Guest Post

Everyone can access their intuitive abilities, but if you resonate as a sensitive person or an empath- you have a tremendous gift of being able to tap into your intuition more easily. However, HSPs and empaths tend to struggle with trusting themselves, so while you can tap into your intuition more quickly, you may also second-guess yourself and move into fear more quickly. 

In this post, you’ll discover how to access your intuition and experience a powerful practice to tap into your empowered Self without fear, revealing your intuitive compass. Let’s start at the very beginning, which will help pave the way for our journey together.

Where Does Intuition Come From? 

From a spiritual perspective, intuition is your Higher Self speaking to you- your Higher Self provides the compass to take the next best steps forward in your life. 

Your Higher Self is the ascended part of your Soul, also known as the “Oversoul.” The Soul is a light body (also known as an astral body) that travels from lifetime to lifetime, experiencing all it chooses to experience. It directly connects to the personality.

The Soul can feel disconnected from life as you go on this journey- unless you connect with your Higher Self or Oversoul. 

The Higher Self is still deeply connected to the higher aspects of consciousness, that is, love, and is never hurt or negatively affected by your experiences.  Your Soul can be affected by the traumas and difficulties of life, but your Soul is also cleansed of these experiences-from this perspective, nothing painful is permanent. 

Another essential thing to consider is that the Soul may believe it’s disconnected from the Higher Self, but only a perception difference causes this reality. The goal is not to try and create a connection between the Soul and Higher Self but to remember that there IS already the connection- that just needs to be cultivated. Think of it this way; your Soul can experience and identify with all lower dimensions of experience while your Higher Self only exists in the higher dimensions of consciousness. 

Your Higher Self is the one who provides intuitive messages that get passed down to your Soul or Consciousness  (which is true you that goes through all of your life experiences) and filters through your ego mind.

Why It Can Feel So hard To Access Your Intuition

The ego is the mind-made identity you think yourself to be. It’s only a collection of past conditioning and old internal programs that keep it in place. The ego mind is a mix of various sub-personalities- also known as parts of you- initially created to protect you from harm. Our ego mind is essential, as it gives us an identity that is so important to survive in this world. And at the same time, the ego mind often takes over out of fear that it is separate from everything and everyone, which causes a lot of suffering and distress, in addition to feeling cut off from our intuition.

Check out this blog post for more details on sub-personalities and awakening your Higher Self: https://www.juliebjelland.com/hsp-blog/hsps-guide-awaken-your-highest-self)

 You may have noticed that fear clouds your judgment in making decisions in your day-to-day life. The ego translates the experience you are receiving from your old conditioned patterns.  These patterns have been etched within your conscious and subconscious mind since birth (and before that, in some cases).

For example, let’s say your Higher Self guides you to leave a relationship that isn’t serving your highest good. This information will pass down to your Soul and filter through the ego. The ego then takes this uncomfortable intuitive feeling and contemplates how you might never find another relationship because of (insert reasons here), so you must stay together. 

Alternatively, the ego may get triggered by this feeling relayed by your Higher Self. Let’s say this brings up memories or somatic experiences of your parent's divorce and how you were affected- you may start to internalize this if you don’t understand what is happening. Possibly you might even suppress these emotions causing you to stay in a relationship that isn’t working for many years. 

Underneath all these ego triggers is an inner system trying to protect you from one or more of these core wounds: Shame, Disempowerment, Survival, and Abandonment- this is the root cause of our disconnection from our intuition.

What Does Intuition Feel Like?

Intuition can be described as a “knowing without knowing” or an innate “this feels right” or “this feels wrong” experience. You might notice it in your heart, in your gut, or all over your body. Often intuition comes through without having the logical reasoning to back it up.

To share an example, several years ago, I had an intuitive hit that I needed to move to California to begin a  holistic psychotherapy graduate program. It meant I had to leave behind all of my friends and family in Florida and start over in a completely new state. I just knew inherently that this was my Soul’s calling. While fear did creep in every time, I made strides forward, such as when I applied for the university interview, tried to find an affordable apartment, and hugged everyone goodbye through streams of tears. 

But despite the naysayers that told me I could go anywhere for school and cautioned me against moving to the most expensive area without a job lined up, I did it anyway because my intuition was so strong. I felt an indescribable magnetic pull toward California, I just knew it was right, and I didn’t know how to explain it.

Because I followed my intuitive path, everything worked out, in fact, much better than I had imagined- I found the ideal job right away (and was able to ride my bike there, which was a pleasant surprise). It also provided the income necessary to afford the higher living costs.
You likely have serendipitous experiences you remember - and you might find that those moments resulted from listening to your intuition. 

Accessing your intuitive compass requires a groundedness and a subtle silence within. Often our intuitive knowing comes through much softer than fear, which is another reason we can so easily overlook it. Of course, when we are in the midst of a challenging problem to face, we often fall into the trap of problem-solving with the ego mind.

Simple Steps to Break Through Fear and Access Your Intuition:

1. Consider a decision or choice you need to make soon

2. Close your eyes and allow your mind to wander about this decision to all the different possible outcomes 

3. Then check in with your body. What emotions or sensations arise as these thoughts run through your mind? You might find fear, stress, tension, and more

4. Take the pressure off for a few minutes and breathe deeply using a 5-5-7 breath for a few minutes (deep belly breath counting to  5, hold for 5, and exhale counting to 7). It gives your mind something to do and helps to calm your nervous system

5. When you return to your normal breath, state the decision to make and say to yourself, “I already know what to do deep within.”

6. Now, pose one question: “What choice would I make if fear or stress were not a factor?”

7. Notice words, images, emotional shifts, and felt sense changes in your body

If you still feel like the fear-based or busy mind is taking over and can not get a clear read on your intuition, it’s best to take a break. Go for a walk, engage in another unrelated activity, and return to this practice when you feel more relaxed. It may take you one or several times to get a clear sense of your intuitive knowing, so be patient and gentle with yourself! 

Once you have listened to your intuitive knowing and know the next best step forward, feeling confident is the next big step- especially if you tend to second-guess yourself. Naturally, confidence will grow as you continue to check in with your body to build self-awareness of your inner patterns. Over time, you can separate the ego mind, its fears, and concerns with your intuitive knowing.

If you’d like to go deeper, I invite you to take the core wound quiz to find out what might be causing the root block to your intuitive knowing and receive free resources for healing (Shame, Disempowerment, Survival, and Abandonment): https://one-awakening.involve.me/corewoundquiz)

No matter what you may be going through, I’m sending you so much love for your intuitive healing journey in the knowledge that your higher wisdom is always here, waiting for you to uncover it.

Amie Dean is a Clinically Certified Trauma Professional and Awakening Transformation Coach specializing in high sensitivity. Her Awakened Living Community and online courses have helped hundreds of empaths and HSPs break free of the four core wounds hindering their growth in their spirituality, relationships, work/career, and life purpose. She guides them to fully align with their Higher Selves to awaken their true essence and live meaningfully while sharing their gifts with the world.

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Julie Bjelland, LMFT, is an HSP Psychotherapist specializing in high sensitivity, author of The Empowered Highly Sensitive Person, and founder of the exceptionally ranked Sensitive Empowerment Community. Julie's HSP Podcast is among the top 5% of the most shared and followed worldwide. Her online courses and free resources have helped millions of HSPs reduce the challenges of living with sensitivity, and her greatest joy lies in helping HSPs discover their significant value to the world. Julie's brain training program has proven to reduce anxiety within the first two weeks. Explore all her resources at JulieBjelland.com❤️🌈❤️ (she/her)