How To Tap Into Your Intuition, Listen, Trust & Develop It
You’ve heard of this thing called intuition, but the question is, how to tap into, listen to, develop, and learn to trust it? Whether you call it intuition, inner knowing, womb/divine wisdom, your higher self, or something else, your intuition is a powerful force. For women, in particular, it’s like a sixth sense or superpower because intuition is the feminine at work.
When you know how to tune into and hear it and let it guide you on your journey here, you start to live in alignment and move closer to your soul path and the highest evolution of your soul. You’ll experience more peace, more grounding, more inspiration, more synchronicity, more abundance, more manifestation, and plenty more magic in your world.
What exactly is intuition?
Your intuition is your soul whispering to you. It’s our connection to the Universe/Source/Great Mother—whichever name you prefer. It’s a knowing and a nudge to move in a certain direction or make a certain decision, and this moves us toward our soul path—the path that we are meant to walk.
When you listen to and trust your intuition, life feels more in flow and peaceful. You attract the right opportunities, people, and experiences into your life. The opposite of this is when you don’t listen to or trust your intuition, and you feel a heaviness within. You end up in the wrong places with the wrong people and feel stressed, anxious, and uninspired.
You might be wondering how to tap into and develop your intuition, but chances are you already have to a certain extent, but perhaps you’re not aware of it.
Here are some examples of how your intuition can show up and work:
- You’re thinking about one of your best friends, and then she texts or calls you.
- You have a dream where you buy a one-way plane ticket to Bali, and you can’t stop thinking about it long after, so you finally book that ticket.
- Every time you glance at the time on your phone, it’s always 11:11 or 2:22, or 3:33.
The problem with science
Our intuition (a feminine quality) is often dismissed as “woo-woo” by our masculine-dominated society in which logic and science are the holy grail. If it isn’t logical or backed by “research,” it’s dismissed. This is why so many of us struggle to tap into and trust our intuition. We’re conditioned not to, so it feels scary to go against the grain. Many people will tell us we’re crazy for chucking that well-paying job to start that business or ending that 7-year relationship because we know deep down that it’s not right for us.
There are so many things that can’t be explained by science. Plus, when it comes to studies and research, you can create an experiment and manipulate it to get the results you want. Very often, there will be another study that shows the complete opposite thing!
Because researchers have now found that intuition is an actual psychological process where your brain draws on past experience and cues from the self and environment to make decisions, and it happens so quickly that it doesn’t register within our conscious; it’s starting to be taken more seriously.
Of course, science has its place, but definitely not when it comes to intuition.
How does intuition feel?
Before we explore how to tap into, trust, and develop your intuition, let’s explore how it feels when it shows up. Your intuition can take many forms, some of which will be more common for you, depending on who you are and the connection you have with your body and soul.
It could be:
- An inner knowing
- Sudden understanding
- Chills or goosebumps
- A quiet voice or whisper within
- Pressure building within
- Clarity
- A hunch
- An inner ache of longing
- Feeling that something is “right” or “wrong”
- A recurring thought
Intuition is not usually loud. The only times it might swell in volume is if you have repeatedly repressed the whispers you’ve heard, buried your head in the sand, and not followed your inner guidance.
This happened to me when I was working as a fashion buyer. I regularly had a feeling that I was in the wrong place. It started to feel like I was walking into prison each day, and there was an invisible leash around my neck. I was also getting physically sick all the time, even though I’m generally a healthy person. My inner voice grew louder every day to the point where she was bellowing. I ignored it because I was scared to throw it all away and pursue my dream of being a writer, publishing a book, and running my own business. It took a year before I decided to leave and four more months before I walked out those doors for the last time.
How to tap into your intuition (10 simple ways)
1. Create space for wisdom to flow in
If you want to learn how to tap into your intuition regularly, one of the best things you can do for yourself is to slow down and stop the busyness. This is challenging in our society because “doing” (the masculine) is celebrated while “being” (the feminine) is not. But if you’re constantly hopping from one task to the next and in a go go go mode, you will struggle to hear your inner voice.
We all have responsibilities that we can’t just give up. But try and create small windows of space in your day, whether it’s ten minutes of peaceful meditation first thing in the morning or a ten-minute tea ritual between tasks. Maybe that also means you say no to certain invites or social gatherings to have some chill time to just be with yourself.
Creating space physically is also important. Clear out any junk and tidy up the clutter around you. Donate what you no longer want, get organized, and do what you can to make your home feel like a sanctuary.
Be mindful and selective with what you let into your channel, whether it’s the news, social media, people and their energy, food, drink, etc. Everything you allow in has either a positive or negative effect on you. If you pollute your mind and body, you’ll find it more challenging to hear and tap into your intuition.
2. Practice mindfulness
Being mindful is not about eliminating all the thoughts from your head but rather practicing awareness. When a worry, thought, or memory pops into your head (which it inevitably will because this is how your mind operates), don’t judge it and gently guide it back to the present moment.
Being more conscious and present will help you cultivate more awareness of body sensations, feelings, and tension. Step away from your monkey mind’s endless stream of worries, fears, and stressors, and you will hear it.
This is why meditation has gained so much traction and popularity over the past decade. It’s a simple but effective way to practice mindfulness and tap into your intuition.
3. Surrender
Some of us (me) like to be in control of every aspect of our lives and struggle to let go. But we are not in control of everything, and we cannot be. So pushing and fighting to remain in control at all times leaves us feeling anxious and stressed when things inevitably don’t pan out as we expected.
Surrendering this control is another way to tap into, listen to, and develop intuition. You do your part, then offer it to the Universe to do hers.
4. Get into your body
We are encouraged from birth to be in our heads. But in the mind, we are drowned in endless thoughts, worries, and fears, which leaves us feeling foggy and overwhelmed. Spend all your time in your head, and you won’t be able to hear or feel those whispers, that inner truth trying to come through.
Your body is a portal, a connection to your intuition. This is why you’ll commonly hear or say things like “gut feeling” or “womb wisdom.” Notice the references to physical parts of the body. Intuition is felt in the body, so if you want to know how to tap into it, you’ve got to get into your body regularly.
Here are some ways to get out of your head (the masculine) and into your body (the feminine):
- Spend time in nature
- Move your body (do yoga, swim, dance)
- Meditate
- Breathe
- Do a body scan
5. Journal
Journaling can be incredibly powerful, healing, and transformational. Putting pen to paper and free-writing anything and everything that flows through you is a way to tap into your intuition and develop this muscle. You’re giving your subconscious space to breathe and channel wisdom to you and through you.
So the next time you want to tap into your intuition, make space to journal uninterrupted for 15-30 minutes. You might want to ask questions like, “what is today about for me?” or “how do I move forward?” If there’s something specific that you want guidance on, you can speak to that. Don’t try and think your way through this. Let your hand and your heart lead the way.
Cultivating a daily journal practice is a brilliant way to develop your intuition, empty your head of mental junk, and clear the fog.
6. Meet yourself in the mirror
Mirror work can also be incredibly healing and transformational, so you’ll often be encouraged to repeat affirmations in front of a mirror or eye gaze for a certain length of time. Often we look at ourselves in the mirror, do our hair and makeup, and check our teeth for any spinach hiding, but we don’t truly see ourselves.
If you want to tap into your intuition, you can take the same questions you would write in your journal and pose them to the woman in the mirror. Notice the difference in how this feels versus the journaling. Meeting yourself in the mirror like this requires you to be super vulnerable and make a deep soul connection. If that’s not something you’re used to doing, it will initially feel weird and uncomfortable. But if you’re willing to move through it, that’s when you get to the juicy part.
7. Record voice notes
This is a new practice for me. As someone who has always struggled to find and use their voice (throat chakra blockage), I don’t naturally gravitate towards it, which tells me that it’s something I need to lean into.
During moments when you’ve cultivated some space and peace—like on a walk or while you’re sipping on a cup of cacao on the sofa—get your phone out (put it on airplane mode, so you’re not distracted by notifications), open the voice recorder and talk freely. Ask your inner voice any questions, whether you seek general guidance or something more specific.
When you’re done, play the note back to yourself to take in everything you shared and connect with your voice.
8. Observe your dreams
Our dreams are a portal into our subconscious. The problem is that it’s difficult to remember your dreams when you wake up. Your mind immediately starts to yell things, and anything you did remember quickly fades because it’s not a real memory, just a glimpse of something.
If you want to learn more about dreamwork and dive deeper into this world, start a dream journal. Keep a notebook by your bed, and write down any dreams or fragments of them that you remember as soon as you wake up. You can use the internet to research what your dreams symbolize or look through dream books.
Your dreams are a way of your subconscious sending you messages, so pay attention to what comes up, any patterns or themes you notice, etc. This is a hands-off yet fascinating way to tap into and develop your intuition.
We recently published a story where a woman shared how she combines the power of voice notes with her dreamwork. Instead of a notebook, she keeps her phone by her bed and records notes about her dreams as soon as she wakes up. She has found this a powerful way to reconnect with her voice, practice self-love, and make sense of her dreams.
9. Work with tarot or oracle cards
I love working with oracle and tarot decks! There’s something magical about letting your intuition guide you to the right deck, the one that speaks to you, and then holding the cards in your hands and using them to connect to your inner voice and wisdom.
Aside from being beautiful to look at, tarot and oracle cards are a wonderful way to tap into your intuition regularly, listen, learn to trust, and develop this connection. Whenever I find myself at a crossroads and unsure which way to go, have a big decision to make, or want general guidance for the day, I pull a card. You can do a simple one-card reading, or a more elaborate three, four, five+ card spread. I also love to do this on the new or full moon as part of my ritual.
10. Hand it over to the Universe
You know how sometimes you are mulling over a decision or choice in your head, trying to figure out and reach a conclusion, but you continue on in circles like this. You don’t get any closer to solving the problem, it becomes totally unproductive, and you’re just as confused as when you started thinking about it!
On these occasions, you can hand over control to your intuition, higher self, and the Universe. Declare it out loud, and feel yourself letting go as you do.
Now you wait and trust that the guidance will come through at the right time. In my experience, it always does. Maybe not in the shape or form you expected it to come in, but it does come.
How to trust your intuition and develop it over time
Here are some extra things to be mindful of as you continue connecting with, listening to, and developing your intuition.
Discern the difference between intuition and fear
For me, the toughest part of tuning into my intuition was distinguishing between the voice of my higher self and my fear/ego.
For example, when you’ve wanted to quit your job forever, and you’re leaning toward taking that leap, but then a voice creeps in that says, “maybe that’s not a good idea/what if you can’t make any money and end up homeless/what if this is a big mistake?!”
This is fear talking.
So, how do you know the difference?
You’ve got to really tune in to what you feel, and doing what I mentioned above can aid this.
If you feel uncertain or hesitant because you’re scared of what’s in front of you (the unknown), that’s usually a sign that it’s your fear talking. On the other hand, if you’re uncertain because something doesn’t feel quite right, that could be your intuition telling you that something is not right.
Although there will be a certain amount of fear involved in trusting and following your intuition (because you’re taking a leap off a cliff, and that shit is always scary), generally, it should fill you with excitement, possibility, and peace.
Be radically candid with yourself
There will be many times when it feels easier in the moment to ignore your intuition and brush what your inner voice tells you under the carpet, so you don’t have to deal with it. For example, when your relationship isn’t working, and you know you need to break up, but you don’t want to go through the messiness of separating your lives, being alone, or hurting that person. So you end up not being honest with yourself about how you feel.
But the thing is, when you don’t listen to your intuition, those feelings linger, fester, and grow.
So try and practice radical candor with yourself. Acknowledge what comes up, and let it guide you on your path.
Listen to what comes through and act
This is closely linked to the previous point—your intuition shows you the way when your logical mind has no roadmap. Act on the wisdom that comes through for you. Whatever it is you feel called to or drawn toward. Whatever you’ve been avoiding or putting off for another day. Even when it doesn’t really make sense, but something tells you it’s the right thing for you and the woman you’re becoming.
The more you act on the intuition that comes through, the stronger this muscle will become and the more guidance you will receive.
Remind yourself of all the times it has worked out
The final thing that can help you trust and develop your intuition is to look back on all the times you listened and trusted that voice, even when people thought you were crazy, and see how it worked out for your highest good.
Maybe you booked that ticket to Bali and met your soulmate. You quit your job, and your business is thriving, and you’re happier than you ever imagined you could be. You wrote that book you had simmering inside you for a decade, and it got published, and you still can’t believe you did that!
Reminding yourself of these pivotal life decisions (or even small ones) that you made with your intuition will empower you to tune in and trust it more.
How can you tap into and trust your intuition a little more today?