healing

How Do We Grow Our Intuition?

How Do We Grow Our Intuition?

What is Intuition?

There are many names for intuition: instinct, gut feeling, hunch, inner guide, sixth sense, divination, clairvoyance, higher self. Whatever you call it, we all have it. It’s the part of our being that is grounded, calm, present, and able to make authentic choices.

Intuition is defined as: “a thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning.”

Intuition is the hidden whisper within that invites you closer to yourself and to the mysteries of life. We each have this inner guiding compass of intuition and yet it takes time, practice and a commitment to ones self to re-member and develop an intimate relationship with it.  Intuition often arises as a felt sense in the body, a somatic awareness that is asking for you to pay attention and listen.

 

How Can I Tap Into & Strengthen My Intuition?

We all have a natural capacity to connect to our deeper intuitive knowing. Often growing our intuition is easier said than done with all the noise and chatter we can have in our minds.

 

External Distractions

Noise from stress and anxiety, noise from external stimulus like the news, social media, other people, or our own negative harsh judgmental voice. It takes time and practice to quiet these distracting voices and learn to tune into our intuition.

 

Rational Thought vs Intuition

We have to learn the distinction between conscious rational thought and intuition.

 

Practicing Mindfulness

We grow this capacity to tune into our intuition through mindfulness – turning our awareness inward toward our body, breath, and mind. Focusing on body sensations and our breathing can help us to quiet the voices in our mind. It allows awareness of an inner space to arise in our consciousness – a quieter and calmer space where we can tune in and begin to hear the voice of our deeper self – our intuition. It is there, waiting for us. Through meditative practice and turning inward again and again, we gradually can become more grounded. Through mindfulness and intention, we find peace and begin to hear our inner voice of knowing – our intuition.

 

Ask for Guidance

There are other relational ways to support the development of one’s intuition including engaging in therapy and/or healing modalities. Psychotherapy allows one to feel the supportive presence of another person as you look at and begin to call into question certain pattern and ways of being about yourself in a respectful way. You get the space to look at yourself understand in a more in-depth way – how and why you do what you do. Therapy also provides a space to develop insight, awareness, and self-compassion. It provides a space where we can begin to rewrite and re-imagine new possibilities for our life.

 

Questions to consider when connecting to your intuition:
  • How do I feel right now?
  • How does my body feel?
  • What is calling to me in this moment?
  • Is there an impulse that wants to move through me, or words that want to be spoken?
  • In what ways does my creativity want to be expressed?

 

Ongoing ways to connect to your intuition:
  • Pay attention to your dreams and record them in a journal
  • Spend time in nature and notice what nature evokes on you. Nature often serves as a mirror to a deeper part of our self.
  • Pray (this can be religious, spiritual, or both and is not bound to a particular religion).
  • Allow yourself to play, feel joy, and be curious.
  • Spend time in meditation, quieting your mind and listening.

 

If you would like additional guidance to tap into and grow your intuitive knowing, I would love to support you on this journey. Contact me online or email me at [email protected].

Posted by Kim Ann Clay in Psychotherapy
Finding Your Purpose Through Healing

Finding Your Purpose Through Healing

As we continue to live and adjust during this pandemic, we are learning more about ourselves and others. Covid has been called “The Great Awakener” because we have been forced to slow down and have gained a better understanding of what really matters in life. When we begin to have a deeper understanding of ourselves and our priorities, we can begin to heal and find purpose.

 

CHOOSING LOVE OVER FEAR

We are all here for a reason. What if our job at this time of great change in the world is to “wake up”? During this great awakening, awaken to the pieces in yourself that are out of balance – the parts that need love and healing, remembering and reconnection. There are a lot of scary external things going on in the world that are out of our control, so we have to turn inward to love and care for ourselves so we can heal and support others.

 

HEALING THE WOUNDS OF OUR CHILD CONSCIOUSNESS

As we self-reflect and turn inwards, we become more aware of the parts of us that need healing, and it’s often that inner child that lives in all of us. Whether you suffered from trauma, neglect, or lack of nourishment – no matter how small or extreme – it stays with us into adulthood. If they were painful experiences, we try to block it out, which prevents that part of us from healing. As we work to heal that inner child, we bridge the gap between the child and our positive adult self. We can begin to heal the whole self, past and present, and support others on their paths of healing.

 

“PEOPLE BECOME PEOPLE THROUGH OTHER PEOPLE”

We aren’t meant to awaken and heal on our own. Although inner work and healing is personal, we need the support of other people. It’s OK to need others and ask for help. Adults, especially those who have experienced trauma, neglect, or lack of parental support during early childhood, have a tendency to push through life with an overcompensated sense of self-sufficiency. But we aren’t meant to go it alone. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. We need the connection with and support of others as guides on our path of healing and awakening.

 

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?

Why are we here? The awakening and healing process allows us to remember our gifts. What have we come here to do? How can we use our gifts to be of service to others on their own paths of awakening? Rather than focusing on productivity, getting work done, or checking off items on our “to-do” lists, we can spend this time healing ourselves with the support of others, and acting as a guide to support others. Who are your people? Reconnect with yourself and others so we can collectively heal. Perhaps that is our purpose during this time.

 

No one can do this work on their own – we need the presence of another person to accompany us on that journey inward to be supported or challenged. If you need support during this process of awakening and internal healing, I’m here for you. Contact me online or email me at [email protected].

Posted by Kim Ann Clay in Psychotherapy