How to Trust Your Intuition: A Practical Guide to Hearing Your Inner Wisdom

Learn to recognize, trust, and follow your intuition—even when it doesn't make logical sense

February 6, 2026

Have you ever had a gut feeling about something… ignored it… and then later wished you hadn’t?

Maybe it was about a person, a decision, or a moment where something inside you quietly said this isn’t right or this is the way, but your mind talked you out of it. We’ve all at some stage in our lives had this experience.

We live in a world that is full of noise and mind clutter, a world that constantly tells us to look outside ourselves for the answers. To ask the experts and to gather more information. To overthink, over-analyse, and second-guess ourselves. However, somewhere along the way, many of us have forgotten one crucial tool that we all have access to, the one thing that we can rely on, something that we already carry - a deeply intelligent inner compass.

That compass is your intuition.

Learning to trust it, even when it doesn't make logical sense, is one of the most powerful practices you can develop. It's always been there, quietly guiding you. If you learn to lean in and use it as your main navigation, you'll soon notice your life changing in miraculous ways.

What Is Intuition (And What It Isn't)

Intuition is often described as a gut feeling, an inner voice, or a sudden knowing. Some call it instinct, inner wisdom, or divine guidance.

At its core, intuition is your deepest knowing without needing logical proof.

It's the part of you that just knows, even when your mind is full of questions and doubts. Your intuition is calm, steady, and deeply grounded. It's not frantic or loud.

What Intuition Is NOT:

• It's not fear or anxiety
• It's not overthinking
• It's not wishful thinking or impulsivity

Fear feels urgent, panicked, and pressurised. It asks: What if I fail? What if I look foolish? What if this goes wrong?

Intuition, on the other hand, feels calm and certain, even if it's leading you somewhere unfamiliar. You have crystal-clear clarity in that very moment.

Intuition shows up differently for everyone. For some, it's a physical sensation in the gut or chest. For others, it's a mental “download”, an image, a feeling, or a quiet inner voice. There's no right or wrong way to experience it, just understanding what it is for you, then learning to trust and use it.

Why We Stop Trusting Our Intuition

We didn’t lose our intuition; we learned to ignore it, to cover it under the rug, to override it. Some people may think it all a little woo woo, but it’s not, it's a fundamental part of our being.

From a young age, we're conditioned to seek external validation. We're taught that logic is superior to feeling, that certainty matters more than alignment, and that being right is safer than trusting ourselves.

Over time, a few things happen:

• We ignore our intuition and learn to doubt it.
• We get caught in the noise of modern life, the constant external input/information, opinions, and distractions.
• We fear being wrong, judged, or misunderstood.
• Past experiences where we didn’t listen can further disconnect us from our inner trust.

Eventually, your intuition becomes quieter; it becomes silent. Not because it’s gone, but because we’ve stopped listening, stopped paying attention.

Signs Your Intuition Is Speaking

Your intuition doesn't shout. It whispers, softly, calmly. It often shows up in subtle, consistent ways.

Here are some common signs:

Physical Cues
A gut feeling, a tight chest, a sense of expansion or contraction, or a bodily “yes” or “no”. When you talk about something, your body will expand or constrict. This is a physical representation of what your intuition is telling you. When your body expands and feels open, this often signals a ‘yes’. When it contracts or withdraws, it’s often a ‘no’.

Emotional signals
A feeling of peace, calm, or quiet certainty, even if the choice feels challenging or doesn't make sense in the moment (it always does later on). Or unease when something isn’t aligned.

Persistence
Intuition repeats itself. It nudges you gently, again and again, rather than appearing as a one-off thought, yet calm and subtle.

Stillness
Intuitive insights often arise when the mind is quiet, in the shower, while driving, in nature, doing something creative, during gentle movement, meditation, or journaling.

Synchronicities
Repeating themes, messages, or signs that seem to confirm what you already feel inside.

How to Strengthen Your Intuitive Muscle

Trusting your intuition is a practice, not a personality trait. You build it over time, like strengthening muscles at the gym.

Here are simple, powerful ways to reconnect:

1. Slow Down and Create Space
Your intuition can't be heard when your mind is constantly busy. Stillness is where it speaks. Even a few quiet moments each day make a huge difference.

2. Listen to Your Body
Your body often knows before your mind does. Pay attention to sensations, tension, ease, and energy shifts. Gentle practices like grounding, chakra awareness, or breathwork can support intuitive connection by bringing you back into your body.

3. Follow the Energy
Notice what feels expansive versus heavy. What flows easily versus what feels forced. Intuition often speaks through ease and alignment.

4. Start Small
Practice with low-stakes decisions: what to eat, which book to read, who to call. Each small act of trust strengthens the connection. It's a great way to ease in before listening for bigger decisions.

Example: One client started by intuiting which parking spot to choose each morning. Within weeks, she was trusting her gut on career decisions that transformed her life.

5. Journal Your Intuitive Moments
Write down times you trusted your intuition, times you ignored it, and what resulted. Over time, you'll see patterns and build evidence of your own inner wisdom. You'll learn to fully embed this in your life and listen without doubt.

Learning to Trust What You Receive

One of the biggest challenges is trusting intuition when it conflicts with logic.

Your mind wants guarantees and safety; it's human nature. But your intuition doesn't offer certainty; it offers alignment. It offers the truth of your soul.

Learning to trust means:

• Honouring the quiet whispers before they become loud wake-up calls
• Letting go of the need to explain or justify every decision
• Building trust through small, consistent acts of listening
• Accepting that you don't need the full picture to take the next step

Each time you choose your inner knowing over external noise, you strengthen your self-trust and that intuition of yours becomes a little louder and stronger.

If You're Feeling Stuck

Sometimes intuition feels blocked, especially during periods of stress, burnout, transition, or emotional overwhelm.

Energetic blocks, unprocessed emotions, or constant mental noise can cloud your inner guidance. In these moments, gentle support can help you reconnect with what you already know.

If you're standing at a crossroads and struggling to hear yourself clearly, one option is working with someone who can help create space for that clarity to emerge. My Soul Visioning Sessions are designed for exactly this; not to tell you what to do, but to help you hear yourself again.

Final Reflection

Trusting your intuition isn't about perfection. It's a practice. A relationship. A remembering.

Your inner guidance has never left you. It's simply waiting for you to slow down, tune in, and gently listen.

Even when it doesn't make sense.

Even when the world says otherwise.

Your intuition is there as your guide.

• • •

Frequently Asked Questions About Intuition

How do I know if it's intuition or fear?
Fear feels loud, urgent, and panicked. Intuition feels calm, steady, and grounded, even when it leads you into the unknown or uncertainty.

Can anyone develop their intuition, or is it a gift?
Everyone has intuition. Some people have simply practised listening to it more. In my work with hundreds of clients over the years, I've seen people at all stages reconnect with this innate capacity. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes.

What if my intuition tells me something impractical?
Intuition doesn't always offer the full plan ahead, just the next aligned step. Practicality can come later. Looking back, it always makes sense.

What's the difference between intuition and overthinking?
Overthinking loops and creates confusion. Intuition is clear, simple, subtle, quiet, calm, and often brief.

Can trauma or stress block intuition?
Yes. Stress and overwhelm can quiet intuitive signals, which is why slowing down and grounding is so important. I often see this in sessions, once we create space and address energetic blocks, clarity returns.

Do I need to be spiritual to connect with my intuition?
Not at all. Intuition is a natural human capacity, not a belief system. Research in neuroscience supports this: what we call 'gut feelings' are tied to the gut-brain axis, where your body processes information your conscious mind hasn't caught up with yet.

Explore This Work Further: If you feel called to go deeper, you're warmly invited to explore my podcast Listen to Your Soul.