What is Intuitive Muscle?

What does it mean to use your intuitive muscle? Let's begin with breaking up the words. Dictionary.com defines Intuition as...

1. The ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning.
2. A thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning.

When you are using your intuition you are taping into the part of you that just knows something without any rational explanation. It is the feeling part of you. It is associated with the feelings you get when you know something to be true without any doubt in your mind and body. This is a laywoman's way of defining intuition. For many people it occurs when they are deeply engrossed in something they love to do. The activity is similar to a meditation type experience. They become so involved in their activity that certain knowledge just comes to them without any explanation as to where this information is coming from. Answers to problems, answers to questions they have been pondering, answers to life long struggles just come to them like a light bulb turning on. They automatically know what to do in that exact moment of their life either about what to do instinctively now or about something they have struggled over that concerns the future.
Intuition speaks to us in so many different and interesting ways. It speaks to you when you meet someone for the first time and you feel like you have known them for years. Or when you meet someone for the first time and you just feel that there is something about them you do not like. You are not sure what it is but you know that you just do not want to be around this person. Intuition speaks to you when you are on the basketball court and you automatically know that if you position yourself in a particular corner of the court at the exact moment that your opponent has the ball you'll be able to block him, steal the ball, and carry on to score in the game. Intuition comes to us without thinking. It is not an activity of the mind but a knowing, feeling, and doing of the heart & body. Intuition is present when we relax into the ebb and flow of life and allow life to emerge all on its own instead of trying to control how and the speed of which life unfolds. Intuition is how we practice listening to our heart and body instead of our minds. It is about letting go gracefully while still holding onto the reigns with a comfortable grasp that allows us to steer in tune with where life is directing us to go and with where you feel you would like to go all at the same time. It's about allowing life to unfold with its own beauty and grace that we can not comprehend when we attempt to control the hows, whys, and how longs. It's about having a birthday everyday and unwrapping the gifts one by one as they are presented to us and as we allow them to emerge before us.
That's intuition. It allows us to relax into the unknown, knowing that we always have choices in our lives. It allows us to be in the moment joyfully sharing our experiences with others and allowing the synchronicity of life to commune with our spirit.

Now, why do we call it a muscle? Muscle is defined as..."A tissue composed of fibers capable of contracting to effect bodily movement or maintain position of parts of the body."
We know that in order to keep the muscles of our body in shape and serving the purpose to help us move easily through life we have to practice stretching and strengthening them on a daily basis. It is often recommended that we get in 20 minutes of exercise everyday in order to keep our mind and our bodies healthy. Imagine if we gave the same 20 minutes to our intuitive muscles daily what kind of difference it would make in facilitating the ease of our lives. Like our muscles, the more we practice using it the stronger and more supportive it becomes. This muscle is strengthened by placing our intent into the universe, allowing ourselves to quiet our minds, and opening up to the possibilities that our hearts and bodies know best. Instead of controlling the ebb and flow of life, we ride the waves and co create peacefully. Faithfully, we allow life to unfold naturally. There is no anger, no fear no resentment, no confusion, no disappointment, no sleepless nights, or unhappiness associated with this type of living. It is about setting your intention as to what you 'feel' you want out of life and allowing it to become your reality. It is about faithfully walking in the moment of life and allowing guidance to take you where you would like to go. If you happen to be taken another direction then you thought you were supposed to go then it is about allowing yourself to receive all the gifts that have taken you on this alternative path. You may never have received any of these gifts if you had not decided to follow the path that has been laid out before you. If you are used to controlling your life and laboring over every decision you must make in your life; then this can be a somewhat challenging way to begin living. It means that you must trust that everything will 'work out' and unfold exactly how it is 'supposed to' in the exact moment it is supposed to be revealed. For many, it is extremely difficult to do this and it is harder than anything they have ever done before. Many do not come to the point in their life where they are willing to live life intuitively until they have become so exhausted from trying to control everything in their lives that they feel that they cannot go on 'doing' anymore.
Fortunately, there are so many different ways to exercise this muscle that it can be easier than one may realise. Like many techniques in sports it is all about the way you perceive the situation. It's all in 'the wrist' for a tennis player or ice hockey player, it's all in how you keep your 'eye on the ball' for the batter or the billiards player, it's all in how you allow the information to flow for the intuitive. Just like a runner practices running, a yogi practices yoga, and a writer practices writing. An intuitive practices using intuition. It is that quiet little voice in your heart that used to be very loud when you were a child. It's the voice that makes your heart sing and allows you to have fun. It's the voice of incredible wisdom that knows the peaceful path to take in every situation. Once we tune in and allow this muscle to speak and expand it keeps becoming louder and stronger until we realise one day that we are listening and following automatically, without hesitation and that life seems to be flowing without distractions or distortions. Similar to what happens when you drive the same route everyday and you find yourself at your destination with no recollection of the route you took to get there. You drove without thinking about the turns, the stop lights, the other traffic, or the radio playing in your car. You were in the flow of life and you automatically knew what to do. Life is like that; it just knows how to unfold. So, set your intention today to begin building your intuitive muscle. Begin taking note of the beauty of life around you and how situations and events reveal themselves to you exactly when they should. Follow the path and allow yourself to be. It is an amazing way to live joyfully and peacefully all at the same time.

(I encourage you to come back and visit this site for inspiration on how to build your intuitive muscle. I'll be sharing my experiences living life through intuition and how simply I was lead to live life in this way. I hope you can find peace wherever you are and joy in every moment.)