Tag: Intuition

Intuition works a little bit differently for everyone. I will speak strictly from my own experience today. This should in no way be seen as a catch-all.

Since I was really young I have always had a strong connection with my intuition.  My mom would say I was a good judge of character.  She saw that I was selective about friendships and I intentionally sought out kind people (many of whom I am still friends with 25 years later).

The truth is that I always knew stuff about people.  I could see right through.  I was very empathic.  I felt other people’s emotions and intentions, and even before I was totally aware that I was doing so, I reacted to that information.

I describe it to this day as…what people really mean is right behind what they say.  You have probably had the experience yourself, of meeting someone, and knowing they don’t like you.  You know their face is saying one thing but you feel that intuitive impulse that they don’t really mean it.  It’s similar to what we talked about last week.

So when I grew up feeling things from people, like when I was bullied in school, I would be hurt and frustrated but I always knew it was because they were sad, or scared, or embarrassed, and it made me braver.  The more I trusted that feeling, the stronger it became and the easier it was to hear it.

Now that I’m grown, I listen for that same impulse and feeling. I am aware of my intuition in a totally different area in my body than when my brain is actively thinking about something.  When I get that feeling, I pause for a moment and try to listen to what it’s telling me.

Sometimes I ask questions like: Am I feeling fear?  Am I feeling a yes or no?  Am I feeling like I need to wait?

I also have a lot of clairaudience, which means I hear a lot of signals. Sometimes my ears ring when I’m getting a message or feeling.  Or I will know something about someone that will come in as if I’ve heard it. It’s less about actual hearing and more about how my brain becomes aware of it.

Even now I will think sometimes that a client has said something to me, for example, that they are an accountant. I will start talking about their accounting job and they will look bewildered and say “I didn’t tell you I was an accountant.”  I just shrug it off and tell them it happens all the time.

So sometimes that’s how I notice my intuition but there are a lot of different senses of intuition.  I also sometimes physically feel things.  This happens in Reiki sessions most often.  I will start working on someone and notice I’m getting a pain somewhere in my body. Sure, enough when I ask them about it, it’s something that is going on in their body.

I also sometimes have an unexplainable sense of something.  Perhaps I spend time with someone I’m close to and I suddenly know something about them.  It’s not intentional.  It just pops into my head out of nowhere.  I can’t explain why or how.  This can be the hardest sense to hone because we often write off thoughts that aren’t backed up by a story of how we know it or why we know it.  We get stuck in trying to logically figure it out rather than just listening.

I realize you’re probably sitting there thinking, Sheila, that’s just you.  I can’t do those things.  I barely even trust what people tell me.

I understand.  Listening to your intuition is a vulnerable thing.  You open yourself up to something you’re not instantly good at and it can bring up a lot of feelings of inadequacy.  This is why we practice.  

That is the entire reason that I developed my High Priestess Embodiment Workshop.  This workshop is open now.  It is entirely virtual and combines lecture, meditation, journaling and a mini yoga practice to help you get in touch with your own intuition.  You will also have the opportunity to ask any questions that come up and get answers via a Q & A recording after the course closes.  You don’t need any tarot training or understanding as this is an intuition workshop and you have permanent access so you can go back and access it again at any time you need a refresher.  Training is open now but only until July 3rd at 11:59 PM ET.  You can read more about it and sign up here.

© Sheila Masterson 2020 All Rights Reserved

Last week I was chatting with a friend who was having a hard time in her relationship.  

 “I know, I am ignoring my intuition.  I get an impulse and I dig my heels in and do the opposite.  I feel like I’m afraid of my intuition, is that a thing?”

It reminded me of something that so many of my clients go through.  It’s something I go through all the time.

What happens when our intuition shows up and we feel afraid of it?  So I wanted to dig into this today.  Here are three reasons why you might be afraid of your intuition:

When we experience this there are a few reasons why we might be feeling some fear about trusting ourselves.

The first is that we were taught not to trust ourselves from the time we were young.  

Most of life has conditioned us to outsource our wisdom to people with more experience.  Teachers, pastors, and parents are who we learn to trust first.  We go to school or church, or even at home someone tells us how to get dressed, tie our shoes, count to ten, and we are indoctrinated into a system that teaches us to trust others more than ourselves.

Now, I’m not hating on traditional education but it is only in the past year or two that mindfulness has been taught in schools, giving children a much needed sense of agency and a better understanding of listening to self.

We grow up not really having an understanding of why it’s important to listen to our own intuition because society doesn’t value it.  So when you get an intuitive impulse, you might feel afraid because it may feel like challenging authority.  

Trauma can also be a culprit.

If you experienced trauma in your childhood, in particular, you might have a harder time developing your sense of reality.  If someone was making you doubt yourself constantly as you were growing up, it can be very challenging as an adult to trust your impulses because you’re afraid of being wrong again, or you’re afraid of the consequence of being wrong.

Similarly, if you experienced trauma as an adult, you may have a strong distrust of your intuition because you feel that it led you wrong.  When you start to notice it coming up, you may feel triggered because that sensation reminds you of the bad thing that happened.

This kind of distrust can be hard to break through, but it is UNDERSTANDABLE.  If you find yourself in this place, don’t force it.  Offer yourself compassion in those moments.  There’s no need to be open to intuition if you aren’t ready for it yet.

Being awake to our intuition means having to do something about it.

Ignorance is easy. Being awake is hard. 

Once you pay attention to your intuition, especially if you’ve been ignoring it for a while it can come in more like a flood than a trickle, which is very overwhelming. Our intuition is always asking us to be true to ourselves.

Sometimes that means leaving behind people, places, or work that you have loved for a long time.  Sometimes people you are close with can’t go along with you, or don’t understand you the same way they once did.  No one wants to lose anything and intuition challenges us by pushing us out of our comfort zone.

It’s a bit of a Pandora’s box.  Once you crack the lid, nothing is the same.  It unravels possibilities.

So you might find yourself doing things to block your intuition like constantly having the radio on, or the TV blaring in the background, filling every waking moment with activity, or even abusing substances like alcohol or marijuana to help you tune out and relax.

These aren’t really sustainable options.

The key is learning how to tune in when you need it and tune out when you need a break.  If you can get to a place where you have a good relationship with your intuition it can become like a super power, keeping you on track.  When confusion comes up or when you’re faced with a decision you don’t know how to make, you can tune in and know right away what to do.

You might be saying, Sheila, this sounds really overwhelming.  How can I start to take baby steps to trust my intuition without getting totally overwhelmed?

I’m so glad you asked!  My High Priestess Embodiment Workshop opens next Monday, June 29th.  This course is designed as a beginners guide to intuition and will help you recognize the signals that your body sends you when your intuition is trying to get your attention, how to tune in to the message, and how to stop second guessing yourself.  If you want to stop being afraid and start to trust your intuition, you can sign up here. 

© Sheila Masterson 2020 All Rights Reserved