I wish someone had told me the importance of authenticity when I was first developing my intuition, because it would have saved me soooo much time, energy and confusion.

Maybe I was reading the wrong books and blog posts, but I had to discover how important authenticity is to developing my intuition by trial and error.

This is a very slow method for learning, just ask any scientist. They spend years, sometimes even decades, gathering data in exactly this way.

Lucky for you, I’ve already done this trial and error testing, so you get to reap the benefits of not needing to go through it yourself. You’re welcome to, if you like, but at least you’ll have the opportunity to sidestep all that trial and error and get straight to the benefits.

What is Authenticity?

Authenticity is honesty at its core. It’s the genuineness that comes from being 100% honest with yourself and others. This means that no matter what you are experiencing in the moment, you are in touch with it AND honest about it.

If you feel nervous, you get in touch with that nervous feeling — the clenching of your stomach, the tightness in your chest. If you feel happy, you get in touch with that physical sensation.  Whatever it is you are feeling, FEEL it. Feel it without judgment and without censorship.

This isn’t about experiencing the “right” emotion for the situation, it’s about honesty. It’s about reality.

Think about it for a minute. If you are feeling anxious, and you tell yourself or someone else that you feel good, that’s not an accurate picture of what you are experiencing. If you do this, you are lying.

Denial: The Enemy of Authenticity

The most toxic of all thought habits is denial. It robs us of our Truth, our experience, and it keeps us stuck exactly where we are. Denial makes sure that we cannot grow. It blocks our paths with deception, and it makes us believe the lies its sending our way.

Denial blocks our ability to perceive anything accurately, which means that if you are in denial about something in your life, you can’t see the situation clearly.

If you are in denial, don’t worry. You are not alone. I have yet to meet someone who hasn’t been in denial about something at some point in his or her life.

Why is Authenticity Important for Intuition?

The key to unlocking and understanding your intuition is accurate and honest self-reporting. Your intuition isn’t something that’s separate from you. It’s something that is a natural part of you.

Since it’s a natural part of you, you can’t turn it on and off, like a light switch or a TV set. You can learn to control it and turn it up or down, and focus it, but you can’t get rid of it.

If you’re alive, your intuition is giving you information about whatever is going on within and around you at all times. If you want to get good at understanding intuitive information, you have to be able to be honest about what you are experiencing in each and every moment. The information is there, and if you want to reap all the wonderful benefits of developing your intuition to its full potential, authenticity is a non-negotiable step.

The Challenge

Here’s my challenge for you. Choose an area of your life that you aren’t satisfied with, and sit down with a piece of paper. You can do this at the computer if that’s more natural for you. Write down exactly how you feel about the situation. Write down your thoughts, feelings, sensations and beliefs exactly as they are.

Don’t analyze any of them, simply report them. Think of yourself as a scientist observing the experience of someone else, and report it as accurately as you can.

Get all the thoughts, feelings and beliefs onto that page. Write until you feel you have gotten all of your current experience down. The information doesn’t have to make sense or to seem relevant. If it’s what you are experiencing, it’s your truth, so write it down.

Once you get all that information down, ask yourself a question about what to do and how to get to where you want to go (or how to figure out where you want to go, if you’re not sure). Sit in the stillness and wait for the answer. (Note: If you are not experiencing stillness yet, this means that you need to write down more.)

That’s your intuition speaking. It’s been there the whole time, and it comes out when you fully acknowledge your current experience.

Now act on it.

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