5 Ways to Strengthen Your Intuition
Have you ever struggled with making a decision? Do you wish you had a crystal ball to guide you? Fortunately for you, we do have a built-in superpower that can help us with life’s biggest (and smallest) decisions: our intuition.
I’ll never forget the time I was on a flight home from Mexico and the turbulence was getting out of control. Overhead bins were opening, suitcases were flying out… it was terrifying. I started freaking out and was about to beg the seated airline stewardess for a mini vodka bottle, when I heard the voice in my head: “You’re going to be fine. You’re safe. Calm down.”
It was the first time I had heard “the voice.” It came from nowhere and it had a sense of authority that made me sit back down, and I slowly began to feel a sense of relief. The voice sounded like any other thought I’ve had, but it felt like it wasn’t from me. I understand now that it was my higher self coming through, speaking from a place of intuitive guidance.
Intuitive guidance can appear in different ways, therefore, it’s important to take the time to understand how yours shows up. For some people it’s a feeling in their gut, while others hear a subtle voice. Intuition can also show up as patterns, signs, or even as vivid dreams.
We All Have a Sixth Sense
Unlike what is depicted in Hollywood, we actually all have a sixth sense where both intuition and various psychic abilities reside. Due to the fast-paced lifestyle our society has become accustomed to, many of us don’t take the time to nurture and strengthen our sixth sense, leaving us feeling even more confused than ever. In this article, I’ll help you tap into your ancient wisdom, which will help you feel more confident, happy, and at ease.
How to Tune In To your Inner Guidance System
To begin working with your guidance system, you’ll need to understand how it shows up for you. The best way to do that is to spend more time in nature, take care of your health, remove toxic relationships from your life, and set aside time to meditate or simply sit in silence each day. I also recommend gettingquality sleep and keeping a dream journal next to your bed. As soon as you wake up, think about your dreams and then write down the people, events, and symbols that stood out the most.
We need to be taking care of our minds and bodies for our souls to speak to us. Our mind can be our best friend or our worst enemy, but it’s truly up to us. If you’re allowing your mind to focus on negative thoughts or distractions, it’ll be really hard to tune in to your guidance. Just as a radio station dial needs to be at the correct number to avoid static, we must invite silence into our life to “hear” the wisdom.
5 Ways to Strengthen your Intuition
1. Stay Hydrated
Have you ever had a massage or healing session where they’ve told you to drink a lot of water? That's because the human body is 70 percent water and your brain is 90 percent water. If you become dehydrated, you could experience a mineral imbalance and your blood becomes more concentrated, leading to unfortunate symptoms like headache, dizziness, and muscle cramps. We need water flowing through us to assist with self-regulating our emotions and neutralizing our energy.
As you can imagine, if you’re dehydrated it’ll be very difficult to hear any type of inner guidance. The more hydrated you are and the more your body is taken care of, the easier it’ll be for your intuition to come through.
2. Decrease and/or Eliminate Inflammatory Food and Beverages
The foundation of our inner guidance system is built on the health of our body and its functions. If possible, try eliminating sugar and alcohol, and decreasing caffeine while you’re working on strengthening your intuition.
Consuming too much sugar can have a negative impact on your ability to tap into your intuition. However, if you're someone who loves sugar, don’t be alarmed… just take small steps toward reducing your sugar intake. A study showed that inflammatory blood markers were improved by 30 percent when sugar was reduced.
You might not want to hear this, but alcohol reduces your vibrational frequency. I’ve experienced this firsthand in the past and can attest to the enormous difference of living a sober (or at least sober curious) lifestyle, in which it’s very easy to tap into my intuition, versus a life where I was consuming alcohol daily, finding it very difficult to connect.
I love my morning cup of coffee and won’t be giving that up any time soon. However, I only have one cup of the finest, mold-free coffee as I know it can stress out the adrenal glands. The spiritual reason behind this is that it’s very hard to go within and connect with your heart if it’s beating very quickly. The way I deal with this is to drink my coffee at 6 a.m. and then meditate around 12 p.m. or 1 p.m., once the alert feeling has passed.
3. Get Outside and Move Around
Nature is very healing and can actually help us tap into the ancient intuition we used when we actually lived outside and relied on it to keep us alive from predators and the elements. Many of us spend all day on our phone and/or computer, but our mind truly needs a rest and nature is the perfect place.
Many Greek philosophers discovered a deep, intuitive connection between walking, thinking clearly, and writing. Being away from social mediaand technology will provide space for your inner guidance system to come through.
Finally, sunshine and gentle sunbathing is very healing, as well. I recommend enjoying about 15 to 30 minutes of morning sun, which will energize your chakras and can provide powerful healing.
Photo by KoolShooters/Pexels
4. Breathwork
Breathwork is a very simple way to begin connecting to your intuition, while also healing your immune system and mind. When you breathe with intention, it canreduce stress and help you get more oxygen into your system. When your brain is receiving the right amount of oxygen, your intuition will be easier to hear. I highly recommend alternate-nostril breathing for 11 minutes. Try it now: place your right hand in front of your face and use your ring finger to close off your left nostril. Slowly inhale through the right nostril. Then close off the right nostril with your right thumb and slowly exhale through the left nostril. Repeat 11 times and you’ll feel refreshed! Another one of my favorites is the 5.5 breath.
5. Practice Silence, Meditation, and Awareness
Now that you’ve put a lot of work in for the mind and body, it’s time to start reaping the rewards! If you don’t already have a meditation or mindfulness practice in place, I do recommend taking at least 5 minutes one to three times per day for silence. Just focus your attention on your breath if you have trouble with mind chatter. When you breathe in, think: “I am,” and when you breathe out: “my breath.” Or if you’re an advanced meditator, focus on the silence and allow any thoughts to drift by like clouds.
During meditation, you’ll do a lot of soul work. This is where you’ll connect with your higher self or your guides, and set intentions for what you want to know more about. Meditation doesn’t have to be complex, in fact, it can be just taking a few minutes of silence. If you’re interested in more advanced meditation techniques, make sure to sign-up for my newsletter as I’m always providing free meditations and mindfulness practices for my inner circle.
Finally: Keep your eyes out for the signs, subtle whispers, and the patterns. When you take time for silence or before you meditate, you can ask yourself: “How do I truly feel about this? Please show me.” Or: “Higher self, please help me by providing a clear sign about what I’m needing help with (be specific).”
Many times the answers will show up or pop into your head when you least expect it. Be conscious of any signs or patterns in alignment with your question and pay attention to your dreams.
Don’t Give Up
Anything new takes practice! This includes learning how to tap into your intuition and get messages from your inner guidance system. Be patient with yourself and know that this is a very natural thing to do, therefore, your mind, body, and soul will support your progress.
Have you tried other techniques to open up your intuition? If you have, DM us @britandco and tell us about your experience!
Featured photo via Michelle Leman/Pexels.
