What is “Intuition”? Authentic Intuition, the real intuition that is available to any one who is willing to listen for it, is that quiet inner voice or feeling that consistently guides us toward being and doing our best in every moment. It’s the voice that many call “Your Conscious”, “Your Guide”. Your conscious is your guide, and your intuition is your conscious and your guide as well. The voice, what does it sound like? It is kind, it is loving, it is gentle yet-direct, it is honest, it will never say anything that will hurt you, it will never offend your heart, it will never intentionally send you into a negative situation, it may give you information that might wound your “ego” a little bit, but only if It’s purpose is to help you with your souls growth. When that happens, you will know it because you’ll get that feeling in your gut confirming that your “feelings” got hurt, but its probably the best thing for you, and/or your friends, family, pets. etc. Intuition is a gift from Spirit to help us along our way. It is to help our souls ascend, to bring us closer to the “All That Is”.

So how do you know that “voice” or feeling is truly authentic? That it belongs to you? That you are getting the “right” information? That it’s not a negative ego message…

Here are 10 signs to help you know or recognize Your Authentic Intuition.

1. Intuition is a quiet voice, a whisper—not a shout. But it’s also not a strange whisper, like you probably won’t hear “psssst, hey, I’m behind you”. True intuition will not compete to be heard—it simply is. It is a feeling, a nuance, an inkling, a subtle knowingness that is always accessible but not always acknowledged. The speed of life has a lot to do with your ability to understand and work with your inner wisdom. ***Exception: If your intuition is shouting at you, it is time to acknowledge that that light you are seeing moving toward you really is an oncoming train, a mugger about to steel your wallet, a pre-glimpse into helping prevent an accident perhaps.

2. There is a sense of calmness and certainty, I like to call it my “gentle knowing” in the intuitive awareness process. While it is not always easy to trust intuition at first (mostly because that is not a generally accepted practice of socialization in our formative years), there is a feeling of confidence in the intuitive insight. Authentic intuition just feels right when it is. **Unfortunately, intuition isn’t a lesson our parents taught us as children, but you may have learned it yourself unknowingly to “survive”, you had to listen to your intuition if you grew up in an abusive, alcoholic or extremely dysfunctional home because it’s probably what kept you safe. Although this tends to be a highly developed sense of knowing your intuitive messages, it’s sadly a technique that we probably taught ourselves at a very early age, and because it became such an ingrained part of who you were, chances are that you listen to your messages now, you just aren’t completely aware that you are doing it, it’s just a gut feeling you’ve learned to react and move to. Good job ~ It’s brought you this far! Now if you can teach yourself to use it for all the wonderful reasons instead of just to protect yourself. Your intuition can guide you to many wonderful, prosperous, loving and abundant places!

3. Your body experiences “breathing” in all ways. For instance, if your stress gets triggered, that fight or flight response, your body releases chemicals and hormones. A hormone call Cortisol is released and stored, usually increasing your awareness to immediate surroundings. When we are in a state of fear, stress, or confusion, our bodies also respond and become tensed and muscles tighten, our breathing becomes shallow, and we can be easily distracted, or find that its difficult to concentrate on anything else besides the fear. When we choose to let our intuition help us, you will be given a sense, a feeling, or you may even hear yourself say “Breath, take a deep breath, just breath…” By following those intuitive instructions, even for something as “breathing”, following it and experiencing our authentic intuition leads to a release of that heavy or constricted sensation. You will feel lighter, and that it is suddenly easier to take a deep breath, your breath may lengthen instead of shorten, you may experience a sense of freshness or easiness in your ability to breath, literally!

4. It will seem like your “vision”, or your “life spectacles” that you use to view your world, just got cleaned. The world will look brighter and cleaner, shapes are sharper, even smells seem sweeter. Your intuitive insight has gifted you with clarity; the distractions to appreciating your world are gone, the mind fog has lifted and your vision and your senses are connected again to the world outside of you due to your intuitive direction. If you suddenly notice that your spring cleaning never did get sprung, you know you have had a solid intuitive connection. (So that is the upside or the downside of noticing housework depending on how you look at it, hahaha. . . .)

5. The solution feels easy and natural. When your intuition gives you a genuine answer, there is a gentle and relaxed energy. This guidance can feel like permission or maybe even forgiveness. The insight is personal, and you know it to be true like you know being your own body—completely natural and in sync with who you are at your essence. When it is authentic intuition, the message is effortlessly just for you. I have to admit, before I really tuned into my intuition and my spirit guides, I remember having a much lower tolerance for anger, stress, and frustration. If one of my kids did something wrong at school, if we were running late getting somewhere, I just felt like I wanted to scream, or cry. Once I began using my intuition things felt like they were calming down. I didn’t really feel frustrated as much if at all, when someone did something towards me that was hurtful or rude I no longer felt reactive to it. Now that I listen to almost all of my intuitive messages, (I’m not perfect) my life feels so calm, rarely do I ever get mad or yell at my kids, my husband and I never fight, things just flow!

6. True intuition will not harm you (or anyone else, for that matter!). Your inner wisdom is a compass guiding you toward what is in your best interest at all times. It is impossible for authentic intuition to share space with negativity or malicious intention. Intuition serves only your best and highest good. Your intuition may direct you to do something that you may not feel you want to do, but if you take the time to really think about it, its something that is ultimately helping or going to help you. For example, it may be time to end a relationship, this may hurt both of you, you and your partner. But it is your ego that is being wounded. It is in these times where the hurt we are feeling is at our “ego’s” level, it is not something that will hurt our soul, actually it is meant to help our soul grow and to learn so that our soul can move closer to The Creator. If you were to think about the relationship, you would probably find that overall, it is a disservice to prolong the relationship, it has served its purpose. The healthy cycle of life (birth, living, dying) is inherent in every part of life and is inexorably linked with every phase of our lives—including intuition. The bottom line is that bad things do not come from good intuition!

7. Never under-estimate the power of intuitive insight. Intuition, that intuitive voice, can convey messages to you, intuition sparks a level of creativity in each-being, doing whatever it might take to get a message across to us. Sometimes intuition is baffling in what it communicates, which could be a symptom of not knowing your internal intuitive language, or it could be that you are not quite ready to assimilate that information. Intuition is amazingly creative and yet perfectly simple. If something pops in seemingly from out of nowhere but addresses exactly what is needed in a kind, gracious, undiluted, and perhaps unfamiliar way, it is a message to be taken seriously. But the message here is that it may also come to you in a way that is unexpected, a chain-link if you will of signs, hints, words, pictures, events, etc. that will, if attention is being minded, a message to you from Spirit that is not to be ignored. I am a particular fan of those “chain-linked” messages from Spirit because it shows me each time how incredible our Universe, Our souls and Spirit communicate in such a beautiful dance. For me there is a bit of sadness if I miss a “sign”, because I know that Spirit took the time and the effort to help me, but I was probably to out of my heart and not into my awareness to see. Practice does make perfect!

8. Authentic intuition will sometimes speak in repetition. Especially if it is a message that Spirit is determined to get you to see it. Intuition often shows up as consistent messages, such as hearing a word or phrase, seeing it in a magazine, then passing a picture of it on a billboard, then turning on the radio and the first thing you hear is a song with the words, “Life is worth living”, or “Don’t let love go”. There are no coincidences, only synchronicities. Many intuitive insights appear in dreams, where our conscious minds cannot censor the messages. Intuition will pass if you do not listen as it has no enforceable interest in being heard. Additionally, exercising free will in making choices overrides even the best intuition. However, if something shows up often for you, it is time to take notice. If you ignore an important intuitive message, it will show up again bigger and louder until you cannot miss it. (Much like the movie Groundhog Day, it is a do-over until you get it right!)

9. There is a sense of easiness, a “flow” you will feel, it will open up your eyes to Spirit and life in other ways. The purpose of authentic intuition is to help pull you forward in being your best. It creates space for your life to move in a dynamic, positive way. Things will start lining up easily and effortlessly. There is a new sense of open energy, ready to receive what is being attracted to you. Authentic intuition is to your life what water is to an ocean—it is an integral, changing element that creates, reinvents, and connects all parts of itself by being and “flowing.” When intuition is flowing, it is likely that your life is too. I tend to feel that each day is like a river, a river that flows into that big bold ocean. So each day, it is our “job” to see the messages, “hear” the voice within”, so that we may flow within our river instead of getting stuck, when water gets stuck it becomes stagnate. We want it to flow, because as we flow, our soul flows too, allowing us to grow and become once again, closer to “The All That Is.”

10. Manifestation and abundance blooms around you. We are the creators, the dream makers, the map-shifters of our own-life experiences. Intuition is a vital tool that illuminates all that is available to us in our relationships between our inner and outer worlds. Authentic intuition helps us to see the bigger picture and turn it into something meaningful and accessible that we can implement and use in our everyday lives. As a conscious creation instrument, intuition helps us manifest what we need and desire; upon connecting with authentic inner wisdom, you will know the power when you see (and acknowledge) the richness of what is manifesting around you. The more open you are to it, the more you embrace it, the more richness and beauty you will discover and enjoy in your life.

My personal experience with getting to know My Intuition, well, I have heard my name being called, pulling me out of a daze bringing me back to realization…I was driving! Other times, I’ll hear a quick quiet voice that says “Do it”, “No”, “Not a good idea”, “relax”, “breathe”, or “stop”. I have found that intuition is particularly helpful when it comes to driving, without a GPS or map to guide your way. When to call a friend who happens to be in need at that exact time, knowing your child is hurt, maybe not physically but emotionally. Or just for fun, knowing who is calling you on the phone before you pick it, guessing what color, black or red, when turning cards over in a new deck of playing cards, doing a reading for a friend, and best of all, communicating with a loved one who has passed over and being able to be present when they send you validation that they are really here with us, letting us know that they love us and that they are safe and happy. Namaste

Blow Your Dreams To The Wind, and Watch Them Return, Manifested

I’ve noticed in the past three days, there has been a change of sorts. I have heard many people talk about how in 2012 the “veil” will be or is thinning. I can say that I actually believe now that this is the case. In the past week, many friends have called and said “You wouldn’t believe what happened to me!” and they proceed to tell me how certain items in their home have moved or disappeared even to reappear the next day when they know for a fact that whatever item they were looking for was definitely not there twenty minutes ago….Others have sworn that they have had visits, dreams, or heard a voice that sounded eerily similar to there parent who past away last year. One friend is finally accepting that she has the ability to know and have a general sense of what’s going to happen a day in advance.  Some may find that there “God-given” talents suddenly seem bigger, stronger or more apparent. (singing, artists, musicians, etc.)

With all that being said know this…the veil has thinned, and Welcome to My World!  It can be a bit scary at first, some of you who are sensitives may find that you are now much more on target with your hunches, empaths (those who feel or sense what others do) may have it the hardest. Because you may suddenly feel sad or angry or happy when every thing else in your world is the opposite because your absorbing someone else’s feelings (who may live across the states, like a cousin or aunt)…my advice is to imagine a white, pink, purple or blue bubble of light surrounding you like an egg. Do this every morning before you get out of bed, and remind yourself of your egg throughout the day. It will help others energies bounce off of you instead of sticking to you, wreaking havoc with your emotions. 

The last thing I want to say is YOU ARE NOT CRAZY, in fact embracing these six sensory abilities can and will lead you to a much happier and abundant life, if you can take on the challenge of learning how to use your new found intuitive abilities and “God-given” talents they will make your life easier, and I have to say this…if you choose to ignore the little voice that’s says do, and you don’t – life can get frustrating. It’s the feeling of trying to walk in a river, against the current, you feel stuck.

I’ve learned to embrace these strange, fun and sometimes life saving abilities and it hasn’t always been easy. I can say that you learn who your real friends are, you also learn to accept those for who they really are. But I can tell you that my life is filled with so much love and gratitude now-everyday! I probably couldn’t have said that twenty years ago when I spent a great deal of my time trying to ignore the messages or tuning them out all together. It can make for a life filled with confusion and frustration. 

The lesson for me has been mainly about love, loving everyone unconditionally and loving yourself NO MATTER WHAT!  Accepting everyone including yourself, good or bad, and trusting that we all have someone whose got our backs. When you need a little or a lot of help from what feels like your worst day, ask your spirit guides or the angelic realm that surrounds us all for some assistance, then get out of your own way…then watch amazing things happen! 

The more you try to control your life the more life reminds you that you have no control! Let go of all the fear and open your heart to love! 
Darkness is really just fear based, and lacks light.  The light is love, and that can be different things for different people. Some may say its family, some might say friends, some might call it God, The Creator, The All That Is.  It doesn’t matter what you call it…Just be open to it!

Wishing you all love, light and laughter in the New Year!