Practice 1:
Compassionate self-revelation
This practice is rooted in contemplating what is currently sabotaging your purpose or holding back your gifts.
I recommend you do it upon waking or before bed.
To begin, sit upright and take six deep breaths into your heart space through your nose and exhale through the mouth.
With each breath, feel yourself drop deeper into your heart space and focus on expanding it through the chest.
Then, imagine that you were looking down at your body from above, intending to surround your body with a deep feeling of compassion for everything you are experiencing.
Imagine that you are looking at someone you deeply admire.
Connect to the most profound sense of acceptance and unconditional love to this being inside your body.
Slowly bring your awareness back into the body.
Then, ask yourself the following five questions:
(Have them written down in front of you.)
"What truth does my heart want me to know right now?"
"What is holding me back from sharing my truth?"
"What part of me/my life feels out of integrity with my truth right now?"
"What is the gift inside of this shadow?"
"What do I need to do to transcend this to serve my purpose?"
Observe and note the ideas, images, sounds, or "physiological" experiences they evoke for you.
Once you are complete, quickly journal whatever you witness without judgment.
What you find might reveal a lot about some aspects of your life that have been nagging you for a while, while illuminating other "symptoms" that you had no idea needed your attention. What is in one is in the whole.
As you note what you need to do to get back into integrity with your highest good, connect to a feeling of deep ownership for what that means.
Be honest about your experience, and commit to acting on the guidance you received.
The more you do this practice, the more you will become inspired and curious about getting deeper into the things that seem to hold you back as they reveal more of your purpose, potential, and motivation to follow your highest truth.
Practice 2:
Embodied flow movement
This practice is a great, energizing way to get into your body's energy centers and connect to your emotional state.
To start, choose a 3-10 minute track, preferably one that you enjoy moving your body to, that does not have any specific memory associated with it, except that it makes you feel empowered to express yourself. Then, let your body move intuitively, following your inner flow and taking deep breaths while focusing on the sensations inside your body and how your mind interprets these emotions. Then, as you settle into the non-linear dance, start feeling into your gut and heart. As you move, focus on asking the following question: "How do I feel right now, and what do I need?"
Let the answers come, as they will.
The goal is to allow yourself to feel and get comfortable with being with the sensations and the questions without the need to do anything specific to fix or bypass your experience.
Touch your body, hold it, hug yourself, do whatever you feel will most soothe, and connect you to a feeling of safety, acceptance, and confidence in yourself.
Keep gently moving and ask the same questions, witnessing whatever insights and feelings arise.
There is no right or wrong, only what is true for you.
Internally commit to continue listening to your body as the day goes on.
As you wind down, gently touch yourself whenever you feel most tender, holding that part of you, maybe giving it a light stroke or massage, and smile as you thank yourself for meeting your needs at this moment.
After you finish the practice, I invite you to quickly journal or voice record your insights with an intentional commitment to keep showing up for yourself using the insights you got through the practice.
Practice 3:
Creative self-revelation journaling
This practice draws on gratitude journaling and "morning pages" (a technique I love, as taught by Julia Cameron in the "Artist's Way.")
The goal here is to spend 5-20 minutes every morning (before you "consume” any media or start interacting with the world) journaling on the following question:
"What does my purpose ask me to create today?"
The focus here is to allow your subconscious to reveal everything that might emerge from answering the specific question above which you might want to rephrase and adjust as you feel called!)
As you write, you can also doodle, write poetry and affirmations, and clarify even more questions for you to contemplate.
The intention is two-fold:
Firstly, you aim to tap into your creative flow and trust your inner voice, and secondly, you commit to getting clarity on what makes you feel on purpose during the day.
As a result of this consistent, intuitive development process, you might notice how much more confident you are in your voice and how creative and courageous you feel in your choices.
Reflecting on your progress and trusting the intuitive process are critical to your success.
As you do the above practices, take note and witness your intuitive confidence grow.
At the end of every week, reflect and note 3 instances when you heard and followed your intuitive voice, how it felt, what it revealed to you, and what you got as the result of following it!
Pay attention to how the intuitive mindset affects your physiological experience of yourself:
For example, do you feel more aware and harmonious with your emotions?
Are you more connected to feelings of peace, trust, and joy?
Do you feel more confident and inspired in the choices you are making?
Do you feel more empowered in seeing your "mistakes", challenges, and "limitations" as opportunities to reveal more of your potential and purpose?
Consider that you are learning to trust yourself every time you follow your authentic, creative voice
you are learning to trust yourself even more.
I invite you to look at your intuition as an essential part of your humanity, your unique compass to navigate the world in a way that empowers you to make choices that are always in your highest good.
Moreover, integrating this intuitive development work into your daily life will help you feel even more confident in every other activity and self-care practice you want to master.
In the way that I have come to work with it, your intuition is the technology through which you get to reveal the hidden truth about yourself so that you can choose an appropriate course of action to come into coherence and integrity with who you want to be. Anytime and anywhere.
Becoming more empowered in your intuitive mindset means learning to hear your emotional guidance and discerning its guidance from your conditioned mind.