There’s an assumption that intuition is either something you’re born with or you’re not. People may trust their intuition or ignore their intuition, but few try to intentionally increase their intuition.
However, like any skill, listening to your intuition is possible with focus and mental exercises. Here are a few ways to increase your intuition today.
1. Take your intuition for a test drive
Hit the road and let your “nose lead you”. Turn off your GPS, proactively enjoy seeing new places you may have never driven by. Give yourself permission to simply see where you end up.
Does a café or roadside attraction catch your eye? Pull over and see if your intuition has something to show you. While you’re on your intuition-led road trip, be intentional to strike up conversation more than you typically would. Perhaps there’s a person completely outside of your normal path that you need to meet.
I know, I know… For those of you who are directionally challenged, this idea may be giving you hives. It’s okay, you still have your phone with Google Maps to help you get back home. You can always get back on track if you’ve veered off your path too much.
However, allowing your internal compass the chance to guide you is a great faith exercise to increase your intuition.
2. Draw a daily tarot card
Tarot cards are incredibly misunderstood. For those who are skeptical of psychics and psychic tools, tarot cards may seem completely frivolous. However, I would encourage you to look at them from an alternate perspective.
Tarot cards originated in Italy in the 1430s and were originally used to simply play card games. They are very similar to a standard modern deck of playing cards. They contain images that were likely very straightforward to the local Italian community, much like how we all quickly understand exactly what a certain emoji or meme signifies.
Over time, the cultural meaning of the images has been lost, and now we can pontificate to try to find that lost meaning.
Draw a tarot card and take some time to try to figure out what this mysterious image may mean in your life. You can reference a tarot guidebook for the “standard” interpretation, but feel free to simply let your intuition fill in the mystery for you on its own. It really doesn’t matter if you’re right or not. By taking time to simply just listen to your intuition while looking at a tarot card, you’re strengthening your ability to hear your intuition in any situation.
3. Induce self-hypnosis by doing repetitive movement
Remember when you were a kid and you would get caught up in making the same odd sound or movement over and over again? This universal behavior that children display seems to serve a purpose; it’s calming and allows the child to venture into an internal place.
Children are inducing self-hypnosis through repetition. As we age, we become embarrassed by this nonsensical behavior and we override any desire we may have to enter this mental state.
Allow your “silly” self the chance to emerge. Certain group fitness classes will allow you to move and make sounds in a playful way. Getting caught up moving and singing to live music can also bring you into this state. Seek out this euphoria and be intentional to feel what you’re experiencing in this altered hypnotic state.
When you become friends with this side of your brain, it may start to offer insights that aren’t always obvious.
4. Embrace the MacGyver Method
Remember the show MacGyver?
In every episode, Agnus MacGyver found himself in a seemingly inescapable situation, but at the last moment, he would find a brilliant solution using his handy swiss army knife, duct tape, paper clips, or a slew of many other ordinary items. The demand to constantly be clever fell quite heavily on the show’s creator Lee Zlotoff as he was writing scripts. Zlotoff developed a system he dubbed the “MacGyver Method” to help him find his eureka writing moments.
When facing writers block, Zlotoff would go for a long drive or hop in the shower. Seemingly, without fail, it was then that he would come up with a brilliant plot line. Over time, he realized that when he distracted his conscious mind with a menial task like driving, he allowed his subconscious mind the opportunity to get to work to find solutions.
Zlotoff explains that “studies show your subconscious [mind] is between 500,000 to 200 million times more powerful than your conscious [mind].”
Your subconscious brain is also very creative, it’s not bothered with logic or rationale.
So, pose a question to your subconscious mind and then get out of the way to let it find a solution to your problem. Distract yourself with a puzzle, yoga, a drawing or something else menial and simple that will require your conscious mind’s attention. Then, check back in with your subconscious mind to see if it found a creative insight that wasn’t initially obvious.
This is a simple formula to allow your intuition the chance to come out and make itself known. Your “aha” moments are just around the corner.