DISCOVER YOUR INTUITIVE STYLE

Robin Peglow Berg, M.A.￼

Copyright © 2012 by Robin Peglow Berg, M.A.

Published by Soul Moxie LLC

Editorial: James Schnebly

Cover Design & Layout: Glen M. Edelstein

Back Cover Photo: Steve Z Photography

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review; nor many any part of this book be repro- duced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission by the author.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Berg, Robin Peglow, Discover your intuitive style: simple steps to make a right decision every time / Robin Peglow Berg.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-4675-0771-4 (alk. Paper)

I. Spiritual life, Self help II. Title.

2012900925

ISBN 978-1-4675-0771-4

First Printing, February 2012

Printed by Soul Moxie

Contents

Title
Copyright

Oh That’s Intuition!

Exploring the Styles

What Gets In the Way

When Intuition “Fails”

Seven Simple Steps to Cultivate Your Intuition

Conclusion

Chapter One

OH! THAT'S INTUITION?

According to the Free Online Dictionary, intuition is "the act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition. . . Knowledge gained by the use of this facility; a perceptive insight." My spin on this definition is that intuition is advanced awareness that can be used to gather information, in particular for personal decision-making.

In hindsight I can see how intuition has shown up regularly throughout my entire life. However, in the particular moment I never would have called it intuition. In fact, I never thought much of it. Because it was so natural, I didn't recognize it. Just how you probably think, "it ain't no thing!" when considering your most natural skills. It's easy to take your skills and gifts for granted. Intuition is the same. However, when we identify it, hone it, and put intuition to use, it can give us an incredible edge in life, particularly with regards to decision-making.

When I was 27, I worked as a staff recruiter. Now, I'm not saying I never hired a dud, but I can proudly report that I hired lots of incredible people who ended up being key leaders for years to come. I attribute this largely to my intuition guiding my decision-making with regard to selecting excellent staff.

Yes, I read applications, did pre-screening phone calls, interviews and checked references. It was my intuition, though, that filled in many of the blanks that I didn't realize until later usually remained blank for other staff recruiters I knew. You see, I could hear things in the silent moments on the phone, and could sense a great deal about the applicant's personality, history, honesty, sincerity, and passions, all by just listening closely to the voice on the other end of the line. Thoughts and images would "pop" into my head that would prompt me to ask the ideal and revealing question, and this would be followed by a physical feeling within my body that gave me a powerful "yes" or a "no."

All of these tools were second nature, simply how I worked. It wasn't until my third year recruiting that I realized not everyone had the same experience of "hearing" the essence of a person over the phone. My coworkers simply listened to the words during the interviews, took them at face value, and left it at that. If an applicant was a good liar, it was a big surprise later.

I wish I had known then what I know now; I could have taken my skills even deeper. I also would've shared the tools of my success with other recruiters, and that would've given them greater success as well.

Over the years I've had innumerable moments where my intuition shone through, offering guidance. Sometimes it showed me the early red flags to indicate that a romantic relationship was NOT a good match. . . which unfortunately I ignored for years. . . much to my detriment. At other times, my intuition helped me navigate difficult personal and professional relationships, where even the tiniest micro-expressions mattered if I wanted to avoid a blow-up and maintain peace. Whether a brief flash of expression in the eyes, a tightening around the mouth, or a shift of the brow, these signals helped me. Many times I just got a bunch of signals that I didn't even know exactly how I knew what they were, they were just negative signals.

I used intuition in making my decision to pack up and move from New York to Denver, Colorado, because it met the criteria I sought for my lifestyle and felt like the right place for me. Turns out, it was true: I've never been so happy in my life as in Denver. It's all because I gave myself permission to follow my gut despite how crazy it seemed, (to me and definitely to others). I drove crosscountry jobless and with a mere $500 in the bank because it felt like I would thrive here. And when I got here, it felt right. I didn't feel the need to keep driving to California (the secondary plan). This was home.

When I think about it, nearly everything that I can celebrate in my life arose out of an intuitive nudge. My work, my lifestyle, "recognizing" my husband, choosing my dog, all of it. And now there isn't a day when I do business without first using my unique style of intuition— whether to plan my day, teach yoga, design marketing copy or write this book. It all comes from this rich resource that helps my life to flow. It gives me great peace and joy because I'm finally allowing it and seeing it as my greatest strength.

Though privately I've always been passionate about mastering my intuition, it wasn't until more recently that I finally "went public" with it. If you've ever felt selfconscious about being different, you know that standing out even more from the norm is not-so-appealing. I was concerned that if I showed everyone my intuitive side I would be judged, taken less seriously, or worse, rejected. What I've found, though, is that the more I embrace my gifts and confidently believe in myself and my intuition, the more I understand how alike we all are. We are all intuitive.

It's clear to me now that part of my purpose in life is bringing the gifts of intuition to light in a new way. It is my absolute delight to share with you how to discover your own Intuitive Style, so that you too can experience an incredible surge of confidence, certainty and ease in your everyday life. Using your intuition can allow you to have a breakthrough idea in your business, figure out where to invest your time and/or money, or discover what's really going on in your kids' lives.

Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere

If you think only some people have intuition, you've bought into a myth. Surprise—we've all got it! The only reason why it might feel like you're not intuitive is because of the copious mental clutter our busy lives tend to generate. What's great is that it's just a matter of doing some spring-cleaning to get in touch with our true selves. And before you get concerned about dedicating loads of time to de-cluttering, you need to know that the act of rediscovering your innate intuition is actually a simple process that can happen gradually over time. In many cases, intuition will actually save you a ton of time and energy. And the end result will not force you into becoming wildly metaphysical, reading your future in a crystal ball.

My aim is to empower you to gain insight into YOUR own life. I'm not sharing strategies to help you gather information about other's lives (though it may happen now and then). Instead, I intend to help you master your own unique style of gathering pertinent information to make a right decision for your best, most fulfilling life. Every time.

Inevitably your confidence will grow, your self-trust will grow and best of all, you will actually start seeing your desires come to fruition—because you've chosen it, based on the inside scoop.

What's not awesome about that?

I've never met anyone who didn't have some hint of intuition. Even people who don't necessarily believe in intuition have "inklings" once in a while. Let's face it, the greatest scientists throughout history have made the most amazing discoveries because they had a hunch about something. The big difference between those who have the occasional twinge of insight and those who actively follow their gut instinct to greater glory is the willingness to explore the idea of intuition.

It's pretty remarkable that intuition can be boundless if we choose to follow where it leads us. With practice there is no time of day when it is out of service. Intuition can be accessed any time you need it. You can even cultivate the ability to have it work for you during your sleep. I can't recall the number of times I've wracked my brain all day, only to have my first thought the next morning be the incredible solution!

So whether you're stuck in traffic and want to choose the best alternate route to work, or you need a fresh creative spin for an upcoming proposal—believe it or not— you can tap into a wellspring of insight within you for everyday solutions, anytime you choose.

Another fantastic thing about intuition is that you can use it anywhere. Because intuition is not a tangible thing that you have to schlep around the way you have to with your laptop computer or a day-planner, it's like your own internal smartphone complete with its own version of Google, so to speak. It's weightless and built-in, so why not tune in to this incredible internal compass for guidance? It works in the car, in the kitchen, with the kids, while supervising a meeting or leading a sales pitch. With awareness, this tool is always at the ready. Once developed, it is effortless and quite reliable. You may not realize just how many decisions you make in a day that will benefit from following your instincts. For example, when I'm driving, I try to pay attention to the drivers around me. With practice, I have gotten to where I can almost "feel" what their next move will be. I can't tell you the number of times I avoided a potential accident because I anticipated a driver's reckless move in advance.

We're presented with small and large decisions every day. What if we could make a right decision every time?

Are you ready to raise your awareness?

During the next several chapters, I'll detail not only several of the most common Intuitive Styles but will also highlight key points for each. I'll cover the style, share a real Life Example, describe How it Works, and explore The Challenge of that style, as well as offer a few practice tips when it's appropriate. There will also be places where I reference a webpage with additional exercises. You can do exercises on your own, or if you wish to deepen your understanding about your particular style, you can schedule an individualized "Discover Your Intuitive Style Breakthrough Series" with me.

The idea behind this book is not a "kitchen-sink" approach to intuition. Rather, it provides a small sampling of a few of the more simple styles of everyday intuition that will help you realize what's available to you and how to start putting it to use. You might find that you are already using intuition regularly. Once you know and understand your gift, you can better utilize it with consistency. Intuition is not some woo-woo "out there" concept. It is part of every human being—it's how we're built. Whether you choose to strengthen your gifts or just let them lie dormant and undeveloped is up to you.

So kick back, relax with your favorite beverage and enjoy the adventure of exploring YOU and your innate gifts.

If when you're finished reading you still want more, be sure to visit my website to learn about ways to take your intuition further. There you'll find upcoming events and coaching programs, as well as additional intuitive exercises. Just go to www.SoulMoxie.net.

Author's note: Many people ask "where does intuition come from?" I want to invite you to choose what feels true and most supportive for you. There are any number of answers, none of them wrong. Whether you consider your intuition to be your connection to your higher self, the divine, God, the Universe, or simply see it as a high level of awareness to your surroundings is up to you. Choose whatever feels like a match for you.

Chapter Two

Exploring the Styles

You might be surprised when you learn how many of the primary Intuitive Styles are right under your nose. Literally. Whenever I wish to strengthen my own insight and clarity, I often turn to my five senses and "exercise" them. You can raise your awareness to the subtleties of life that come through your senses. That in turn is like flexing your intuitive muscles, which enhances your ability to gather more and more pertinent information.

In my experience, the greatest impact often arises from what is most simple. There is no exception here. Your five senses are the root of incredible new layers of information streaming at you all the time. If you are distracted by the many shiny, sparkly things of life, you are likely to miss the information that just whizzed by you. You might ignore that flash of insight or the "pop" in your mind that was the answer you'd been searching for.

Please keep in mind that this is not a comprehensive list of all the Intuitive Styles that exist. I am primarily focusing on the Intuitive Styles that address seven simple approaches. It does not mean that if you gather information in other ways (such as through your dreams) that it is wrong. My aim is to provide my perspective on the foundation of intuition. You might also discover that your unique style is a blend of two or three the styles listed. Sometimes these two or three styles will happen simultaneously.

Maximizing your Intuitive Style is merely a matter of:

Knowing what to look for

Paying attention

With intuition it's best to flow in the direction of ease and what feels natural. There's little point to forcing yourself to try and master an Intuitive Style that you feel you "should" have or somehow seems cooler than another style. Start with what is working, what is flowing and then go from there. As you grow your innate style(s), you may find that others unfold on their own. Intuition is a practice of allowing. There's no fun forcing, and you'll see it in your results.

The Five Senses

Let's take a closer look at the Five Senses to help you see the gifts you've been sitting on all these years that are ready to be developed.

You've probably heard the word clairvoyance before. As defined by Webster's Dictionary it is: 1: the power or faculty of discerning objects not present to the senses; 2: ability to perceive matters beyond the range of ordinary perception: penetration." For the sake of simplicity, I am going to refer to clairvoyance as Clear Seeing. For consistency, when speaking of the Senses as they relate to intuition, I will refer to each sense in conjunction with the word Clear, (as in Clear Seeing, Clear Hearing and so on).

CLEAR SEEING

With the exception of those who are visually impaired, most of us are highly visual beings, relying heavily on sight to navigate our every action. It's no surprise then, that many people have a knack for being able to vividly imagine things in their mind. So if when I mention the word lemon, an image of a lemon comes to mind. Or if when I say bulldog, or ice cream cone, or red fire truck, and you see image after image with ease and clarity in your mind, then this might be a tool for you. Clear Seeing is basically intuitive insight that comes to you via visual images in your mind (sort of like seeing it on a big mental movie screen). You may also be acutely aware of visual cues that others miss, such as the slight pinching or curl of someone's mouth, giving you insight to one's mood or personality.

Life Example

A client of mine had misplaced her camera. It had some great photos on it that she really wanted, but she had reached a dead end in her search. One day while meditating, an image of a basket in a dark place/closet popped in my mind. I saw the camera surrounded by darkness, and it seemed to be underneath some soft things. "I shared my insight and to her pleasant surprise she discovered her camera in her hall closet in a basket with some scarves and gloves on top. This is a pretty powerful instance of Clear Seeing, even for me—and I've been working on my intuitive inner vision for a long time.

Other times when I'm speaking to a client, I'll see an image pop up and it will cause me to ask a key question that may lead to a breakthrough for that individual. Even though the images may seem to be random, I do my best to trust them and am often surprised by the insight they provide, whether in my coaching or for my own intuitive practice during meditation.

The important part here (as with any intuitive insight) is to be willing to give it credence. I very easily could have laughed off the mental image I had of a basket or of the camera hiding in the dark, because it all sounded totally ridiculous to me. This is what most of us do on a daily basis. We chalk up the seemingly random images that we see in our minds as fantasy, disregarding potentially useful information every day.

I'm urging you to pay attention to what seems random and be willing to "decode" it for yourself. Simply take note of what "shows up," and allow yourself this creative process. When you boil it down, it is one method for the subconscious mind to communicate with you.

How it Works

Here's an example. Say you've been seeking insight to increase happiness in your life—you feel something is missing. Perhaps you then "see" a red bouncy ball in your mind's eye. At first it doesn't seem to make sense. Dig a little deeper. Ask yourself what that symbol means to you and your life. Upon reflection perhaps you discover that it reminds you of playing as a child, being carefree, being part of a team and recreational activities, being silly, interacting with others. Once you determine what it means to you, then you can look at the red ball and see it in the context of your question. In this case you might realize that to enhance your happiness, you need to play more, take life less seriously, connect with others, find a way to feel part of a team.

At times the image will translate directly. Other times it may require a little exploring. However, if you take the time to understand what you see, you will be amazed at the insight it provides.

The Challenge

What can be difficult about Clear Seeing is that we are inundated with stimuli throughout the day. Our visual sense is already being used for everyday activities. We read, drive, shop, walk, use the computer; all of these demand our eyes and mind to see things. It is very easy to miss a moment of Clear Seeing while otherwise engaged. The times I'm most aware of Clear Seeing, is when I actually take time to unplug from my surroundings and close my eyes with the intention of allowing my intuition to guide me, allowing myself to focus on what I see in my mind's eye versus the external world. I realize that it rarely shows up unless I've made space for it.

CLEAR FEELING

Another Intuitive Style is Clear Feeling or Clear Vibrance. You may find yourself saying things like, "it just didn't feel true" or "when I walked in the room you could cut the tension with a knife" or "he feels like good people." When you tap into Clear Feeling you have a strong affinity for "reading" people, the climate of a team, the energy in a room or person, and even attuning to the "vibration" of things, so to speak. Clear Feeling would also be used by athletes who have an uncanny knack for knowing where the ball and other players are on the field.

Have you ever noticed that when you greet people you can often tell what kind of mood they are in or if they are in general very happy? Even if the person is a total stranger? Are you affected significantly when you spend time with people who have extremes of energy—you get uplifted when around high energy, happy people, or dragged down by people who complain or are unhealthy or sad? If your answer is yes to these, chances are that you instinctively use the style of Clear Feeling.

Clear Feeling is an invaluable tool as a leader or public speaker, because you can become very skilled at reading your audience or team. You gain a sense of the pulse of the group, and notice when they are losing focus, interest or connection. It helps you get to the accurate read of a teenager's "mostly true" version of what happened, or to avoid being duped by a seemingly well-intended sales person.

Life Example

I used to go to a dentist who had an office near my work and took part in my insurance plan. It made sense to go to him. One day I was at his office (he's the expert right?), when he told me I needed a crown on a tooth. I was really struggling financially at the time, and I already had another crown in that same area, so I knew it would affect my chewing a lot. I had a really strange feeling about it when he told me, so I asked him, "Are you absolutely sure that getting a crown is the only solution? That I MUST have one, and there's nothing else we can do for the tooth?" He said yes, that the crown was the only solution.

Rather than commit in that moment, I decided to take a little time to mull it over. And what kept coming up for me is that it wasn't true. Although I experienced a little guilt at first over not trusting my dentist, I decided to get two additional opinions—just to address this nagging feeling about the crown. As it turns out, I only needed a filling (as confirmed by two top-notch dentists). Although I was incredibly frustrated and angry at my dentist, who lost my business and respect, I was so grateful that I'd listened to the internal feeling that it wasn't true, that I didn't need a crown. I saved myself an unnecessary procedure and hundreds of dollars to boot!

I also learned a key lesson. Sometimes you have to be willing to make choices that stray from societal norms and pressure to follow your intuition. Be courageous!

How it Works

The best way to practice this tool is by paying attention to how you feel during the day. Sit and mentally scan your body from head to toe and notice how you feel—are you tired, anxious, calm, happy? If you feel off-kilter, imagine restoring yourself to balance with just a few breaths (I'll detail how to restore yourself in Chapter Five, "Seven Simple Steps to Cultivate Your Intuition)." With Clear Feeling, always be sure that before making decisions you take time to restore yourself. Otherwise, you are likely to make decisions based on everyone else's opinions, moods, and influence.

Another way to practice Clear Feeling is to pause when you enter a room, and see how it "feels" to you. Or when you greet someone, pay attention to how it feels to be around them: do they feel happy, sad, heavy, light, angry, open, closed? This serves two purposes. One is to help you be aware of the energy of a person or space to be sure you don't accidentally take it on. Two is that your sense of feeling can help better navigate the conversation or relationship. (You know how there are only certain conditions under which you'd ask your boss for a raise, or pitch to your spouse on investing in a splurge? Same thing!)

Potential Challenge

One challenge for those who use Clear Feeling, is that it takes a higher level of awareness to stay in sync with your SELF and not be affected by the negativity or passing mood of everyone around you. The gift of being sensitive is you are highly attuned to the subtleties of energy. The challenge of being sensitive is that you are susceptible to accidentally taking on the energy around you instead of simply noticing/ feeling it. Some of you might find that you are a major sponge, constantly absorbing and reflecting the energy of everyone around you without even knowing it. Your bigger opportunity will be to master your ability to center and ground yourself while resisting "taking on" other people's moods and mindsets. You must learn to stay focused on how you feel so you can accurately make decisions for you. Otherwise you risk making decisions that only please others, not you.

For example, you'll want to be more attentive while standing in line during the holidays to not pick up on the irritation and anxiety of everyone around you. You'll notice the importance of being more conscious about the places you spend time and the people you hang around with. With Clear Feeling, it is much easier to be influenced (positively or negatively) by your environments. Decisions can get clouded by outside influences. My best advice is to be selective about your environments, your friendships and where you spend your time, especially as you're learning how to strengthen this style.

Note: as someone who uses Clear Feeling, I know that it is especially important for you to have methods to stay focused on your own experience and to have a practice for restoring yourself daily or multiple times a day when you feel off-kilter or drained. Be sure to see the "Seven Simple Steps to Cultivate Intuition" in Chapter Five and www.SoulMoxie.net/intuition-tips.php for these tools.

Tips

Spend time with people who see the world in a way that inspires you. Minimize time with those who are "heavy" about life, critical, or angry. Be sure to create a "haven" somewhere in your home (or throughout your entire home) where you feel a sense of peace, joy, rejuvenation, or whatever other emotions best serve you. Once you've established your haven, be sure to take a few moments in it daily to center and refresh yourself and let go of anything from the day that is beyond your control.

CLEAR HEARING

Another fascinating Intuitive Style is Clear Hearing. This style is one in which you hear auditory prompts. Generally speaking, these are prompts only you will "hear" in an interior way, meaning that others do not hear what you hear. This of course may make some of you nervous, feeling like there's something wrong, that you are having auditory hallucinations. There is nothing wrong, you are not mentally ill. (Unless you are, but that's a whole different book!) What I'm talking about is when a perfectly mentally and emotionally healthy person gains insight via hearing.

You may hear a little voice in your head that offers gentle or powerful nudges now and then. You might hear environmental sounds that are not present—it could be anything that has significance to you—the sound of a plane, a dog barking, wind chimes, whistling, whatever! Similar to Clear Seeing, there are times when you will have to decode what you hear by asking yourself the significance of it, and why you might be hearing this particular thing in this particular moment.

Life Example

A number of years ago I worked with a small group of women who wished to cultivate their intuition. While exploring various exercises, one woman discovered that she actually received her insight primarily through song! When she would pause to reflect on a challenge she faced, exploring potential solutions, she would hear a song in her head that offered her the answer she needed. So whether it was "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" or phrases like "Don't Give Up on Me Baby," she continued to be amazed and entertained by the playful nature of her insight. And it was accurate!

Recently I met another woman with the same tool. She also hears songs at key moments when she's making decisions, weighing options or meeting new people. This helps her have clarity about situations and developing relationships with others.

How it Works

One of the best things you can do for any of your senses is to hone in on them every day. Practice concentrating in a new way when others speak; take time to listen to all the sounds in your home in the early hours or to the minute sounds of nature when you step outside in the seeming quiet of morning. Then as you deepen your listening, you will be more apt to notice other auditory cues. Take note of them, give yourself permission to consider them real and helpful. Polish your ability to tell the difference between your inner judge/critic (which rarely has any useful advice other than push push push or "don't do that!"), and your inner guide (which is designed to gently support you towards your best self, your best life, your fulfilling contribution).

The Challenge

I want to clarify that when you hear a little voice, intuition is NOT a critical, fault-finding voice (of a parent or your inner perfectionist) telling you that you are failing, making a mistake, or should be working harder. The intuitive voice is non-judgmental, non-emotional, clear, and may seem to pop out of nowhere versus arising out of fear in the midst of a crisis. It may leave you feeling a sense of "Huh, interesting," or a sense of calm. This voice is kind and gentle, never rude like your inner critic can be. So if you hear a voice of self-flagellation, that's not intuition.

It's possible that you have both—that you have Clear Hearing as well as a loud inner critic. Your challenge is to learn to decipher to the best of your ability the distinction between the two of them. Practice listening to the voice that generates a sense of calm within and begins to consistently guide you toward choices that serve your greater good. It may take some time to understand the small distinctions, how it feels in your body, which sounds or voices tend to translate into accurate outcomes. Be patient and stick with it. (I'll share more on this later, but formally tracking your insights, such as in a notebook, is incredibly valuable until you are crystal clear on your style "cues.") In summary, it is about turning down (or off!) the volume of any fault-finding inner-voice and turning up the volume of your intuitive guidance. And then choosing that form of guidance more and more.

CLEAR SMELLING

Another of the five intuitive senses, Clear Smelling, is an interesting and unique tool that is a little different in each person. Clear Smelling provides you with scents that are either so faint that they can't be picked up by most people or scents that are not actually present but designed to give you insight to a person or situation. Just as scents of vanilla or chocolate chip cookies can link to specific feelings and memories, so might the smell of cedar, a skunk, or a particular cologne trigger a response. Maybe you've said something like "this smells fishy to me" when something's not quite right, or "she always smells like strawberries which reminds me of my ever-loyal grandmother."

Life Example

I have what I affectionately call a bionic nose. It seems that my sense of smell is über strong. I can smell residual smoke on nearly anything; I can tell the earliest beginning of food starting to "turn," can sense a hint of natural gas, and have vivid memories and emotions linked to things like balsam pine and fresh apple pie. For me, I use it to deepen awareness of my environments. So although I do not generally use my smelling for intuition, I have a strong sense of smell, therefore making it likely that the intuitive part could be developed. (Yes, nearly any sense can be developed, especially if you already have an affinity for it!)

Here's a different spin on Clear Smelling. One client of mine, Ellen, discovered that each person and experience she encounters has its own smell. It is almost a way of sorting and categorizing for her, and determining if the person, place or thing elicits a good feel or not. For example, she discovered that when she thought about a particular (toxic) individual in her life, the smell of bleach arose. This person had the personality and expression that you would expect to be associated with bleach, and the relationship was really damaging to her. This person did not actually smell like bleach, but their impact on Ellen and her life, was very much like bleach. As a result, she was able–with hindsight—to know that when she next met someone who elicited this smell for her in such an intuitive way, that she would trust her instincts and keep her distance.

She discovered that another person who ended up being pretty "dirty" or dishonest in his actions elicited a smell in her nose of a heavy "manly B.O." smell, (and not the good kind). He didn't really smell that way, but in her mind that is the smell that she gets with him.

How it Works

Like any of these tools, you will have to develop them over time. You may spend the first phase exploring and considering which your best tool to focus on is. Then you may be in the research and experimentation phase. Just the way Ellen didn't know about using her tool until after negative experiences arose and thus provided her information for the future, you may not realize until you start noticing the different smells in your life. When you do begin to notice this, you can then consider what those intuitive aromas mean to you, how they make you feel, whether they draw you in or repel you, and whether they elicit a feeling of trust. First understand the wonderful idiosyncrasies of your Intuitive Style, and then start to apply your learning.

Some questions to explore Clear Smelling:

Does each person you know have a unique scent that only you can smell? (That is, if she smells like vanilla, you can ask if she uses a vanilla lotion, soap, perfume. If she doesn't, then it's safe to say that the scent you're picking up on is your interpretation of her.)

When you think about a career path, person, specific job, or a particular location, does a scent come to mind? When you think of bookkeeping, or public speaking, or being a CEO of company, or standing at the summit of a mountain, what comes up for you?

Do prospective customers/clients have a different scent associated and are they all different, or do you notice any patterns?

The Challenge

As with most of the intuitive senses, you must determine what you are picking up on and what it means to you. You may not know that you are the only one who is aware of a particular scent—you may think that everyone is also smelling bleach or strawberries. The key is to know your gift inside and out, and begin to identify patterns of your Clear Smelling.

Also, there are billions of smells for your mind, memory and senses to choose from. Just like a talented vintner, it is up to you to know your "instrument," i.e., your nose, so well that you can be discriminating in all the right ways for your best decisions. You must also be willing to be creative in your exploration of meaning. One woman, Alice, smells a perfume from time to time (which is not actually there) that reminds her of a close friend who wears the same fragrance. Smelling the perfume prompts Alice to call the friend, and it generally turns out that the friend had something big going on and really needed the call. Alice needed to be willing to figure it out.

Someone may smell like honey to you, which at first may seem like a good thing until you consider that honey is always way too sweet for you, or that you are allergic to bees and most honey. Explore, be creative, be boundless until you land on what feels true. It may bump against logic. However, if it ends up working for you, are you willing to challenge your rational mind a little?

CLEAR TASTING

Well, as you may expect, the fifth of the senses is taste, although a much less common style. Historically our taste buds aid us in the enjoyment of food, in preparing the digestive system for food, triggering salivary glands in the mouth. The sense of taste also provides a warning system to help us avoid danger, injury, poisoning, or even substances we might be allergic to. Often we simply "know" through taste which foods just don't work in our bodies. Clear Tasting takes this a step further and provides information that acts as guidance for other aspects of our lives.

This sense is quite similar to Clear Smelling. It is not quite as common as Clear Seeing or Hearing, perhaps because we nearly always already have a dominant flavor in our mouths, we're not used to noticing this sense, or it competes with so much outside stimuli.

One way you may discover you are naturally drawn to this sense, is that you may have found yourself saying "That leaves such a bad taste in my mouth" or "Oooo, that idea is delicious!" or "They are SO yummy as a couple." If you naturally relate to the world through expressions of taste, food, and flavor, this might be a sense for you to explore.

Life Example

One man I know named Danny shared this story:

"Once, when I was a kid of about five, my parents brought home some cookies from the grocery store. Although the cookies were supposed to be chocolate, they were green and fuzzy inside the box. Hmmm, I thought, this will be a new thing: fuzzy, green chocolate cookies! This was my first encounter with mold. From that first bite I knew something was really, really wrong, and was given the 'gift' of a severe headache and prolonged vomiting. For whatever reason, this experience at a young age left me with a lingering, odd feeling that arose whenever I've ended up on the 'wrong track' in life. When I've been stuck with a job I'm not suited for or when I encounter someone who is toxic to me, I begin to experience an intuitive 'taste' of that fuzzy green mold. It's a bit like the taste and sensation of eating something like effervescing clay, if you can imagine that. If you've ever tasted something moldy, you'll probably know what I'm talking about. A lot of heartache in my life could've been avoided if I'd just paid attention to things that smacked of that flavor when I was younger. I'm older now, and wiser, and thank myself when I pay attention to my inner taste buds."

How It Works

A great way to strengthen this sense is to be very mindful any time you eat a meal. Take time to chew your food completely. Stop multi-tasking and focus on the act of eating, the practice of tasting. Simplify the number and complexity of flavors, eat fewer foods that have been at all processed and instead eat fresh fruits, vegetables, proteins. Your taste buds will attune to subtleties over time and whether or not you experience Clear Tasting, you'll likely enjoy the adventure and flavors of foods so much more!

The Challenge

As mentioned, probably the biggest roadblocks for this sense are the dulling of taste buds and "flavor competition"— there are too many flavors coming and going all the time. We're not paying attention to subtle flavors that are literal, much less the ones that are symbolic. In addition, depending on whether you are a smoker, heavy drinker, or major spice eater, your taste buds may be damaged. If you eat loads of cheese/dairy, it can coat your tongue, also dulling your taste buds.

Finally, depending on how much processed food you consume, your taste buds may be deadened significantly by the industrial-designed flavors in foods, making you less sensitive to the subtle flavors of natural foods. Test: if when you eat plain veggies they taste bland or fruit seems not very sweet, you might need to freshen up your taste buds. Luckily they actually regenerate every 10 days or so! In just a couple weeks of eating more naturally, you can hone your sense of taste! Simple.

That's the overview of the Five Senses. Now I'll share a couple more fantastic styles for everyday decision-making and insight.

WHAT INTUITION IS NOT:

This seems like the right place to take a little aside and share the distinctions between intuition and anything else that might get tangled up. As with any style, using your gut or heart as a tool, is also a matter of knowing yourself and your style SO well that you know what is true for YOU. That said, although what I'm sharing has been true for others, it does not mean that it will be unequivocally true for you. It does not mean that your intuitive "yes" could never give you a giddy feeling.

However, this is what I know to be true for me at this point, based on experience, personally and amongst intuitive friends and clients.

INTUITION IS NOT:

Synonymous with any highly intense emotions, such as anxiety, pressure, fear or giddiness (Big emotions and intuition are very different, as I detail below.)

Something that creates inner conflict or anxiety (a feeling of peace is a common hallmark)

Your conscience; it is not about doing "what's right"

A "should"

Unkind, self-critical, fault-finding, judgmental

A busy mind, thinking, rationalizing, "figuring out"

Take note that any time you experience intense emotion in conjunction with you think might be intuition, that is not intuition. When you feel strong fear, it is not intuition. A feeling of caution? Perhaps. A little flutter of the stomach blended with a peaceful sense of what's true? Also possible. The big fear or intense emotions happen afterwards.

Once you experience Clear Insight, you may have an emotional response to this truth. For example, you may have Clear Insight that it's time to let go of a relationship or a job. When you receive this truth, it feels neutral, unemotional. Then, when you think about it and what it means, what the impact will be, how difficult it could be, you may become really sad, angry or fearful afterwards.

Again, when it is truly intuition, the information arrives in an emotionally neutral way. It feels true. It feels peaceful. It feels like "No big whoop—it's what IS," even if you can't explain it.

The key is to cultivate such a high level of awareness that you can separate those minute moments— between intuition and the thoughts/emotions that follow. A sweet little window of your truth.

Note: there may be times when you receive a sense of "warning" or urgency. A warning is not the same as fear.

GUT OR HEART FEELING/
CLEAR INSTINCT

We've all heard the expressions, "I could feel it in my gut" or "I followed my heart." This is an Intuitive Style that can either be amazingly accurate, or highly confusing. This style needs special attention and care to cultivate in order to make clear distinctions about what is a gut feeling and what is fear, what is following your heart and what is running off with your emotions.

Generally speaking, people who gain insight via cues or sensations in their heart, chest or gut, usually have similar experiences, so I'll talk about this Intuitive Style collectively as "Clear Instinct."

Recently I woke up with a feeling like, "Oh no! I need to find a dog sitter for Christmas pronto—I totally spaced!" and it felt like an urgent "notice." Anyone who has dogs knows that dog sitters get booked for the holidays far in advance. Mandy has been our house/dog-sitter for years. She comes and stays at the house and is adept with my two dogs, and in particular Cooper, my high energy, smart as a whip, and I-want-to-be-in-charge dog. It's hard to find the right person who can firmly handle my two 90-pound dogs, especially on a leash—they are strong! (After one dog-sitting mismatch it took me two months to get my dogs back to behaving on-leash!) As it turned out Mandy was booked over Christmas! In the end I called eight sitters, had to place an ad on the Denver University campus, and finally, after almost two weeks, in the nick of time, I found a replacement. I'm so grateful that the warning nudged me to act right away or I might have ended up with an option that wasn't very good for us or the dogs. (Of course shortly after "receiving" the warning, my mind got involved and I started to feel fearful and stressed about "what if I can't find someone?" However, when the insight arrived, it was no different than seeing a STOP sign. It got my attention and prompted me to get into immediate action.)

How it Works

So, based on what intuition is not, and more specifically what Clear Instinct is NOT, let's explore what Clear Instinct is.

Clear Instinct generally shows up as a sensation in the body that gives you information, very often telling you "yes" or "no," which is of course incredibly helpful for decision-making! You might receive other body sensations that mean something else other than "yes" or "no." For some people it might be a feeling in their gut or heart, others might feel a buzz at the back of their head or a tugging at the base of their skull. Most people describe it as an instant knowing of something that is true. It feels like it has always been true and is inarguable.

For me, when I get shivers down my right side from shoulder to knee, it usually signifies a really important truth—for me or for a client I'm speaking to. When I get goose bumps listening to certain music or performances, it's my body's way of telling me the level of talent. (During the past three seasons of The Sing Off, between my Clear Feeling and Clear Instinct, I pinpointed the overall winner of each season the on first night! My body knew.)

Here's how it can work for yes or no decision-making:

Say you have a job opportunity come available to you. When you consider it, you might feel a sense of light, open, peace, calm, relax, warmth, or slight "effervescence" in your body. For many people this would be a "yes." OR you might feel a sense of tight, heavy, small, closed, or dark. For many people this would be a "no."

There are innumerable expressions of yes or no in the body, although these are the most common I'm aware of. Again, only you can start to pay attention to the subtle shifts in your body in those moments and begin to identify your consistent cues and sensations.

Life Example

When I was single and dating, I can remember a feeling that I always got when I met a guy I really liked, ever since I was a teenager. It was a feeling of giddy excitement, where it almost felt difficult to contain all my excitement and I found myself rambling on incessantly about how terrific he was, fast talking things like, "I don't know what will happen, but I really like him and I think he likes me and he's SO cute and I hope he'll call!"

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this whole response was emotional and not at all intuitive. It was actually (for me) a sign that "he" was NOT "the One." Damn, really?! Wish I knew that at 20! Or at 30!

When I started dating my husband, Todd, it was a completely different experience. I felt a sense of calm and peace in my body. I felt like I knew he was my match, knew he was incredible and therefore I oddly had very little to say about him. There was no rambling and convincing. There was no wondering. I had an inexplicable sense of truth within four weeks that I'd met my husband. Just like that.

Was I happy? Absolutely! Was I delighted to meet "The One?" Definitely. Did I feel the familiar sense of giddiness. Nope. Not at all. Instead—warm, calm, joy, peace. This is what is true for me.

Unfortunately, in areas of high emotional attachment and response, it can be difficult to sort out your Yes and No cues—until you have the experience of your true Yes. (i.e. That is, I didn't know my relationship cues until I met Todd.)

Don't despair! If you historically grapple with intuition in a particular area of your life, borrow your Yes and No cues from another area where you are neutral and have some consistent accuracy. That is, if you are in a managerial position and always get accurate Clear Instinct regarding whether or not to hire someone, then pay close attention to your Yes and No cues in that area. It's my experience that your cues are your cues, whether making decisions in relationship, career or whether to have pastrami or turkey on your sandwich.

The Challenge

As discussed, one of the greatest challenges of using this tool is keeping the mind, emotions and outside opinions out of it. As soon as you begin thinking about your insight, it triggers emotions which also create sensations and reactions in your body and emotions. As soon as the emotions of fear, anger, sadness, anxiety, frustration, discouragement enter the equation, neutrality is gone, taking Clear Insight with it.

For Clear Insight to be truly effective, you must have a degree of mastery over your mind. You must have the ability to unplug from emotion and remain neutral. Wishful thinking does not make something true. If you really really want something and have a lot of emotion around it, gaining Clear Insight to that area may be a bit more challenging until you can learn to get emotionally neutral about it. I know! Easier said than done. With practice, all your gifts will continue to unfold.

I'm a light sleeper with a keen sense of hearing, sometimes kept awake by every little sound at night, whether a frog hopping in leaves in our window well, or the water coming into our radiant heater. Last night I woke up at 2 a.m. and reached for my pair of quite expensive, custom-made earplugs that, on a regular basis, help me block out the snoring of two dogs and my hubby's breathing. Those pricey plugs, though, weren't where they usually are. I looked in the bathroom, in the office, in the kitchen. Meanwhile, I was sleepily trying to "intuit" where they were while struggling with the irritation that they were missing. At one point I suddenly feared that one of my dogs had eaten them.

It was only when I started thinking about the tools I've been talking about in this book that I began to let go of the irritation and the fear that was arising for me. Then I was able to be more neutral. I can generally "feel" when something is officially 100 percent lost. Fortunately, it still felt like the earplugs were around.

Then I remembered that I had gotten out of bed that morning wearing them. So I looked one more time in the bathroom, and found them in a place I never usually put them. Back to sleep in 10 minutes!

So, as you can tell, it is an ever-evolving practice no matter how long you've been at it. However, the more I remember the tools and practices that I have at my disposal, the more likely I am to use them successfully.

CLEAR INSTINCT IN ACTION

You may or may not have ever heard of the 40-store furniture chain called Arhaus Furniture. As it turns out, John Reed, the CEO of Arhaus, relies heavily on his intuition and attributes much of his company's success to trusting himself.

"As a CEO there are always lots of opinions coming at you from all over. People have opinions and feelings about what you should do. It makes it harder to listen to intuition with such strong or outspoken opinions being expressed. Lots of people get swayed by the opinion of others. It's a constant challenge. "So, when I have a gut feeling I have to stick with it and keep believing in it. I don't let myself give up on it.

"My intuition has been especially important with product selection. I'll see something that in my gut feels like the right product. Sometimes, though, what feels like the right product isn't easy—people disagree, it would be difficult to bring to market, or it would be easier to give up on it and move on to something else. I don't give up on the products that I feel strongly about, despite outside disapproval or there being an 'easier' way. That's tough to do sometimes. But it always pays off when I stick to it and follow my gut. It turns out to be the right product time and again."

AUTOMATIC WRITING/
CLEAR WRITING

For the sake of simplicity, the final Intuitive Style that I'll share in this book is Automatic Writing, or Clear Writing. This is both a fantastic tool and wonderful practice for anyone who already enjoys writing and journaling, and capturing ideas on paper.

Author's Note: If you happen to be one of those people who finds journaling totally unappealing, this might not be the tool for you. You can try it, but don't force it. Intuition can't be forced, and it would be better to try another of the various techniques talked about in the book.

How it Works

Clear Writing is sort of like hearing with a pen. It's a way of capturing insight and information that comes almost as a "download" on paper. Clear Writing is a fascinating approach to creative solutions, tapping into your truth or information you didn't know you knew. Clear Writing is often prompted with a simple question that allows for a descriptive answer. For the best insight, I don't recommend asking a yes or no question, or a question with multiple parts—it makes it too complicated. You want to phase the question in an open way such as "What's my best next step to deepen my relationship?" as opposed to "I'm feeling frustrated in my relationship—should I stay or go?" The latter question is complex and not open-ended like the first.

Often times this process simply allows us to connect with our Wise Self for information we might already know that gets covered over by life. Clear Writing burrows down into that wisdom effortlessly and often reveals simple and powerful solutions.

Break it down. Say you are trying to figure out what to do with your career but you just can't get to the answer. You might write a question like, "What's my best next step towards fulfillment in my career?"

Close your eyes, take a few breaths, imagine yourself in a beautiful, relaxing, natural environment without thinking about the question. At that point, all of your focus is on relaxation and getting out of your "head" and into your body. Once you feel relaxed, you can then take a moment to think the question and then be open to whatever comes. You might have information that arrives through one of the Clear Senses (mental pictures, sounds, smells, etc.), or you might simply want to put pen to paper and start writing whatever comes to you.

This requires a little leap of faith each time. It serves as an excellent practice for being willing to allow insight to come even if it seems like what you are writing is gibberish. It might not make sense right away. In answer to the career fulfillment question you might get something like this: "You need something to look forward to. All work and no down time won't matter regardless of the career. Take some time off, get fresh perspective. Stop stuffing opinions and ideas. Practice this before making a career change—you have great ideas, but as long as you're editing yourself, you can never be free or totally fulfilled."

It might end up as single bullet point, words or symbols. You might see an image of yourself in the future with certain people in certain places…write it down! It will be different for each person. Have fun with it and try not to be too serious about it. You're not trying to write a bestseller or something for anyone's eyes but yours.

If it results in some wisdom, why not go for it? Also, Clear Writing can be a remarkable avenue for creativity—for writing stories, poems, books! For more details and a guided visualization to teach you the powerful tool of automatic writing, go to www.SoulMoxie.net/intuition-tips.

Life Example

For as long as I can remember, I've had a love of writing. Over the past several years, I've experimented more and more with Clear Writing with great results. I'd often gain solutions to challenges in business, relationships or health.

Recently, I've gotten back in to my meditation practice— sitting quietly and focusing on inviting a sense of peace to my mind and body. Then, when I'm ready, I write. I've written meditations that I audio recorded, poetry, marketing copy, workshop outlines, and this book!

Essentially I've begun doing at least 90 percent of my writing from this approach, and I love it! It is like clearing away layers of fog and seeing the most vital and powerful messages more clearly. There's never been a more efficient approach to "getting stuff done" because it's fast and direct. My mind doesn't get all jumbled up in it. I realize that it is a whole different way of working that has very little to do with my mind, or figuring things out or "trying," and everything to do with allowing my Wise Self a voice. I can hardly explain what I can complete in 20 to 60 minutes of writing this way. Sometimes it seems I accomplish nearly a whole day's work in one or two hours. Crazy cool!

What's even more extraordinary is that there are times when I am in such a "flow state" of writing that when I finish I have no idea what I've just written, and upon reading, I'm kinda "wowed" that I wrote it. It feels effortless and perhaps like what a musician feels like when they become the music. Transformational.

The Challenge

The elements that most get in the way of Clear Writing are the mind, being too busy and ignoring our own wisdom. Our standard approach to life decisions is to sit down, make lists, research, and "figure it out" or to ask the advice of others (because we often trust them more than ourselves)!

We are unaccustomed to sitting quietly and attuning to our inner guidance system. It takes practice to generate a sense of relaxation to gently capture words on paper. Our minds are busy. Our lives are busy. We move quickly, and our minds want things handled immediately.

Ironically, what tends to happen is that we have an intuitive feeling about something. We ignore it or ask someone else for advice. We go against our intuition thinking we can somehow outmaneuver it, only to discover weeks, months, or years later that following our intuition would have best served us.

For those of you who are heavy duty rational thinkers/ analyzers, you may want to begin with some relaxation practices. Until you can relax and move out of your head and into your body, it will be difficult to practice Clear Writing (or any Intuitive Style, really). Yoga, exercise, dance, massage, Tai Chi, painting, cooking—all of these are methods to help shift you into your body. (See the "Strategies to Move Out of Fear" section in Chapter Three to learn more about how to shift into your body.)

Although we'll talk more about this in the next section, one simple solution is to slow down. Set up windows of time where you have nothing scheduled. Open time. With a more relaxed rhythm of life, your Intuitive Style is much more accessible.

Chapter Three

What Gets In the Way

If you really wish to explore and develop your Intuitive Style, you'll want to be aware of the most common Intuition Blockers and how they might relate to your life. Generally the way to maximize your Intuitive Style is to be calm, relaxed, focused and "in your body," when possible. Though I've shared a few elements in The Challenge sections of each Intuitive Style, let's take a more in-depth look.

Note: In my own life I've discovered that the best and most powerful solutions arise from simplicity. On the other hand, Intuition Blockers tend to arise from things that are complicated, derailing us from our innate power. Modern life can be complicated. Yet as long as we know what to look out for and continue to move towards Simplicity, our Intuitive Style can and will thrive.

Here are some common elements that get in the way of intuition:

NOT BEING PRESENT

It's ironic that being Present has become one of the most difficult tasks we face. For whatever reason, it's exceptionally easy to get distracted by thoughts of the future and disappointments from the past. It's easy to get pulled out of the NOW. For instance, we might be standing right in front of someone while our mind is off traveling a million miles away, thinking about what intelligent thing we're going to say next or wishing that we'd remembered to make that phone call before leaving the office. Or, while trying to make a decision, we can't help but jot down three things for the grocery list!

When you are anywhere other than the Present moment, it jams up your intuitive network. In large part, intuition is no more than advanced awareness. With advanced awareness you observe all kinds of subtleties that whiz by unnoticed when you're in the past or the future. When you're in the future, you fail to notice the significant shift in energy when you consider a particular choice. When you're watching mental "reruns" of the past, you miss out on Clear Seeing—that is, noticing images that might be trying to make their way in to your mind about what's happening NOW.

The Remedy

Keep the network open and practice being Present whenever possible.

Here are a few simple methods for staying Present:

Stop what you're doing, close your eyes, and focus on your breath a few times a day. Notice the gentle inward and outward flow of breath until you feel focused.

Eat mindfully. Chew your food. Pay attention to the flavors of your food, and focus on actually enjoying your food.

When speaking to someone, listen fully. When in-person, look them in the eye. Put aside multi-tasking and be with them entirely.

(Seeking an additional tool to help with getting Present? Go to www.SoulMoxie.net/online-store.php to enroll in "The Powerful Present: a 30-Day E-course for Personal and Professional Peace." It comes daily to your inbox.)

Processed and high sugar foods

Without delving too deeply into nutrition, what I've discovered while working with innumerable clients is that the more natural foods a person eats, the stronger their senses and, resultantly, their Intuitive Style.

It's crazy to think that our bodies, our energy and our awareness are unrelated to the foods we eat. The more I eat foods that are natural, unprocessed, and vibrant in color, the clearer I am in my Intuitive Styles and ability to gather information.

A number of years ago, I worked with a client on nutrition and wellness. At the time she had a diet that was very high in processed foods. She began to notice a gradual shift in her life as she moved away from that diet to one that was much cleaner. The healthier she ate, she not only felt better but also attracted positive people to her like a magnet. At the same time she became more intuitive and "wise." She was shocked and amazed, and decided to continue a healthy and natural food plan as it really paid off.

The same thing happened with another client that I worked with shortly after the first. He started determining his best foods, the foods that gave him consistent, stable energy, and his intuition soared.

It's no coincidence that eating naturally leads to heightening awareness. There is a direct correlation.

So if you want to block intuition, all you need to do is eat fast foods, foods high in saturated fat, sugar, salt, foods that have been heavily processed (i.e., anything with more than six ingredients on the label!), lots of caffeine, chocolate, refined carbs ("white" carbs—that is, bread, potatoes, chips, white rice, etc.).

The Remedy

Want to make a shift but are not quite sure where to begin? Start with foods that are as close to the earth as possible. Incorporate green, leafy veggies and vibrant colored fruits and vegetables. Try some crunchy, fresh carrots or celery instead of a bag of chips. Choose foods that are fresh and have vivid colors (red cabbage and leafy greens are a good example of this), and, when possible, opt for locally grown produce—because it's freshest!

If you eat meat, check out grass-fed beef or, at the very least, use antibiotic- and hormone-free sources of animal proteins. Keep to the simple ingredients—select a basic lean steak versus processed sausage with 10 ingredients. Try a clean-sourced fish instead of processed deli meat.

To get some fresh ideas, you can also explore some websites like RealSimple.com, AllRecipes.com or Epicurious. com, and seek easy recipes that use little to no packaged or processed ingredients. Say you want to add in kale, but have no idea how to cook it. Type "Kale" in the search bar of any of these sites, and voilà, recipes galore! Note: when you do decide to eat some processed foods, be sure to incorporate a few fresh foods for balance, whether at the same meal or the next!

Want to play BIG on this one? Nothing grounds you and connects you to your vital food more than having your own window herbs or garden plot. Dig in the dirt. Water your seedlings. Watch 'em grow. Enjoy the fruits of your labor—you will never taste a better tomato than one fresh off the vine! You will simply be amazed at what happens when you shift to foods that are fresh and unprocessed.

Being Too Busy

Another surefire way to pull your intuition off track is by jam-packing your schedule so full with appointments and activities that you are rushing from one activity to another. You might have appointments that overlap several minutes, or you've only given yourself 10 minutes to get across town, or you've got back to back meetings with no time to do anything remotely relaxing. Rushing and busyness is the kiss of death for your Intuitive Style, in particular any insight you might experience through your physical body, which is nearly always "amped" up.

Our culture has created some damaging silent expectations: that nearly every moment of the day should be "productive." That we're lazy if we take time to lounge around. That we are indulgent if we take time for ourselves to read a book, take an art class, get a massage, play or listen to music. That we were rude to decline an invitation simply because we wanted a quiet night to ourselves.

Whaaaat?

You've got to break out of these mindsets if you wish to raise your awareness and master your Intuitive Style! If you want to have consistent results you can count on, you must create space for intuition in your life. You cannot schedule an intuitive flash to arrive at 10:15 a.m. in between meetings. Intuition comes alive with spaciousness. It needs room to breathe.

Just like how we've all had our most brilliant insights while walking the dog, taking a shower, or hiking in the mountains—this is no accident! The mind needs to be able to let go, drop its guard in the effort to keep everything together. The body needs to relax enough to be attuned to the five senses and subtle energy of people and environments.

Intuition does not mingle well with tension and pressure.

Give yourself and your schedule some space to do nothing or at least to cut back a bit!

BIG EMOTIONS (ESPECIALLY FEAR!)

Although I shared a bit about emotions in Chapter Two's "Clear Instinct" section ("What Intuition is NOT"), the concept is worth revisiting because this is one of the biggest Intuition Blockers that clients report. It is time to dive deeper!

Here are some frequent questions:

How can I tell what is wishful thinking and what is intuition?

How do I know whether it's fear or intuition?

How do I know if it is love or infatuation? If he's the ONE?

How do I know if it's the right decision or if maybe I'm just excited to be doing something different?

Intuition generally feels neutral, peaceful, un-emotional and calm and provides unique sensations to guide you to your best decisions.

If you feel any big emotion—e.g., fear, anger, sadness, irritation, anxiety, frustration, bliss, elation, or impatience— just keep in mind that these temporary feelings are NOT intuition. Big emotions jam up the decision-making system.

Interpreting Cues

Intuition provides various sensations for you to interpret. Imagine that your Intuitive Style is like a delicate instrument and you need to acquaint yourself with how to read all of the teeny tiny gauges. No one's intuitive instrument is identical to yours, so it is up to you to understand how yours works and what all the sensations mean to you.

It gets confusing because emotions also cause sensations.

However, once you acquaint with your intuitive sensations, you can begin to separate them from your mentally or emotionally driven sensations.

Potential examples of intuition

When facing a decision that is a "yes" for you, you tend to get a sense of feeling light and calm in your heart, or maybe you see an image of yourself celebrating at a mountain summit.

OR

You might discover that when your intuition is telling you "no" that you feel a sense of being closed or a sense of tightness or heaviness in your belly.

Potential examples of emotion

When you've met a potential romantic partner, you might have a really big feeling in your heart—like you're so happy you want to explode—you feel SO much love— this MUST be it!

OR

You have this terrible anxiety about a pending decision— you have a knot in your stomach that makes you feel like you just "shouldn't" do it.

At first glance, these preceding examples might seem similar. Yet remember, intuition is neutral, non-emotional, and generally provides a sense of calm.

The red flags in "potential examples of emotion" are the feeling of wanting to explode and the terrible anxiety. These do not accompany intuition.

FEAR

Fear is a doozey. It rises up like a giant dragon that keeps us glued to our spot, afraid to make a wrong move in the wrong direction! Fear causes all our gauges to malfunction and shut down our otherwise wonderful internal guidance system. Fear causes us to play small in life, and be at greater risk for regret later, if we give in.

Though this is true of any big emotion, it is especially true of fear: (whether in Clear Seeing, Clear Feeling, Clear Instinct, etc.), you must manage the fear. If you are feeling fear, you either need to move out of it, or you need move through it.

The Remedy

The remedy to fear is two-fold. Let's explore both moving out of fear and moving through it!

Strategies to Move Out of Fear:

Get in your body (and out of your head). When you start to feel fear creep in, stop what you are doing and simply move. Go for a run, walk around the block, have your own mini- dance party where you get down with your bad self. Go the gym, do some light stretching or yoga, or play with kids or pets. Unorthodox? Perhaps! Effective? Absolutely. This is how you shift out of fear and back into possibility. When you get your blood flowing, and bring new oxygen into your system, you redirect the energy from the mind into the body. The common thread among all of these things is that they pull your energy out of your rational mind and shift your focus into a physical experience. Whatever you do, stop sitting and thinking. Stop trying to figure it out. Go get active.

Do not commit to any fear-based decisions. A couple years ago I made this commitment—I decided that I would no longer limit my life and make choices due to fear. If I had an important decision to make and I felt fear, I devoted myself to work through it and not let fear make the decision for me. Living a BIG, juicy, fully expressed life that delights you is no small task. It demands a level of risk that might feel foreign and wildly adventurous at first. DO consider it an adventure. DO embrace the unknown with a willingness to do what it takes to honor your heart and soul. That is the true path to fulfillment.

Focus on your desired outcome to refocus, uplift, and excite you. Often times when we get close to making a decision that brings us closer to what we really want, we freak out, are confronted by fear and doubt, and then feel stuck—mainly because we've tuned into our very own private "Fear Channel." Cultivate a practice of moving through and beyond fear so that when you start to feel fear you can instead take one or more positive actions to refocus on your desired outcome.

Visualization: Close your eyes and enjoy a visualization of yourself living the kind of life you've always desired. See yourself confidently making decisions that allow your life to unfold just the way you want it to. Imagine achieving all that you hoped for as a result of trusting yourself.

Journal about the life you are creating. Describe your life in detail, including any sensory elements. Write about how it feels, who is there, what it looks like, any foods or flavors that would be associated with your routines, any smells that would come with your desired outcome.

Call a supportive friend who can guide you in a focused conversation. Have them prepped and ready with some questions like these, "What are you most excited about creating in your life?" "Why is this the perfect time for it?" "Why will this deepen your sense of fulfillment in your life in such a meaningful way?" You will experience an immediate energy boost and dose of optimism when you talk about what you love, what you're excited about.

Note: It could be that the fear may never be entirely gone. However, I like to think of it like this: I am devoted to following my path. Sometimes fear will walk beside me on my path. I'm not willing to stop being on my path and be bullied by fear. I am more devoted to my path than I am to fear. And though it might take me some time and practice to stay in action on my path, I am also willing to be patient.

Strategies to Move Through Fear

Generally if you have a fear you'd consider a recurring fear, it's probably time to go through it versus trying to move away from it. This can be incredibly scary to people. We are afraid that if we step fully into our fear (or sadness, anger, grief, disappointment), that we will not be able to handle it. That we will be consumed and break into a million pieces or become entirely non-functional. This is just not true. Might it be intense? Sure. Yet you are much stronger than you know…you can handle any emotion— emotion is merely energy that needs to move. It is only dangerous when stuffed and unexpressed. You are a strong, resilient, courageous and wise person and by becoming adept at managing fear, life suddenly becomes nearly limitless.

One of the best approaches that I've found for moving through fear and big emotions is to be gentle with them. Don't judge your emotions and don't get angry at them. Don't feel like you "shouldn't" feel what you feel or try to diminish the importance of your emotions. Most of all, don't stuff 'em. Fear and emotions are natural, like the rising and falling tide. It is unwise try to hold back the tide. Instead choose to embrace it, allow it. Please know that is okay and absolutely natural to experience fear AND there is tremendous power in acknowledging it. Once you move through the fear, your Intuitive Style can flourish and be clear.

Once you have a strategy to move through your emotions, you can use it as often as you like. Generally emotions are terrific learning tools. They are not always an indicator of the truth but the feeling is no less real. Often times it is important to simply take time to feel and understand the emotion, be gentle with it. Then we can remove the obstacle of fear from our choice(s) while extending understanding to our fear.

If you'd like some additional resources for moving through fear, go to www.SoulMoxie.net/intuition-tips.php for an exercise you can do at home.

MASTER YOUR MIND,
MASTER YOUR INTUITION

As mentioned previously in this book, you must have a degree of mastery over your mind for your Intuitive Style to be truly effective. You must have the ability to unplug from thoughts that trigger emotions so you can remain neutral and have access to clear intuition.

Left unattended the mind can run wild and trigger all kinds of unhelpful and distracting emotions.

It would be like trying to do a library research project with your least favorite music blasting over the speakers. It's nearly impossible to gather the information you need until you turn down the volume or turn off the music altogether.

Practice: During your busy day, simply direct your focus on a particular thing at any given moment. If you are immersed in a work task, pause and see if you can shift all your focus and attention to your breath and feeling relaxed. Another way to do this would be to close your eyes and direct your mind's eye to a mental image of yourself standing in a forest as the edge of a stunning waterfall. Just imagining it in your mind is enough to trigger relaxation. Practice choosing your focus and turning off your mind.

Again, you might still have insight into a situation— say, that someone is being dishonest with you, for example— except the insight and information will come to you in a neutral way versus an emotional way. Then you might react emotionally and experience anxiety to the information. (Note: if you can insert more space between the insight and the response, [i.e. a delayed response] you then have a chance to process new information in a way that gives you time to decide if you really want to react emotionally and experience all of the resultant anxiety that you'd usually have.)

Bonus: The juiciest challenge of all is when we're in the midst of emotional upset and feeling off-kilter. If we can learn to return to a state of peace and neutrality— SHAZAM! This is the mother of championships. It's a practice I get to work on nearly every day, as I too, am constantly faced with ups and downs of humanness! Plans don't work out as I hoped. I'm in uncertainty limbo, whatever. Every day I have to choose peace and it's not always easy.

Kim's Life Example

"Since high school and University I always dreamed of traveling and studying Spanish abroad. It was expensive, it seemed complicated, and I was too scared to go alone. No one else I knew wanted to go. So for years and years I just never did anything about it. I guess I was waiting for someone else to go with me, or the right opportunity to come along. They never did. Time passed and I was pretty bored with my life and I knew I wasn't truly happy, but I didn't know what to do about it. I didn't know where to find my passion for life or my happiness.

"When I was about 26 years old, I finally met a guy and fell in love. He became my happiness and my entire life. When our relationship ended about three years later, I was completely devastated. I didn't care if I lived or died, I thought my whole life was over, and I was severely depressed. It was at that time that I turned to self-help books, counseling, and advice from friends. My dear friend Robin recommended an Insight seminar which changed my life. Through this seminar and some women's workshops that Robin led, I learned who I really am, and to love and cherish who I am. I learned to understand the difference between the selfcritical, negative voice inside my head and my intuition. I let go of my fears. Now I know what my passions are in life, and I am living them.

"Years ago, I was at one of Robin's workshops, and she had a pile of cards. She asked each one of us to randomly choose a card, that our intuition would know which card to pick, and that what it said would have meaning for us. My card, (still posted on my wall 6 or 7 years later) says:

'We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot.'

—Eleanor Roosevelt

"Before connecting with my intuition there used to be this fearful, negative voice inside my head that thought of all the possible problems and reasons why I could never learn another language or live in another country. I was so scared and it sounded like a crazy idea. It was something only other special, lucky people do, not me.

"I found this inner light inside me. I finally realized what my dreams were, and that I could have them. I believed in myself. I heard a different voice, my intuition. Opportunity knocked, I searched the internet and got a job to teach in Costa Rica. I was thrilled, and everything fell into place. I wasn't scared anymore at all, my fears had turned into excitement. I had to make a lot of sacrifices, but I didn't mind. Once I decided to move to Costa Rica, everything just felt "right." I didn't have doubts, I just knew it was the right thing. I felt good about my choice, even when I ran into obstacles. For example, my dad didn't support my decision to go. But even after talking with him, I still felt that I was doing the right thing for me.

"When I moved to Costa Rica I was 31 years old. I quit my job, sold my car, said goodbye to all my friends and family, and got on a plane to move to a country I had never been to. I didn't know one person there. It turned out to be the best decision I ever made. I can't imagine my life if I had never gone. It opened up a whole new world for me. I made life-long friends and traveled around the world. I lived in Costa Rica for 4 years. I learned to be truly happy on my own, I was single the whole time I was there, and they were some of the happiest moments of my life. For the first time I found happiness inside of me, instead of in a relationship or boyfriend.

"I have spent the last 2 years living in both Denver, Colorado, and Guadalajara, Mexico. My Spanish is getting pretty good. Although I don't have a house, a car, or traditional job, or a lot of money in the bank, I am one of the happiest people I know. I don't want to imagine what my life would be like if I had never moved to Costa Rica. I will always be thankful to all the people that helped me find my path and my intuition.

"My new dream is to be a mom. I met a fabulous man in Mexico, and we are planning to get married, move to Denver, and have a family. Let's see what my intuition has to say..."

Kim B. teacher, world traveler

Trying

Making decisions from your Intuitive Style is about operating from a state of flow and ease where your senses are sharpened and you pick up on slight prompts that guide you towards your best choices. What mucks up flow is when you accidentally slide into effort and trying— when there is a sense of pushing and pressure, to try and get the right answer, or to try to be intuitive.

Unfortunately, it jus' don't work like that! Intuition cannot be forced. Again, I return to the concept that intuition needs space, a sense of relaxation, and non-thinking. Typically, when you find yourself sitting down and wracking your brain to list pros and cons, you can run through a series of options, draw up plans and go over scenarios in your head, and there's a good chance that the majority of the time you will still end up frustrated and no closer to your best decision.

The Remedy

Nourish your soul. Stop trying. It is easy for us to get depleted in the course of a busy day. We need to be sure we are replenishing our stores of energy, not only our physical and mental energy, but our soul energy as well. What I mean is that it's essential for us to understand and tend to our passions, what we love about life, what fuels our inner spark and sense of motivation. There are times to be focused and get things done. And there are times to unwind and renew our view of the world. Consider what kinds of activities are most relaxing and rejuvenating for you and try one. It is remarkable how much more effective we are when we relax and feed our souls.

HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS
TO NOURISH YOUR SOUL:

Listen to music that moves you into your heart, passion or inspiration

Go for a hike in a nature area

Cook a fragrant or gourmet meal and relish in its aromas and textures

Spend time with friends with whom you can totally be yourself

Leisurely sip a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy it immensely

Wander around an art gallery

Take a class that stimulates your imagination and creativity

Plan a mini-vacation

Hop in the car and take a spontaneous day trip

Go see an uplifting or entertaining movie

Get a spa treatment, sports massage or steam bath

Enjoy a manicure or pedicure

Take a bath

Go for a swim or spend time around water

Wander around a botanic garden, greenhouse or park

Now you have plenty of options to nourish yourself. The next time you feel the pressure of pushing or trying too hard, take a soul break!

TOO MUCH STIMULI

It takes about five minutes to realize that our lifestyles are chock full of stimuli. For example, we are never short on sound. Wake up in the morning to an alarm and you likely hear traffic, the radio, the hum of a fan, heating, or cooling system, the electric buzz of the fridge, the cable box, people talking, kids running-playing-yelling, animals barking. . . you get the idea. And that doesn't take into account the other four senses! The brain is exposed to over 2,000 bits of information per second from which it must sift out what's most essential in any given moment. I need a nap after just writing about it!

It's easy to see how all this stimuli gets in the way of Clear Intuition. It distracts us from our high level of awareness that otherwise allows us to gather information and insight. No wonder we might feel overwhelmed now and then. Just the act of driving a car with all the steps, actions and choices that go in to operating a 4,000-pound vehicle is likely more stimuli than many of our ancestors would have in a month!

The Remedy

To quote Henry David Thoreau, the most famous lover of quiet in American Letters: "Simplify, simplify, simplify." Set up at least one place in your life that is simple, that has very minimal stimuli, or choose a location where the stimuli are soothing and restorative (e.g., choose a room that is clear of clutter and has plenty of open space where you can sit and read a book, listen to gentle instrumental music, or meditate). Some other ideas are to sit on a bench under a tree, lay in a hammock in the backyard or go to the quietest section of your public library and enjoy the stillness.

TOO MUCH "RATIONAL MIND"

Our culture celebrates critical thinking, research, marketing, business planning, logic and order. With these focal points, it's no surprise that we literally operate very much from our "left brain", tending more towards "prove-itto- me" thinking, than a creative or intuitive perspective. During nearly every waking hour of the day, our minds are "on"—keeping track of information, checking things off lists, and exploring success strategies. Being rational or more left-brained is not wrong. It can, however, get in the way of intuition if we don't learn how to manage it.

You're likely a rational-minded person if you enjoy analyzing situations for deeper understanding. When speaking, you might say, "I think that we should do it this way." Or "What do you think?" You may tend to be drawn towards what "makes sense," taking into account what's "right and wrong," what you should do, and you look for and appreciate input from others to select the best course of action.

Unfortunately, the rational mind is not beneficial in all decision-making scenarios. Sometimes we need the rational mind, and other times it better serves us to use our intuition and follow our inner guidance system. Sometimes we want to use both. There is great advantage to becoming adept at knowing when and how to shift between the two approaches of listening to external stimuli and listening to your intuition, and even when to merge them.

The Remedy

The flip side of being in your head is increasing awareness through what's going on in your body. Pay attention to your emotions and actually feel them. (You may need added support with this if you've been a life-long emotion "stuffer." A good therapist can help you reawaken to your emotions—an integral aspect of using your intuition.) Feel your feet on the floor. Focus on your breath for a couple minutes. If you need a stronger shift, then consider exercising or doing things that require more physical energy. (See the "Get Grounded and Present" section in the next chapter for more detail.)

TECHNOLOGY

Most of us, at one time or another, experience the roadblock of technology and its allure in our busy lives. It's almost impossible to escape in today's world of high-tech communication and interconnection. The majority of people are exposed to at least five kinds of technology before we even leave the house. We have cool complex alarm clocks, automated coffee makers, microwaves, and refrigerators, savvy heating and alarm systems to name a few. These are great forms of technology that keep us comfortable, secure and save us time. However, several forms of technology can serve as distractions and when overused, work against our intuition. Although some technology such as TV, DVR, computers (complete with internet, Facebook and email), and cell phones can all be great tools, they can also be massive time-wasters and interfere with the sense of quiet so integral to intuition.

We are exposed to so much technology, it is really remarkable. Did you know that one of those greeting cards with a musical microchip contains more computing power than was possessed by all of the combined forces that fought in World War Two?

Whether it is the constant distraction of email or Facebook, staring at a computer screen for eight hours a day or watching an incredibly stimulating hour of television, you may find all that technology to be draining. You might be fatigued more easily during times of high technology use. For example, although I enjoy a good TV show like anyone else, if I've had too much technology in a day, I simply can't watch TV—it is like I'm saturated and yearn to be somewhere quiet, still and natural.

The Remedy

Get your nature fix. Time in nature is invaluable. For most of us, we're best served when nature becomes part of our lifestyle…when it becomes a regular feature that we plan life around. Even if you live in an urban area, don't underestimate the power of 10 minutes of fresh air, or 30 minutes hanging out in a park where you can't hear anything other than kids playing and the breeze tipping tree leaves.

Time in nature relaxes the mind. It reduces the incessant white noise that all our machines make and lets us hear a truer version of silence, which is incredibly restful to the senses.

Another remedy is to take a technology-free "vacation." This could be for one hour, one day, or one week. Do your best to unplug from technology such as your computer, TV or phone for a predetermined period of time, and enjoy low-tech activities like reading, baking cookies from scratch, writing a letter or a card to someone, journaling, painting or gardening. If this kind of escape really appeals to you, you can take it even further with a week-long vacation to the beach or the mountains where, aside from using electricity for lights and cooking, you can live life "unplugged." Literally unplug anything electric—clocks, tv, computers—and just be. You will be amazed at the layers of relaxation you can find that you never even knew about.

SELF-CRITICISM

Self-criticism is one of the most poisonous blocks there is. It is insidious and can pull even the most insightful person off track. It is that little voice in your head that is a direct antagonist to all things intuitive, creative and mildly daring. As our standards for ourselves get higher and higher, we are at risk for becoming less tolerant of mistakes, shortcomings, and anything other than personal perfection. We're impatient with ourselves, feeling we should have "it" worked out (whatever it is). We're skeptical of out-of-the-ordinary ideas that we have and often judge them as foolish, wishful thinking, dumb, or crazy. We discount our creative notions simply because they're ours—and who are we to have such grand ideas?—and carry on with life as it has always been.

Here's an example. A woman named Tara has been on a long career journey—job jumping, and is generally not happy. She is a stunningly talented baker, and despite the fact that she loves to bake and is gifted at it, she always hears a voice in her head that says things like: "You can never make a living as a baker!" "Who's going to hire YOU to bake? You're not that great at baking…there are so many people better at baking than you." "No one said you were supposed to be happy while making a living—suck it up and get your head out of the clouds!"

The sad thing is that everyone but Tara can see that she could absolutely make a living as a baker. Until she trusts herself, though, and listens to her true inner guidance and follows her passion, she will forever have a hobby that she likes and a series of loathsome jobs. And that's actually okay, if that's what she wants. The point is that her self-criticism makes it tough for her to make a clear decision while her mind and heart are clouded with doubt and self-battery.

The Remedy

There are four basic steps when it comes to dispelling self-criticism: Awareness, gentleness, allowance, and trust.

At its core, self-criticism undercuts any kind of selfapproval, self-trust and sense of inner stability. Individually and as a society we put way too much emphasis on comparison and external measures of success. We must create a formula for returning to self-trust.

Awareness: Nearly every transformation begins with awareness. As an exercise, I recommend practicing awareness by simply noticing self-criticism. Just take note during the course of the day when self-criticism/your inner critic arises, and rather than getting angry about it simply notice it. "Hey, I just told myself I should be better at that." "Wow, I'm angry at myself for not finishing that project sooner or with higher quality." "I notice how quickly I silently shoot down my own creative solutions, thinking that they are dumb and uninteresting." Don't further judge the self-cricism—just notice.

Gentleness: Once you've got the hang of being aware of your self-criticism for a few days, then start practicing a sense of gentleness. Someone once invited me to pretend like I was supporting my best friend and to be as gentle with myself as I would be with that person who is so special to me. Gentleness means letting yourself off the hook when you're being too demanding. Gentleness means allowing yourself to do something nice and restorative, and not working a 14-hour day. It means suspending judgment, when possible, and offering positive encouragement instead. It means being SO kind to yourself that it almost makes you want to cry because deep down you've been yearning for someone to be that kind to you.

Allowance: To allow is to release the need to force change and rather embrace what IS. For example, I know that I have trouble with numbers (this is my awareness), and one day I cut myself enough slack to realize that I needed to stop beating myself up about it (here's where the gentleness came in), and simply hired someone to do my books (thus making an allowance to embrace a fact of my life). Did this type of choice leave me happier and more open? It's a no-brainer.

Practice allowing yourself to be just as you are. Remove the pressure you put on yourself and allow a re-vamp of your overly-ambitious self-expectations. Without harsh, self-criticism, allow yourself to be the person who makes a mess now and then. To be imperfect. To make mistakes. Allow yourself to follow your inner whimsy, creativity and daydreams. Allow yourself to want what you want. This is huge. Many driven people discount the value of their wants due to being in constant service of others, and they end up completely out of touch with what they truly, deeply want. Allow yourself to feel and express your desires. Your purpose is the sweet spot where your desires, intuition and gifts meet.

Trust: Consider what trust is comprised of. It seems to be a delicate blend of respect, hope, belief, willingness, reliance, expectation, and confidence. It takes some devotion to rebuild trust in ourselves once we've been ravaged by self-criticism. What's fantastic about intuition is that it is an infinite positive cycle that feeds back into itself. The more you cultivate it and practice being gentle, allowing and trusting your intuition, the stronger your intuition grows. As it grows stronger, you experience more consistent, reliable results that further amplify your confidence. This increased confidence in turn will help quiet the not-so-kind inner critic.

Chapter Four

When Intuition “Fails”

As mentioned earlier, when you take time to understand and cultivate your Intuitive Style, you can expect more consistent results. When you are clear on your specific intuitive cues for different kinds of insight, you can start to make more effective decisions that truly serve you.

As you can imagine, intuition is not 100 percent foolproof. There will be times we feel our intuition failed. We are human, and as humans we are fallible. We can misinterpret signals that arrive to us. We can follow our hearts and discover that it didn't turn out the way we planned.

The way I see it, when our intuition fails us it can often be due to any number of factors such as any of the following:

An inconsistent intuitive practice: You might use intuition here and there, but it is not part of your lifestyle. If you wish to improve your success rate, incorporate your intuition into your everyday life. Practice using it for small decisions. Practice paying attention to your senses and strengthening them. The more you nourish your Intuitive Style, the more dividends it will pay. Stick to it consistently, and you will be pleasantly surprised!

Emotion trips us up: You may feel like your intuition told you to do it, however upon reflection you may discover that your initial intuitive truth got plowed over by your emotions. The best practice is to move slowly when working with intuition. Take your time. Insert space between your awareness, your neutral insight, your thoughts about the insight and the emotions that follow. They are all separate steps. Pay attention to the earliest cues. If you catch yourself in emotion, pause and see if you can back up to your neutral insight instead.

The Learning curve: It takes time to establish your baseline—for you to understand very clearly what your intuitive cues are and how they function. Depending on the consistency of your practice it may take one month or 12 months before you find your reliable groove. Be patient and allow it to unfold in its own time.

Misinterpreting the outcome: There are times when intuition does guide us in a direction that serves us and our greater path, despite it not turning out the way we hoped.

For example, Kate might be guided to make a new career choice. Although it doesn't become the job of her dreams as she had hoped, it does introduce her to Sharon, her future employer. While working for Sharon, Kate unexpectedly meets the man of her dreams. It is not always the exact path we imagine however it does generally serve our greater good. Be willing to look for the learning as it relates to the Big Picture.

Not trusting it: Often times we get an intuitive nudge and we intentionally or unintentionally ignore it, and therefore miss the guidance. As you begin to listen to and trust your intuition more frequently it will get stronger and clearer. Do your best to trust it without delay! (See "When YOU Ignore Your Intuitive Style" at the end of this chapter for more detail on this.)

A REAL STORY

One of my clients, let's call her Maggie, recently shared with me that she was skeptical of her intuition because it failed her in the past. She had trusted it and things didn't turn out as she thought they would.

An associate, Charlie, approached her about a business opportunity—a partnership of sorts. On some levels she felt like it was fate that he had showed up and offered this opportunity when he did. When she got together with other potential partners for the business opportunity, they all got talking about it, joined in on Charlie's enthusiasm, and decided to move forward. Within a month it was evident it wasn't going to work out, and within six months the business opportunity failed.

Maggie was frustrated, disappointed and felt misled. She wondered how she could have been so excited, had such a good feeling in her heart and then had her intuition lead her astray.

We discussed it further and broke it down in to smaller pieces. I asked her if she could remember the very first time she heard about the business opportunity, the very first time Charlie shared the idea with her. And, if so, could she recall her very first, initial response that simply "came" to her?

When Maggie thought about it, she realized that the first time she and Charlie spoke about it over the phone, her initial gut reaction was hesitation combined with the thought that historically, he tended not to do well with money. However, once she attended the meeting with other potential partners, everyone got pulled into Charlie's excitement, all the possibilities, and how good the idea sounded.

In hindsight, Maggie realized that it was not her intuition that had failed. It was she who had not attended to her intuition. She disregarded her instinctive hesitation and money management concern. Instead she, like so many of us, got derailed by emotion.

Upon reflection, Maggie realized that while she was on the phone with Charlie her response was neutral. Comparatively, the way she felt after the group meeting was definitely not neutral. She was super excited, filled with hope and possibility.

Now this is not to say that you should never get excited about opportunities. However, be sure to pay close attention to your very first response to an idea, choice, opportunity or information. Be on the lookout for the neutral response. Then once you're clear on the neutral response, allow yourself any emotion that arises. Often it is far too easy to collapse the two steps and have the lasting impression be the emotion. If your neutral response is "Go for it!" then by all means, allow yourself boundless excitement once you've gotten the clear answer. Always honor your initial response.

When it seems as though nothing's
happening (on the intuition front, that is),
now is the time too…pause.

There are times when nothing comes right away. You sit down, you do all the right things, you're relaxed and feeling neutral and...nada. No images, no sensations, no cues...just a feeling of nothing or a big blank. Don't panic; the world is not ending. Instead, you're most likely simply getting a "pause" message.

When this blank sensation happens for me, I generally take it as a sign that I need to pause, I am not ready to decide, and I need to give myself more time. Over the years I have gotten better at trusting myself and trusting the times of pause—doing my best to be at peace with the not-knowing and occupying myself in the "meanwhile." What's seemed true is that the key information comes at just the right moment. It is never the wrong time.

Therefore, whenever possible, resist the temptation to force a decision. I don't know about you, but there've been innumerable times in my life when a delay proved perfect by giving me a little extra time to gather necessary and often unexpected information. Sometimes the late arriving information turned out to be a game-changer.

A story about Pause

The past few years have been ripe with challenge for my husband Todd and me. Right after our honeymoon my adrenal system pretty much pooped out, leaving me with about an hour of energy a day and spending many hours fatigued on the couch. Over the next couple years I continued to improve slowly. During this time, with me at 40 and Todd 42, we were also hoping to start a family. Well, I had always been certain I'd be a mother but amidst my illness, it wasn't happening. As a result we had to really choose how to move forward. I'll be honest; I was no longer fully clear about becoming a parent. I was confused and still didn't feel 100 percent! I wasn't sure I could handle the demands of parenting. When I meditated on what might be the best option it was blank. And so my blank intuitive response combined with Todd's wisdom forced us to pause and wait.

Lo and behold after eight months off my newly diagnosed food allergens (gluten, dairy, eggs, chocolate, corn), I felt amazing, healthy and vital again. And with the return of my health, came clarity and the intuitive insight that I definitely want to be a mom and believe that I can handle the demands. I couldn't get a clear intuitive read until my health was restored. I needed to wait for part of the equation to shift to make an accurate choice.

In such moments of pause, think of your intuition as percolating. Your intuition is not stuck, the insight is just not fully brewed yet. Give it time. Believe me, I know from my own experience that having patience with your intuition can be challenging!

A Story about a Different Kind
of Pause...Patience

James trusts his (highly accurate) intuition quite often. The following story has to do with a gut feeling he had when it came time to move his children to a new school. His kids had been in a small independent elementary school for a few years, and were doing well there until it had to close for financial reasons. There was another elementary school in the area—we'll call it Asgard Elementary—that had a similar philosophy to his kids' old school, but his children had to apply to get into Asgard because it was not in their immediate neighborhood district. James signed up for a lottery system in January to get his kids into Asgard for the following September.

In May, James and his wife heard that there was no room at Asgard for his children (the place was very popular for its academic rigor and respect for kids). They were told, though, that if after the beginning of the school year there was room, the school would call. The kids were sad and James's wife was heartbroken, and James and his wife had a sudden attack of panic and big disappointment knowing that the kids weren't going to start the school year at the school everyone hoped for. Despite the immediately disappointment, though, James kept taking a "pause" here and there whenever he'd start worrying about the school. Throughout all of those months, whenever James began to think about the school he'd always have a small yet steady intuitive feeling that his kids were going to get into Asgard.

The end of August arrived, and James walked his kids to the neighborhood school, and from the first day it was obviously not the same kind of school as Asgard Elementary. During the first two days of school his oldest son was bullied not by other students, but by his teacher. That was too much for James and his wife, and on the third day of the new school year he dropped by Asgard just to check in and let the school know he still wanted to get his kids in there. He took a pound of coffee and some scones with him, and he talked to the secretaries at the main office. The secretaries sadly shook their heads, and said that the school was so popular that nobody was getting in. Despite this news, James headed off to work that morning with a glowing feeling that his kids were going to get into Asgard. . . despite what the secretaries had told him. Four hours after his visit to Asgard, he got a call from one of the secretaries letting him know that there was space at the school after all for his kids. Because his intuition was so strong about them attending Asgard, the call came as no surprise to James. "When I tell this story," he says, "people always say it must've been the coffee and scones that did the trick. But I knew all along for the better part of a year that whenever I was able to get calm and get in touch with what intuitively felt true, I knew that my kids were going to go to that school."

Sometimes the pause is needed for your intuitive hunch to seed and bloom. Other times the pause is an opportunity for you to percolate and wait until clarity comes. However, if you've been percolating on something for years, chances are you've buried your intuition deep under layers of uncertainty, fear, resistance, or procrastination. If after doing your own practices you still can't seem to get to your truth, you might want to connect with a therapist or coach. It can be transformative having an objective party who is skilled at drawing out the truth of what you really want and what's in the way. Everyone needs a little extra support now and then!

When YOU Ignore Your Intuitive Style

Recently, I was conducting an Intuitive Style session with a client named Joni, and she shared that with how full her life is, that she is finding difficult to consider adding in one more thing. We had previously discussed a few practices to help her grow her intuition, however she said she could really only remember to do one of them, and wasn't even feeling consistent with that.

What's interesting, though, is what we found when we further explored her intuition and how it interacted with her life. We discovered that her schedule being full was not the problem. The problem was that she procrastinated trusting herself and acting on her intuition, thus causing a draining domino effect in the rest of her life.

Here's an example of how it works: Joni gets an intuitive feeling, (like a knock on the door), about her client Sara who is starting to feel discouraged or frustrated. (They haven't spoken yet—it's just a hunch—which, by the way, is historically close to 100 percent accurate.) Joni questions herself, "Hmm was that a knock on the door?" and ignores the initial feeling. She also isn't quite ready to connect with Sara, as she's really trying to stick to her work/life balance plan, and she's done with work for the day.

Joni carries on with life, and the intuitive nudge presses harder, feeling like the knocking on the door becomes more consistent and louder. As a result, it creates some anxiety in the back of her mind and in her belly. This causes difficulty sleeping, which results in her being tired, irritable and off-kilter. The knocking continues over the next couple days, so to distract herself she watches some TV, eats snack food (which doesn't generally feel good long-term), and works harder at enjoying her free time. (The knocking is still there.)

Eventually Joni's hunch blooms and Sara reaches out, upset and frustrated, requesting a conversation, (mistakenly thinking there's a problem with their work when really the client just had some normal fear and doubt crop up—which Joni had a hunch about before). Now Joni must deal with it.

After reflection, Joni realized that despite her desire to manage her work/life balance, when she ignores her initial intuitive insights, she has to devote an incredible amount of energy to distracting herself and trying to stay in balance despite the pull of anxiety. It got really clear to her that not only is her intuition an actual, reliable tool that guides her life, it is also the key to creating ease and flow.

Procrastinating and ignoring intuition is like trying to float down a river holding on to six bags of luggage. It results in tremendous resistance and discomfort and you have to work much harder to stay afloat versus just going with it from the beginning.

Remember that generally it is not our intuition that fails but rather that we have been given an opportunity to deepen our relationship with it, practice it, understand and listen to it. We can strengthen this relationship one day at a time, one choice at a time.

Chapter Five

Seven Simple Steps to
Cultivate Your Intuition

Now that you have a solid overview of Intuitive Styles and blocks, and how to manage them, here are seven "Simple Steps" to further cultivate your intuition.

You can do these steps all in one sitting, or try them in segments whenever you choose. The steps are not complicated, and they do not have to be accomplished with perfection. Please resist the temptation to be "all or nothing" with the steps. (All or nothing, meaning the attitude that you either have a devoted practice EVERY day, or you say, "Forget it, if I can't do it daily, I'm not doing it at all!") Please don't do that!

Practice when you can. Practice when you remember or before a big meeting. Set up reminders to build practice into your life. Eventually as you learn the simple steps it will become more natural to turn toward your intuition for decision-making.

1. Get Present & Grounded

Whenever possible, you'll want to set yourself up to be a "clear channel" for your intuition. If you are stressed, worried about the future, or feeling spun out, you are not likely going to accurately connect with your intuition.

Practice: Get Present and Grounded:

When possible, sit down in a quiet and relaxing environment that feels peaceful.

Start by closing your eyes to tune out distractions. (Of course if you are driving or must keep your eyes open, simply direct your focus to your body, breath and this moment.)

Focus on your breathing for several breaths. Feel the breath moving in and out. Imagine that each breath effortlessly releases tension in your body and mind.

Imagine that you are deeply rooted—to the place you are sitting or standing, or even rooted down into the earth like a giant tree. Feel yourself solid, stable, and unshakeable.

Release the past and the future, and anchor in to this moment only.

Continue to practice this way for a few breaths until you feel yourself fully present.

An additional practice (or replacement practice) would be to do something physically active. (This approach to getting present is nearly the same as the "Get In Your Body" segment of Chapter Three.) Exercise, dance, do yard work, walk, play a sport or participate in an activity with your pets or kids. This drives your attention and energy into your body and generally makes you more present.

Even if the only thing you practice is getting Present and Grounded several times during the day, you will cultivate one of the foundational elements of effective intuition. Use it while standing in a long line, sitting in traffic or participating in a conference call. The benefits of being Present and Grounded are infinite!

2. Get Neutral

Another method that will allow you to act as a clear channel for intuition is the practice of getting neutral. If you notice that you are frequently tired, mentally strung out, irritated, disappointed, worried, frustrated, sad or critical of yourself or others, this will be a terrific practice for you. (If you experience any of these qualities, it is likely that you are highly affected by the emotions and energy of environments and other people. You'll want to practice unplugging from outside stimuli, energy and influence to be able to maximize your Intuitive Style.)

Initially it may be difficult to shift out of your distracted state into neutrality. That's okay.

First, concentrate on raising awareness of your physical, mental, and emotional state. Once you are more aware of how you are feeling, then you can begin to intentionally choose a state of neutrality.

Practice: Get Neutral

Start by closing your eyes to tune out distractions. Again, if you are driving or similar, keep your eyes open and direct all your attention to how you feel in your body. If you feel sad, angry, fatigued, stressed, just notice it all. Without judgment, simply be the ob- server. Give yourself permission to feel what you feel.

(Deeper: You may want to spend a longer period of time with "stuck spots" in the body, and ask yourself if there is anything you need to know to alleviate the feeling of "stuck-ness.")

Check in with your energy. Attune to the quality of the energy and what it feels like. Get a sense for what is YOUR energy versus what you actually picked up from someone or something else. (If you are sensitive to energy, this is particularly helpful and even essential to feeling your best.)

Once you feel complete with observing or understanding what you are feeling, then imagine yourself releasing any emotions, energy or conditions that are not yours, or that stand between you and feeling peaceful. You might envision letting sand sift through open fingers—an easy falling away of any emotions, energy or thoughts that are not currently of service or do not belong to you.

Continue to breathe and release anything that causes you to feel any sensations other than being centered, clear, calm, peaceful, and neutral. It may take practice to get to this state. Initially, seek improvement. Seek to feel more neutral and peaceful than when you started.

3. Create a Sense of Ease
and Spaciousness

Earlier I shared how being busy, overscheduled or rushed all get in the way of intuition. The same is true of technology and stimuli. In response, to better cultivate your Intuitive Style, do your best to incorporate a sense of spaciousness every day. A spacious day is one that actually has moments of open time, an easy pace, a sense of flow. A spacious day is absent of pressure, a feeling of constant deadlines, not enough time and rushing. Often you can practice shifting in your mind first. Imagine you have plenty of time; internally feel yourself moving slowly even if you are physically moving quickly. Monks use this practice all the time while doing chores—they experience stillness amid mopping, sweeping, and cooking at a steady pace.

If this feels wildly unfamiliar, you are not alone. The pace of our culture is getting out of hand, moving progressively faster. Slow things down when possible. In the section that follows you will find a few more practical ideas to create a sense of ease, peace and spaciousness that is conducive to intuition.

Practice: Create a sense of ease and spaciousness

Allow yourself a little extra time to get from point A to B so you can stay relaxed, knowing that even if you hit some traffic you've got plenty of time.

Schedule one less appointment per day than you think you can "handle." (You will not be your most intuitive if you're constantly "sucking it up" and jamming in one more commitment.)

Keep one night a week open to relax and unwind without having to be "on." (Even relaxing with friends requires a certain amount of energy, though it is fun.)

Consider deeply what you say "yes" to before you commit. Ask yourself whether the commitment brings you closer to or further away from your intuition, your values, and your big life passions.

Make all choices based on the lifestyle you intend to live—answer according to what you'd say if you were already living the kind of life you desire.

Practice being present in any given moment; doing this can invite a sense of peace and spaciousness to even the most chaotic day. Take a few breaths and consciously choose to relax in all the little moments.

Take a close look at how you spend your time in the course of a day and ask yourself if it feels relaxing to you.

Do less. It is nearly impossible to stack anything new on top of a maxed-out schedule without it feeling more stressful than inspiring. How might you do a little bit less than what you are doing now? Could you trim back 10 minutes on TV, Internet, phone, errands or work time? Can you de-commit from a committee or two now or when your term is up?

If your day does not feel relaxing, ask yourself some questions for further insight:

When do I get up in the morning and how much time do I leave myself?

What's my morning routine?

What's my morning commute like and is there anything that would make it more enjoyable?

How much time do I spend plugged in to technology and for how long at one sitting?

When do I allow myself to take a break? Do I listen to when my body tells me I need one?

The more you can regularly set up your life to have a sense of ease about it, the more you can rely on your awareness to be accurate and consistent.

You need not turn your world upside down to grow your intuition. It all resides within the little things— small choices, small moments of awareness, small actions. The more you can invite a sense of mindfulness and peace to the small moments, the more life becomes your practice.

4. Make Practicing Your Style(s)
Part of Your Life

Whether you focus on developing one particular Intuitive Style or you explore a variety of different styles, the key message here is practice. Raise your awareness to a point that you are purposeful with your intuition. Perhaps set aside 10 minutes each morning for your intuitive practice. Usually as part of my morning meditation, I jot down the primary decisions that I need to make that day. Then I do a quick intuitive check-in with each decision. Generally within moments I have a sense for my best choice. Historically I've been selflimiting through second guessing myself (an intuition kiss of death), so now I do my best to trust my first response.

Again you may choose to stick with one Intuitive Style, such as Clear Feeling, because it works for you and it feels easy. However, if you're someone who craves a little variety, you might also decide to explore each of the different styles and see if you can strengthen them. Generally if you have ease with one Intuitive Style, there are likely other styles that you can effortlessly develop if you choose. It is not necessary, though, and it is equally wise to stick with one particular style and gain mastery over it. (Again, you may be someone who has three styles happening in synchronicity. That works too! Go with what is natural to you.)

Practice: Make time to practice your style For me, I find that I do best when I incorporate systems that help me consistently stick to any practice. To me, a system offers a certain approach to an action and it has enough structure that I don't have to rely on willpower or memory to get it done. I like to feel as though I either trip over it, or it gets absorbed in to what I'm already doing. Here are some examples of how to put systems into practice.

Link It

The easiest system for me is to link a new practice to a part of my life that is already cemented. For example, I always enjoy a hot cup of tea in the morning. When I first started meditating, I simply linked my tea drinking to five minutes of "stillness." Over time the period of stillness got longer. Eventually I started adding in some journaling when I felt like it. Then at the end of the stillness/ meditation, I added in my intuitive decision-making practice. Sometimes I practice Automatic Writing or asking questions of myself, and other times I attune to the small physical, mental, emotional or energetic cues I feel in my body in that moment.

By linking my intuitive practice to something I am already doing, it is easier to build it in to my life. One client, for example, who is a busy working mom determined that one thing that happens every night (she's not a morning person) is that she puts her son to bed. We explored how that could be the perfect time for her to take five to ten minutes to herself for a relaxing practice, whether it be breathing, reading a couple pages in a book or taking a quick bath. She found it really helpful, and though she doesn't do it 100 percent of the time, when she does, there is benefit.

Reorient Your Schedule

Explore your current rhythm and consider mixing things up. Rather than sticking to your regular routine, you might enjoy the freshness of a whole new approach to your day. Consider where you can insert a few minutes for your intuitive practice, and build your schedule around it. Be willing to be creative and even a little unorthodox. You never know when the perfect time for your practice will be, though in my experience the majority of people are most successful on the beginning or end of the day since we usually have a bit more influence over our schedules during those times. (Meaning, you'll be less likely to get derailed from your intended actions first thing in the morning versus in the middle of a busy day.) In addition, people tend to more easily access their intuition in the quieter moments, such as upon waking or near bedtime.

Once you have made a regular practice part of your daily routine, you'll likely start to gain access to a calm, centered approach to your life. At first the sense of calm and centeredness might last for only a few minutes at a time, but as you continue to practice, those periods are likely to expand according to your level of consistency and attention to your intuition. From there you can build a foundation of knowing how to connect with your insight or make great decisions, anytime you like. You can simply recall the feeling of calm (or take five minutes and breathe, relax, go for a walk, clear your mind), and then hone in to your senses regarding your decision. Regular practice leads to reliable results.

5. Listen To Your Insights

If I were to say one thing about this step, it would be to encourage you to live in anticipation of your intuition serving as a steady companion throughout your days. Keep your intuition at the front of your mind and awareness, and listen to it whenever possible. It is sort of like when you get a new pair of glasses. For the first little while it is awesome having new specs—you like the look and feel of them, and they allow you to see the world so much clearer, brighter, crisper. And then over time it is easy to forget how miraculous your glasses are, though they still constantly help with your vision. Every so often you might pick up a magazine and notice, "Geez, I can't really see the words very well!" And then the realization, "Oh, yeah, I forgot my glasses!"

With intuition it is similar: once you start living with fresh senses, you will likely experience the world in a new way, enjoying it more, and wishing the "new way" of life to continue. However, until intuition habitually becomes part of your everyday life, you will want to continue having awareness and appreciation for your new "glasses"— you will want to remember that this new way of seeing the world is always available to you as long as you are paying attention.

Practice: Listen to your insights

Make your intuition important enough to take notice of. It is actually a natural return to your senses and awareness of mind, body, spirit, energy and emotion. When I encourage you to listen to your intuition, what I mean is for you to stay tuned into the subtleties of your senses. Remember them. Look out for them, so that when they show up in your perception, you actually take notice of the information that is coming to you. Whether you see it, smell it, taste it, feel it in your heart or gut. . . these are all ways of keeping your radio transmitter "ON" so you can listen and continue to experience this alive and informative world.

In the simplest of terms, all of this means maintaining a higher level of awareness that can take you to new levels of experience.

6. Honor and Follow Insights

This is perhaps the most important step of the seven steps. You can do everything else along the way—you can have a pristine 30-minute meditation practice, you can notice all the cues as they arrive. But if you disregard your intuition, you are missing the big "stretch" point. The stretch point is when you have a wonderful opportunity to take a healthy risk, to cultivate deeper trust in yourself and to follow your own instincts. (I speak about this more in depth at the end of Chapter Four in the section "When YOU Ignore Your Intuitive Style").

So take the risk and trust your own insights even though it might feel scary at first!

Practice: Honor and follow insights

Start small and follow your insights with the little things—use it to decide which outfit to wear to work, what to pack for lunch that day, whether to get a progress report on a project, which tasks to prioritize, to follow the nudge to call a friend who's on your mind, or to take a break when your body is urging you to rest. (The small choices are essential to establish your consistent, predictable cues. As you're developing, would you rather be off-base on a small choice or a big one?)

When you get a hunch, follow through on it immediately. Get in the practice of trusting it right away and see what happens.

If you are still developing trust for your Intuitive Style, keep a journal and write down all of your hunches, insights and information that comes to you. In addition, write down all your cues as well. Then follow up on all input that comes your way, and see what would have happened if you had trusted yourself.

This is where the growth happens. Honoring and following your insights is like doing reps at the gym. It is only through doing it again and again that the muscles get stronger and start to be more noticeably present to you in your everyday life. You start to feel good and energized around your efforts.

Caution

Watch out for second guessing yourself! This insidious little habit weasels its way into your psyche and may cause you to change course despite your intuitive nudges. You may have all kinds of cues that are consistent with past positive outcomes, but for any number of reasons, you might start thinking, "Oh that's dumb," "I just made that up," "That's wishful thinking," "Can I really choose that--that sounds crazy!?"

And abruptly you've unplugged yourself from a sense of peace and ease, and you're suddenly caught up in your mind grappling with ego and rational thinking.

Instead, go with your initial instinct. Gather information and insight, and then make a choice. Get ready— once you start trusting yourself, it is exhilarating! There is nothing more empowering than believing in yourself and experiencing the feeling that you are really, truly participating in the unfolding of your life's path.

Confidence is an inevitable byproduct!

7. Let Go of Results

Like the ocean, intuition has its own natural rhythm. Just as we cannot control the movement of the ocean, we cannot control the flow or the outcomes of our intuition. Choosing to embrace intuition is an act of trust and inviting a sense of flow into your life. Flow requires a certain level of letting go—a release of the constant undertow generated by the rational mind, and a willingness to live with trust and uncertainty.

To let go of attachment to results does not mean that you stop following your soul's desire. It doesn't mean that you stop caring or being hopeful, or that you no longer want to create wonderful things in your life. It simply means that in the meanwhile (the waiting time of uncertainty) you will choose to feel peaceful about it, focus on the rest of your life, and not put pressure of a timeline on yourself or others.

True happiness comes from enjoying all the moments as they unfold while remaining open to what evolves, regardless of how accurate your intuition is.

Practice: Let go of results

Here are some methods you can use in order to let go of results:

When you have a decision to make, take time and open yourself to your tools and your Intuitive Style. Once you gain insight and gather the information that you need, accept it as a potential truth, make your decision, and then shift your focus back to the other parts of your life. Don't continue trying to "figure out" your insight, or understand the "why" of it. That just opens the door to second-guessing and overanalyzing, neither of which are helpful to intuition.

Ground yourself in breath. When you feel the pull of your mind to deconstruct a decision, ground yourself by breathing slowly and deeply. Inhale for the count of four, hold for four, exhale for four. This will help keep your focus in your body, and direct your energy away from too much thinking.

Connect with positive emotions. Imagine what it would feel like to be happy with the outcome. Anticipate that things will fall into place just as they are meant to. Connect with those positive emotions that accompany this sense of anticipation. Dwell in these emotions and practice living as if your desired outcome were already true. Training yourself to associate with feeling good in the meanwhile is a wonderful practice. It permits you to be unattached to the outcome (not feeling the pressure to make it happen), and instead live like it is true already.

Stay in the present moment instead of in the past or future. Feel free to use relaxation techniques, meditation, or exercise—whatever keeps you focused. Again, if you want to become more masterful of being Present, consider subscribing to The Powerful Present 30-Day E-course. For more info, check out the online store at www.SoulMoxie.net/online-store.php

Practice Neutral Observation. Step back from the situation and imagine that you are observing it from a distance without getting drawn into strong emotions about how you think things should be, how things have to be, or how you're afraid things might be. Instead, be willing to allow life to be the way that it is in any moment, and just notice what's happening.

You can still use your soul's desires and what you would like the outcome to be in order to help influence your decisions. However, situations or outcomes are often out of our control. That is when it is most helpful to simply permit life to do its thing. When we let go of control and allow, there is room for peace (and often unexpected happy surprises!) Discover

In Conclusion

Well, here we are, nearing the end of Discover Your Intuitive Style. It is my sincerest wish that you found this book of value in better understanding your gifts. Remember this is simply a foundation on which to continue building. There are many more ways to develop and utilize your intuition, so keep exploring.

If this book has piqued your curiosity and you would love to go further with it, you may wish to consider working with me individually. I've developed a three-part private coaching program, "Discover Your Intuitive Style Breakthrough Series." You'll find more information at:

www.SoulMoxie.net/discover-intuitive-style.php

Please feel free to share feedback, success stories and insights with me via my website at www.SoulMoxie.net. I've already started assembling ideas for my next book!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many thanks to all the amazing people who were part of making this book reality, in particular Jim Schnebly, my fab editor; Glen M. Edelstein, book designer extraordinaire; and, most of all, Karin Witzig and Drew Rozell for creating the Write and Publish Your Book in 90 Days teleseminar program. My lifelong dream of writing a book has now come true with your help! Discover