Image by Martín Alfonso Sierra Ospino
What about those times in our life when, no matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to get in sync with ourselves? The dark nights of the soul — we all have them. None of us lives a life perfectly aligned with our intuition. We have to not follow our intuition to understand why we should. Those days, weeks, or years of misalignment — when we are confused or stuck — are powerful lessons that hold the seeds of our transformation.
Life can be painful; we experience losses, sickness, disappointments, and painful situations — even trauma. People can be hurtful: They may not treat us with respect; they might abuse us; they might, simply, let us down. So how, in the midst of such suffering, do we take back our power? How do we step into our truth and take back our life?
As always, the solution comes from the inside. No person or circumstance can steal your joy, your love — or your personal power. They can distract you from it; they can talk you out of it or try to pry you away from it. But your inner wholeness is never lost.
In Times of Trial, Our Intuition Is Most Important
No matter how dark life gets, you have an escape route within. Like the great saints and martyrs who found illumination in prison or under the harshest persecution, no person or injury can block entry to your sanctuary within — or the power it holds.
When life is hard, when the world seems cold, the ease and warmth of our supreme state calls us to go within. It calls us to the light of truth. It asks us to love others, despite their unconsciousness or ignorance. It gives us the strength to look past the pain.
Our challenges not only wake us up, but as they continue throughout life, they accelerate our awakening to higher levels. By following our intuition through these challenges, we lift ourselves up and out of even the lowest and darkest places.
Intuitive Dissonance: Being Out of Sync with Our Intuition
From time to time, when we are in a funk or out of sorts — no matter how intuitive we naturally are — we find ourselves in a place where we just can’t connect with our intuition. We don’t know what it is saying to us; we are confused or reluctant to act on it. We are in the dreaded state of intuitive dissonance. If or when this happens to you, remember that it is normal and can be remedied.
Here are some reasons why intuition “shuts off,” and the steps you can take to turn it back on to take back your life:
1. Blocked transmission: When you have repressed energy, thoughts, or feelings, you create intuitive blocks that prevent your intuitive signals from getting through.
What to do about it: Start transmuting that stuck energy into release, forgiveness, and openheartedness. Consider implementing a new flow practice to help open up those intuitive circuits. Talk and journal about your unexpressed thoughts and feelings to open a pathway for insight.
2. Confusion: Are you still not sure what your intuition is telling you? We are often confused because, no matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to tell the difference between our intuition and our regular thoughts or imagination.
What to do about it: Practice, practice! Pay close attention to your first impressions and the resonance that calls you forward. Use Insight Cards (download here) — or work with a friend — because, with intuition, our practice makes us perfect.
3. Doubt: Are you second-guessing your intuition? If so, this is a sign that you don’t yet trust it. It’s okay; it takes time to build trust.
What to do about it: Keep practicing and use your insight journal to keep track of the wins that will build confidence. Make note of each extraordinary insight so you remind yourself: You can do this!
4. Overthinking: Analysis paralysis is very common, even when we are working with intuition. Our minds always want more information.
What to do about it: Practice controlling the mind through meditation, mantras, or presence. Widen the gap between your thoughts so you can hear that insight more clearly. Once you have enough information from the way you think, make your choice by the way you feel.
5. Over-empathizing: As an intuitive person, it can be hard to differentiate our own energy from the energy of others. Being empathetic, we can easily confuse other people’s feelings or direction with our own.
What to do about it: Set an intention to stay on your center and continually check in with your sense of resonance, asking yourself: Does this feel like me? Is this my path? Become aware of your own energy and set boundaries so you don’t give your power away to others.
6. Fear: Fear of failure, fear of judgment, fear of making a mistake, fear of being wrong — there are so many ways that fear can sabotage our intuitive journey.
What to do about it: Remind yourself at all times that, no matter what, you are supported by life itself. Consider creating a mantra and practicing it several times a day to “reprogram” the fear from your mind.
7. Lack of confidence: Sometimes we think: I could never do that. I am not good enough. We kill intuition when we don’t believe in ourselves — when we don’t recognize the potential we hold inside of us.
What to do about it: Remind yourself that the only limits are the limits of your mind. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do. That is the job of your intuition, alone. If you can intuit it, you can do it!
8. Identification with our “old” self: Sometimes it’s hard to break free from our past — from the labels others have given us or that we have given ourselves. We have spent a lifetime creating our identity. Even when we grow beyond that self-identification, we can at times fall back into our old, habitual ways.
What to do about it: Never give up. Keep creating and re-creating your life until your masterpiece is complete. All you really are is who you are in this moment. Even if you fall back — which we all do from time to time — remember, your intuition is waiting to help pick you up when you are ready.
The Process of Awakening Is Not One-Directional
Life’s challenges can draw us forward and backward, as we learn our lessons. The lull of unconsciousness reclaims us all from time to time. When we suffer, or times become difficult, we can become disconnected from our inner strength and the wisdom that comes with it.
RADICAL INSIGHT
All forms of suffering have one singular cause
— the disconnection from our true self.
It is important to recognize that our pain and disappointment — our times of dissonance — are not failures in themselves. They are simply by-products of the root problem, which is our disconnection from our life-affirming insight and inner wisdom. This is an empowering recognition. With it, we understand that our suffering is not the result of our actions, circumstances, or what anyone else has done to us. It is the result of closing off to our trust, acceptance, and limitless potential to rise above it all.
When you are in the resonant, intuitive state of trust in life, everything feels good and possible. You wonder how anything could ever go wrong. You feel encouraged and supported in all you do because you are on the uplifted path.
When you are going the wrong way, the friction is meant to slow you down — those nudges and redirects get you back on the high road. They aren’t a punishment; they are a redirect. No matter how lost you get, or how much life hurts, your intuition holds the signposts for your way home.
Extraordinary People, Extraordinary Insight: Trust Yourself
Dennis Palumbo, Hollywood screenwriter, author, and psychotherapist:
Trusting your intuition means trusting yourself. Most of us, when we look back on our mistakes, can see that our intuition gave us some warning signs. We ignored them because someone convinced us to or because it seemed to be what was expected of us.
The most important step you can take on this journey is to accept who you are and where you have been. If you had a job you didn’t like, or were in a marriage that was painful, or had an experience that you were ashamed of, ask yourself: What did I learn from that? Where does my intuition want me to go next?
There is something to be garnered from every experience we have — even if, in retrospect, we wish we hadn’t done it. The totality of everything that you have done is fuel for your intuition.
One of the reasons you have good intuition is because of all of the times you had bad intuition. If we don’t denigrate anything we have been up to this moment, then this moment is full and rich — and we are, too.
Following your intuition takes personal courage. That’s why it is important to remember that you only have one life. You have one precious life. So if someone says it’s risky to follow your intuition, I would argue it’s riskier not to. You are risking your one precious life, living someone else’s idea of who you should be.
©2020 by Kim Chestney. All Rights Reserved.
Excerpted with permission of the publisher.
Publisher: New World Library.
Article Source
Radical Intuition: A Revolutionary Guide to Using Your Inner Power
by Kim Chestney
Radical Intuition reveals an all new understanding of intuition and how to use it to live an extraordinary life. This practical guide will teach you to go beyond thinking and discover higher awareness with the power of intuition — a revolutionary force at the threshold of a new era of consciousness. Kim Chestney gives clear guidance for tuning in to your own process of insight, backed by voices from successful insight leaders who recognize intuition as the source of genius in all aspects of life. Learn how to tap into your inner wisdom and create the life you are made for.
For more info, or to order this book, click here. (Also available as a Kindle edition.)
Books by this Author
About the Author
Kim Chestney is a globally recognized author, innovation leader, and intuition expert. As the founder of IntuitionLab and the CREATE! Festival, she has touched thousands of lives by raising awareness of “insight” as a revolutionary next step in the evolution of both personal and world consciousness. Working for nearly twenty years in the tech sector, Kim has led initiatives with some of the top thought leaders, technology companies, and universities in the world. Her books have been published around the globe and translated into multiple languages since 2004. Kim leads a thriving global intuition community with online intuition training, professional certification, live workshops, and retreats. Visit her website at KimChestney.com/
