When I started thinking about this episode, I thought it would be helpful to have a definition of “intuition.” The word can be a bit woo-woo and mysterious. I decided to start with the dictionary.

According to the folks at Dictionary.com, “intuition” means “1. direct perception of truth, fact, etc., independent of any reasoning process…”

My intuition immediately objected, so I decided to see if Brené Brown has any thoughts on intuition. She does! According to Brené Brown:

Intuition is not a single way of knowing – it’s our ability to hold space for uncertainty and our willingness to trust the many ways we’ve developed knowledge and insight, including instinct, experience, faith and reason.”

Brené Brown

Yes! That feels more like my understanding of intuition. Then I found this great quote from Einstein:

I believe in intuitions and inspirations…I sometimes FEEL that I am right. I do not KNOW that I am.

Albert Einstein

Double yes! Sometimes I know something, but I cannot tell you why I know it. I just know that I know something and it is right. That is my intuition.

Sometimes intuition feels like ancient wisdom, as if I am drawing upon something that one of my ancestors learned. Other times intuition feels like my connection to the divine. Still other times, it just feels like my gut is able to process a quick answer far faster than my brain by relying on all my experiences, feelings and knowledge.

Intuition is a deep inner knowing. It is soul knowledge. It often feels magical.

I believe everyone is born with intuition and we never actually lose it, but our intuition often gets buried and obscured by modern living. But it is still there! The connection can always be reclaimed and strengthened.

I started reconnecting with my intuition in 2013 after I had postpartum depression. When Pippa was a baby, she did not like napping in her crib. I could get her to take really long naps if I held her in my arms or got her to fall asleep during a walk. But the Popular Majority disapproved and insisted that Pippa nap in her crib. (The Popular Majority consisted of my husband, my parents, a doula who helped during my recovery, my psychiatrist at the time, various friends, and assorted parenting experts.) The Popular Majority insisted that my mental health depended on me getting Pippa to nap in her crib.

My intuition, though, knew that crib naps were just not for Pippa.

But I wanted to make the Popular Majority happy so I tried. A doula taught me a method to get Pippa to nap in her crib. It involved lots of rocking and hushing and putting Pippa down and scooping her back up the moment she fussed. It sometimes took forty-five minutes to get Pippa to finally nap in her crib. Then she would only nap for twenty or thirty minutes. But if I held her in my arms or pushed her in the stroller, she napped for two or three hours! With no fuss!

Still, I kept trying to please the Popular Majority.

Until one glorious day… I was at the mall. I was rushing to leave so I could get home in time to put Pippa down for a crib nap. I felt stressed by the whole situation and was agonizing over the stupid nap time rituals that just made my baby wail.

So I thought, Fuck it.

The crib naps were not working for me or Pippa. I pushed her around the mall and let her fall asleep in her stroller and had a grand time shopping. After that, I let Pippa nap in the baby carrier, against my chest, or in her stroller. We were both so much happier and I felt deeply satisfied to be trusting my intuition.

Society does not want us connected to our intuition. Companies want us to feel insecure about our inner wisdom so we will buy their product, watch their show, read their magazine. The patriarchy is not really interested in our intuition, either, unless our intuition is telling us to stay in the kitchen and do all the housework like a good wife should.

Well, I am sick of marketers trying to separate me from my intuition, and I am tired of the patriarchy telling me what it means to be good.

After defying the Popular Majority and giving up on crib naps for Pippa, I felt an ache to paint. I stumbled upon Brave Intuitive Painting, by Flora Bowley. Somehow my intuition knew this was the book I needed. I started painting and it was a wonderful way to connect with my inner wisdom. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in getting messy with her intuition.

Flora turned me on to the idea of taking intuitive walks. When I leave the house on my daily walk, I never know which route I am taking. I let my feet and intuition decide. I always feel delighted when I get to a corner and my intuition tells me which way to go next.

I also reconnected with my intuition through journaling. I heard about this technique on an episode of the Elise Gets Crafty podcast but damned if I remember which interviewee talked about it. But the guest talked about asking her intuition a question, waiting for her intuition to respond and then writing the response. I adapted that technique in my own journaling practice.

If I have a specific question for my intuition, I write that question in print. Sometimes, I just write, How am I doing? or What areas of my life need attention?

Then I wait.

When my intuition responds, I wrote that response in cursive. Sometimes my intuition has pages and pages of things to say. Other times, it’s just a few sentences.

This was completely awkward and uncomfortable at first. I felt very self-conscious the first time I said Hello to my intuition. But this practice quickly became second nature. Now the responses from my intuition tend to arrive within a few seconds and I enter into a deep flow state as I converse with my inner wisdom.

I also love using the Tarot to connect with my intuition. I have the Universal Waite Tarot Deck. I would like to get two or three more decks so my intuition can not just pick a card, but pick the deck. But for now, I’m happy with the one deck I own.

When I am working with the Tarot, I write a question in my journal. Then I shuffle the deck, spread out the cards, and pull the one that feels right. I look at the card and write about it in my journal. I describe what I see and what feelings and thoughts arise. I write about why this card speaks to me – or why it doesn’t. Sometimes my intuition says, Nope, not this card, so I pull another.

There are lots of books that describe the meanings of the different cards. I don’t care about any of that. I’m just using the Tarot as another path to access my intuition. The images on my Tarot cards help me get into the intuition zone. Why? I don’t know. But my intuition guided me to this practice, and my intuition knows what it needs!

Meditation has also helped me strengthen my relationship with my intuition. When I meditate, I create space between my sense of self and my thoughts. The practice helps me distinguish between my inner wisdom and my busy monkey brain.

If you are looking to strengthen your connection with your intuition, you need to do what works for you. Trust your intuition. Trust your inner wisdom. I don’t care what anyone else has told you. You are already the teacher that you need.