Easy Ways to Strengthen Your Intuition

Intuition is the sense that lets you grasp something right away, without walking through the usual steps of conscious reasoning. It tends to steer you toward choices that end up being good for you. People call it a "gut feeling" because the subconscious is doing the talking. Everybody has it. The useful part is that you can sharpen it, and sharper intuition means quicker, better decisions and a more satisfying life.

Start with meditation. Sitting quietly helps you settle and reset your attention, which matters here because people who trust their intuition usually know themselves well and can zero in on a problem without much effort. When you meditate, you hush the mental noise so the quieter signals from your subconscious can reach you. Facing a big decision? Give yourself time to sit with it. Meditation clears away the clutter so the only thing left in front of you is the question you actually need to answer.

Pay attention to your dreams, too. They carry messages, though the messages are rarely easy to read. Dreaming happens when the busy, analytical part of your brain finally steps back, and that pause opens a channel for the subconscious to send you signals while you sleep. Keep something by the bed. First thing in the morning, scribble down whatever you can recall so you have it to look over later and puzzle out what it might mean.

Making things also helps. Creativity cracks the mind open and puts you back in contact with your intuition. Doodling in a sketchpad is enough; it quiets the analytical side and lets the instinctive side rise. When a decision weighs on you or a feeling keeps nagging, pull out some art supplies and play. Not the artistic type? Keep a journal instead, and write down your thoughts and hunches so you can return to them.

Then test your hunches. You can't gauge how strong your intuition is until you put it to work, and testing is the way to find out. When you get a gut feeling about something, follow it. Write the hunch down first so you can check later whether it panned out. Some are easy to measure quickly: picking a horse you have a feeling about, or trusting your own read on tomorrow's weather over the forecaster's. Those give you feedback almost right away.

Break your routine when you can. Stepping away from the ordinary helps while you're trying to reconnect with your instincts. Before a major decision, clear a day and skip anything that demands heavy concentration. The idea is to empty your head enough that your intuition has room to speak. Time outdoors works especially well. Nature loosens the mind and invites a kind of reflection you won't find anywhere else. Go for a hike, or just sit in the woods or out in a field and let the quiet do its work.

Intuition shapes who you are and the choices you make. A strong sense of it lets you decide faster and steer toward what's good for you. Building it up is worth the effort, and it's something anyone can practice. Pair intuition with plain logic and you think more clearly, landing on the options that actually serve you.

- Rosemary Kitchen. Resource: Olson, S. (2014). 6 Ways to Sharpen Your Intuition. Retrieved on March 6, 2015.

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