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Intuitive Empath
As an empath, I’ve always had a high degree of intuition. I have a sense of awareness from my body and a knowing of when things are good for me and when they are not. This was a huge deal during my younger years where there was much more high sensation seeking. This awareness kept me out of some rather dangerous situations.
We all have intuitive hits on a regular basis. What changes it from one person to the other is the amount of awareness we have around these hits.
For example, last year I took some training. When I was looking at the website, I could already feel that it wasn’t the right fit. I continued searching for something else. I couldn’t really find what I wanted so I ended up ignoring my intuition and taking the training anyway.
Can you guess what happened from there?
The training itself left me with a bit of an unsettled feeling… and as I progressed through the additional work I continued to feel that sense of unease.
In the end, I had to listen to my inner voice and walk away from this situation. I knew it wasn’t going to get better for me and working with someone where I was constantly feeling that sense of “ick” wasn’t what I wanted.
For this very reason I always have a virtual cuppa before I say yes to working together. I want to make sure our energies are a good fit. That we align from a soul level. Those meetings are an opportunity for us to see if the work I do is what you need at this particular point of your journey. It’s an opportunity to ask me questions and feel into the work.
Trauma and intuition
Many of us have experienced trauma in our early childhood. This trauma can often heighten your empathic abilities. It can be a part of your unconscious survival strategy. This can come through as hyper vigilance or hyper alertness.
This may have been an integral part of our survival strategy as a child but when we age – if we are still in that state it becomes exhausting. Our adrenals can’t take that sort of pressure. It catapults us towards burnout.
When we are running this unconscious program as part of our survival strategy, sometimes we end up having to disconnect or unplug from our intuition. This can happen in cases where we have someone in a position of authority or power telling us that what we are feeling, sensing or believing is in fact not true. This situation causes immense confusion.
The longer this goes on, the harder it can be to reconnect to our intuition. It becomes a story of sabotage because we are constantly second guessing our intuitive hits.
Eventually the connection gets shut down. We close the door to hearing those whispers because it becomes too painful.
One of the ways this can be healed is by working with a trained practitioner that can help you recognize your intuition and the trauma patterns. That way it solidifies a new neural pathway that feels safe in your nervous system.
How do I reconnect with my intuition?
Rebuilding this connection is not as hard as you might think. Here are three key things to get you started.
1. Slow down
Many of the clients I work with are “a type” personalities. They are super successful in juggling multiple balls at any given time. What happens though, the more balls you have in the air and the more pressures on your time, the harder it is to hear your intuition. It whispers so you need to listen closely. Start by slowing down. Stop wearing busyness as a badge of honor.
By making space for you to move through things slower you allow yourself to actually be present through the day.
2. Meditate
Often it can feel like this is just one more thing to add to the to-do list. There is no time to sit in stillness. If this is you, you know you need it more than ever. I would recommend starting with just 5 minutes a day. Set your timer and just be with yourself for those 5 minutes. It’s okay if your mind wanders – it will take practice to slow the thought pattern down. Just start and be kind to yourself if it doesn’t go the way you had planned. If 5 minutes seems like too much start with one. Whatever feels manageable for you today.
If you need some guided meditations to check out you can find the ones I’ve done on Insight Timer right here.
Caveat – if you come from a history of trauma, meditation can be challenging until you have found a state of regulation in your nervous system. This short standing meditation to help you ground is a great place to start.
3. EFT Tapping
Tapping is one of my favorite tools to help connect me with what is going on inside me. I start everyday with 5 minutes of tapping with no words. If you are struggling with a decision and you are unclear of what your intuition is wanting you to do, spend 5 minutes tapping through the points without any words except the desire to find a solution and see what comes up. Notice how your body is feeling during this reflective exercise.