I published this article in my biweekly newsletter and decided to share it here as well, because I get a lot of questions about how to know whether it’s your intuition steering you or your fear trying to block you.
When it comes to listening to my intuition and my Core Self, I have to really stop and think. Is this true intuition? Or are my fears masquerading as intuition?
Here are eight ways to know whether your intuition is speaking to you:
- The thought or feeling is phrased positively. Intuition is something that works for our highest benefit, so it’s more likely to give you a positive, such as “I would benefit from doing this instead of that in my business” rather than a negative like “Don’t do this anymore.”
- The thought or feeling resonates for you. It feels right. Intuitive info might push your comfort zones, but even if you’re a little nervous about what you’re told, you still know it’s the right thing for you.
- What you’re receiving seems to come from a deeper place. Fear comes from the mind and is often shallow. Intuition comes from your Core Self, or what some might call the soul, the deepest aspect of you.
- You feel it in your entire body. Since fear comes from the mind, even though it often does include physical sensations, it tends to be focused in the head. The physical feelings that accompany it are, like fear itself, on a more surface level. When your intuition is speaking, you’ll feel it throughout your body as a sense of solidity and relaxation. If you’re sensitive to energy, you’ll even feel the “rightness” of the information in your energy centers and energy field, especially your third (solar plexus) center.
- When you consider what you’re hearing, you feel grounded and centered. Fear knocks us off-kilter. When we’re afraid, we feel destabilized and disconnected. Intuition is a form of connection with ourselves and everything around us, and we can feel that when intuition kicks in.
- It’s more of a sense than a thought. Intuition does sometimes manifest as thoughts, however your thoughts come to you, but they’re thoughts we can feel. (It’s hard to describe…) Fear is a jumble of thoughts that can swirl around and multiply until we can barely catch hold of them. Intuition, if there’s a thought involved at all, is a single thought accompanied by a calm certainty.
- You want to take action rather than hiding from it. Fear causes us to want to escape whatever we’re afraid of. We want to hide under the covers so the monster won’t find us. Intuition might bring some nervousness, but also excitement and anticipation. We want to find out what will happen if we follow what our intuition tells us.
- You have a sense of balance and peace. Fear wants us off-balance, and it’s anything but peaceful. When fear is running the show, it can be like we’re caught in a whirlwind of “what if” and “no, I can’t.” Intuition *is* balance. Even if we’re feeling a bit anxious about the task ahead, it’s balanced by happiness and excitement. We look forward to seeing what will happen. And we feel calm about it. Instead of a whirlwind, we’re in the middle of a placid pond with a clear route to shore.
It’s okay to take time to examine your thoughts and “intuitive hits” to discern whether they’re genuinely coming from your intuition. You don’t have to act instantly; sometimes it’s better to make sure you’re really following your inner guidance and wisdom. And when you do follow it, you’ll see the beneficial results.