How Trusting My Intuition Led to a Delicious Meal
Do you find that sometimes you dismiss a thought you have about something you should do, and then the thing happens that you thought of, and you kick yourself for not acting on the thought?
You know your mum calls and says the Doctor said she needs to take vitamin D, and you realise you had that intuitive thought 3 months ago that she might need it.
Or you have a feeling during the day that your child isn't well, and then the school calls to say precisely that.
In this blog, I want to talk about these synchronicities in life; I'm not calling them co-incidences as I don't believe they are, but how we can develop listening more closely to those thoughts and feelings and how they can help us create more flow in life.
Recognizing the Signs: Synchronicities vs. Coincidences
These thoughts or knowing come from our unconscious mind. It will depend on your beliefs about where exactly these intuitive thoughts or messages come from. For some of you, it's the universe. For some guides or spirit, others a God, or for some, it will be simply an intuitive thought or gut instinct.
It doesn't matter what your belief is; what matters is learning to listen to those thoughts to create more flow in your life, whether it's from trusting gut instinct or the universe. (By the way Oprah calls this listening to the whispers.)
I listened and dinner was better for it!
Okay, let me give you a great example of something that happened to me recently. I was driving home, and the engineer was making nachos for us, so we needed some ripe avocadoes. I stopped at my local vege. shop but they didn't have any. (They tell me the weather had been too cold for them to ripen.)
As I got back in the car, I had a thought, go to the dairy, which was next door to the vege. shop. My next thought was no, they won't have any. Then I had the thought again - go to the dairy!
Okay, okay I will go and check it out. Guess what? They had perfectly ripe avo's. I got 3, and I negotiated a discount because I was so excited I’d listened!
Because I listened, we had delicious avocados with our dinner, which absolutely made the meal.
Why It's Important to Pay Attention to Your Inner Voice
I think these thoughts and feelings are created to help us improve our self-awareness. Help us navigate the complexities and decision-making of everyday life. Once we start listening, the themes that pop up can be surprising. For example, a friend had 3 different people mention going to an acupuncturist. So she realised actually that is a message, time to go to one and she found it very helpful with a long-term condition. These thoughts could also help with finding direction in life. Those thoughts that keep reoccurring about changing jobs or finding a new career, but you swot them away or simply ignore them.
These feelings can help with relationships. A feeling that something isn't quite right with someone and they may need some help.
If we can learn to listen to these signs and messages, life could be a little simpler.
Practical Tips to Improve Your Intuition
Firstly, just start noticing your thoughts and feelings, listening to your intuition. Take some time each day to go over your thoughts, write some down that might be a clue and see if they repeat themselves. You could do this by journaling for clarity. Before you sleep each night, write down your thoughts and begin a daily practice of noticing your thoughts and feelings.
Notice those occasions when you go - Oh yes, I thought about doing that, but I didn't, and then I missed out, or something like that.
Notice your gut instinct
Start asking your intuition questions and see what comes up
Take time to quieten your mind using mindfulness practices. It could be with meditation, but it doesn't need to be. You might find that walking in nature in the bush or by the sea is the way you quieten your mind and come back to yourself.
To start, keep it simple by listening and being attentive to your thoughts, the ones you listen to AND those you don't want to listen to! It might be surprising what comes up.