Intuition is a term that’s often used, and we all think we know what it means. But let’s look at the actual definition of intuition before we go on to explore if you can trust yours or not. The Cambridge English Dictionary describes intuition as:

1. (knowledge from) an ability to understand or know something immediately based on your feelings rather than facts: 2. an ability to understand or know something without needing to think about it or use reason to discover it, or a feeling that shows this ability.

Most dictionaries use similar ways to describe intuition so we’ll take this quote as our basic standard.

Intuition and just thinking you know aren’t the same thing.
Often what we think of as an intuitive hit can simply be a random thought popping into our mind that because we think it sounds like what we need, we then call intuition. Now, I know you know what I mean. I’m sure you’ve experienced those moments when you think you’ve found an intuitive solution to a problem, but acting on that solution led to more difficulty or hardship or changed nothing for the better.

Why does that happen?

Well, and this is the issue when we’re dealing with something as unphysical as an intuitive hit, there are two reasons:

Sometimes an intuitive hit can lead to taking action that appears to create more problems than it solves, but in fact, is all part of the process.

With this reason, what looks like a breakdown is actually a breakthrough. If you’re wanting to change something fundamental about your experience, something structural and foundational, in order to create that shift, you’ll have to tear down the original structure.

Imagine for example, that you declare that you’re no longer going to be treated like a doormat, but you’ve allowed yourself to be treated like a doormat all your life. Are you simply going to sail off into the sunset riding the wave of your new declaration without effort or consequence? Highly unlikely.

No, what usually happens is that you beginning to stand up for yourself means all of your relationships become challenging. You’re no longer behaving in a way that the old structure of your relationships can stand upon. This causes shifts and cracks in the foundation of those structures. These are necessary in order for you to build new foundations. Will it feel easy or look like things are going your way when this is happening? Probably not.

But as you keep your resolve and trust your knowing, you’ll begin to see that those old structures were what kept you acting like a doormat in the first place. Now they just gotta go! Which in reality means that your old relationships will change and you’ll change too, and those relationships will find balance when you find balance.

2. Sometimes what feels like an intuitive hit is actually your conditioned mind coming up with a solution that can sabotage the very outcome you’re looking for, but because the solution feels doable, or seemingly helpful, you act on it.

In this second instance, we’ll use finances as an example. So you’re having a financial crisis. Bills have to be paid yesterday! You don’t have enough to keep your phone from being cut off or to pay your employees. You start looking for solutions in all the wrong places. Suddenly you have the idea that you should take out a loan. A Payday loan. Once you get out of this mess you’ll be able to pay it back, so what’s the problem? And as if by magic when you log on to your browser, an Ad for Payday loans pops up. Eureka!

Clearly, you were right about getting that loan. Look, even the universe is confirming it by placing this Ad on the first page you see! Erm, no. What’s placing that Ad right there where you can see it glowing at you, is one of two things.

Either you’ve searched for that term before and today it just happened to pop up on that page. Or your conditioned mind is busily going about its way creating more familiar drama through unhelpful solutions – just so you can stay stuck in your current situation.

It’s very familiar to have a kneejerk response to a financial crisis if that’s what you’ve trained yourself to do. That is, look for a quick and unhelpful solution that just buries you in a bigger hole. Why would you want to recreate something so unhelpful? Because it’s what you KNOW how to do.

Whereas an intuitive hit would have an outcome like reaching out to a financial support company or charity to get help with your finances and work with your creditors. Or it would give you an idea for a completely new revenue stream. Or both.

There are two types of knowing.

The first kind is the one described in the previous paragraph. It involves automatically acting out in the same way you’ve always acted because it feels familiar to you and fits in with your conditioned beliefs. All actions taken from that place feel familiar, they feel like you know what you’re doing, when in fact they usually mean you’re blindly following a conditioned impulse.

The second kind is where you just don’t know how you know. It’s usually something you wouldn’t think of doing or saying. It might even feel uncomfortable to you and take you way out of your comfort zone. It has the energy of originality around it. It requires you to look at and drop limiting beliefs and may make you act out of character (in a good way.)

True intuition comes with a feeling of knowing. Yet trusting in that knowing takes time and needs proof that what you’re acting on is leading you where you say you want to go. Like any other muscle, our intuitive muscles work best when we use them regularly. For that reason, if you want to rely on your intuition more and more, then it’s best to spend time using it for things that don’t feel like life or death moments.

Ask for an intuitive hit for something simple.

Try asking for an intuitive hit on something that feels fun and not too important to you. That way, you’ll get to see how your intuition communicates with you personally. You’ll get to see how it feels in your body and how it feels in your heart. You will be able to see the contrast between an intuitive hit and a conditioned response. The first usually causes greater worry, the latter greater peace over time.

Even if an intuitive hit leads to a dismantling of your current structures and that feels really uncomfortable to experience, something inside will know that you’re shifting an old paradigm. You can’t use the same old tactics you’ve always used. In fact, if you try to use them, things may well keep getting worse rather than better.

Whereas, if you are just breaking down old structures and you feel under siege at times, there will also be a corresponding feeling of ‘no going back.’ This is because you simply will not able to go back to how things were. You know things have to change and if they are going to change for the better, then there might be some messy moments in the meantime. Know that it will all come good in the end.

Author's Bio: 

Yve Anmore works primarily with conscious entrepreneurs, conscious creatives and spiritual seekers. She has an B.A. in Development Economics, a diploma in print, radio and web, journalism and is a certified workshop facilitator and spiritual life coach. She's highly creative and is an author, poet and talented singer and songwriter too.
She's the author of: 'Musings On the Path' A powerful sharing of the Path of The Open Heart: Through the medium of essays, articles, poetry and even modern-day parables.