Revelations

This fall seems to be moving quickly — where did September go? It was the anniversary month for Four Corners Counseling and Wellbeing, and also my birthday month! I find birthdays to be a great time to reflect on what I am grateful for over the past year of my life — even the hard stuff — and what I am looking forward to in the coming year.  

Different from New Year's “resolutions,” it feels like an opportunity for opening up to new revelations. And by revelation, I mean revealing something: uncovering new truths, insights and understandings about the world and about ourselves. What’s the best way to be open to revelations? By tuning into and trusting your intuition. 

In a recent discussion with a dear friend, we got to talking about “listening to our gut” and “trusting our intuition,” which I think is the same thing. Believing ourselves — believing in the wisdom that is available to us at any time, when we listen — is a skill to be developed. The revelation is that we can practice developing the skill of intuition each day, in very simple ways.  

When we practice listening to our intuition, it really does get stronger.  

We can also gently, compassionately, notice when we didn’t follow our inner wisdom, and notice what occurred. This helps us to choose to trust ourselves the next time. For example, in the midst of a difficult interaction with a partner, you might choose to trust the intuition to not engage in the discussion. But another time, you might get triggered by anger or fear — both of which cover up and cut off access to our intuition — and react in a way that is not in line with your gut. That happened to me recently, and I knew it almost immediately. So, I can learn from that: next time, I'll listen to my intuition and take a step back.

We can learn to trust our intuition by learning to trust our bodies.

It may sound too easy, but it is really true. We can feel when something is right — our body softens, and our mind relaxes too. Or perhaps our body becomes strong and our mind sharp. Either way, there is an integration between the thought and the feeling and the body sensation. We can tune in with this integration between body and thought and feeling — the Venn diagram, if you will, of intuition.  

Here is a simple experiment for you: ask yourself throughout the day, “How am I feeling in my body right now?” Notice your circumstances, your thoughts, your mood, and your body. Try this in a low stakes situation, so you can build your confidence.

My favorite place to practice my intuition? Shopping for clothes, particularly in a funky thrift store or consignment shop, where everything is unique and storied. I will ask myself as I hold an article of clothing, “How do I feel about this?” and then pause and listen for my answer. It is really fun!

I am growing Four Corners Counseling and Wellbeing with my intuition, and I am growing my ideal life with my intuition, too. How about you? Try it out, and be ready for new revelations!