Recognizing the difference between intuition and emotion or wishful thinking can feel confusing, yet developing this sense is an exciting part of our Spiritual journey. It can give us access to guidance from our higher self, empower us to trust in our decisions, and open our eyes to the synchronicities which playfully line up for us.
There are very noticeable differences in the way intuition feels in the body, versus the way thoughts and feelings are experienced. Tuning into your true intuitive voice starts by taking some time to pause and be present with the experience when you feel you may be receiving intuitive information.
To help you determine if what you are sensing is genuine intuition or not, I recommend asking yourself the following 3 questions. These are checkpoints for yourself. As you go through them you are consciously turning your awareness inward. The more you practice this presence with yourself, the easier it will be become to recognize the difference between true knowledge, and your own emotions or thoughts.
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1. Is the information connected to a strong sensation of anxiety or emotion in the body?
Many of our emotions have a physical sensation that comes with them – these are often intense. Emotion or wishful thinking is agitated and unsettled and it’s also inconsistent. Your mind makes up the “what if” scenario and your emotions feed into that. It creates an uncertain and unsteady feeling around the information.
Intuition is quiet, it does not have the same charge that emotions brings with it. It is settled and calm. Even if the intuition is not an outcome you would desire, it doesn’t bring up a powerfully unpleasant charge in the body. You may have sensations such as the hairs raising on your arms or back of your neck, you may have tingling or pressure in your crown chakra. But none of these will be unpleasant or fearful. You may also experience a feeling as though your body is expanding into the knowledge coming forward. That this information is not outside of you, but rather it is part of you. If this is what your experience feels like, you can trust that it is intuition.
2. Ask yourself is this true?
You can do this into yourself in your head, but I actually recommend speaking it out loud and then asking yourself if what you said feels true. If you can’t answer that question with confidence, if you can’t really answer yes or no, chances are this is not intuition. This is where consistency comes in. Intuition is clear and consistent. It is quiet and subtle, but it’s going to give you the same answer every time – and it’s not going to nag you about it. Intuition isn’t going to ask you to buy into it. On the other hand, your emotions, will. Your emotions are going to generate thoughts that feed your ‘what if’ story. Intuition is a calm sense of knowing, and when you ask yourself is this true – your heart with answer YES. You can experiment with speaking your intuitions out loud and then asking yourself out loud – is this true? Or you can write your intuitions down and then come back and revisit them a few days or weeks later to see, what was true intuition and what was not. In writing things down – include any sensations that came with information.
3. Where do you feel the intuition in the body?
Intuition is a knowing that comes from the heart and the energetic body. It is not a mental exercise. If we’re engaging in thought, we are engaged with the loop between thoughts and feelings. If your intuition arises from your mind, I’d advise you to be suspicious of it. Intuition is typically felt most strongly in the heart or gut area of the body and the energetic body or light-body. If this is where you feel the information resides, it’s much more likely to be intuition, than if it is sitting as a thought or image in your mind.
Always remember that intuition is neutral and objective, it is not attached to one outcome or another. Emotion is not. Emotion wants something or fears something. Intuition may still speak to us when we are emotionally charged, but it can be challenging to hear that intuition when our emotions are so loud.
When this happens it’s vital to let go of your attachment to one outcome or another. Allow your emotions to calm, and then listen for that quiet and steady voice. These are opportunities to balance our emotional and energetic bodies and come to understand ourselves more deeply, also.
Allow yourself space to feel out what is intuition and what is emotion. Use the circumstances in your life to hone this awareness. And have some fun with it! Use these three questions to help you tune into your inner voice and develop your intuitive senses.
