13 Tips to Strengthen Your Inner Knowing
Each of us are exquisite divine beings with our own unique guidance system and inner knowing.
Many of us have been trained to look outside ourselves for the answers, but what if we have all the answers we need within? In our culture that normalizes distractions and busyness, we are discouraged to probe deeper or find the hidden truths. We get caught up in appearances instead of listening to what’s really there and honoring that “little voice” or subtle feeling that knew not to go down that road or trust that person…
I encourage my clients to stop saying “I don’t know” when encountering an issue and instead get curious about the part of you that does know about any given situation. We are not meant to live in a state of confusion. Clarity is our birthright.
True knowing (claircognizance) is an amazing skill we can all learn and develop if we’re willing. I know this because I have trained myself to be more claircognizant than I ever was when I was younger. I love to help my clients get in touch with their inner knowing because it’s getting in touch with your true self—the part of you that always knows and is at peace with who she is and how life is unfolding in all ways. This doesn’t mean we know EVERYTHING about everything, but when we’re really in our knowing, we feel a deep peace and resonance that all is well.
My encouragement for you is to tune in, get curious, and trust that YOU can pilot this boat and that there are gentle ways to learn what is right and what is not for you, unique to your own divine design and experiences. You have the map and the key to this thing and YOU CAN DO THIS. It is your literal birthright! And! It’s okay to make mistakes or need help. We are all learning through experience and our life experiences are giving us (and have given us) what we need to know for our life’s path as we take each step.
These tips are great to use when you’re feeling lost or uncertain, you have a big life decision to make, or you’re simply looking for clarity about something that’s been on your mind lately.
Slow down and open up. It is really amazing what is revealed when we allow ourselves to slow down and be present. Slow your breathing consciously and allow yourself to relax in your body. Imagine a closed fist vs an open hand—what might you receive when you’re more open in your mind, body and spirit? Bring all of your focus back to where you are now. Let the to do lists and sense of urgency fade away. Urgency is a sign of the ego fearing loss of control. I personally find I am much more receptive to guidance when I’m relaxed. Kinda like going into a massage tense and untrusting vs letting yourself bit by bit turn into a puddle on the table, really receiving what is being offered to you. Meditation is great for this, so is taking a relaxing walk, doing breath work, singing, toning, etc. If you find you’re too juiced to sit still or relax right now, do some kind of vigorous physical activity and then try to tap into the answers you seek.
Practice connecting to yourself every morning. Put your phone on do not disturb, close the door and allow yourself at lease 10 minutes of quiet time, just focusing on your inner self. It can be uncomfortable at first—you may notice various thought patterns that make you want to take action or do something (anything!) else, but slowly you can train yourself to sink deeper, below the noise and get more in touch with the truth within. Doing this regularly creates pathways in the brain that help you tune within first and know what your inner energy and knowing feels like. If you’d like a free guided meditation to help with you with this, you can get one from my homepage by signing up for my newsletter.
Tune into your heart space. Go deeper into your inner heart with all of your attention. What does your heart say about this issue? Get curious and listen to the answer. Breathe in, breathe out through your heart. Tune in and say aloud the first words you sense from your heart. This is where our inner knowing and higher self wisdom resides. Your heart always speaks the truth and this wisdom is always available to us, if we are willing to listen. You can read my “Let Your Heart Speak” article for more tips on how to do this.
Consult your inner knowing on mundane, everyday matters. When at the grocery store, when making a decision about seeing a friend, when choosing what to eat, when picking what to listen to in your car. Your inner knowing is an excellent source of wisdom not just for big decisions, but the little everyday ones. This helps build that muscle of inner knowing overtime and helps you trust yourself more. I can’t stress how helpful this is for living more in alignment. Before going into autopilot mode or doing what you feel you ‘should’ do or have always done, get curious about what your intuition says. And then the juicy key for any real transformation and pattern shifts: follow through. Follow your guidance as a fun experiment for yourself and see what happens. It may turn out more easeful, fun, better than you imagined.
Feel the truth. When you receive signs, guidance, etc, feel the rightness or lack thereof in your body. Get to know what Truth feels like in your body by practicing saying true things to yourself, and then untrue things. It can be very subtle, but once you practice this, Truth, as I like to say, is its own frequency you can feel. This is why it’s important to only speak the truth as well. That way, you can feel the truth more easily and train yourself to only speak truly to yourself and others. The positive benefits of this practice are huge and wide reaching for all areas of our lives.
Go on a walk and ask a question. Expect an answer by the end of the walk. Take a solo walk around your neighborhood or in a pretty place and open up to your guidance and the infinite possibilities that await you. Make an agreement with your higher guidance team that you will receive the answer you need by the end of this walk. Trust that it is so. Ask your question from your heart. Then let go of any expectation of a certain kind of answer that makes logical sense. Just open up your mind and trust it will come to you. Be receptive to any subtle nudges, words, thoughts, or signs that feel right deep within. If feeling overwhelmed or worried you’ll get it wrong, take some deep breaths and look at it as a game. Trust that whatever comes is right. These sensations are often subtle and unique to each individual, so have fun learning and tuning into the unique flavor of your inner guidance!
Be open to finding a creative solution to any problem at hand. My go-to mantra when I feel stuck or trapped is: “There is always another way.” Possibilities are endless when we remember to plug in to our true divine nature and Source. When faced with a seeming dead-end, ask for help from your guidance to help you find a solution. Possibilities can come as a thought, as inspiration, as a sign or a friend speaking words that feel right to us in our bodies. There is always a solution. Have faith and it will come.
8. Let go of your cherished outcome. While it could be great to receive what you want right now in the way you want it, that isn’t often how life works—especially when some of those wants are more of what the ego wants. Other wants are real heart’s desires but sometimes need to happen on a different timeline than our small selves would like so that we can really receive and align to them and learn what we need to along the way. My advice: get into a place of neutrality where you know that the truth will ultimately be the best thing for you, no matter how much you want things to go one way over the other right now. Let go of how things are ‘supposed’ to be (or what you fear might happen) and open up to what is.
9. Be willing to be surprised. Being surprised is a great sign you’re listening to your inner knowing and not your conditioned self that likes things to make sense and go a certain linear way (more of what we experienced in the past, typically). When we receive from our inner beings, things often unfold even better than we imagined! I can’t tell you how many times my partner and I have chosen to do something that didn’t make sense to our logical minds, but felt resonant energetically. We did it anyway and magic unfolded as a result.
10. Look for signs and synchronicities after asking a specific question. These could be in the form of animals, dreams, angel numbers, overheard conversations, song lyrics, a friend saying something to you that sticks out and rings true…Stay awake and really notice what’s happening around you. Patterns, feelings, etc. Notice how you feel when you receive these signs and write down what you experience for greater clarity. This also helps your logical mind track that it is real and this works!
11. Ask for help from your guides and angels and remember that you are always supported. A great prayer to say is “Thank you, Spirit/God/Great Creator/Universe, for showing me the way. I am grateful to be supported and ask for the next step(s) to be revealed.” This is the truth of the Universe, even if we don’t always feel it. Have faith that this is so and trust. Life will feel more easeful this way.
12. If you’re not getting any guidance right away, don’t lose hope. It will come, it may just not be in the timeline you want it (IMMEDIATELY NOW PLEASE—that’s what my small self would like, thank you. Hah). Maybe after a few minutes or a few days, it will be there like a lightning strike in the pitch black sky. Or like a soft breeze rustling across your face. Like there’s the truth! I recognize it like an old friend or a deeper part of me I had forgotten! Sometimes when I let go and focus on something else, being in the present moment, it will come to me as a thought, as a message in a book, as a flash of insight while weeding the garden, etc…
13. Remind yourself of the times you DID have inner guidance, and that can happen for you again. WE ALL have the power of inner guidance. This isn’t just a thing psychics and spiritual teachers and special people can do. It’s in all of us. I know this because I have learned this skill overtime and have helped others do the same. Like all skills, practice makes it better (or easier to access, in this case). It’s like learning to tune into your favorite radio station by feel only. You will get better with repetition and faith that you can do this. And by tuning into that frequency and honoring it more often, you make it easier to recognize it when it comes out of the blue to help you in everyday life (such as wear these shoes, talk to this person, do this thing, etc).
Lots of love,
Nicole
P.S. If you’d like support with this, book a free call with me to see if coaching might be the right fit. I love helping my clients come into alignment with who they truly are and awaken their inner knowing and many gifts.