Do you know who’s calling?
A question I often get asked is how to be intuitive all the time.
If only!!
When I started down my intuitive path, I figured my everyday experience would like something like this:
I’m sipping my morning coffee in a relaxed, TGIF kinda way when Uncle Melvin pops into my mind. Haven’t thought about him in years, so the suddenness and distinct neutral quality around this thought prompts me to pay attention. I chuckle as a picture of banana cream pie flashes in my mind because that’s all he ever eats, as in, ONLY.
This time, however, that pie is much fainter than usual and I get a sense of… hmm… vegetables?… kale, maybe? Plus, a book that feels weighty … recipes? There is a strong presence of a smiling, happy uncle – not his usual, curmudgeonly self. I get curious but know that I’ll receive more info soon – I can sense it.
Sure enough, my phone rings and as I grab it from the side pocket of my bag I sense my mom’s vibe. She chatters happily about her zip-lining adventures, how the neighbor’s Irish Wolfhound ate her onions, and a feline astrology reading she’s developing. Never a dull situation with mom!
“I thought of Uncle Mel just before you called,” I mention. Has he made some sort of health shift?”
Mom confirms without a pause, adds a plethora of info about kale, and tells me to expect a fabulously intense Mediterranean recipe book from him now that you’re both health nuts.
“Call him,” she urges and promptly runs off to her Neighborhood Urban Farm seminar.
Oh, the sublime and seamless coherence of these subtle skills.
Intuition, take a bow.
After studying for a few years, my process actually looked like:
I’m sipping my morning coffee in a relaxed, TGIF kinda way when Uncle Melvin pops into my mind. I remember his curmudgeonly disposition and that he only eats banana cream pie… as in… ONLY. A nanosecond later, an old recipe book flashes in my mind along with a picture of kale or vegetables or something like that which I relate to Uncle Mel’s culinary choices and how he’d probably be way less ornery if he’d just eat the proper foods already.
All this as I take another bite of my whole wheat cinnamon roll with extra icing.
Startled by my one ringtone, I drop icing on my new shirt and frantically dive headfirst into my bag. Again, I vow to spend the 47 hours it takes to assign personal jingles to every contact because why get frantic when I may not want to talk to the caller anyway?
Ah, it’s mom. I grab my mug and settle in while Uncle Mel slips silently into the background. She chats happily about her zip-lining adventures, how the neighbor’s Irish Wolfhound ate her onions, and a feline astrology reading she’s developing. She’s a riot!
“Btw,” she continues, “Uncle Mel is on a health kick and now eats kale chips. How ‘bout that!”
“What?” Coffee dribbles down my chin.
“He’s lost 25 lbs. and walks every day. Since he knows you’re a health nut, he wants to send you a fabulous recipe book he found on Mediterranean cooking. Isn’t that sweet of him, dear?”
“Um… wait…,” but mom promptly whisks herself off to the Neighborhood Urban Farm seminar leaving me with that odd, yet familiar prickly feeling at the back of my neck.
UGH! Why were these messages STILL so challenging to recognize?
I was avidly deflated.
After a bit more study, I realized that using my intuition didn’t automatically make me perfect.
Oh.
Such a sneaky little goal! Funny how perfectionism creeps into the oddest places and always seems to put a hitch in my two-step. Once I stopped expecting to be intuitive all the time (aka, perfect) is when my intuitive awareness expanded.
Oddly, the need to assign ringtones declined as well.
This change in perspective helped me slow down and pay attention to how my intuitive messages arrived – not only when I was intuitively reading a client, but when I was more emersed in the everyday.
I’d create little games, such as, assigning the same ringtone to four people. This allowed me to tune into the caller within a smaller range of peoplely vibes. And it was fun – a big key in developing anything, really.
So, the next time you wonder why your intuition seems to be on holiday, check for any perfectionistic expectations. Allowing yourself to be exactly as you are in the moment is absolutely good enough.
That, and maybe a new jingle to brighten your day.