5 Things That Happen When You Begin Developing Your Intuition
The world is collectively going through a spiritual awakening, and more and more people every day are seeking to reconnect with deeper meaning and with their own inner sense of intuition and purpose.
I personally believe that this isn’t just a trend that will fade once we all get back to our ‘normal’ routines post-pandemic. It seems to me that intuition is becoming an everyday skill that we’re all collectively remembering how to use, and one that will someday be as natural a skill that we practice developing as communication or negotiation.
If you have been on the path lately of wanting to reconnect with your own intuition so that you can make decisions from a more empowered and conscious place, learn to trust yourself again, and find your unique path the world, know that you are not alone and that you’re in the midst of an exciting adventure (and that no, you’re not crazy for believing in woo-woo things like spirit guides, tarot, astrology, crystals, and energy healing)!
No matter where you are on this journey of personal growth and intuitive development, here are five things that you can expect to experience along the way. Think of these as your guideposts and encouragements that you’re on the right path, even when it may sometimes feel like you are completely lost and overwhelmed.
1. YOU RECEIVE MORE SIGNS & SYNCHRONICITIES
All of those 11:11’s, feathers, rainbows, and lucky pennies you’ve been seeing lately aren’t just coincidences! And neither are those uncanny synchronicities, like when you ask a question to the universe in your mind and then turn on the radio and hear a line in a song that seems to be speaking directly to you, providing you with guidance and clarity.
These are all signs that you’re expanding your awareness past just the mundane, physical realm and into the intuitive, spiritual realm.
Your guides, angels, and past loved ones are always around you, supporting and guiding you - it’s just that now you’re starting to become more open to hearing the unique way they communicate and you’re able to pay more attention to them.
Take these increased instances of receiving signs and synchronicities as an indication that you’re on the right path and that you’re opening up new channels of communication with your spirit team.
Take it further: Asking for and receiving signs from the universe or from your guides is one of the first ways many of us learn to open our psychic senses and communicate with the spirit realm.
To take this a step further, you can start to create your own ‘Psychic Dictionary’ so that the messages you receive begin to really communicate with you and not just provide you with a sense of validation.
To do this, start with about 5-10 common signs or symbols that hold positive meaning to you - seeing 11:11 on the clock, seeing specific birds like a cardinal or bluejay, hearing a specific song, etc.
Record in a notebook or a running document on your phone what this symbolically represents to you. Give consideration to the emotions, memories, or associations with certain people that it brings up for you.
There are no wrong answers here - your intuition is highly personalized, so even if you find something online that tells you bluebirds represent prosperity if to you a bluebird makes you think of that perfect day you spent as a child with your grandfather, go with that.
When one of these signs shows up and catches your attention, take a moment of gratitude for receiving a communication from the spirit world, and ask yourself what that sign’s special meaning for you might have to do or say about whatever you’re currently working through.
As you continue to expand your dictionary, everyday occurrences will start to feel more magical, like an inside joke or a running game of Pictionary with the universe, where you have established meaning from a set of signs and symbols, and you are open to receive them from any point from the universe.
2. YOU START QUESTIONING YOUR LIFE PURPOSE
As you begin to strengthen your inherent intuitive gifts, you might find that the things that you’ve always relied on as sources of fun and fulfillment aren’t resonating as deeply with you anymore.
It’s not at all uncommon to one day be in a setting you’ve been in many times before - working on the same types of projects, catching up with your usual friend group, watching your usual TV shows - when, seemingly out of nowhere, a thought strikes you along the lines of, “How did I even get here? Is this all there is to life? What am I even doing with my life and where am I headed?!”
This ‘spiritual awakening’ phase can often feel like an existential crisis where you start to wonder if something is wrong with you, because, on paper, nothing has really changed, but all of a sudden you’re seeing everything with new - and maybe even more critical or skeptical - eyes.
If this is where you’re at now, trust that this is a natural part of the process. Your intuition isn’t opening up just so that you can pull out tarot cards and impress your friends at a party - it’s there to remind you that you’re here for a bigger purpose and that you can rely on your budding intuitive senses to guide you in uncovering what that true purpose is.
Use this time to embark on an epic quest of self-discovery by getting curious about who you truly are on a soul level, what lights you up and excites you, and what no longer fulfills you that you might be asked to shed or release in order to make space for a newer, more soul-connected version of yourself.
Take it further: My best suggestion for anyone who is currently in this stage of intuitive development is to work with a trusted guide or coach and to find a supportive community to lean on.
Your existing friends and network might not all be in the same place as you, where they’re willing and excited to talk about all things mystical and self-growth, like spirit guides, astrology, intuition, and manifestation - and that’s ok!
But I promise you that there are other people out there who are in a similar place and wanting to explore similar topics as you (and there are lots of us in the Seachangers community, by the way!). Being able to share about your experiences, fears, and desires within a non-judgmental, supportive space is so key to ensure you don’t get stuck in isolation or self-doubt.
3. YOU START PRIORITIZING YOUR SELF-CARE
As you start listening to your intuition more and more, you begin to realize all of the ways that your body and soul are speaking to you, and you want to take care of and nurture that relationship with yourself even more deeply.
You’ve come to understand that your intuition feels more open and clear when you’re able to be in a calm, peaceful state, instead of in constant fight-or-flight mode, and so it’s now one of your top priorities to get and keep yourself in that state.
For many, that means making healthier lifestyle changes like eating more cleanly, decreasing alcohol intake, grounding outside in nature more often, prioritizing rest over being constantly busy, and carving out time for intentional reflection and emotional processing.
Take it further: Self-care is one of those things that I find works best in a regular rhythm or routine so that you’re proactively taking time to love on yourself, and not just adding in some self-care time in reaction to stress or burnout.
Obviously, here at Oui We Girl, we LOVE a good self-care ritual - especially ones that help us connect to our intuition more deeply through lunar living, zodiac sign themes, our body’s innate intelligence, or divine feminine energy. Dive into one of these posts to get more ideas in creating a personalized self-care routine that fits your rhythm and schedule:
Moon Ritual Practices for Every Lunar Phase
Manifestation Rituals for Every Zodiac Sign
Kundalini Yoga: Everything You Need to Know
5 Venus Rituals to Invoke the Divine Feminine
7 Screen-Free Hobbies for Self-Care
4. YOU QUESTION YOUR OLD BELIEFS
I remember when I first started doing intuitive and mindset work, and I realized that my unconscious belief that constant outward achievement = success wasn’t actually true. At that moment, I had a simultaneous feeling of liberation and extreme confusion. You might as well have told me that the sky is in fact green, when I had been seeing it as blue my entire life.
Our intuition is like an inner compass, and so when we start reactivating that part of ourselves and start listening to it and trusting it more, we oftentimes come to see that the compass we’ve been using to guide us our whole lives hasn’t actually been pointing us in the direction of our highest truth. Like those beliefs we just grow up inheriting and believing as fact - do any of these sound familiar to you?:
“It’s a dog eat dog world and you have to fight for yourself in order to make it out alive”
“You have to work really hard in order to be successful. And if you don’t work hard all the time, you’re just lazy.”
“Success is making a lot of money, having a big, nice house, having fancy clothes and an expensive car, and having a steady job with an impressive title.”
Questioning these beliefs, or ones like them, isn’t always fun - in fact, it can often feel like the world and the way we know it is crashing down around us, like a major Tower card moment in tarot. But this is a sign that you’re starting to live by your own beliefs and intuitive guidance, which is ultimately a priceless gift, and one that will lead you to true fulfillment.
Take it further: Think about where you feel blocked or stagnant in your life right now. Write out a list of all the beliefs you have about why you can’t have what you truly desire in that area - maybe it’s a list of all the reasons why you can’t make good money doing what you love; maybe it’s a list of why you feel you won’t ever find a partner to share your life with; maybe it’s even a list of why you can’t trust your own intuition to the level you truly want to. Be brutally honest with yourself here.
Then, go through your list and ask, “What else might be true? What else could be possible?” You don’t necessarily have to adopt a whole new worldview in 1 day or 1 hour, but if you can expand your mind to believe that there are other possibilities that you haven’t yet explored, you’re back on track to speaking the language of your soul and intuition.
5. YOU BECOME MORE SENSITIVE TO ENERGY AROUND YOU
A common side-effect of opening up your intuition is that you start to realize all of the ways that you had previously numbed yourself out so that you didn’t have to feel and absorb all of the emotions and energies going on around you and within you.
A lot of us grew up with much more of our sensitivities and intuitive knowings turned on, and then we were punished or ridiculed for being ‘too sensitive’ or ‘weak,’ and so we learned to turn them off or sacrifice our own feelings and thoughts in order to be accepted.
As you start to turn these intuitive, sensitive, feeling centers back on, you’ll likely start to feel more exhausted and drained by things that used to seem simple and straightforward to you, like spending an evening in a group social setting, giving a big presentation at work, or being in a crowded, high-energy place like an airport. Start to view this sensitivity as your superpower, rather than a weakness or something to cover up and hide from others.
Take it further: Practice an energy cleansing exercise at the beginning and end of each day. Take some time to get quiet and tune into yourself. Tune into how you are feeling, physically in your body and emotions, and jot down any keywords to help describe your current state.
Reflect on what’s contributing to that emotion or physical state for you. This is where you’ll start to be able to separate out your own emotions and inner states from those that you may have unintentionally absorbed from those around you - for example when you come home in a bad mood for no reason and then realize that it’s actually because you just spent 1.5 hours listening to your best friend vent about her boss.
When you’re done with your reflection, close your eyes and visualize yourself sitting under a waterfall of white, sparkly light. Imagine and feel this white light washing down over the top of your head, all the way down your body, and filling up your entire aura surrounding you.
Put yourself into a feeling of gratitude that this beautiful white light is helping to cleanse your energy of any unwanted energy or emotions that aren’t yours or that you are ready to release.
Which of these do you resonate with most as you’ve been working on your own relationship with your intuition? Any others that you would add to the list? Let us know in the comments below!
Chelsea Jewel is an Intuitive + Karmic Astrologer, Spiritual Coach, and Intuitive Mentor to those waking up to their own intuitive powers. You can connect with her on Instagram or via her website, chelseajewel.com
