Tuning in to the Stream

Exploring Intuition

What is intuition and where does it come from? How does it differ from gut instinct or an idea that suddenly pops into our mind? When we tap into intuition, are we tapping into wisdom from other realms?

When I brought these questions to Tina Powers—the extraordinary medium who is leading our free online afterlife event tomorrow—she told me, “We are all built with an inner compass that guides us. This guidance comes through our entire body and includes all our senses of perception, not just the physical.” 

Tina believes that many of us are not tuned into this powerful internal GPS system because in our culture we’ve been overly taught to rely on our minds and other people’s ideas and opinions to decipher the truth. “While the brain is very important and can keep us safe and balance our checkbook, it’s logical and linear, and its chatter is often loud and driven by fear and internalized societal pressures. While the brain should be an appreciated participant in guiding our lives, it shouldn’t be allowed to run the entire show.”

 
 

While most of us won’t be able to have detailed conversations with people in other realms like Tina, she is certain that we all have intuitive abilities we can develop by quieting down, paying full attention, and learning to trust ourselves. “We need to be present and still to hear messages from our intuition. We can’t be distracted or running around on autopilot. In addition to quieting down, listening to our inner voice requires faith and a willingness to let go, which can be challenging because most of us have been taught to do the exact opposite. Too often, when we get clear feelings about things—glimpses with our inner eye—we disregard them, thinking we are just making things up.”

Studies have shown that the conscious human brain has only a tiny fraction of the of the processing power of the unconscious brain, estimated at merely 40 pieces of information per second, versus 11 million respectively. This suggests that perhaps part of the power of intuition is its ability to access more of the information that lies below the surface of our mind’s awareness. 

 
 

Additionally, I suspect that our intuition is sensitized to a variety of forces that we may not even know exist, but that nonetheless greatly influence our lives. For example, as I’ve become an avid student of astrology and witnessed firsthand the countless ways the movements of the planets can affect our feelings, focus and moods, I wonder if our intuition is able to incorporate these and other subtle types of energies. 

In this same vein, Tina believes that we all have guides and spirits in other realms that are always available to help us, and that we can connect to them through our feeling channel. “The type of intuition we receive through our feeling channel is called ‘clairsentience,’ which is French for ‘clear feeling,’ and it’s really important. I sometimes refer to it as the calm, still voice behind the ongoing monologue in our head. You need to pay close attention to hear that voice, because it’s often not very loud compared to all the messages besieging us from our stubbornly conditioned minds and the outside world.”

In my own life, I’ve been seeing how continuously tuning into my intuition not only fosters more self-awareness, ease and peace, it also helps me build a stronger and healthier relationship with myself. Honoring my intuition feels like an act of self-love and self-trust, while ignoring my intuition feels like self-abandonment. 

Oprah Winfrey shares this deep belief in the power of intuition. On her website she wrote, “I’ve trusted the still, small voice of intuition my entire life. And the only time I’ve made mistakes is when I didn’t listen.” She believes that learning to trust our intuitive sense of what’s best for us is essential for any lasting success.

 
 

Oprah describes intuition as more of a feeling than a voice—“a whispery sensation that pulsates just beneath the surface of your being.” She says that all animals have intuitive abilities, but humans are the only ones that deny or ignore them. “We all get caught up in the business of doing, and sometimes lose our place in the flow. But the more we can tune in to our intuition, the better off we are. I believe it’s how God speaks to us.”

Tina’s personal practice is to start off her day by connecting with her innermost guidance, which includes connecting with helpers from other realms. “Right when you wake up, after dreamtime, the veils between the worlds are very thin. Instead of jumping out of bed, I always get very quiet, connect with my breath, and tune into my intention for the day. I open to my guides and angels, and ask them for help. This gets me out of any ruts my thoughts might have been stuck in, and amplifies my focus and sense of safety. It starts my day on a whole new trajectory.”

Describing intuition as a “stream that runs through everything,” Tina says that when she flows with her intuition she ends up with more serendipitous moments. Tina doesn’t see serendipity as coincidence or happenstance, but rather as two things purposefully and perfectly  coinciding. I know for myself, one of the reasons I believe in realms beyond our own is how often I experience serendipity when I watch out for it.

“When we tune into higher frequencies, we not only experience more serendipity, we also become more peaceful. That’s when the magic happens.” Tina says that as we begin to open to messages from other realms, and live with faith instead of fear, we’re turning up our inner light. “It’s like we are all lanterns, and now more than ever, we need people turn up their light and let themselves shine brightly.”