There are three distinct stages of intuitive development. These are the stages that everyone goes through as they work with and develop their intuition.

Receiving information

One of the premises I work with is that we all receive intuitive information and we are receiving that intuitive information through various mediums throughout the day.  The first stage of intuitive development is consciously recognizing when information is being sent your way. For instance, let’s say Jane meets someone for the first time, and the Pat Benatar song, “Hit me with your best shot” pops into her head. Maybe instead of a song, it’s an image or a memory, or simply a body sensation that occurs. The very first level of intuitive development is for Jane to consciously recognize that her other than conscious mind is trying to give her feedback and information about what is going on around her.  It’s trying to let her know the emotional and energetic consequences of her actions and decisions, whether the consequences are good or bad. If Jane wants to utilize this information, she first needs to recognize when she’s receiving intuitive information. The song running through her head is intuitive information. It came from somewhere for a reason.

Understanding the information

The second stage of intuitive development is when you decode the information your intuition is passing along to you. Intuitive information, because it comes from some place other than your normal waking consciousness, is often coded or symbolic in nature. Intuitive information is like a packet of energy, and in order for you to get it, it has to be received and transformed into a form that you can understand, like a picture, a feeling or sounds. Just because it has been transformed doesn’t mean that it is clear to you, yet. It takes practice and skill to learn how to properly interpret the intuitive information that you get.

Let’s go back to the example with Jane. She met someone new, and she had a song run through her head. What is that song telling her about the person she met and the kind of relationship they could have? Is this a friendship worth pursuing? Is there a chance for romance? Let’s assume Jane is meeting someone she’s romantically interested in when this song runs through her head. The song references a type of romance where one person is a renowned heart breaker. What this song is telling Jane is that the person she’s just met may be a womanizer or someone who has “played the field” so to speak. Whether this is a good match for Jane depends on what she’s looking for in her romantic life. If she’s looking for fun and excitement and doesn’t mind a higher risk, then this could be perfect for her. If she’s looking for a long-lasting romance or someone to spend her life with, this may not be ideal for her. An important point here is that whether this is good for her or not depends heavily on what SHE wants and what she’s looking for.

In my practice, I find this is the hardest for people to learn. There is this lie that because someone is intuitive, they automatically understand and know everything that they get intuitively, and that’s simply not how it works. It takes dedication, practice and time to properly understand the information that you get from your intuition. Luckily, there are some wonderful tricks that can shortcut the process, and you can set up intuitive systems so you can easily and effortlessly get the information through a distinct sensation in the body. This will be an upcoming blog post, so keep on the lookout! 😉

Acting on the information

You get the information, you understand the information, what’s left to do? Act on it! This level is really about trusting yourself and the universe. If you doubt yourself or if you doubt that the universe has your best interests in mind, then this is going to be very difficult for you.  In order to act on the information that you’ve gotten and interpreted, you have to cultivate the belief that the world is a safe place for you, that the universe wants you to succeed and wants you to have the best life possible, and that you are worthy of this life. You must believe you deserve good things, and that good things are coming to you. If these beliefs are wishy-washy or non-existent, it’s very hard to act on intuitive information. It takes faith to act on a piece of information that seems to come from somewhere other than logic. So practice with something small, and not the large life-altering decisions, and work your way up to the larger decisions as you get good at working with the smaller things.

In order to master your intuition, you’ve gotta start where you’re at and keep working. It’s a process and it doesn’t happen overnight.