Not all intuition is the same ….

Sarah-Louise
23 hours ago
8 min read

Why saying ‘just listen to your intuition’ is never quite that simple. Let’s talk about it …

“What is your intuition telling you?”

“Listen to your body”

“Get the answers from within”

“What is your heart saying?”

We’ve all heard these sayings a million times right? And I know I even say them too! I talk about listening to your intuition over your mind or logic all the time, but in reality it’s so much more nuanced than that.

What are you actually tuning into? And maybe more importantly what do you WANT to actually tune into? Your body? Your Higher Self? Your subconscious? They aren’t all the same, and they aren’t going to give you the same answer.

If you’re currently looking to build a stronger connection to your intuition, if you are looking to trust it more, and looking to use your intuition for answers or clarity - then the more understanding, and the more specific you can get with it, the better.

Here’s the thing - ‘Intuition’ means many different things, and it really does depend on who is saying it, as to what they are actually referring to.

I personally refer to ‘intuition’ as an umbrella term for essentially that which isn’t logic. It is ultimately information that has come from somewhere that isn’t the mind. When I am teaching intuitive development, I generally get more specific and say that it’s really our ability to feel and sense energy. That might include reading ‘information’ from someone’s energy field, or the energy of a place, or the collective energy, or even receiving information from Spirit which might include your Higher Self or Spirit Guides - it’s all fundamentally energy, and we have the ability to read it and gain information from it. But, although this is how I personally label it, that isn’t necessarily how everyone refers to it.

And this is why just ‘listening to your intuition’ isn’t actually that simple - because there are so many ‘voices’ that could be your intuition.

Let’s say for example, you are wanting to make a decision on something. Let’s say a career move. And let’s say you want to make an intuitive decision instead of what maybe ‘makes the most sense’. When you feel into your intuition, there are many different sources of information you might be tuning into:

Your Nervous System
Your subconscious
Your physical body
Your emotions
Your energy field
Your Higher Self or Soul
Passed loved ones in Spirit
Your Spirit Guides
Ancestors
Collective energy
Ascended Masters
Someone else’s energy that you may be close to
Source
And many many more

You see, when you ‘listen to your body’, or you ‘listen within’, or you ‘tune into your intuition’ you could be tuning into any of these.

And they are not all going to give you the same answer, or the most aligned answer.

Your Nervous system and your emotions are going to be the loudest.

When people say ‘my body is saying yes’, a lot of the time they are actually tuning into the nervous system or emotions, and yes, there is a time and a place to listen to this answer but not always. Your Nervous system is always going to try and keep you safe, therefore it is always going to feel like a no when it’s something outside of your comfort zone. And your emotions are also something that have a time and a place to listen to, but again not always. How many times has something felt such a good idea in the moment and then once the initial emotions have calmed down, you change your mind? Emotions are very fleeting, very present, generally based on past experiences or desires, and also forever changing.

However, your Spirit Guides or Higher Self are always going to give you the highest perspective answer. They are always going to see you in your highest power, and highest timeline. They are always going to reflect the answer that holds you to your most potential. Your ancestors or passed loved ones will tend to come with a lot more love, nuance, but still a higher perspective (just in a different way).

Your energy field is more likely to give you answers based on what is present around you, and the state of your energy right now. Let’s say you are thinking of a career move, there might be other opportunities or people surrounding you at present which may actually suit you more - in which case your intuitive answer would be a no … don’t take the new job. Wait for the better opportunity to arrive. Your energy field also holds other people that might be present, or potential outcomes or situations that you may not know about yet.

The subconscious holds everything you process without realising it. Your doubts, patterns, limiting beliefs, but also it can hold your truest and deepest desires and wants. Sometimes this is a great place to tune into - sometimes it is the worst.

Your physical body is also going to respond differently. Let’s say you are working on eating intuitively, and you are deciding what to eat ... You might be emotionally craving something but your body is saying no (or vice versa). So what are you actually listening to? Your physical body, or your emotions. The answers each give will likely be different.

And there is even the possibility of tuning into the people around you, and what they want or don’t want for you. Or, even the collective energy. If you make very different decisions in public or around others than maybe you do by yourself - this might be what is going on.

You see ‘intuition’ isn’t just one place where information sits. It could be any of these. And although this actually might all sound confusing and overwhelming, and maybe like I am even complicating things … I swear I am about to make it better.

Knowledge is power. Now knowing that intuition can include all of these, the next time you want to make an intuitive decision, you can decide where you are getting your information from and actively tune in there.

Because it is your intention that decides.

When I am working intuitively with clients, I am either intentionally tuning into their energy field, or their energy body, or their physical body (during a healing) or their Spirit Guides or Higher Self. I decide which one and set that intention. It is not just a lucky draw and let’s see what comes through … I decide where I want information from. There are times for answers from their energy field, and there are times where we want the perspective of their Spirit Guides.

And you can do the same.

If you are making any decisions for your physical body eg. what movement you want that day, or what you want to eat - make the intentional decision to tune into your physical body. What does your physical body want?

If you are wanting to understand some deeper patterns or healing that might be needed, intentionally tune into your subconscious or your energy field.

If you are looking to make a decision on next steps, intentionally choose to tune into your energy field, or your Spirit Guides or Higher Self (choose one specifically).

If you are wanting to connect to Spirit - again get specific. Do you want to connect to your Guides, a passed loved one, a specific ascended master, or archangel? Not all Spirit is equal, and again, you want to be specific with your intention to what or who you wish to tune into.

You get to decide where to direct your radio dial … and that is all we are doing when we ‘listen to our intuition’. We are deciding where we want to get information from.

You get to decide where to direct your radio dial … and that is all we are doing when we ‘listen to our intuition’. We are deciding where we want to get information from. When you just set the intention to listen to your intuition as a whole - it really isn’t setting a clear focus for your attention or energetic awareness, and you might find the answers always feel vague, or unclear, or just hard to connect to. Think of a radio dial just going through all the stations - unclear, constantly changing, and definitely not helpful.

Whereas when you choose to connect to a specific source of information eg. Spirit Guides … it’s like setting that dial to the specific frequency, and you will find a much stronger connection can start forming.

You can do this via just sitting in a quiet space and deciding to focus your direction to your Spirit Guides as an example. Or you can do this through tools such as Tarot cards, oracle cards, pendulums, or even journaling and remote writing. Just simply set the intention to connect to your Guides, or whatever you wish to tune into, and ask the question you wish to ask … then pull the cards, or free write …. and let the answers come from there. Where your attention and intention goes - is where your energy will follow. Trust that when you set the intention to listen somewhere specific, it will be happening.

Getting specific really is the key here. Where are you tuning into? Where are you getting your information from? And then, don’t be afraid of asking specific questions either … it really is the easiest way to get specific answers.

If you are making a decision, then you can even tune into multiple sources, and make a decision based on the answers. When you know what your Nervous system says, compared to what your Spirit Guides say - you are able to make a much more informed decision knowing where your answers came from.

Not all sources of intuition will give you the same answers, and ultimately they have different purposes. As I said, your Nervous system wants to keep you safe, your Spirit Guides want you to remember and experience the full truth of who you are and your potential. These two examples will likely give you very different answers to questions …. and it is up to you to decide which to listen to, but you can only do that when you know which you are listening to.

If you have a think right now, when you have previously asked your intuition for an answer or direction - have you thought about where you are tuning into? Maybe you already do set an intention, or have a deep knowing where the answer is coming from, but maybe it’s something you haven’t thought about. If it isn’t something you’ve considered and you’ve found your connection to your intuition unreliable, inconsistent, or hard to connect to - this may be exactly why! Try moving forward getting really specific with exactly where you are tuning into (you can use the list above), and see how differently it feels!

Intuitive development is SUCH a journey, and it is a journey of knowledge, understanding, and then practice and trust. For me, understanding the different sources of intuition, and how to tune into each opened up so much for me, and empowered me hugely when making decisions. I hope with what I have shared here this has also helped you somehow!

If you are on a journey with your intuitive development, and maybe you feel like you are holding energetic blocks, or fears, doubt, or confusion around your intuition, I am holding two virtual group energy work sessions on June 21st (summer solstice), AND again on the 22nd June. This session will be focused around opening up your channels, and clearing the pathways and blocks that may be getting in your way. You can find out more and secure your spot here.

And lastly, if you’re looking to go much deeper on your intuitive journey, I have my self-paced intuitive development course available. This is everything I wish I had when I was working on my intuition and in my journey of becoming a channel. We go DEEP into understanding, developing, and expanding the four main psychic senses (

clairaudience, clairvoyance, clairsentience, and claircognizance), as well as learning to channel your Spirit Guides (or any Spirit)! You can find out more and enroll here.

I would love to hear how this landed for you, and any takeaways or of course questions you may have! Let me know in the comments.

All my Love