How to tap into your intuition

It’s something we are all born with, but making the most of your natural intuition takes a little practice.

Defining and describing intuition in words is tricky – but most of us instinctively know what it is.

“Intuition is a range of experiences. It involves all of the five senses and even more,” says Craigh Wilson, an expert in intuition and meditation and author of Intuitive.

“The obvious one is the sense of feeling, and intuition can be a deep and all-knowing feeling in your gut that something is wrong.

“You may not know exactly why, but you know to listen and to trust that feeling of danger. Conversely, intuition can also be a warm, glowing feeling in your heart, and a sense of knowing that everything is going to be OK.”

Science has turned its attention to intuition, confirming it really does exist. Joel Pearson at the University of New South Wales has conducted experiments that look at how we use “unconscious emotional information” – intuition – to help us make better decisions.

His work also found that intuition improves over time, which suggests that practice can improve our powers of intuition.

Craigh says intuition relies on our heart because our heart’s nervous system contains around 40,000 neurons that communicate with the brain.

So, intuition involves listening to the messages our heart sends to our brain.

But while we all have intuition, we don’t always use it to its best effect.

Yet Craigh says it can help us make better decisions at work, at home, in personal relationships, and in making decisions about our future.

Six ways to listen to your intuition

• Choose a time when you can sit quietly by yourself. “Intuition doesn’t come from a place of fear when you are stressed – it’s not when you are picking up the kids from school!” says Craigh.
• If you are inside, lie down. Open the window to let some air flow through the room.
• Let your thoughts and emotions bubble up. “Give permission for your body to communicate with you and listen to your thoughts like an old friend – without any judgement,” says Craigh. “Letting go of judgement and control hugely benefits your state of mind and your anxiety and stress levels.”
• Remove blocks. Put pride and fear of the unknown aside. “Most of the fearful things we imagine happening never do,” says Craigh.
• Start small. Use your intuition to make small decisions first.
• Prepare for changes. “Not everyone is going to be happy that you are changing so be ready to move closer to some people and away from others,” says Craigh.

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Written by Sarah Marinos.