Many people have been asking me, “What’s the difference between intuition and ego? And, how can I access more of my intuition?”
Being an intuitive person, I find it challenging to come up with a simple answer. There are many articles written about this topic but I find myself looking for the best way to simplify it so that people can understand and practice ways of accessing their own intuition. Whether we realize it or not, we have all been given the gift of intuitive abilities. Now, it’s just a matter of revealing them.
We have all experienced that “gut feeling” and for the most part, follow it. But, when something goes wrong, we start to doubt ourselves and ask: “Why would I trust my intuition when it’s always wrong?”
Here’s my take on it: I believe intuition is never wrong. What may really be happening is that you may not actually be experiencing intuition but rather the ego--which further begs the question, “How do you know when you’re gut feeling is ego based or when it’s intuition?”.
What is Intuition?
Let’s first start with the basics. The dictionary defines Intuition as “the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning.” An example of this could be something like running from a sabre toothed tiger or any other type of danger.
Yet, based on that description, intuition has a more scientific and cerebral explanation. There’s another “deeper” element to it--the more spiritual side of this explanation. Part of our intuition comes from that unconscious part of ourselves, that “higher self” or “soul self” part.
Our souls speak to us in the form of intuition. Therefore, intuition is found deep within our subconscious. It’s a “gentle and patient guide” and in order to be able to truly access that intuition, we need to be able to listen to that inner guide.
Our intuition also comes from our field of energy, which expands at varying distances. The field of energy is always moving and receives information from the external world, the outer limits of our consciousness and the quantum world. The Heart (and not the brain) captures this information and turns it into a zipped file that sends it up to your brain. The Brain then unzips the package and further processes it. The Heart Math Institute discovered that the heart receives information 1-2 seconds BEFORE the mind.
What is Ego?
The ego is nothing more than a construct to repeat patterns, whether in a positive or negative way. When the mind identifies with this ego construct, it ties us to social conditioning.
The ego reveals itself in many ways. The most common one is fear, which is often experienced as feelings of anxiety, demanding, heavy, demeaning, and very critical (whether it’s of ourselves or others). When we rely on the ego, we are accessing that part of our ego selves that is based in delusional thinking. By that, I mean the part of our “program” that we’ve been running our whole lives. The program is the narrative, the socially conditioned behaviors, and/or the stories we have been told about who we are, who everyone else is, what we should do, etcetera. The reason why it’s “delusional” is because it’s not based on “reality”. It’s just not true.
There are aspects of the ego that we can be conscious of but it’s the unconscious mind of these fears that drive our human machine in order to avoid pain.
For those who are not familiar with accessing their intuition, they rely mostly on the past knowledge, memories, and experiences to assess a situation, as well as a very quick assessment of the present, based on clues and details from our program (the narrative) that may not be obvious to the rational mind, but are definitely there and which inevitably governs our choices.
I have always understood intuition as a deep knowing that the rational mind is not able to deal with at one given moment. When we don’t “identify” with the ego, then we can more easily access our intuition.
So, now, how do we tell them apart? Is it Ego or Intuition?
In today’s highly distracted world, many of us have fallen a little out of touch with our gut feelings, to put it mildly. We’ve become so occupied with our thoughts and intelligent reasoning, that it’s hard to understand what our gut means when it has a “feeling”.
2 Distinctions That Tell Them Apart:
Intuition is only in the “present”
When we focus on the present (as opposed to the past or future), we are much more likely to rely on our intuition because it will feel right. Our intuition has a compassionate, affirming tone to it.
2. Intuition is always neutral
Intuition also confirms that you are on target, without having an overly positive or negative feel to it. The key word to use here is NEUTRAL. Coming from a neutral state of mind will allow us to affirm that which is coherent with our higher state of being.
If we take the ego’s action of fear, it often comes with feelings of anxiety. The physical body will start to feel tense or heavy. The ego has a kind of “pressuring” nature and has cruel, demeaning or delusional content (to yourself or to others) and it most often reflects unhealed psychological and karmic wounds.
Learning to distinguish the two takes practice, but once we start listening to that intuitive voice, it becomes easier and easier to understand. There are ways to distinguish between our feelings that come from the mind and those that are initiated from the heart, that signal intuition.
Here are 8 tips to get you started:
Feelings - Get in touch with your feelings. If your heart brain is the first responder, make sure you know the location of the emergency panel: your feelings. What are you really feeling? Is it true?
Mindfulness - Practice mindfulness, which is the action of focusing inward and just being present.
Breathing - Conscious breathing leads to conscious awareness. Take my Energy Healing and Breathing Workshop (coming soon). It's free.
Meditation - Find some time every day to sit quietly and just be with your thoughts. Meditation is not about controlling or shutting down your thoughts. It’s more about the act of connecting your physical self with your soul self. Try my psychic intuitive development course: Wisdom Within.
Ask questions - ask yourself whether “this statement” or “that response” is true. And, be honest with yourself. The first answer is always the right answer. If there are two answers, the second one most likely came from the ego.
Writing - Negative emotions will cloud our intuition. Make a list of all the bad feelings you have or have had and on the other side, replace them with positive ones. The mind just needs to be retrained to “seeing” the reality. By writing them down, you begin to make a physical connection between these realities--the reality and the “false reality”.
Be deliberate - Not just with your thoughts but the people with whom you surround yourself. If these people tend to bring you down, maybe it’s time to walk away.
Trust yourself - Trust requires a certain amount of surrender or letting go of what you “think” is right and trusting the unknown, which is really just your inner guide. Your intuition.
These are just a few of the techniques that I have practiced over the years to help me release a lot of doubts I had about myself. Having received a lot of Reiki allowed me to remove some of the self limiting beliefs and really listen to my inner guide. As soon as those doubts disappeared, my intuition grew stronger.
Learn more about Shamanic Reiki treatment by booking a FREE consultation!
Comentarios