5 Ways to Develop Your Intuition

Intuition is the faculty we have to understand events immediately, easily and without the need for any reasoning.

You might think that it is very difficult to develop your intuition. The truth is, however, that you can foster and perfect it just like any other ability. Many people have a powerful and seemingly innate instinct. Nevertheless, instinct is more about going with the flow than having the “correct” intuition.

Developing your intuition has certain benefits. This ability helps you make good decisions, solve problems, be more successful, and quickly sense danger. To help you develop this skill, here’s a list of five ways you can improve your intuitive capacity. What are you waiting for?

1. Trust your gut feeling

Trusting your gut feeling can help you get out of an uncomfortable situation. It can also help you make an important decision. 

How many times have you been with someone that you fought with constantly? Have you ever been in a job that you didn’t like and your instinct told you to quit?

Gut feelings are helpful for a very important reason. Unlike rational and conscious decision-making, they aren’t hung up on an excess of information. 

This leads us to a bit of a paradox. Because gut feelings don’t work only on the conscious plane, they take a lot more information into account. So if you have to make a quick decision, trust your gut feeling over chance.

2. Don’t let prejudices cloud your intuition

Sometimes developing your intuition isn’t easy. You might believe you are putting it into practice, but you aren’t getting the results you expect. This might happen because you are confusing your prejudices with your intuition.

Prejudices are preconceived ideas that are deeply instilled in you. They go so deep that you can’t tell if they are your ideas or if you learned them. How can we clear the fog that causes this confusion?

Let’s say you are faced with a decision and your gut tells you something like, “this person isn’t good for you.” In that moment, you have to stop, analyze,and reflect on how much your prejudices influence your feelings. Notice if past experiences are swaying your idea about that person.

3. Mindfulness can be an important ally.

Odds are that you’ve heard something about mindfulness and meditation. Both of these techniques help you focus on the present moment. They also help free your mind from unhealthy thoughts.

If you practice mindfulness and meditation, you will be able to pay attention to the details of your surroundings that you missed before.

Mindfulness and meditation help you connect to yourself. They make you aware of the prejudices we discussed before. These are ideas that come from the society and culture you’ve grown up in, but that aren’t part of you.

With patience and at least five minutes of daily practice, you can free yourself from anxiety and stress. You will connect with the here and now, and observe your thoughts without judgment. This practice will teach you to hear your inner voice and intuition.

4. Learn to be more empathetic

Empathy is another skill that you can develop. Thanks to empathy, human beings are able to put ourselves in other people’s shoes. We can understand how they feel from their particular situation. It is an incredible tool for collaborative work and to strengthen bonds.

In order to develop your intuition, you have to practice being more empathetic. How can you do that? Next time you are with someone, try to intuit what they are thinking and feeling. At the beginning it is better to do this with people you know really well. That way, you will feel comfortable enough to ask them if you are right.

Analyzing nonverbal communication is extremely helpful when doing this. Above all, you have to put reason aside, and listen to your “sixth sense.” That will allow your assumptions to get closer to what the other person really thinks and feels. This is an excellent way to develop your intuition.

5. Play with visualizations

If you want to try something more fun, try visualization. It might not seem like it, but visualizations actually help you develop your intuition. Do this when you are alone, in a quiet space where you can prepare yourself for the exercise.

Start by closing your eyes and imagining you are in a beautiful place of your choosing. It might be a house, or a landscape. The idea is that you can see it, focus on it, and feel everything you are imagining.

You might feel the breeze, the heat, the sun, a hug, something that draws your attention, or a color. Take a few minutes to visualize, and then open your eyes. You will feel great and you will have improved your intuition.

When we are little, we tend to follow intuition more than reason. As we grow up, we start to pay more attention to reason. Nevertheless, approaching everything with reason actually overwhelms our cognitive capacity. It increases stress and leads us to make mistakes.

We all have this sixth sense, but many of us don’t pay enough attention to it. If you listen to it, you will feel better and your life will have meaning.