Lesson 6: How Can I Get Started?

How Can I Get Started?

 

In this lesson—the most jam-packed of the whole course!—I offer you three things you can do right away to invite in the power of your intuition, plus an audio meditation to strengthen awareness of your inner landscape. Each of these practices emphasizes the importance of quiet observation, curiosity, and receptivity rather than urgency, grasping, or striving. That’s why I call them experiments—because intuitive discoveries tend to occur when we are relaxed and in state of openness, exploration, and even play.

 

The three experiments involve:

1. Making space to receive.
2. Gathering clues about your “intuitive mode.”
3. Reaching out to your Guides or higher aspects for assistance and guidance.

 

The audio meditation is about turning your attention inward and developing a greater sense of subtle awareness.

Let’s get started!

 

Experiment #1:

MAKE SPACE TO RECEIVE

 

As the quote by Lao-Tzu suggests, “right action aris(ing) by itself” starts with non-action, patience, and stillness. Likewise, intuitive knowing begins with the practice of relaxing and observing the mind. As channel Paul Selig says, “Not knowing is the beginning of knowing.” As discussed previously, let’s see if you can create a bit more space, time, and/or quiet awareness in your life for this type of practice, this type of openness.

 

Here is a list of activities that may lend themselves to a state of inner relaxation and/or heightened inner awareness. It should be added that certain kinds of quiet outer awareness, particularly in nature, can equally give rise to inner alignment and inner knowing.

 

Choose one of the following to do and put it on your calendar over the next week as a date with yourself. Your only goal is to let go of any expectations and to use it as a time to practice creating inner space.

 

• • • Walking/strolling (without a destination, not for exertion, paying quiet attention to what you see)
    • Sitting still in nature or in a quiet inside space (eyes open or closed)
    • Meditation (just following your breath with no expectation, no agenda)
    • Making art (loosely, without a plan or goal, in a spirit of listening for what wants to come through)
    • Writing (again, loosely, without a plan or goal, in a spirit of listening for what wants to come through)

 

The last two suggestions, making art and writing, while fertile ground for opening to receive, may be more challenging for some who are more susceptible to self-judgment or have a harsh inner critic. If you think you can play with art or let yourself write without kicking up a lot of internal chatter or emotional reactions, do it. Otherwise, choose one of the other options to start, and come back to these later.

 

If time is an issue, try making an activity from your everyday life into a more intentionally receptive time. Try setting an intention to do one of the following in a state of greater mindfulness or inner awareness:

 

• • • Driving (alone, in silence)
    • Showering
    • Doing dishes or other chores
    • Taking some time to “moodle” just after waking up, or just before going to sleep

 

The goal in all of this, paradoxically, is not to have a goal, not be in a hurry, not to set any expectations, but simply to practice being quiet and aware. In a future lesson, we’ll talk about what to expect when you begin to turn inward and pay attention in this way.

 

 

Experiment #2:

LOOK FOR CLUES TO YOUR INTUITIVE MODE

 

For much of my adult life, I’ve taught creative writing workshops helping aspiring writers find their unique voice or creative fingerprint. The premise of my signature course—called “The Intuitive Voice”—was that all writers and creatives have a natural way of seeing, mode of expression, and constellation of interests and obsessions that make their writing one of a kind, whether they are consciously aware of it or not.

 

The same is true for intuition itself. Simply because you are you, you have a particular way of picking up the cues and clues of your own inner knowing, and no one else can tell you exactly what that is. To discover your unique intuitive language requires paying careful attention and affirming what you find.

 

Maybe you are a visual person, and you find images floating into your mind: of future events, or things you’d like to see happen, or even symbols or colors or impressions. Maybe you have vivid dreams, or notice patterns of words, or sense energy. Maybe you pick up on body sensations more than anything else.

 

Perhaps you pick up on lot of signs in the outside world. Or perhaps you’re a  more of a feeler, and your emotional “hits” are what stand out, where the energy is. Or you might be some combination of all of these.

 

The key is to begin paying attention, with a sense of curiosity, and to collect information about what is most natural for you.

 

Here are some questions to consider:

 

• When you just “know” something, what does it feel like? Where do you feel it? In your gut? Your heart? Your body? Somewhere else?
• Are you a visual person? Do you ever “see” images or colors in your mind?
• Do you ever pick up on the energy in a room, or get a “hit” on someone just by being near them?
• Are you heart-centered? Do your feelings tend to guide you?
• Do you ever get signals from your body that you feel are trying to tell you something?
• Do you have dreams that seem to carry a message, or do you wake up with words in your head?
• Are there times when you just know things, without knowing how?

 

We all have a combination of intuition modalities, but we tend to have one or two dominant ways of knowing. By paying closer attention, you’ll begin to see what’s already there: your own “intuitive mode” and how it tends to express through the unique vehicle that is you.

 

 

Experiment #3:

CONSCIOUSLY CONNECT WITH SPIRIT

 

 

Intuition is a bridge between our human selves and Spirit—whether we define Spirit as our Higher Selves, our souls, our Guides, our inner wisdom, or something else—and to activate that connection, we need to go halfway. We can’t just hang out on our side of the bridge, on the side of human consciousness, and expect to be swept up and carried to the other side. We have to make the first move.

 

It’s an aspect of Divine Law, and an honoring of human free will, that in order to receive spiritual help, we have to ask for it. Spirit waits for permission. But the more we consciously invite Spirit in, or open ourselves to our own higher Selves, the more help and guidance becomes available.

 

My Guides put it this way:

It is Divine Law. The heart of the human must open, if only a tiny crack, before we may enter. The human heart must choose to believe, or at least to be open, a tiny bit, in order to receive grace.

 

Here are some things to try:

• Assume you have spiritual help that’s always present, even if you’re not always aware of it.

 

• Consciously connect upward through your crown chakra and see if you can feel an energy cord connecting you to your Higher Self or higher aspects. Can you feel energy stretching upward above your head? What does it feel like?

 

• With your eyes closed, focus on your third eye, or 6^th chakra, the space between your eyebrows. Relax and allow. Do you notice anything? What do you “see”?

 

• Try saying “hi” to your source(s) of spiritual help, whether you think of it as God, your Guides, higher aspects, your Higher Power, guardian angels, or a nameless force. Assume it or they (or the You on another level) can hear you, see you, and want to offer you guidance.

 

• Ask them (or You) to guide you, or to show you a sign or an answer on some particular issue. Then pay close attention to see if you feel, see, or sense anything in the following days.

 

• Say thank you for the presence of Divine help, for all the help you’ve received in the past, and also thank you in advance for the future help and guidance you will be receiving.

 

• Think of your source of spiritual help as something that’s collaborating with you, not as something “above” you. My Guides ask that I treat them as friends, peers, and partners, not as superiors. Likewise, rather than feeling like a supplicant or a subordinate, think of yourself as a team member, a collaborator, or a member of the all-important, on-the-ground crew here on Earth who is supported by an invisible but devoted team of wise friends. If it feels better, envision your support system as your own Higher Self, a powerful source of back-up who does not seek to be “above” you. Notice how this feels. What way of connecting to Spirit feels best to you?

 

 

Audio:

SUBTLE AWARENESS MEDITATION

 

 

In this meditation, which takes just under 15 minutes, I lead you through some easy steps to sharpen your subtle awareness. Doing this will help you get more used to noticing the small inner cues that over time will point us toward useful intuitive information.

 

TRY IT: Find a quiet place to sit, close your eyes, and just allow yourself to relax and follow the gentle suggestions I offer for tuning into various levels of paying attention.

 

Just click on the Play button to begin:

 

 

LESSON 6 VIDEO

 

 

 

Lesson Summary

 

Inviting inner knowing involves consciously cultivating a sense of spaciousness, relaxation, curiosity, observation, and spiritual connection, and we can do this in many different ways. By carving out undistracted moments, we create openings for intuition to come through. By paying close attention to HOW that inner knowing presents over time for us, we can start to identify and trust our own particular patterns or “intuitive mode.” We can even reach out for spiritual support from the unseen realms, just by saying “hello” or asking for help. All of these techniques, as well as the practice of paying close inner attention featured in this week’s audio meditation, can help kickstart intuition.

 

 

Questions to Consider

Use your workbook pages or a separate notebook or journal to reflect on the following questions in writing:

 

• Which “moodling” activities from Experiment #1: Make Space to Receive most appeal to you? Walking? Showering? Making art? Driving? Something else? Pick at least one to try this week, without any expectation or agenda, and take a moment to reflect afterward. How did it feel? What was easy or difficult about creating that sense of space? What did you notice?

 

• Revisit the questions from Experiment #2: Look for Clues to Your Intuitive Mode. Have you noticed any patterns in your own ways of knowing? Do you see a stronger tendency in one area or another, intuitively speaking? Keep paying attention and make a note as you go along.

 

• Take another look at the tips in Experiment #3: Consciously Connect with Spirit. Have you tried any of these techniques or ideas? Which appeals to you most? When you make an effort to consciously connect with Spirit, even just saying “hi,” do you notice any shifts in yourself or sense anything coming back?

 

• When you did the Subtle Awareness Meditation, what did you notice? If you only tried it once, consider trying it again. See if anything changes from one day to the next, or if your subtle awareness seems to get stronger over time.