We have all experienced this: We asked someone we trusted for advice only to realise later that it was their experience, fears or wishes that shaped their advice which didn’t work for us. Even worse, we already had a hunch this was not going to work, but we didn’t listen and did it anyway… 

There is so much information and noise out there. How do I figure out which decision is right for me?

We have all experienced this: We asked someone we trusted for advice only to realize later that it was their experience, fears, or wishes that shaped their advice that didn’t work for us. Even worse, we already had a hunch this was not going to work, but we didn’t listen and did it anyway…

Intuition has been a fixed part of my life for many years. It has guided me in many sessions and literally saved my life several times. Each time I ignored it, things went really wrong. So I learned the hard way to trust and listen.

I remember one particularly remarkable incident when I was travelling along the Old Silk Road, also called the Marco Polo Route through South Western China. I was hiking in the beautiful Tiger Leaping Gorge. I had met another traveller on the way and we were hiking through this remote gorge together.

I remember clearly the moment when we walked past a curve and all of a sudden the Tibetan Plateau was there, right in from of our eyes. I was stunned and fascinated by the scenery. I suggested a break, we ate, and the girl was pushing me to continue. I kept telling her to just enjoy the view and to wait a little longer. She started getting angry at me. She felt really upset I held her back. Yet even though she was shouting at me, I did not allow her to walk.

In that moment, a massive rock avalanche came down. Had we continued to walk, we would have been in the deepest part of the curve on a tiny, rocky path with heavy backpacks on our backs with the river hundreds of meters below us. I doubt we would have made it. It’s a memory that stayed with me.

What helps to strengthen intuition and what weakens it?

When we are well rested and at ease our intuition works much better than when we are stressed or too sick to feel what is right for us. This is normal, particularly if you didn’t listen to your inner knowing for a long time which is probably why you ended up in the situation in the first place. When we are disconnected from ourselves, surrounded by noise in a big, crowded city, intuition is hard to access.

I feel stuck and overwhelmed. How can I become more intuitive?

To awaken your intuition, it may help to try these things:

🌱 Spend time in undisturbed nature
🌱 Be alone with yourself without distraction such as phone or Netflix
🌱 Start listening to your body’s real needs
🌱 Write down your hunches so you can verify them later as our mind often doesn’t remember accurately
🌱 Celebrate every small success!

If you haven’t listened to that quiet inner voice, which can be quite subtle, this may take some practice. Try being kind to yourself if nothing comes up. People who are used to making decisions based on logical thinking may find it more challenging to use intuition and require a lot more effort as we need to unlearn first.

Intuition can help you reach your goal faster

Using both knowledge and intuition can help us identify the reasons for discomfort or illness. When you are not well you will be faced with making lots of important decisions that no one else can make for you. I always encourage the people I work with to verify how they feel about the information. Does it resonate or do you feel resistance?

Is it worth the effort to train your intuition?

Intuition can be great tool to have in your life! It can help daily life so much easier and guide you when making big decisions. It won’t safe you from all pain and heart breaks, but it can smoothen the path. Intuition has a lot to do with how good is the connection to yourself. People who generally get along well with themselves and are at peace tend to have a better access to their intuition than people who largely make decisions with their left brain and ignore their feelings.

In the past 20 years, my intuition has guided me many times, whether in my private banking days when I supported clients in making investment decisions or when working with corporate clients with hiring decisions… Intuition works in so many different ways, but the common ground is that we have an underlying pool of information that we can access.

I would love to hear what is your experience with intuition. Is it something familiar or rather unknown to you? Feel free to send me your questions or comments as I always enjoy hearing your thoughts and feedback!

About Jennifer