Using Intuition to Find Self-Acceptance

      

By Katie Beecher, MS, LPC

Katie Beecher, MS, LPC   With the guidance of your intuition, you can learn what it means to be who you truly are and what you need to do to get there. It is a gateway to your authentic self, your dreams, your goals, and healthy relationships. When you don’t feel alone anymore and don’t need anyone else’s approval, you are able to release the fear that is keeping you trapped and holding you back. Self-love and self-acceptance help you release the need to push down painful feelings—and the need to run away from them using drugs, alcohol, food, or other substances and addictions. Instead, self-love and self-acceptance allow you to think about treating yourself kindly, eating healthy, exercising, meditating—reminding you to be mindful, to live in the present. Most people have had a “gut instinct” that warned them to get out of a potentially dangerous situation and have had a premonition-type inkling that something was going to happen. This is what is commonly thought of as intuition—and these examples certainly qualify. But my definition of intuition is a little different. Intuition is an all-loving, all-knowing force within us that never leaves our side. It is a source of unconditional love and acceptance, of protection and personal guidance. It is within all of us, and you don’t have to be a medical intuitive or a psychic or have any type of special abilities to access it. Self-acceptance and self-love mean taking an honest look at yourself.  In my work, I find many people have pushed down their feelings for so long that they barely even realize they have them. They have spent so much time worrying about what other people think that they have forgotten that they even have their own opinions—or are terrified to express them. They haven’t connected with their authentic self in years. It takes a great deal of courage to change how you show yourself to the world, mostly because it means risking rejection. When you start loving and accepting yourself, you’re putting yourself first, saying no, and standing up for what you want. It might mean getting out of destructive relationships or jobs and showing the world that you are important and that you matter, even if it means being alone until you establish a new life. These are some ways that you can connect to your intuition and find self-love and self- acceptance   Listening to the loving voice in your head. If you are hearing negative things about yourself or fearing irrational things, this isn’t your intuition. Listening to your emotions. You don’t have to act on every emotion, but allow yourself to feel everything—positive and negative—without pushing down how you feel. Make sure that your emotions actually belong to you. When you are feeling something unpleasant and it doesn’t fit your situation or it is too intense, ask yourself if you could be picking it up from somewhere or someone else. Listening to signals from your body as root contributors to symptoms. This includes subtle signs. Symptoms are a way that intuition sends you information about what you need to do to change your life and heal. Connecting with symbols and coincidences. Intuition can speak to you symbolically. If you subscribe to the idea that intuition is connected to a higher power or universe, which I do, then it follows that intuition can also communicate with you without words. Like a song that makes you think of something or someone, a phone call out of the blue, or unexpected events, like time changes to meetings or delayed flights. The key is that you have to be open to these signals and willing to let go enough to trust that maybe your intuition has a plan. Talking to your intuition. You can talk to your intuition and even your body directly through journaling, specifically asking questions and writing down the answers. This technique helped save my life and heal  from an eating disorder and depression. Using intuition-connecting tools. It’s fun to use devices such as pendulums, runes, and oracle cards to get help messages from your intuition. Art therapy, dance and music are also effective. Face your fears. Make a list of everything you are afraid of, even seemingly insignificant things. Pick one and face it. This will give you the courage to continue with your list. Engaging in meditation and mindful practices. Individualized dreamwork, yoga (especially Kundalini), Reiki, and other bodywork are wonderful ways of receiving intuitive information. Additional ways: being in nature, giving yourself time alone with your thoughts, talking to God, meditating, enlisting the help of a therapist, or getting an intuitive reading.   Katie Beecher, MS, LPC is a licensed counselor and medical and spiritual intuitive featured in Goop, Poosh, Miranda Kerr’s blog and more. She wrote an innovative book about root cause healing called Heal from Within: A Guidebook to Intuitive Wellness, which contains her own healing story from a severe eating disorder, suicidal depression and trauma. She has been healed for over 30 years. This article was also in Mantra Magazine   https://www.katiebeecher.com   https://www.facebook.com/beechermedicalintuitive   Instagram  @katiebeecher_medical_intuitive