and recognize patterns, I taught myself to ignore it. Sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of confusion, and sometimes intentionally because I didn’t want to hear what my intuition was telling me.

What is Intuition?

Intuition is our ability to “know” or “understand” something immediately, without having to consciously evaluate or predict behavior. It is our instinctive feeling not our conscious reasoning. It has many common names like: energy, vibes, or the frequently used “gut feeling.”

Our ability to intuitively understand this is fundamental to implicit learning as well. We learn much of our complex knowledge, without realizing we are actually learning it.

Over time, we put together complex strings of thoughts, patterns, and expectations to form high-developed understandings of our world. This would be nearly impossible without intuition, and our ability to understand without conscious learning or conscious thought.

As children we are born with an untainted intuition. We are able to perceive and know without having to consciously deduce. But, like many of our innate skills, we are taught to ignore these feelings. Over the years the adults in our lives, like parents, guardians, and teachers, force us to ignore those instincts in order to make their lives easier, or protect their egos. And we carry that repression into our adult lives. Allowing it to guide our decision making and intentions.

Micro-Traumas & Intuition

We are also taught by authoritarians that the only valuable information is what can be seen, touched, measured, and proven.

They mock the unknown and mystery surrounding energies, emotions, and deep feelings that guide us far better than our fallible five senses.

Those people forced us to surrender to research and science, the claimed bastions of knowledge. And they blindly label everyone else a charlatan.

Even considering that there may be other forces or factors effecting our physical lives, makes you a quack. When did it become sacrilegious to ask questions, the very questions that spawned the “knowledge” we profess today.

These experiences from our youth, where our reality or intuition is denied, are called micro-traumas. And a huge part of healing and growing, is addressing these micro-traumas, and getting back in touch with our internal guidance system. Just like any other muscle, you need to flex and exercise it for it to get stronger.

Improve your Intuition

The first step to returning your intuition is to actually start listening to it, for better or for worse. I think one of the main reasons we start to ignore our intuition is because we don’t like what it has to say.

But that person is really nice and seems to care, even though my intuition is telling me something is wrong. There are many situations where our intuition may go against our wants, and learning to honor our feelings is far more important that fulfilling our momentary “wants.”

Therefore it is not just the act of “listening” to our intuition, but also to ACT upon it. This is definitely the hardest part. Acting against our wants is very hard, especially when its based on a “feeling.” But that feeling is one of the most powerful pieces of information we have. Start to listen and act upon your intuition, and you’ll start to recognize those gut feelings even more.

I feel like I say this in almost every post, but one of the best ways to strengthen your intuition is through a meditation practice. Learning to quiet the chatter of your conscious mind, means you can actually “hear” your unconscious mind.

The unconscious mind is the one that contains our intuition, so we need to be able to hear what it has to say. To learn more about the subconscious mind and how it is powerful, check out our post What is the Subconscious Mind?

Exercises for Intuition

Affirmations are a great tool to deepen your trust in yourself and your intuitive abilities. Using affirmations every morning, and evening, along with the times where you are pressured or stress can help return you to a place of calm. And you are more likely to hear your subconscious more clearly if you are in a relaxed and trusting state.

Journaling and talking with loved ones can also act as a great way to delve into deep feelings and thoughts. Using the paper or the friend as a mirror can help you see the intentions and patterns on a new level. You may even be able to answer your own questions after just a few sentences.

And remember, your intuition is always on. It may come to you in flashes, or more subtle feelings like changes to your energy level. Pay attention to both forms.

Though the flashes of insight may be stronger and more telling, the more quiet forms of energy also hold a lot of information. If you notice your energy is low around certain people or while performing certain tasks, that is a message.

Look for the things that keeps your energy high and flowing, that is your subconscious telling you that you are on the right path. Over time your intuition muscle will grow stronger and it will be easier to hear.