It is a difficult thing, truly, when you pay attention to your ‘intuition,’–that feeling, that hunch, that dream, that ‘something,’ whispering of the future, of the past, of something needing attention within ourselves, or of something taking place in another part of the world. I’ve had many of these experiences and struggled to understand them all of my life.
This ‘intuition,’ guidance, wisdom, or whatever we wish to call it, was regarded within our family as a family trait. But it was something of which we rarely spoke. I was never provided with any explanation of what ‘it’ was or why ‘it’ was. It was just very clear, at times in very dramatic fashion, that ‘it’ was real. I was on my own to figure it out. This led me into becoming aware, in present time, of my inner experiences and into paying close attention to discerning those experiences—into discerning which experience was true and real, and which ended up leading me down a path of unrealistic fear. Eventually, it brought about a great deal of research, reading, and meditating. Most importantly, however, this is what convinced me, down into the marrow of my bones, of the presence of God, Universal Love, or whatever you wish to call it, active in our daily lives.
Over the years as I watched and listened to my own intuition, I discovered it is rather an imperfect process, requiring quite a bit of ‘discernment.’ Discernment, of course, being the process of listening, noticing, and accepting that rarely are the ‘messages’ perfectly clear and one’s interpretation can be very easily distorted by wishes and beliefs and fears. Most particularly fears. Revisiting these messages, these experiences, even years later, I found often yield even further insights and guidance. Discernment is multi-layered, significantly clearer when paired with love and quite distorted when paired with fear or wishing for a particular outcome.
I believe everyone receives these ‘messages’ but many times we just don’t perceive them as such. This guidance is not for ‘special’ people. There are no ‘special’ people. Our spirit has many ways of guiding us, of letting us know we do not walk alone. Angels, Spirits, God, our deeper self, whatever we wish to call it, are always walking with us. Always. Each one of us. No exceptions. Everyone’s life is a magical, mystical, mysterious journey. But we must pay attention with our loving hearts. Please note: our truly loving hearts.
We can choose to avoid and deny our guidance and our deeper self. I know because I’ve done plenty of that myself. To my own peril. But I’ve always come back in my life to listening to and discerning my intuition, my feelings of inner guidance and my dreams. The messages are invitations to venture further inward for answers and guidance. They are invitations into our very soul where our experience of God/Love reside.
Practices to aid with discerning are journaling, journaling dreams, meditating, noticing synchronicities, and practicing present moment awareness.
