Identifying Intuition

October 3, 2010

Dear Friends,

In essence, living life in the divine flow is about one main thing: recognizing and following divine guidance. Although you can receive divine guidance through signs and synchronicities, and through the wisdom of other people, the most valuable and consistent guidance you receive is from your own intuition—from the Divine Spirit within you that is speaking to you.

Intuitive guidance can take many forms, such as a thought that unexpectedly pops into your head; a still, small voice that you seem to “hear;” a physical sensation that you suddenly notice; or a simple feeling of “rightness” about a decision that you are considering making.

The big question is, how do you distinguish intuitive guidance from other thoughts or sensations? How do you know if that still, small voice you are hearing is the voice of your Divine Spirit, or the voice of your self-serving ego?

As you may have guessed, there’s no hard and fast rule for decisively determining whether a thought or a feeling is of divine origin. However, if you are in doubt, it does help to ask yourself this one simple question: Does the guidance I am sensing fit the nature of my Spirit?”

To help you answer that question, here are four different aspects of your Spirit’s nature, with a description of how those aspects affect the guidance that you receive:

1. Your Spirit is one with all.

In Spirit, there is no place where you end and someone else begins. In Spirit, we are all part of One Universal Whole. That means that you will never receive intuitive guidance that obviously harms or diminishes another person, because that person is—in Spirit—just another part of “you.” Intuitive guidance is always in the best interests of everyone.

2. Your Spirit is all-knowing.

Being intimately connected to the Omniscient Mind of the Divine, your Spirit is aware of an almost infinite number of ways for you to successfully move forward in life. That means that you will never receive intuitive guidance that seems to demand that you do one thing in particular because that’s your “only option.” Your Spirit will simply suggest the course of action that happens to be the most beneficial one for you to take at that particular moment in time. And if that course of action is never taken, or it ceases to be the most beneficial direction for you, your Spirit will then simply make a new suggestion. Intuitive guidance may be persistent, but it is never insistent.

3. Your Spirit is always positive.

The energy of your Spirit is a positive energy. That means that your Spirit will generally express itself in a positive way, suggesting a positive action step for you to take. Rather than saying “Don’t do this,” intuitive guidance is more likely to say, “Do this.”

4. Your Spirit is indestructible and eternal.

Your Spirit cannot be injured, or cease to exist. That means that your Spirit knows nothing of fear. It knows only the peace that comes from being one with All-That-Is, and the joy that comes from the human experience—of just being alive and in the world. Generally then, intuitive guidance will feel peaceful, or joyful. If you are in immediate physical danger, yes, you may receive intuitive guidance that feels extremely urgent or powerful, such as “Get off the road now.” And you might react apprehensively to such a strong suggestion. But the guidance itself will not be infused with fear, because it will not be coming from a place of fear.

Like I said, there’s no single, definitive way to identify intuitive guidance. But if that guidance is peaceful, positive, persistent, and in the best interests of all, that’s a good indication that you are receiving divine direction. May those four qualities enhance your ability to tell when your Spirit is speaking to you. And may you be willing to make the decision, or take the step, that your Spirit is suggesting.

Steven

© 2010 by Steven Lane Taylor
Author of Row, Row, Row Your Boat:
A Guide for Living Life in the Divine Flow
www.rowrowrow.com