We have talked about how your Intuition is integral to who you are. It is your guiding star, a voice of reason, and can give insight into a situation that you may not have had. You have learned how to find and start to listen to it. You have even started to learn how to recognize it from some of the other voices that constantly fight for attention. But, if you are like me, that didn’t show me how to take those first steps. I needed more. 

Through lots of reading and practice, I found some ways to help grow that voice and to trust it more. Today, I would like to share with you 12 Methods For Getting In Tune With Your Intuition.

Noise of the Modern World

Today’s world is overwhelming, in so many ways. Everyday people descend more and more into their technology, screen, and stressors. It is too easy to open an app and get lost in comparing ourselves to the perfectly curated lives of those we see in social media or feel overwhelmed by the never ending new streams coming to us on our various devices. It is really surprising that we end up seeing ourselves caught in endless feedback loops of negative cycles of anxiety, fear, and stress?

What we have forgotten is that each of us was born with the ability to access a single tool that can help us overcome all of today’s struggles. A small tool that can guide us through life and help us stay on the right path. Many feel it is our one true superpower or some ancient wisdom buried down deep inside of us. What we are talking about, of course, is our intuition.      

A Moment of Reflection

Before we dive into those methods, it is appropriate that we stop and take a moment to see where we are.

Intuition is, “the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning”. In other words, it’s the bridging of the gap between our conscious and unconscious minds. For example, have you ever had an unexplainable feeling in your gut that instinctively told you when something you were doing was right or wrong? That was your intuition speaking. Now imagine what your life would be like if you were able to access that inner guidance system whenever you needed it. That sounds amazing, right? Who wouldn’t want more of that? 

It is an amazing thing to listen and trust that little voice but learning to develop it can make it an even more powerful tool. Each of you has the sacred ability to grow and strengthen your intuition. A simple fact, the more we use it, the more it can expand and evolve. Imagine your intuition more like a muscle. Muscles need exercise and nourishment to strengthen and grow. You can provide those needs to your intuition with a little practice. 

Let’s take a look at the 12 Methods To Get In Tune With Your Intuition so you can develop your amazing gift!

1. Meditate: We all know that we should be meditating, in some way. Even doctors are touting the benefits of taking some time to just focus on breathing and let your mind clear. But did you know that this simple act can help you tune in and grow your intuition?

Intuition, for many, has a very soft voice. With how busy our mind gets from the day to day stresses, no wonder it can be hard to hear that little voice. Meditation allows us to clear our minds, slow down, and focus inward. It can help us thin out our inner dialog to make more room for our intuition to come forward. Here is a simple meditation that can help with that.

• Find a relaxing, comfortable place to sit. A chair is fine
• Place a journal or paper beside you
• Set a timer for 10 minutes
• Close your eyes
• Listen and feel your breath, really focus on it. Don’t change it, just listen.
• Observe your breath and just be present. Do any sensations arise?
• If your mind wanders, go back to focusing on your breath.
• Just let the quiet wash over you.

As the timer goes off, slowly open your eyes. Allow your breathing to return to normal. Take a moment and write down any experiences or thoughts you had. If nothing comes to mind, just write how you feel at the moment. You can practice this as often as you need.

2. Dream Journals: You have a divided mind. During the day, your cognitive mind is in control. It uses logic and reason to navigate the day and keep your subconscious mind in control. When you sleep, your conscious mind rests. This allows the subconscious mind to take over. It uses feelings and emotions to express itself. These translate to you as dreams.

Keep a notebook and pen  next to your bed, once you wake up, record everything you remember about your dreams. You don’t have to make it a story, write down words, feelings, or whatever comes to mind. Do this first thing. This, like most things, takes practice to become a habit and you will get better, over time, interpreting what these dreams mean to you. You will learn to recognize patterns where your inner consciousness may be helping you solve a problem or guide you in the right direction.

A good way to aid in remembering your dreams is just before you go to bed, visualize yourself remembering your dreams. You can even repeat to yourself, “I will remember my dreams.” Then picture yourself waking up and recording those dreams. Try to keep this thought in your mind as you fall asleep. This can imprint to your mind the importance of remembering and recording your dreams.

3. More nature: In today’s world, we have switched nature for technology. Getting out into nature allows us to shut away the modern world, briefly. It is a way for you to get in tune with your inner ancestral self and work with your intuition. Afterall, nature is the very place we were created from. Our ancestors needed their intuition for their daily lives; from finding food to avoiding predators. Any time you can immerse yourself into nature is an opportunity to dip your toes into another world, one where your intuition is the master.

4. Being creative: You don’t have to be a crafty person for this. Everyone can paint, draw or build, in some way. That is all that is important. Anything that elevates your creative mind is working with your intuition. As a kid, your inner voice was as loud as you are, it never hesitated taking center stage. As you age, we are taught that listening to our innervoice is a flight of fancy and we trade it for responsibilities and stress. Learning to re-tap into our creative brain can help re-ignite those long lost pathways back to your intuition.So grab some paper and a pencil and draw, work with some clay, or even just build something with Legos.

5. Get in tune with your senses: your intuition can flow from any of your senses. It could come as a strange or loving sensation you feel deep inside of your body. Maybe it comes as a thought out of nowhere. Maybe you are shopping and you catch a whiff or taste of something that transports you to your past. Pay attention to these things and your senses. When was the last time you really focused on your breathing, sense of smell, or touch? The more you practice getting in tune with your senses, the more your “6th” sense, intuition, can grow. Just remember that old adage, “Stop and smell the roses.”

6. Follow your hunches: A good way to develop your intuition is to trust your hunches. The best way to work with them is to keep a journal of them so you can track their results. When you are out in your daily life and a hunch comes to you, write it down. It could be as simple as hearing the weather report but your gut tells you it will be different. Maybe your best friend’s partner gives you weird feelings, write them down. As events play out, go back and read your hunches and see if they were right. This is a way to learn to trust yourself and learn how to weed out the inner noise in your mind.

7. Change your daily routine: The conscious brain loves routine and order, but those things also push your inner voice down, further. Changing your day to day throws the cognitive mind for a loop, at that moment your intuition has a chance to step into the spotlight and help you navigate things. Maybe it can be as simple as changing the way you drive to work or the order in which you get ready in the morning. Try something different, your intuition will love you for it.

8. Replay past events: Reviewing past situations can help you grow your intuition, as well. Just remember not to over analyze them.View them with objectivity and don’t obsess on what cannot be changed. Try this instead. SIt somewhere comfortable and think back to a situation where things did go as you wanted. Fully visualize that situation, do you notice any feelings or moments where you may have felt something was just a bit off? Was there some choice that could have been different? Did your inner voice try to speak to you then but your cognitive mind pushed it down? Were there ways your intuition was trying to guide you? Evaluate any patterns you may notice and look for ways things could go differently next time. When you are done, release those memories, don’t dwell on the outcome. Take a lesson from it to move forward in the future.

9. Breathwork: Like meditation, breathwork is one of the best ways to quiet the mind and get in tune with your inner voice. There are many types of breathwork out there but you can start with the 4-7-8 method. This will give your intuition a chance to come through and bring your consciousness to the present.

• First, exhale as much air from your lungs as you can.
• Breathe in through your nose for 4 seconds
• Hold that breath for 8 seconds
• Slowly exhale through your mouth for 8 seconds
• Repeat this 4 times.

Not only is the 4-7-8 method great for helping your intuition, it is also a great way to help manage stress and lower anxiety. The best part is that you can do this almost anywhere and anytime. Just think how much of a better place the world could be if everyone practices this once a day.

10. Feel more, think less:  Thought and reason come from our cognitive brains, whereas our intuition feels. Your mind spends more time with reason and questions, thinking its way through the day. It is surprising that we don’t go crazy from the sheer volume of questions our brains bounce around, all day.

Instead, try to slow down and feel more, each day. Feelings that are grounded in our bodies are also grounded in truth, they never lie. Learn to listen to them more and pay attention to the little signals our bodies give us, daily. Your heart beating faster at a thought, the knot in your stomach in certain situations, or even those tingling sensations are your body’s way of wanting you to take notice. You have experienced this before. You meet someone and right away you know something is just a bit off about them, you just feel it. It could be a lie or how they treat someone. Your whole body speaks up trying to alert you. When you learn to pay more attention to these feelings you can learn to avoid many uncomfortable or painful situations.

11. Practice “sensing” people before meeting them: This is a great way to test and grow your intuition. Put yourself into a situation where you can sit and observe someone before meeting them, people watching.

Here is an example. You are standing in line somewhere. In the front of the line is a person behind the counter that you will have to talk to. Imagine what that person will be like before you speak to them. Take in everything you can by looking at them, listening, and trusting your feelings. Create a mental image of what they may be like or sound like. Are they friendly or sociable? Maybe they will be curt and aloof. You can do this anywhere there are people and it is a powerful way to help you develop your senses and intuition. 

12. Having Gratitude: With our modern work, it is easy to see the negative aspects of daily life and forget the blessings we have. We overlook our health and the love of our families. We take for granted food, water, community, and a sense of home. Instead, be purposeful, take time each day to recognize and and give thanks for the amazing things we are lucky enough to have in our lives. This simple practice can open you up to a higher frequency and allow more of life’s wonders to come to you.

• Gratitude improves relationships.
• Gratitude improves sleep.
• Gratitude improves physical health.
• Gratitude improves self-esteem
• Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression.
• Gratitude improves psychological health.

There are scores of scientific studies that show how powerful gratitude can be in our lives. Think about how those positive benefits can change your daily life. It can open a plethora of doors to a better life, which can help our intuition grow. 

Trust the inner you

These steps can help you learn to trust and grow your intuition. The single most important first step comes from trusting ourselves. Without that trust, we cannot foster a place of growth. Trust comes with practice and practice gives us a foundation for our inner voice to become stronger and more useful. Take the time to create that fertile place.

If you found these steps helpful, let me know in the comments below, Did you find other ways to trust and grow your intuition, share those ways in the comments. Remember that your life’s lessons could be the very things that help someone along their journey. They could be the doorways they need to make those breakthroughs. Sharing them creates community and that is something we are sorely lacking in our modern lives.