Intuition is a spiritual gift, and everybody has it. Some don't want it when it shows up; others want it really badly and wonder why it seems to elude them. It can open up quickly, come in unexpectedly, especially after a traumatic event or near-death experience. Many will believe that Intuition is something that some people have and others don't or that it is just there for you to use at your will. This is true, and not so true.

Intuition is a gift, and using that gift requires a practice.

I am intuitive and empathic and always have been, though for a very long time I didn't have a conscious awareness of this. Because of that, I have always been able to create things I wanted, AND I spent a lot of years creating a lot of what I didn't want, as well.

Things would come to me - feelings, knowings, premonitions - but it was not something I could command, and I often didn't understand what I was getting. My strongest gifts were those of claircognizance (knowing), clairsentience (feeling), and clairaudience (hearing). Once I began working with energy healing and energy medicine, I saw my Intuition begin to come in more powerfully and more consistently, and it was at that point that I decided to develop these skills so that I could truly use them in my work and for my personal benefit. Within a year, my clairvoyance (seeing) had become highly developed. I had transitioned from simply letting the natural gifts I was sometimes aware of show up from time to time and help me out to consciously working with my Intuitive abilities and being in control of them and able to use them at will.

This huge change in my work and in my life did not happen overnight, and it did not happen by accident or without effort or intention. I began to develop daily habits that became a part of my spiritual practice. I purposefully integrated my spiritual life with my physical world. As an athlete trains for a sport or an event, I, too, have been in training to strengthen my "Intuitive muscles." Utilizing your Intuitive abilities involves very real physiological activity. Your brain and nervous system are fully engaged. All of your senses are activated and heightened. You are working with your physical body, your mental and emotional bodies, and your spiritual body all at once, and so you need a good awareness of your energy field and all its aspects.

You are an energetic being in energetic exchange at all times with yourself, the Universe, and everyone else, and you are governed by Universal Laws.

You can begin wherever you are today and purposefully work with your Intuition so that it serves you more powerfully and consistently by developing The 7 Habits of Highly Intuitive People.

The 7 Habits of Highly Intuitive People

1. Spend time in your own energy.

I was surprised to find that so many students that showed up in my classes and clients that I worked with were amazed and profoundly impacted when I guided them through meditation into experiencing being in their own energy. If you are naturally intuitive and empathic, you may not even realize how much of other peoples' energy you are carrying around with you and the effect it is having on your health, wellbeing and ability to create a life you love. Spending time in your own energy requires being aware of your energy, checking in with yourself, cleaning and clearing your energy, cutting cords to others you have connected with and who have connected with you, and surrounding yourself with protection, then bringing in Love and Light. This is something you can easily learn to do, if you don't already know how. If you do know how, then make sure you are doing this on a regular basis. It is especially beneficial to spend time in your own energy just before going to sleep. You can visit my website (www.theartoftakingaction.com/contact) and request a download of my energetic process that brings you into your own energy and allows you to experience this state of being and return there over and over again.

2. Notice what you notice.

The minute you set the intention to work on your Intuition, you will begin to be supported in doing so. Opportunities will present themselves, people will come into your life, books and other resources will call for your attention, workshop invites will show up in your e-mail box, and messages will be showing up for you. This is the time to notice what you notice. You already have these abilities, even if they are currently buried deep inside. It is just that you have not been paying attention to the messages that are already showing up for you, and you may not recognize them in the way they are showing up. I know that I had all kinds of imaginings about what it would be like to be "psychic," all the while being a psychic myself and not recognizing it. I thought I would see a burning bush and receive a message from it, or an angel would appear to my physical eyes and tell me what I needed to know. All the while, I was receiving information and messages; I didn't know how to recognize them, and I didn't know how to understand them. Set your intention for what you want to know or what you want to attract, and then notice what catches your attention. As you develop your Intuition and learn to work with energy, you will begin to notice a language specific to you that helps you to interpret what you are getting.

3. Understand synchronicity and work with it every day.

Once you begin setting intentions and asking for what you want, people and things, all kinds of opportunities, will begin to appear around you, and you will be receiving messages about next steps to take and paths to follow. It is important to understand that synchronicity is showing up for you and to take action when it does. As you send out energetically what you want, and as that intention builds and takes on an energy of its own, the Universe brings all the pieces into play, matching up like vibrations and opening doors for you. In the same way, when you send out that you want to know something or want information about something, the space opens up and the information comes in. In that moment that you receive the Intuitive nudge to take the inspired action, everything is lined up. That is the moment to step forward.

4. Practice your craft.

This is so important. Make time for yourself, and be committed to your ongoing personal and spiritual growth and development. Using your intuition is a WHOLE body and WHOLE life experience. You want to find all the places where there are disconnects and integrate, integrate, integrate. Any time you are going over here to have a spiritual experience or to take time for your spirituality, then coming back here to your "real life," you will find a dissatisfying and ineffectual experience over time. The gift is there, but it still has to be developed and used... every day. I have a product I developed out of a workshop I taught live and then online, and in it I talk about this very thing. I speak about my experiences, I offer tips, tools and techniques that are life-changing yet easy to implement, and I provide intuitive coaching and guidance to help you explore this concept and work with it. I bring together in this one offering tools from the many healing and energy medicine modalities I have studied and trained in.

http://www.michellebarr.com/intuitivesuccess

If you are like many of my clients and students, you already have resources right at your fingertips - books, audio recordings, videos, links that other people have sent you. So the question is, what are you utilizing in your life from these resources? Pick one, two, maybe three things from your favorite resources and begin implementing them on a regular basis over a 30-day period, and watch what happens! Then, practice using your intuition to guide you to a great workshop, teacher, coach, mentor, or Meetup Group (www.meetup.com) so you can begin connecting with others to put it into motion.

5. Become very aware of your own high and low energy states. Recognize that you have a choice point in every moment. Everything you do is either life-enhancing or life-depleting. Everything you do is either moving you towards or away from a life you love and who you want to be. When you connect with your Higher Self and the Spiritual Realm, you are raising your energetic vibration to receive and interpret the information that is in those energy fields. Working in this higher energy requires a lot of energy on your part. Many students and clients find that when they are first working with their intuition, they feel very hungry and thirsty and tired. Your body is the vessel you use to bring through intuitive information. It is a physical experience. It will begin requiring that you are aware of things that deplete your energy and things that give you an energy boost. This moves us into the last two habits of highly Intuitive people: Spend time in high-energy environments, and Make Self-Care a priority.

6. Spend time in high-energy environments. As you become more aware of your own high and low energy states, you will also become aware of toxic environments and toxic relationships that you spend time in. The more of this that is in your life, the more you need to spend time in high-energy environments. Over time, you will discover the things that work best for you to get into a high-energy state and what will keep you there for an extended period of time. This could be listening to or playing music, dancing, walking, meditating, cleaning the clutter, spending time in a sacred space or worshipping. You have a feeling guidance system that is in place to serve you, yet many of us have let it control us. When you pay attention to your feelings, you will also be able to pay attention to your energy state. Every feeling has a vibration that can be measured. Gratitude is one of the best feelings to embody to propel us into a high energy state.  Love will do the same thing. Despair is one of the worst feelings to embody that will propel us into a low-energy state. Fear will do the same thing. When we are in Fear, we are not in Love. Your feelings will always tell you the energy state you are embodying. Carolyn Myss says, "We evolve at the rate of the tribe we are plugged into," and this has been invaluable information for me. Connecting with others of like-mind and like-energy and spending time together is a key component to very quickly opening you up to your intuition. Take an inventory of the tribes you are plugged into, and plug into some new ones.

7. Make Self-Care a priority. The more you work with your intuition and your energy, and the more time you spend in higher energy states, the more important and essential self-care becomes. Begin to explore your habits and patterns, and make changes that will support you and your vessel. Here again, the possibilities are almost endless. Begin with keeping yourself fed and hydrated and rested. In the beginning, as you are increasing your practices in working with your Intuition, listen to your body's requests and take that extra nap or eat that extra meal or snack, and drink plenty of fluids. Incorporate time for yourself into your life. Do things that you love. One great thing you can do for both your physical and emotional body is to take an Epsom salt/apple cider vinegar bath. The Epsom salt works on the physical body, and the apple cider vinegar works on the emotional body. Fill your tub with 1 -2 cups Epsom salt (depending on the size of the tub) and 1 - 2 cups apple cider vinegar. Soak in the tub in very warm water for about 20 minutes, until the water begins to get cool. Then step into the shower and rinse off. This is especially wonderful to do right before bed. Another nice thing to do is to treat yourself to a massage, energy healing, acupuncture, sound healing therapy, aromatherapy, chiropractic, healing circle or other alternative or complementary medicine option.

With all these habits, there is an essential element to keep in mind, and that is staying grounded and grounding your energy, especially after prolonged periods spent in high-energy states. When we do not stay grounded in our physical bodies, we become disconnected. We may experience spiritual bliss, but our physical world will begin to call for our attention, and our physical bodies will begin to react. We are physical beings having this spiritual experience, and, as such, we must honor our bodies and our environments and give them consideration and care. Make sure you are putting your roots deep into the Earth before soaring off into the Cosmos.

Many wonderful spiritual tools exist that will support you in developing and incorporating all of these habits into your everyday life. The most beneficial and crucial one of these is Meditation.

These Habits, once applied, become more than a way of doing things. They become a way of living, a way of being.

Now, what is the most important thing you need to do?

Show up! This is key. Show up now and in every moment, a ready and willing partner with the Universe, your Higher Self, and Spirit, excited to develop your Intuition and use it for your highest good. Show up, and trust that you already have everything you need.

Show up for yourself now.

Your Soul is speaking to you through your desires and dreams. Your Soul is calling you forward into a fuller expression and experience.

Many talk about saving our Soul. It doesn't need rescuing. They talk about soothing our Soul. It does not need to be comforted. People talk about satisfying the Soul, but it's the Ego that knows dissatisfaction. And people talk about selling our Soul, yet it's the one thing that is truly safe from that.

Your Soul is perfect, whole and complete. It is that part of you "made in the image." Your Soul is the "I Am." Your Soul has all the answers you will ever need.

Each of us has self-created trash made up of all the things we have chosen to pick up and hold onto along the way. Because of this, we experience pain, sadness, resentment, regret, loneliness, anger, fear, doubt, worry, hopelessness and despair.

The Soul calls out to you. It is still here. Through deep stirrings, gentle nudges, whispers, intuitive urgings, and, sometimes, traumatic awakenings, you are being called to clear a path to your Soul.

Laws exist that govern the Universe, and the Soul lives in accordance to these laws. When you bring the Self into alignment with the Soul, it creates a congruent energy and allows the Soul to show up, to speak to you and to soar.

Do you feel like you are spinning your wheels?

Do you keep falling back into patterns that no longer serve you?

Do you have dreams and desires that are calling to you, and you don't see a way to connect with them and make them a reality?

The clutter that we accumulate and operate from holds us back and keeps us feeling stuck.

You have a perfect operating system within You. It is the operating system of the Soul, and it's the part of you that knows all about You and has exactly the answers you need to move forward into your fullest expression and experience.

Now is the perfect time to clear a path to your Soul, to dig through the trash, clear the mental and emotional clutter, and rediscover the treasure that awaits you.

You have everything inside of you in this moment that you need.

There are no failures, no mistakes. You are on your path, always, and this is your journey. You get to choose what step you will take next.

Your Soul is waiting for You.

What are YOU waiting for?

You are invited to open yourself to a new way of living a more fulfilling life, a life in which your dreams and desires are made manifest as you express and experience the fullness of who you really are. For more information about me and my work or to schedule an appointment or learn more about my coaching program, events and offerings, visit my website at: www.theartoftakingaction.com and www.michellebarr.com 

Let me know how I can best serve you.

Wishing You Absolute Joy In Your Journey,

Michelle