What Is Intuition? How to Develop Your Intuition

The following is an excerpt from the recording, How to Tap into Your Intuition to Achieve Amazing Success, which is included with the e-program, How to Get More Done in a Day Than Most Accomplish in a Week.

You may also listen to this short clip from the audio here:

MP3 File (5 minutes)

Marnie Pehrson: Tell me a little about what intuition is. When we talk about that it seems a little nebulous for some people.

Andrea Hess: Absolutely. Well, there are really two versions of what intuition is. There is the scientific version and there is the spiritually based version. Science will tell us that there is such a thing as intuition. But science really regards it more as a collection of information that has been stored in the subconscious mind and comes to the forefront as necessary. That's certainly how science will look at it, and other people will look at it that way.

The way I look at it is much more from the spiritual perspective. Intuition is information that comes from our spirit, from our soul. That's our soul self communicating with us, that's our spirit talking to us. So, when we're talking about intuition, we're talking about that line of communication that comes from the greater part of ourselves. To those who may be worried about developing their intuition and how that might conflict with their religious beliefs, I always say, "Most religions support the idea that we have a soul. And if we can get behind the idea that we have a soul, then we can certainly get behind the idea of developing our intuition in order to communicate with our soul self -- because that's really the most divine part of ourselves. That's really our true self -- who we really are." So that's how I define intuition -- as communication that comes from our spirit.

Marnie Pehrson: What are the benefits to intuition?

Andrea Hess: There are a couple of main benefits. First, we start identifying more with who we are as spiritual beings. So we start recognizing we are not just our minds, not just our feelings, certainly not just our physical bodies. There's something greater to us -- our higher self, our spirits. Rather than just identifying with our minds and everything that is here, sort of at the physical level, rather than identifying with our ego, our thoughts, we start recognizing that we are spiritual beings in a physical experience. And out of that comes a lot of personal and spiritual growth.

The ego, which runs our lives for the most part, builds this little shrine to itself. This is who I am; these are my good habits, my bad habits. This is just how I do things. The ego doesn't embrace change. The ego's job is pretty much to keep us safe, and within our comfort zone, and to make sure everything stays the same. "This is who I am." That's how it survives. So, if we're going to evolve on any level, change is going to become a part of that.

So, when we start accessing our intuition we can start moving forward. We can allow our spirits to move us in the direction of greater personal and spiritual growth. If we do what we've always done, we get what we've always gotten. And if there's going to be change in our lives, we have a much greater chance of moving foreword into that change if we allow our intuition and our spirits to guide us.

Finally, we can really receive a lot of help in our decision making when we use our intuition. Let's face it, the future is totally uncertain. We can draw on our past experiences and look on the experience of others. We can try to figure out what choices we should make based on that. That still is not going to tell us whether our choices are going to work for us or have the desired outcomes.

But intuition is information that comes from our spirit, and our spirits exist outside of linear time. It is the part of us that is the source of our inner wisdom, that knows what the path and purpose is for this lifetime. It's absolutely the wisest part of us. So, when we tap into that we make much, much better decisions that actually end up creating the life we want for ourselves. So those are just some of the benefits of developing our intuition.

Marnie Pehrson: Do you find that some people can't tell the difference between their intuition and their imagination or their fears.

Andrea Hess: Absolutely! And that's why we have to practice it. Intuition is absolutely available to everyone. It is something that needs to be cultivated though. It's not one of those things some people imagine where the heavens open, angels start singing, a voice that sounds like James Earl Jones descends, "This is what you must do!"

Intuition is very quiet, and we are already receiving it all the time. It's like a little radio station that is running in the background at all times. When we cultivate our intuition, what we do is turn up that dial and make it louder. So, a lot of people worry, "Is this my intuition or is it my imagination?" But there are actual ways to tell them apart. But that needs to be practiced.

Marnie Pehrson: If you were going to give somebody some tips for being able to tell the difference between their intuition and their imagination, what would they be?

Andrea Hess: The best way to tell the difference is to start to tune into mind chatter. The mind is always talking to us, right? I don't know about you, but my mind is certainly going on, and on, and on at all times. We start listening to that a little bit and we start getting an idea of what that sounds like. Now there are real differences in the way our intuition communicates with us and the way our minds talk to us. Our minds tell us to do something and it will be very insistent. It will give us reasons, "You should call your Aunt Edna, because otherwise she will be mad at you because she sent that birthday present and you haven't thanked her yet. You really should call her." The mind uses words like "Should."

Our intuition is very different; it won't give us reasons to back itself up. It doesn't justify anything. Our intuition will just say to us, "Go call your Aunt Edna." And that will be that. So, it's very different. Now at the same time, while the mind gets very insistent, intuition won't do that. It won't try to talk us into anything. Our intuition has that quality of "You can take it or leave it; it's just a suggestion." Because we have free will. And our intuition, which is the voice of our spirit, is not going to interfere with that. So, while our mind will have its little opinion and reasons, our intuition won't do that. But our intuition will persist. So, that little nudge, that little inkling, that little shove in this direction will come up over and over again. What we get is just a recurring idea.

I'll get clients that tell me, "For 17 years I've always just wanted to move to Seattle. I don't know why." But it comes up over and over again like a little suggestion. Intuition is very persistent. It's that idea that is in the back of our brains for years, whether we've acted on it or not. So that's another thing, the mind kind of moves on. If it doesn't get its way, it lets it go and starts concerning itself with something else, whereas our intuition will come up over and over again. We get unlimited opportunities to listen to that. So that's another way we can tell the two apart.

Marnie Pehrson: That's an interesting distinction. I'd never really thought about it, but that is the difference isn't it? It doesn't necessarily tell you why.

Andrea Hess: No, it absolutely will not back itself up with reasons.

Marnie Pehrson: It's always just "do this."

Andrea Hess: Exactly, just do this. It does take a little bit of a leap of faith the first time to act on that impulse. When we do, though, we find that results are incredible. It does take some practice to just go with the impulse, act on it, and not be attached to the outcome. Just witness what happens. When we get used to doing that we just start seeing life unfold in a way that is magical.

To get the full audio go to How to Get More Done in a Day Than Most Accomplish in a Week.