Using Your Intuition, Part 2

by Jennifer Baltz

Out of Body, Back in Five Minutes!

My intuitive friend and I were driving along a busy street in town one day. "Wow, people are really out of it this afternoon," he said, as another driver cut in front of our car, without signaling. I noticed it too, and my attention went to the car next to us. The woman in the driver's seat was staring straight ahead, eyes vacant--nobody was home. As a spirit, she was out woolgathering....her energy and attention were somewhere else.

I did a double-take as I realized that she was actually a friend of ours. I didn't recognize her at first because she looked so different. Her energy and attention were so focused elsewhere that she didn't notice us.

How many times have you driven home in rush hour traffic and really taken a good look at your fellow drivers? How many of them seemed truly "there" to you? How many times have you "zoned out" yourself, only to find yourself home with only a partial memory of how you got there?

This out-of-body behavior can happen anywhere. We do it at home and at work, anytime when something else is more interesting and draws our attention as spirit. Stop and pay attention the next time you find a loved one plopped in front of the television set, totally oblivious to you or anything else nearby. You might even try to notice when you "leave," and take your attention and your thoughts elsewhere from the present place and moment.

Daydreaming, wool gathering, "spacing out" or being "out of it" ... these are all polite ways to say "out of body." There have been many books written about the elusive "out of body experience." But most people don't realize that we do it every day. Out-of-body means out of awareness, and out-of-touch with what is going on around you.

Our culture is full of distractions, white noise. From cell phones and the radio in your car to television, city noises and idle chatter; it is all around us. We don't know how to be with ourselves, how to hear ourselves think. When I was growing up, we often returned to the Midwest to visit family. These summer family reunions had the usual barbecue, softball games and homemade ice cream, and the continuous noise of all of our family members talking over one another at the same time.

Sound familiar? Most families do the same thing. Not only do we not take the time to listen to ourselves, we don't stop to listen to each other either. It's much easier to just leave as a spirit and take your energy and attention elsewhere. Most of us are quite good at operating the body and spiritually being somewhere else at the same time.

But listening, truly listening, and observing with all of your attention is the heart of intuition. The first step in reawakening your natural intuition is to Be Here Now (as Ram Dass noted.)

Intuition Begins with the Marriage of Body and Soul

We are both body and spirit. As a spirit, you enter your body through the chakras and animate it with your soul essence. There are seven major chakras and hundreds of minor ones in the body.* As connection points that spin like wheels, the chakras take in energy and information and then distribute both out through the body and the aura.

It's no accident that the word psychic means "soul energy." Psychic abilities are all about using your energy and awareness as a spirit in a body. While daydreaming can often be more fun and a great way to escape an uncomfortable present moment, the present is really where you need to be to access your intuition.

When you are paying attention to the world around you rather than zoning out, the communication between body and spirit flows better, and you can make much better use of your awareness, both physical and psychic. When your inner awareness is working, you can make each present moment not only richer but also more fun. You can craft your life the way you want it to be.

The first step in developing your intuition is to practice being in present time, right in the moment. Practice being aware of the world around you, both good and bad, beautiful and ugly. Practice noticing things. First, notice your body and how it is feeling. Go through every part of your body, from head to toe, and just check in with it. You may notice a pain here or a complaint there, or perhaps a request to shift position so your foot won't fall asleep! Just practice noticing it all. Then, you can extend your awareness outside your body, to the area immediately around you. Listen, look, feel. Cherish and value every sensation you experience.

*There are also additional chakras outside the body, including the Alta Major or Eighth Chakra, about a foot over the crown.

Bringing Body and Spirit Together with Meditation

Meditation is one way of bringing body and spirit together in harmony and clear communication. In meditation, you can sit comfortably in a chair with your feet flat on the floor (no lying down because you'll be tempted to leave your body!), or on a cushion, Buddhist-style. The idea is not to torture yourself or to empty all of your thoughts, but just to notice what comes up and perhaps ask for more information about it. If you're having a persistent thought about another person, you might ask yourself "What do I need to know about this person? How does this person make me feel?" You don't need to try to change or fix anything: just be present with yourself.

It's a lot harder than it sounds. You'll find that you want to get up and run when you start becoming aware of the sea of emotions and pictures within. But try to stay with it just a little longer each day, and just be aware. Don't judge what comes up, or punish yourself for missing a day or not sitting "long enough." Be gentle with yourself.

Remember, you have a lot of practice as a spirit getting out of your body. You have less experience being completely present in your body. It takes time and patience. Just like you wouldn't yell at a baby for making a mistake, you shouldn't be hard on yourself either. As it says in Desiderata: "Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself."

The more you meditate, the more you will find that your intuition kicks in throughout your day. You'll start becoming more aware of flashes of knowingness and clairvoyance that you just didn't notice before.

Turning on your psychic awareness can be scary sometimes, because there is an unknown element. A lot of people don't want to know more because they're afraid of seeing something bad. Try instead to make a game out of it: notice what you notice and have fun with it. At first, don't analyze what you see ('My dream must mean this,' or 'What if it means this,' or, 'I hope it doesn't mean this!') Just take note that your intuition is bringing a particular area in your life to your attention. Then, the information will unfold to you as you need it, and you'll begin learning how to ask the right questions when your intuition picks up on something.

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