There are things that highly intuitive people do quite naturally. Here are a few crucial elements involved in sharpening intuition:
1) Practice letting your imagination run wild! Let your child-self come out to play! Sit quietly for a few moment, and then try this: Imagine an entirely different agenda for tomorrow. Picture yourself waking up and — what? — grabbing your packed bag and catching a flight to — where? — Europe? And then what?
Or how about imagining that you wake up and see Merlin standing at the foot of your bed! He announces (with a twinkle in his eye) that he's there to escort you into your very own, magical garden! How does he get you there? What does your garden look like? Is anyone else there to greet you? Go for it! Get the idea?
2) Start to pay attention to details, even the smallest ones. Intuitive people are naturally attentive to details. I can still remember the configuration of cracks in the sidewalk where I used to go rollerskating behind my house. I can also remember the colors and patterns of the wallpaper in the dining room.
Intuitive people also tend to see things within things, such as scenes or images in the clouds. It used to drive me crazy, when I'd look up at the bumpy textured ceiling in my bedroom where I lived in my early adult years. I couldn't not see a deer, an old woman, and the face of a puppet character from "Beanie and Cecil," my favorite childhood TV show. Try seeing things that your rational mind will tell you...aren't there! Pretend that you're seeing things. Use your imagination!
3) Become the "non-evaluative" observer of your own thoughts and feelings. Just observe them. Don't judge them. They're simply thoughts, not necessarily what's true. Being able to notice your thoughts is a huge step in becoming an awakened spiritual being, and becoming "self-realized" as well. You are not your thoughts and feelings. You're a soul — observing.
In this exercise, you'll be surprised at your ability to articulate highly intuitive "buzz words" when you'll least suspect that you're even doing so. It's also predictable that the information you "download" for another is going to seem senseless or bizarre. Of course it will. It's not about you. It's about the other person with whom you'll be working, the one who formulated the question in the first place!
When you're image streaming for another, be sure to describe all the impressions that come to you extensively, in as much detail as possible. If you start to feel blocked (or if doubt creeps in), just tell yourself — "Make it up!" Let your fun-loving, highly imaginative child-self run wild!
This will help:
Start to observe moments when you're "in your head" or wrapped up in your thoughts. Then take a deep breath and come back to the present. (I love the mantra that Eckhart Tolle suggests in his book, A New Earth — "All is well...all is well." It never fails to bring me back into the present moment).
Once back to the present, focus your attention on any sights, sounds or scents in your surroundings.
When you notice that you're in your head >> shift your thoughts to a particular feeling or sensation, such as the feeling of cuddling your pet, child, or grandchild. Hang out in that feeling for while. Let it flow over you, wrap around you, envelop you.
Then go back to "thinking" about something, the way you might create a to-do list in your head. Or shift your thoughts to some issue that you've been pondering or trying to solve, the kind of thinking that gets us trapped in a "loop" of circular, never-ending thoughts. It's this kind of thinking that inhibits the natural flow of intuition.
Now try going from your head (those thoughts) >> back into your heart (those feelings). Try it again, back-and-forth. You'll begin to notice the difference between "intellectualizing" about something, as opposed to and feeling or intuiting. Eventually you'll be able to flip the switch and go from left-brain/analytical thinking >> to right-brain/intuitive sensing. This can even become automatic! I'm quite accustomed to flipping this switch whenever I begin a consultation.
One more thing: You read about the importance of paying attention to details on the first page of this Image Flow section. Practice this every day. It's easy to do when you're in the present moment; your senses and attention are naturally heightened. Who knows? — you might even be moved by what you see, quite possibly inspired to express your sentiments in some creative way, such as poetry, writing or art! "Creativity is Divine energy expressing itself!"
