How to Stop Doubting Your Intuition & Trust Your Inner Guidance ⋆ Earth and Water

Don’t get me wrong, doubting intuition is a thing that happens to me all of the time. It’s natural, human and something most of us struggle with at least from time to time.

It’ll lead me confidently in one direction only to seemingly fizzle out there and move me somewhere else. At which point I’m stuck at a double take of “That doesn’t look related. Are you sure we’re on the right path?” *Insert skepticism, doubt and fear*

Learning to trust something so abstract as a hunch or feeling goes against the solid and scientific world we’ve been taught to trust as truth. Mainstream society says if you can’t see, taste, touch, measure something then it’s not real and you should disregard it as such.

Luckily, science is starting to catch up with what spiritual gurus and shamans have been saying for centuries. Regardless, we’re still able to choose what to believe and can find a way to add logic to the belief enough to solidify it in our lives.

The Logic of Intuition

Think of intuition as a vast database of experience, gathered not just from conscious thought, but from subtle cues, emotional undercurrents, and even unconscious processing. Our brains are constantly sifting through this internal library, making lightning-fast connections and pattern recognition that defy the sequential approach of conscious logic. This subconscious analysis can lead to sudden insights, gut feelings, or hunches that seem to emerge from nowhere, yet often prove remarkably accurate.

It’s like a seasoned chess player who understands the game intuitively, reacting to a complex board not by calculating every move, but by recognizing familiar patterns and making instinctive choices based on experience. While their moves might appear sudden, they arise from years of honed analysis and understanding.

So, don’t dismiss your intuition as illogical. It’s a different kind of logic, a nuanced symphony of experience and subconscious processing that can offer valuable insights, guiding us when the clear paths of reason falter.

Distrust of Intuition Roots

More often than not, doubting your intuition comes from doubting yourself. And that self doubt usually stems from outside of ourselves. We often find ourselves shackled by a cultural distrust of intuition. From a young age, we’re bombarded with messages that prioritize logic, reason, and external authority.

Fairy Tales portray gut feelings as unreliable whispers, while education systems emphasize rote learning and objective facts. This conditioning leads us to value the measurable and tangible over the subjective and nuanced whispers of our inner knowing.

Propaganda further fuels this distrust. Marketing and media shape our desires and perceptions, often manipulating our intuition for their own gain. The medical system, while invaluable for physical health, can sometimes overlook the role of intuition in well- being, favoring diagnoses and prescriptions over introspection and self-awareness.

Take a step back and look at the bigger picture that is you. Did your caregivers trust you to make your own decisions or did they treat you as if you couldn’t and make them for you? This plays a huge role in how we make decisions now.

Unfortunately, we’re seldom taught how to tap into the power of our intuitive selves. Meditation, breathwork, and journaling might be introduced in some classrooms, but these practices are often treated as fringe luxuries rather than foundational skills. As a result, we lose touch with the quiet voice within, leaving us feeling disconnected from our own internal compass.

This cultural conditioning has real-world repercussions. We second-guess our gut feelings, ignoring red-flag relationships or neglecting opportunities that resonate with our inner voice. We prioritize external pressures and societal Erwartungen over our own deep knowing, leading to frustration, dissatisfaction, and a sense of being lost at sea.

Reclaiming our intuition is a courageous act of rebellion against the cultural noise. It’s a deliberate choice to listen to the whispers within, even when they contradict external pressures. It’s about learning to decipher the language of our gut, our dreams, and our embodied sensations, recognizing them as valuable guide posts on our individual journeys.

It’s a slow, sometimes messy process, but one that empowers us to make decisions aligned with our deepest desires and lead lives filled with authenticity and purpose. So, remember, the power of intuition is within you, waiting to be reawakened. Don’t be afraid to quiet the external noise and listen to the quiet voice within. It might just lead you to your own version of north.

Sit and think about how your self distrust grew. If it stemmed from someone or something outside of yourself, rework that into something more positive and helpful. Tap into your emotional guidance system. It’s either an undeniable yes or it’s a no. Trust what you’re feeling.

Neurons Outside The Brain

The heart has 40,000 neurons. The small intestine alone has an estimated 100 million! This might sound a bit insignificant compared to the brain’s billions, but their presence suggests something profound: we think, act, and decide not just with our heads, but with our hearts and guts too.

This isn’t some fringe woo-woo notion; the HeartMath Institute is doing tons of research on this trying to understand it all. Their research sheds light on the potent “gut feeling” we often dismiss. It suggests that these feelings are actually data-driven impulses, processed by our internal neural networks and delivered to our conscious mind as a gut hunch or a heart’s knowing. It holds the opportunity to bring some undeniable validity to intuition and those gut feelings.

The placebo effect perfectly illustrates this intricate mind-body conversation. An inert pill can alleviate pain simply because our belief in its power triggers a cascade of biochemical and neural changes within. This isn’t just a mental parlor trick; it’s a tangible testament to the profound influence our thoughts and emotions have on our physical selves.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. As we delve deeper into this hidden network of internal neurons, we might finally crack the code of intuition, validate those gut instincts, and unveil the intricate dance between mind, body, and heart. We are much more than our brains, and learning to listen to the wisdom of our heart and gut might just be the key to unlocking a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

I wrote a blog post on brain heart coherence and how it works if you’re interested. It explains how we can connect these 2 thinking organs to make decisions in life that serve the highest good.

Put Rules in Place to Stop Doubting Your Intuition

Our intuition whispers, but sometimes we need a megaphone to truly hear it. That’s where the beauty of introspection tools lies – they amplify the quiet messages of our gut, translating them into tangible forms we can understand and interpret. The choice of tool is a deeply personal one, a reflection of your unique language of soul.

You can decide how to validate your intuition. For some, it’s the soulful melody of a song, its lyrics resonating with unspoken truths within. Others find solace in the ancient symbolism of tarot, each card a mirror reflecting back their inner landscape. Tea leaves dancing in a cup might brew insights, while the celestial ballet of stars in an astrological chart can map the terrain of your destiny. Angel numbers whisper hidden encouragement, and the rhythmic swing of a pendulum might answer yes or no with quiet certainty.

The list goes on and on. Decide how you will receive your guidance and trust that however you interpret the message is correct for what you need to know in that moment. There’s no right or wrong tool, only resonance.

The key is to choose what sparks your soul, what makes your intuition tingle with recognition. Trust that, in that moment, your interpretation is precisely what you need to hear. Whether it’s a song’s bittersweet verse or a tarot card’s cryptic image, your inner wisdom will paint the meaning onto the canvas of your understanding.

Remember, these tools are not fortune-telling gimmicks; they are conversation starters, catalysts for introspection. The real validation lies in the way these messages resonate within you, in the shift they spark in your perception, in the action they inspire. So, embrace the tool that speaks to your soul, listen intently to your intuition’s amplified voice, and trust that the messages you receive are guiding you exactly where you need to be. After all, your inner compass only points north when you choose to listen.

Heal, Transform, Embody & Unleash Your Power

Choosing Your Beliefs

We really only have 2 options to assign to reality:

We’re being guided by a higher power
Or we’re free-falling through a meaningless existence

We know that at least one of these statements are true. If it’s the first option, then we can assume that they / it knows better than us and we can allow ourselves to trust the process even when it doesn’t make sense. I guess that’s having “faith”.

Of course, not all of us are interested in blind, unquestioning trust. Instead, it can be an invitation to open your mind and heart to possibilities beyond your current understanding. Yes, you can trust the process even when it seems confusing, but that doesn’t mean disregarding reason, intuition, or critical thinking. True trust involves co-creation, where you work with the currents of life (or the whispers of the higher power) while staying true to your own values and discernment.

If the 2nd is true, well then nothing matters anyway so enjoy the liberation and do what you want. Not to be interpreted as a nihilistic free-for-all. Even if there’s no ultimate purpose, that doesn’t negate the meaning we create in our own lives and relationships. It empowers us to choose our own values, define our own purpose, and create meaning through our actions and interactions.

Following your gut becomes an even more crucial compass, guiding you towards experiences that spark joy, connection, and personal growth. In which case you might as well follow your instincts.

Ultimately, the choice between these two realities lies with you. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, and the true beauty lies in the exploration itself. So, whether you choose to dance with the unknown hand in hand with a higher power or forge your own path through the cosmic void, do so with an open mind, a courageous heart, and a fierce dedication to creating a life that feels deeply meaningful, regardless of the grand narrative playing out behind the scenes.

Unrelated Paths Create Unique Circumstances

Most of us don’t get the luxury of seeing the end product design. I was very confused when the universe seemed to want me over here writing and coaching only to then pull me into the world of birth working. Now, I’m also a yoga teacher in my community.

They seemed in the beginning like 3 very different career choices and I thought for sure I was lost and needed to choose a path. Only after I started working with people did I realize that it’s all helping people calm their fears and build their confidence. The only difference in the three is what stage of life people are coming to me in. It’s all the same work.

The universe guides and conspires in ways we could never imagine to bring us to exactly where we need to be as long as we trust it. Helping us to create a meaningful life for the greater good that only we can fulfill in our own uniqueness.

It will take time for you to learn to trust yourself and your intuition. Keep practicing and it’ll get easier. Join us in the Facebook group to connect with the community.

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