Psychology: 5 strategies to strengthen your intuition

Gut or head? To make truly good decisions, we usually need both. Because no matter how good a pros and cons list is, it won't help us if we completely ignore our feelings. But listening only to our gut and ignoring all rational considerations is rarely a good solution either.

The most important prerequisite for our head and our gut to work well together and help us make smart decisions is that we trust both. Most of us find this easier when it comes to rational thinking; after all, we spend most of our day working with our heads—we think they'll do it right. But we often don't trust our intuition so easily. Sometimes we have a particularly good or bad feeling, but push it aside because it doesn't fit with what our head is telling us.

Do you feel like your balance between intuition and reason is out of balance? These strategies might help you listen to your gut more.

These tips can help you strengthen your intuition 1. Find silence

An important tool for becoming more intuitive is mindfulness. This includes meditation – consciously immersing ourselves in silence and in the here and now – but also everyday moments in which we can practice being more present. For example, we can go for a walk in nature and not listen to music, an audiobook, or a podcast. Instead, we can enjoy the silence and consciously perceive what's happening around us, the sounds and smells, what we see, and what we feel. This allows us to better connect with ourselves and, in the long term, strengthen our intuition.

2. Take dreams seriously

Our dreams are a manifestation of our unconscious. Everything we experience, see, and feel while awake, we process while we sleep. And that's precisely why our dreams are such an important gateway to our psyche. A dream journal, for example, may help you become more aware of what your brain processes at night and, above all, what it does with it.

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3. Get creative

Creativity is also an important bridge to our intuition. Whether we're painting, crafting, or writing—when we activate the creative part of our brain, we also strengthen our intuition. Try freehand drawing, coloring something, or perhaps journaling.

4. Allow feelings

Many people find it difficult to engage with their emotions. They prefer not to feel unpleasant feelings like pain or anger at all, so they try to suppress or rationalize them. However, when we strengthen the connection to our feelings, we also clear the way for our intuition. Because intuition is ultimately nothing more than a feeling—we instinctively sense whether a decision is right or wrong for us.

5. Build self-confidence

We all have an intuition – it's deeply embedded in our brains. Why is it so difficult for some people to truly feel and listen to it? On the one hand, it comes down to practice: the more often we listen to ourselves and actively perceive our intuitive reaction to something, the easier it will gradually become. But often it fails because we simply don't trust ourselves enough. And if we don't believe we understand something or can judge it well, we won't listen to our intuition. Consciously observe your thoughts and your inner critic: every time you think something negative about yourself, correct that view and actively tell yourself something positive. This can help you strengthen your intuition in the long term.

mbl Brigitte

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