"Intuition is a completely natural awareness. All of a sudden you know exactly what the answer is."

Intuition often seems elusive, yet it is the most accessible, best form of personal direction & advice you could ever find. We all have access to it, and we are connected more often than we think. What does intuition feel like?  What does it mean to respond to your intuition?

Inutition means to know without fully using the five senses, Sometimes you "just know" things. We all get this on some level, but let's take a deeper look to see what that really means. Let's take a quick look at the etymology of the word to see from whence it stems: 

Intuitive Hits Guide Us with Love

You are experiencing an "intuitive hit" when you have a knowing from something other than what the five senses and your logical mind are telling you. These are whispers for your highest good. The moment of listening to that knowing and responding as if it is truth is the state of being intuitive. Its a safe bet to say that you cannot really go wrong following your intuition. Why? Its guiding you every step of the way, fully aware of all the predicaments you face, knowing your strengths and weaknesses, passions and fears. Intuition totally lacks judgement and is always looking out for what is in your best interest. Intuition comes from your soul which loves you completely. It sees you for who you are inside, not the mistakes, flaws or misgivings you see so readily and notice with your mental & emotional awareness.

I've had a personal relationship with intuition my whole life, and frankly didn't even notice it until others pointed it out. Being intuitive is the most natural thing we can experience. Phrases like, "How did you know to do that at the very moment?" or, "She always knows what to do." are blanket statements that seem much more an exaggeration than a truth. However, if I genuinely ask my heart, there are definitely things in life I just know somehow, without input from others. I think of an intuitive hit, as a natural awareness. Sometimes you might experience a hit while playing a sport or doing something physical, and you know just when to make which body movement. In relationships, sometimes you just know when to talk to someone to make them feel better. Sometimes when you've lost something, you finally get a moment away from the worry, and all of a sudden you know exactly where to look - and boom! there it is.

Having confidence in your intuition feels like complete faith in simply knowing, despite what many in the surrounding environment think and say. For me, it feels like I'm reading something beneath the surface, and seeing that as truth instead of the literal meaning of the words or images placed in front of me. It can be as simple as hearing a child say, "I'm fine! Just leave me alone!" and knowing they really need a hug and for you to express interest. It's looking for the deeper meaning in things, and taking that as truth over what appears on the surface. Intuition feels more automatic, more subconscious.

The most interesting part about recognizing and interacting with your intuition is the deep sense of calm it provides.  I have found perceiving things like this honestly takes the fear out of many things in life. I'm willing to bet you've experienced this at least once. Think about a time someone told you something about a coworker or friend, and your response (internally) was, "Yeah, I think I knew that, didn't you? It's no surprise to me." Connecting to that feeling of familiarity, often gives us the inner strength to know we are able to face any obstacle and situation. Developing this intuitive muscle gives you strength emotionally, physically and mentally. The more we use our intuitive senses, the more we know when and how to trust ourselves.

Being intuitive doesn't mean you'll avoid hard lessons in life. It doesn't mean you won't experience loss and difficult times. It simply means your heart will have a sense of knowing what kind of lessons are on their way, and embracing them with the same type of love you embrace the most amazing parts of your life. Strong intuition brings more joy to our lives.

Our Most Beloved Crutch: Mental Agility

On the other hand, we have our mental capacity, which is also valuable. This mental capacity is clear, rational, logical lines of thought. Our mental agility allows us as humans to create airplanes, bridges, Teslas, space rockets, solve environmental and societal dilemmas, use quantum physics and so much more. Our mental agility is a very conscious part our our being. We create and develop technology while in strong mental states. Smart phones and computers come from intense mental clarity. Our mental faculties help us to pay attention to immediate threats, solve math problems, and even figure out next logical steps and construct sentences to communicate with others and survive a threatening environment. Mental clarity is vital for our survival, but it is not at all the same beast as intuition. Astrologically speaking, this energy is best represented by the planet Mercury. Some of us have stronger mental capacities, but all of us experience some level of the energy that so dutifully keeps us alive and functioning in this world.

The Automatic Crutch: Emotional Reponses

When the analysis by our mental capacities become overwhelming, we tend to lean back on something else which never seems to fail us, We have been using it since infancy to communicate with others: our emotions.

Emotions don't have the limitations of language. We can understand someone from a different culture completely if we take in their emotional state. We can see a child or elder in a picture and immediately get a sense of what they are feeling.  That is the act of using your emotional awareness. High levels of emotional awareness help us to interact with one another and ourselves more successfully. Everyone experiences similar emotions and we develop compassion for others as a result. It is something all humans share and it brings us closer to one another if it is in balance.

Remember the last time you saw a toddler who is just fine for an hour, and then all of a sudden their ability to cope with the surrounding events dissolves in a swarm of tears, confusion and fatigue? The toddler's emotions simply got out of balance. We all experience this, and navigate our way to maintaining the best overall balance we can - through healthy habits like eating and sleeping well. We all get emotional when we lack the full capacity to interact on a mental plane.

Any of these facets within us can go into overdrive.

When any one of these areas go into overdrive they often completely block our view of the "magic" knowledge of intuition. If we use too much emotion or logic, its almost as if that part of is out-yelling the soft whispers of our loving intuition. When we go too far towards logical thinking, or emotional responses we lack true clarity within our lives. Things get cloudy. We have difficulty responding to others appropriately and deeply.

Just think of a time when you looked at a situation logically and yet became utterly surprised when the situation didn't go as predicted. Think of a time when you let your emotions overwhelm you, and your mental mind was so far in the background you made idiotic choices. Maybe you pushed people away, maybe you invited others who had mal-intent. If you had taken some time to get yourself grounded before dealing with the situation at hand, would you have made better choices?

Over using intuition can also cause problems. If you ever leaned on your intuition so much, that people in your presence legitimately thought you were crazy and made your life much more difficult as a result of it - that is intuition in overdrive. Just like we exist on both the conscious and subconscious planes simultaneously, we utilize mental, emotional and physical faculties to manage our everyday life. If any area is out of balance, we get wonky results.

Finding true balance

We use the mental, emotional and intuitive minds to navigate this world and your life synchronistically. When you use these areas of input fluidly, almost imperceptibly, you're experiencing a truly balanced state.There will be times you lean to one area more than the others to help you avoid disaster or walk right into it. Learning to navigate these areas of awareness is no small feat, and we can always improve. Imagine it as three instruments knowing when to come in louder, softer, faster or slower - creating a beautiful harmony.

Finding this balance is truly a life lesson, and often takes one's entire life to master. The greatest part about it is that each improvement in your mastery of navigating these areas provides profound, visible, often tangible improvements in your overall life - and who doesn't want to be like a fine wine, deepening and expanding quality and joy with each passing season?!

Interested in learning how to navigate your mental, physical and intuitive sides with more fluidity and better outcomes? Join us today in our online group Elevate, Me. Now! to learn practical steps to improving your overall balance with a community of supportive growth oriented peers.