“It seems like it only takes you 46 seconds to get to the heart of the matter,” my client said to me. We enjoyed a good laugh and I knew the speed was the result of my keen awareness and ability to attune to my client. Time stands still when we are connecting and tapping into a greater source of consciousness than ourselves. 

Honing in on my gift of intuition has taken years of practice and trust. Like a muscle, we can all hone our intuition by creating a habit of learning how to stretch and feel into this beautiful multi-sensory gift.   

Some people consider intuition to be a multi-sensory gift that is some type of super-power that is out of their reach – kind of like Superman being “faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive.” I consider intuition to indeed be an art that must be deliberately, and methodically practiced in order for one to ultimately reach mastery. In George Leonard’s book on Mastery, he states,

“To take the master’s journey, you have to practice diligently, striving to hone your skills, to attain new levels of competence. But while doing so – and this is the inexorable fact of the journey – you also have to be willing to spend most of your time on a plateau, to keep practicing even when you seem to be getting nowhere.”

I have certainly found this plateau effect to be true for my intuition, however, I have learned that with patience and practice I always eventually breakthrough and move towards a new level in which my multi-sensory capacity increases. 

Trust those hunches, the gut feelings, those ‘hits’ that seem to come out of nowhere. It’s the advice Regis Philbin, the original host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, perpetually provided to hapless contestants who were struggling with the $200 question. “Go with your gut, it’s almost always right,” he would say. And Regis was right.

My intuition has served me throughout my life and has truly been one of my greatest gifts. There was a time though, and not that many years ago when I realized that I didn’t completely trust my intuition. I was in coach training school at Newfield Network. A founder of Ontological Coaching, Julio Olalla, led me to an insight in front of a room full of coaches that changed everything for me with regard to trusting my intuition. He showed me how the side of me that continually seeks evidence before my intuition can be true is a zero-sum game. 

I share the following story with you because I suspect you too, have struggled with the same issues in trusting your intuition. At coach training school, we had just completed an intuitive exercise that allowed all of us to be able to provide our partner with an intuitive vision of what we were seeing. My partner was floored by what I shared with her because it was so detailed and accurate. It brought tears to her eyes. At that moment, I felt the need to explain myself to her. I shared with her that I’d had a near-death experience (NDE) when I was 11 years old and that in the afterlife our Spirit connects to a greater consciousness and other entities through intuition. It is the only sensory perception we have remaining after we leave our bodies. She then shared with me that she had an NDE when she was 7 years old. She understood exactly what I meant about our intuition and the afterlife. 

I was very trusting of my intuition up until that point and then the distrust set in. I began to seek evidence that I had motioned this woman from across the room to be my partner out of 60 other coaches in the room and she too, had an NDE. How could this be possible? I’d never worked with her during any of our prior months together. I could not believe that I had chosen the only other person in the room that had an NDE. I thought there must be someone else in the room that also had experienced an NDE. Not trusting my intuition at that moment, I brought it into the room. Julio, a brilliant intuitive himself, took the opportunity to coach me in front of the room on trusting my intuition. He knew there was no one else in the room that had experienced an NDE other than the two of us. Julio’s final words were, “Karen, there is no right or wrong to your intuition.” I had been trying to make my intuition right under certain circumstances and wrong in other circumstances. What if I just stopped caring whether I was right or wrong?  

Up until that point, I had spent a lifetime questioning my intuitive abilities and making them either right or wrong. That lesson cured me. I now honor all the guidance I intuitively ‘receive’. I seek answers and I approach questions in life with a sense of faith and trust that there is a reason for all that is happening.

I have learned the importance of being disciplined in my daily approach to life. I meditate and exercise to ensure that I’m emotionally cleansed and open to receiving information. By keeping our emotions clear, we become calmer and our internal chatter can be kept to a minimum so that our inner voice comes through more clearly. This practice opens your intuitive track because it allows you a clear sense of loving and clarity. This is not to say that I don’t ride on an emotional wave, quite the contrary – I’ve learned to honor my emotional currents of energy. I consciously finish unfinished emotional business typically through journaling or creating a recording of my thoughts on my phone. I know that this internal chatter is often created by a lower mood state and that it doesn’t belong to me. It is not my true essence.

You can get present by slowing down and listening in on your thoughts as if you were an observer of yourself. When your thoughts begin to wander bring them back to the present. This is a wonderful exercise to do while walking in nature. You’ll suddenly begin to notice wildflowers and trees blowing in the wind. You’ll hear and see wildlife. This is a great time to ask your higher self for inner guidance.

I’ve attuned myself to listen to trains off in the distance, geese flying overhead and nothing keeps me up like listening to the rain hit my roof at night. Sometimes, I get up to watch the sunrise and often I’ll sit and watch the sunset. All of these simple acts allow me to become very present in the moment.

If you want to hear your intuition and trust it, read this paragraph and then read it again and follow along. Here we go. At this moment, sit up straight with your feet firmly planted on the ground. Now close your eyes and place your right hand on your heart. Feel into the beating of your heart. Take a few deep breaths and feel the rise and fall of your emotions. Give yourself time until you’ve connected with the steady beating of your heart. Now, imagine this deeper consciousness within your heart opening. What questions do you have for your higher self? Ask one. What images are coming forth? Trust them.  What emotions are you feeling? Where are they in your body? What are you hearing? Trust the answers you receive.  

Practice every day and you too will see your intuitive muscle getting stronger. Play games with your intuition. When you get a hunch or a hit – act on it immediately and see what happens. Practice solving magic tricks or riddles when you don’t have all the information. A game of roulette can be very financially rewarding. Watch a movie and figure out the ending before it happens. Practice intuitively ‘reading’ a deck of playing cards. Think of a friend or a loved one with deep intention and wait for their call. Pick up the phone if you get a hit to call someone and listen to see if they say they were just thinking about you. Play!

After years of practice, I have come to trust my own intuitive language for seeing, hearing and feeling. As a result, my life has become less stressful and more in tune with the magical flow of life. I’m so much happier in each moment. I feel lighter and I laugh more – and, I’m finally out of the intuitive ‘closet’. I have nothing to hide. I openly share my intuitive abilities with my clients. When I’m coaching a new prospective client they will often stand at the end of a session and say something similar to, “This is not at all what I expected.” It is at that moment I know I have served them at my highest level of being. And therein lies the art.

“It seems like it only takes you 46 seconds to get to the heart of the matter,” my client said to me. We enjoyed a good laugh and I knew the speed was the result of the intuitive container that I had created for us. Time stands still when we are connecting and tapping into a greater source of consciousness than ourselves. 

Honing in on my gift has taken diligence. Like a muscle, we can all hone our intuition by creating a practice for ourselves to stretch and feel into this beautiful multi-sensory gift.   

Some people consider intuition to be a multi-sensory gift that is some type of super-power that is out of their reach – kind of like Superman being “faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive.” I consider intuition to indeed be an art that must be deliberately, and methodically practiced in order for one to ultimately reach mastery. In George Leonard’s book on Mastery, he states,

“To take the master’s journey, you have to practice diligently, striving to hone your skills, to attain new levels of competence. But while doing so – and this is the inexorable fact of the journey – you also have to be willing to spend most of your time on a plateau, to keep practicing even when you seem to be getting nowhere.”

I have certainly found this plateau effect to be true for my intuition, however, I have learned that with patience and practice I always eventually break through and move towards a new level in which my multi-sensory capacity increases. 

Trust those hunches, the gut feelings, those ‘hits’ that seem to come out of nowhere. It’s the advice Regis Philbin, the original host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, perpetually provided to hapless contestants who were struggling with the $200 question. “Go with your gut, it’s almost always right,” he would say. And Regis was right.

My intuition has served me throughout my life and has truly been one of my greatest gifts. There was a time though, and not that long ago, when I realized that I didn’t completely trust my intuition. I was in coach training school at Newfield Network. The founder of Ontological Coaching, Julio Olalla, led me to an insight in front of a room full of coaches that changed everything for me with regard to trusting my intuition. He showed me how the side of me that continually seeks evidence before my intuition can be true is a zero-sum game. 

I share the following story with you because I suspect you too, have struggled with the same issues in trusting your intuition. At coach training school, we had just completed an intuitive exercise that allowed all of us to be able to provide our partner with an intuitive vision of what we were seeing. My partner was floored by what I shared with her because it was so detailed and accurate. It brought tears to her eyes. In that moment, I felt the need to explain myself to her. I shared with her that I’d had a near death experience (NDE) when I was 11 years old and that in the afterlife our Spirit connects to a greater consciousness and other entities through intuition. It is the only sensory perception we have left after we leave our bodies. She then shared with me that she had an NDE when she was 7 years old. She understood exactly what I meant about our intuition and the afterlife. 

I was very trusting of my intuition up until that point and then the distrust set in. I began to seek evidence that I had motioned this woman from across the room to be my partner out of 60 other coaches in the room and she too, had an NDE. How could this be possible? I’d never worked with her during any of our prior months together. I could not believe that I had chosen the only other person in the room that had an NDE. I thought there must be someone else in the room that also had experienced an NDE. Not trusting my intuition in that moment, I brought it into the room. Julio, a brilliant intuitive himself, took the opportunity to coach me in front of the room on trusting my intuition. He knew there was no one else in the room that had experienced an NDE other than the two of us. Julio’s final words were, “Karen, there is no right or wrong to your intuition.” I had been trying to make my intuition right under certain circumstances and wrong in other circumstances. What if I just stopped caring whether I was right or wrong?  

Up until that point, I had spent a lifetime questioning my intuitive abilities and making them either right or wrong. That lesson cured me. I now honor all the guidance I intuitively ‘receive’. I seek answers and I approach questions in life with a sense of faith and trust that there is a reason for all that is happening.

I have learned the importance of being disciplined in my daily approach to life. I meditate and exercise to ensure that I’m emotionally cleansed and open for receiving information. By keeping our emotions clear, we become calmer and our internal chatter can be kept to a minimum so that our inner voice comes through more clearly. This practice opens your intuitive track because it allows you a clear sense of loving and clarity. This is not to say that I don’t ride on an emotional wave, quite the contrary – I’ve learned to honor my emotional currents of energy. I consciously finish unfinished emotional business typically through journaling or creating a recording of my thoughts on my phone. I know that this internal chatter is often created by a lower mood state and that it doesn’t belong to me. It is not my true essence.

You can get present by slowing down and listening in on your thoughts as if you were an observer of yourself. When your thoughts begin to wander bring them back to the present. This is a wonderful exercise to do while walking in nature. You’ll suddenly begin to notice wildflowers and trees blowing in the wind. You’ll hear and see wildlife. This is a great time to ask your higher self for inner guidance.

I’ve attuned myself to listen to trains off in the distance, geese flying overhead and nothing keeps me up like listening to the rain hit my roof at night. Sometimes, I get up to watch the sunrise and often I’ll sit and watch the sun set. All of these simple acts allow me to become very present to the moment.

If you want to hear your intuition and trust it, read this paragraph and then read it again and follow along. Here we go. In this moment, sit up straight with your feet firmly planted on the ground. Now close your eyes and place your right hand on your heart. Feel into the beating of your heart. Take a few deep breaths and feel the rise and fall of your emotions. Give yourself time until you’ve connected with the steady beating of your heart. Now, imagine this deeper consciousness within your heart opening. What questions do you have for your higher self? Ask one. What images are coming forth? Trust them.  What emotions are you feeling? Where are they in your body? What are you hearing? Trust the answers you receive.  

Practice every day and you too will see your intuitive muscle getting stronger. Play games with your intuition. When you get a hunch or a hit – act on it immediately and see what happens. Practice solving magic tricks or riddles when you don’t have all the information. A game of roulette can be very financially rewarding. Watch a movie and figure out the ending before it happens. Practice intuitively ‘reading’ a deck of playing cards. Think of a friend or a loved one with deep intention and wait for their call. Pick up the phone if you get a hit to call someone and listen to see if they say they were just thinking about you. Play!

After years of practice, I have come to trust my own intuitive language for seeing, hearing and feeling. As a result, my life has become less stressful and more in tune with the magical flow of life. I’m so much happier in each moment. I feel lighter and I laugh more – and, I’m finally out of the intuitive ‘closet’. I have nothing to hide. I openly share my intuitive abilities with my clients. When I’m coaching a new prospective client they will often stand at the end of a session and say to me, “This is not at all what I expected.” It is in that moment I know I have served them at my highest level of being. And therein lies the art.