How to develop your Intuition

Do you wish you could tap into your intuition at will? Wish you could predict the future like a world-renowned psychic? Do you wish you intuitively knew how to navigate your life? Are you sincere in your desire to develop intuition? Are you willing to commit to developing your intuition?

If you said yes to any of the questions, you are in for a treat. In this article, I am sharing practical tips on developing your intuition. And, I am also sharing the story of how I went from being highly intuitive as a kid, to almost losing this skill and then developing my intuition again.

My Story

As a kid, right up to high school, intuition came natural to me. At that time, I didn’t know it as intuition. Strange as it may sound, I was one of those kids that talked to themselves. For example, whenever I felt stressed during my school exams, I’d intuitively calm my nerves by talking to myself.  No one taught me how to comfort myself, but I knew.

In college, I studied physics. I was trained to be analytical, and I was putting analysis to everything I was doing. Even to things and situations where no analysis was needed or required. College is the time when my intuition took a serious hit.

Upon graduation, I thought the #1 skill that would help me succeed and thrive in life was my ability to analyze. And boy was I wrong. Fast-forward, life happened. And despite following my very ‘logical’ approach to decision-making, I felt miserable. On paper, my life looked great and yet, I was the unhappiest I had ever been. Worse, I didn’t know the root cause of my unhappiness.

In retrospect, at that time, I was living a life disconnected from my heart & my intuition. And overtime, I turned things around. 

People usually advise, just follow your gut. But as you and I know, it’s easier said than done. Even when we know our gut response, we often lack clarity or courage to act upon intuitive guidance.

Practical ways to develop your intuition

Suggestion #1 (Educate yourself)

Most analytical people struggle with intuition, and ironically it’s these folks who want to develop their intuition the most. Highly analytical folks also have an overdeveloped mind. If you are mentally overactive, then the best way to teach your mind about intuition is to educate it. Teach your mind how intuition will improve the quality of your life & well-being, and then your mind will surrender.  

I taught my mind why it was necessary to develop intuition.  The book that helped me see intuition in a new light was ‘Seth Speaks’ by Jane Roberts. ‘Seth Speaks’ was first published in the 1960s and is as relevant today as it was back then.

Reading this book ‘normalized’ intuition for my over analytical mind, and I understood that intuition is not a skill reserved for psychics or a mighty few. Every single human has can develop their intuition. I was enamored by what I learned from this book that I decided to put it into practice.

Suggestion #2 (Experiment)

I set out a one-week challenge to follow my intuition.

The way I went about my experiment was, I promised myself that for one week I’d follow my intuition, aka, my inner voice.

By the end of my experiment, I was shocked at how effortless my week went. I felt as-if an invisible force was guiding on a moment to moment basis, telling me when to wake up, sleep, yoga, or go shopping. I didn’t have to do any thinking; I would show up & things would work out, miraculously! Almost to a point, it felt spooky.

You would think that given the results, I would continue my experiment. Right? But I couldn’t. The reason was my analytical brain couldn’t fathom how my intuition knows so much? It is hard for the analytical mind to comprehend that when we are dealing with intuition, there is no thinking. There is instant knowing. You just know it in your heart. We all have had that feeling.

Suggestion #3 (Step aside your logic)

If you want to develop your intuition, understand that intuition is unlike logic. 

Logic dictates if you study, say, engineering for four years. At the four years, you will be an engineer. With logic, there is a well-defined start and a finish line. The path between the start and finish line is clearly laid out. But when you follow your intuition, there is no guarantee if you will reach the finish line. And that makes people uncomfortable. Most of us, crave certainty in life. We are afraid of the unknown.

Suggestion #4 (Go all in)

When I started working on developing my intuition, I’d only follow & trust my intuition only when it was convenient. Like for mundane activities, I would act upon on intuitive guidance right away. But when it came to making big decisions, like changing jobs, moving cross-country, I’d hesitate to trust my intuition. Because what my intuition was asking me to do triggered a lot of fear and anxiety. And at some level, I wasn’t ready to make that leap of faith.

Suggestion #5 (Developing a relationship)

In my experience, one of the best ways to develop your intuition is to develop a relationship with it. And it is a slow process. It didn’t happen overnight. Like any relationship, trust has to be earned.

That’s how my story went.

It felt as if my intuition had to gain the trust of my analytical mind. And it wasn’t too challenging. Every time I went against my intuition, things didn’t work out. After many painful outcomes, I finally understood that my intuition is always working in my favor. I needn’t be scared of it.

And this realization was the turning point in my journey in developing intuition.

Suggestion #6 (Discern the voice of ego vs. intuition)

I often get asked – how do you know what’s an intuitive nudge & what’s not? I know it’s my intuition talking when I keep hearing the same message for a few days in a row.

For example, when it was time for me to change my career, my intuition kept giving me the same message for months! I didn’t want to hear this message because it triggered all sorts of fears in me, such as, fear of the unknown, fear of how I’d support myself, etc.

Suggestion #7 (Acknowledge your fears)

Most people know in their hearts what actions we need to take to move forward. What stalls us is the fear of the unknown and the what-if’s. What will happen if I leave my job? I hope I can pay my rent. Could I pay my loans?

We get stuck because we don’t know what awaits us on the other side of a new experience. And so, if you want to develop your intuition, you must commit to working through your fears.

The gifts of developing intuition 

I am forever grateful that I took time to develop my intuition because it has infinitely improved the quality of my life and relationships, in general.

A while back, I got an intuitive nudge to take time away from LinkedIn.  Logically, this made no sense. But when my intuition kept sending me the same message, I surrendered. And a week later, I got a new project that left no bandwidth to create content for LinkedIn.

Understand that you won’t always know the ‘why’ behind your intuitive guidance. Overtime, the reason will be revealed to you. For the interim, you got to trust that inner voice. Trust that it knows the path and is leading to your highest potential. That’s the key you must remember when developing your intuition.

Summary

Here’s a brief summary of practical ways to develop intuition.

• Educate yourself on what intuition is and how it works so that your over-analytical mind will not challenge your intuitive impulses.
• Take on a 7-day challenge on listening to your intuition. Keep a journal on how things unraveled for you.
• Learn to step aside your logic when learning to trust your intuitive guidance.
• I challenge you to dare to trust your intuition even when it is not convenient. Start with small decisions and gradually build up.
• Build a relationship with your intuition so that you can trust and act upon your intuitive guidance, no matter the situation.
• Learn to discern the voice of your ego vs. the voice of your intuition. Pay attention to how they differ. Do you have a different quality?
• Acknowledge your fears. Write them down. The more you can pinpoint your fears, the easier it will be to address and overcome them.

Additional Resources

• Seth Speaks by Jane Roberts