“Where did you last see it?” I replied. It was my standard response to “Mom, where’s my …?” questions.

“In my boot,” she said.

“Check there,” I said.

“Ugh, Mom, don’t you think I already checked there? It’s not there. I don’t know where it is.”

“You may have to go to school without it,” I suggested. You’d think I told her she’d have to go to school wearing a bag over her head.

“Are you crazy?!?! I need my phone, help me find it, please!”

I sighed and we began tearing the house up looking for the phone. We tried calling her phone but it was on silent and nary a vibration nor a sound did we hear.

After 20 minutes of searching every single place we could logically think of, I told her we’d be late if we didn’t leave immediately. Then she said, “Ask my guides where my phone is. They must know where it is because they watch me all the time right?”

So I did what I probably should have done from the beginning. I stopping thinking and tuned in instead.

Now I’ve written about how to find lost items using psychic abilities before. I wrote that article because the number of emails I get from people asking me to find their lost diamond engagement rings, iPods, or their lost retainers is ridiculously high. You CAN find lost items yourself using psychic abilities, and that article tells you how to do it.

But now, on this chilly Friday morning, I would have to see if it worked for me too.

I tuned in. I erased the mental map I had of my house and threw logic out the door. I said to the ether, “Where is her phone?”

I’ll try to describe what happened next but it’s difficult if you’re not an oft-dwelling denizen of my mind. A mental map of my house appeared, not with walls, just areas. And every area except one became grey, cold and elusive. One area of the house became hot, sharp, and target-locked. My office.

So I said without hesitation, “It’s in the office.”

She seemed doubtful because we had checked there several times. I was doubtful myself, but that’s what I felt, what I knew, what I saw.

She disappeared into the office and after 10 seconds I heard her proclaim, “I found it!!”

“Oh my gosh, where was it?” I asked.

She said, “Under a bunch of black cables and wires. I couldn’t see it before.”

The darn phone’s developed camouflage capabilities! I could almost hear the phone say, “Darnit, they found me. Please don’t make me go back into that child’s boot. For the love of all that’s holy…”

She came bouncing down the stairs, finally ready to go to school. And she said, “Wow, you really ARE psychic.”

Yes indeed. But you know what? This will work for you too.

Sometimes logic isn’t enough. Using logic, we tried retracing her steps, but her memory broke down at some point and she couldn’t remember where she had it last.

But intuition sees all, it’s just a matter of knowing how to tune in, not letting fear and doubt get into the mix, and avoiding logic even when it seems illogical to do so.

Intuition can find your lost items. We used intuition to find our missing turtle at one point as well. Don’t doubt the power of receiving information from the ether, your guides, the universe. It’s right there for you when you need it.

Does it work every time? It probably won’t. But the more you practice with it, the more success you’re going to have.

The next time you’re looking for something you’ve lost, try using your intuition to find it. It can’t hurt right? And it can save you a ton of grief, especially if you own a teenager and she’s without her blessed phone.

Are you in this boat?

I’ll tell you what’s happening. Your intuition is telling you to leave the job but your logic and fear are kicking in and keeping you trapped in a job you hate.

Stop letting fear and logic dictate your life.

I had a conversation with a friend the other day. It went something like this:

Her: I’m not sure what to do about my career. The job I have is easy but I really don’t like it. It pays the bills though.

Me: Ask your intuition if you should stay in the job.

Her: Intuition says no way. But…

Me: Stop right there. Your intuition is telling you to leave this job. Period. End of story. There are no buts. The answer is that you need to leave this job. Your intuition is screaming this to you every day and you’re not listening or taking action.

Her: But I can’t just leave my job. What would I do instead?

Me: Well that’s a separate question isn’t it?

Her: What do you mean?

Me: Every fiber of your being is telling you to leave your job. Every time you walk into your job and feel your energy drain that’s a signal from your guides, the universe, your gut, your intuition, that what you’re doing is wrong for you. Honor that. At least admit to yourself, “I don’t want this job anymore.”

Her: Fine, I don’t want this job anymore.

Me: How does it feel to say that out loud?

Her: (with a big deep sigh) Really good! I don’t want this job anymore. I hate it.

Me: Excellent, just sit with that for a moment. How do you feel?

Her: I feel relieved.

Me: That’s how you know you’re on the right track. The feeling of relief is a clairsentient indicator that you are in a place of truth. Simply admitting the truth of your feelings and situation is enough to start with.

Her: I like it. But now what?

Me: Now we talk about what you’re going to do to get out of your job. I’m not saying you need to quit tomorrow, but stop telling yourself that you’re happy with the job, or that it’s tolerable, or that you can bear it because you have to, or that you love that it pays your bills. Stay with the feeling that is true. You hate your job and you want to leave it.

Her: Okay, I think I can do that.

We then went on to discuss a transition plan for her, which included getting clarity on her passion, her abilities, and her financial needs. By the time we were done, she felt like she had a way out. It was like digging a tunnel in a prison that led to freedom and fresh air, one spoonful of dirt at a time.

Does the transition happen overnight? Probably not. But stop telling yourself you’re happy with your prison. Admit you hate it then make a commitment to finding a way out.

Just because you don’t know how to fix your situation doesn’t mean you should accept your situation.

Once you decide you’ve had enough, solutions will begin to present themselves. Simply place your order with the universe. “Universe, I don’t want this job anymore. Help me find a way out.” Now you’re turned in the right direction. You’re aligned with your own inner truth. You’re not resisting anymore.

So what happens next? Typically this is what happens.

You start telling friends and family that you want to leave your job and you’re looking to do something else. People give you ideas, support, and encouragement. That’s more than you had before.

You start noticing job opportunities elsewhere because now you’re open to leaving your job and moving to something else. You didn’t see those before because you were committed to tolerating the bad.

You start daydreaming about what else you’d like to be doing. You didn’t do that before because you thought there was no way out so why bother dreaming about it.

You take a class, or talk to an expert in a new field, or speak to a recruiter, or get certified, or read a book, or put more effort into a hobby. You didn’t do that before because you didn’t think there was any point.

You decide on a new career that you believe will make you happy and you take the steps necessary to transition into it while keeping your old job so you can still pay the bills. People do it all the time. You can be one of them. It doesn’t matter how old you are, or how inexperienced you are, or how scared you are. Take the steps to make the transition.

But don’t ever deny your intuition, because it’s trying to guide you to a better life.

Don’t let fear or logic or uncertainty keep you trapped in a job that doesn’t make you happy. Stop telling yourself it’s not so bad, or that you can live with it, or that you’ll just deal with it.

Let people help you. Let your guides and intuition help you. Help yourself to the life you want! You’re entitled to be happy. I know, what a concept right?

First let’s go over again who these guides are. Your spirit guides are non-corporeal entities who have agreed to help guide you in this life. Your higher self decides what your intention is for this life, your purpose if you will, and then finds guides who can help you fulfill your purpose. Neither your higher self nor your guides can MAKE anything happen. Once you incarnate, you have free will. So your guides have to watch you running around life’s maze like a cute but bewildered little rat and find ways of getting you to take the paths and turns that will lead to the fulfillment of your purpose.

It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it, and they do it willingly and with great love and respect.

So how does a guide actually help you? Guides broadcast signals to you energetically that you either pick up consciously, subconsciously, or ignore completely.

Let’s take the example of a radio. Right now a song is playing on one of the stations. But if your radio is off, you don’t know what song is playing right? The song is playing, but you’re not tuned in.

Likewise, what if your radio is on, but the volume is turned down? You might get the gist of the song but you won’t consciously notice every single word; perhaps you’ll feel sad if it was a sad song, or charged up if it was a lively song.

But what if you turn on the radio, crank up the volume, and listen intently? Now you’re getting the message clearly!

The broadcast comes in the form of daydreams, whims, urges, desires, sudden ideas, synchronicities, and imagination. Guides use all of these tools to broadcast ideas to you, hoping you will pick up on them and act on them.

They can’t teleport you out of a burning building but perhaps you get a strong urge to double check your iron to make sure you turned it off and you avoid burning down your house altogether.

Perhaps they can’t fix it so your lottery numbers are winners, but maybe they guide you to running into someone who hires you away from your current company for double your pay.

They have to work within the laws of the physical universe. Sometimes serendipitous events occur which may seem miraculous, or one in a million longshots.

Sometimes even bad news turns out to be good news down the road. Like maybe you get cut from a team only to be snatched up by a team that lets you play more often.

Your guides are constantly working behind the scenes to influence you and others, but they will never rob you of your free will. So if you want to engage in destructive habits that will eventually kill you or destroy your life, they can’t stop you. But more than likely you’re getting the feeling that what you’re doing is probably taking you down a dark road. They can lead you to the water but they can’t make you drink.

So how do you tune in to the guides to hear the broadcast so you can get where you want to go faster? Determine your dominant intuitive modality, strengthen it, and use it to tune in. You can use a divination tool like tarot cards or a pendulum, but honestly, your psychic radio is built into your system. You just need to turn it on. Meditation and lucid dreaming are also excellent tools you can use to connect with them when you want to.

This is one of the reasons I teach intuition development in my workshops. If I can teach you how to turn on the radio, crank up the volume, and understand what your guides are telling you, then you can use your connection to help yourself in all the areas of your life like career, finances, relationships, health, etc.

I’m passionate about teaching intuition because I know what a powerful tool it can be once you learn how to use it. And I do readings for those who haven’t yet developed their own ability to tune in or simply want confirmation that what they think they’re picking up is correct.

Your guides are available to you 24/7. They want to help you. Not listening to your guides is like trying to navigate in the dark without a compass. You can do it, but you can get where you’re going faster if you can receive the wisdom and insight your guides are sending.

Stop and ask for directions. Life is easier when you do.

But after I opened up registration, even though tickets sold, I also received emails from people who really wanted to come but couldn’t afford the higher pricing. These were people who had been telling me for months how excited they were to come to the workshop, and I felt bad that they now couldn’t come because of the price.

Others told me “Hey, there will always be people for whom the price is too high no matter what you charge.” But still, my intuition was niggling at me, and I started to feel very unsettled about what was happening.

Finally last Monday, I woke in a state of total dis-ease. My body was literally agitated with physical discomfort. I was so stressed, I could feel the stress chemical (cortisol?) running through my body. I wasn’t feeling panicked or anxious – I was just feeling like what I was doing was not in the flow. Like I was trying to row my boat upstream and like I was going against the current.

So I tuned in to my guides to find out what I needed to know and I immediately received the guidance I needed, the guidance I had ignored before because of logic. I knew I couldn’t do the workshop at the higher pricing, even if people were willing to pay it. I knew that at the higher price I could earn more money but potentially sell less tickets. And honestly what it comes down to for me is that I want to teach intuition development to as many people as possible (and apparently my guides concur).

My first reaction was to simply cancel the workshop, deciding I would offer it again in the future and give people more time to come, plan, and make travel arrangements. But after talking to some of my friends and associates, they encouraged me to simply write about what I experienced and offer the workshop at the original price I intended – $397 per seat.

So that’s what I’m going to do. I believe developing your intuition can help you with every aspect of your life. It’s sure helped me with mine. I’m a professional, and as you can see even I sometimes forget how powerful intuition can be! I’m trusting my intuition now, and offering the workshop at the lower price. I want you to come, I want you to learn how to use your intuition, and I want to teach you how to use this tool because I think it’s that awesome.

The workshop is April 28-29, which is coming up in just a few weeks. I’m still limiting the number of tickets for sale because I want to be able to give as much personalized attention to my students as possible.

The price for the workshop will be $397 until March 28. After that it will go to $497. So please register early so you can get the early-bird pricing.

Now you can purchase and instantly download the teleseminar to hear it for yourself. It’s full of useful and practical information to help you improve your intuition, connect with your guides, learn how to meditate, and discover your life purpose.

Some of the questions I answered include:

Feedback from those who listened live:
“Your ideas are so grounded and practical. I like that I can use this information immediately to improve my life. Thank you!” – Jack

“Erin, the teleseminar was awesome. Even though I got to hear it live, I would totally buy it just to hear it again. Please make this available so everyone can benefit from your ideas.” – Laura

“You’ve got a real gift for explaining difficult concepts in an easy-to-understand manner. That’s why I love your work so much.” – Chantille

“Thank you for answering my question. I had no idea there were different intuitive modalities, and that explains why I couldn’t connect with my guides before. Can’t wait to try your suggestion.” – Jere

Get the program now for just $19.97.

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This week’s question comes from Marie. She asks:

“Is there a way to shut down intuition?”

Transcript of the Video:
Hello and welcome to another episode of “Ask Erin Pavlina.” Today’s question comes from Marie. She writes, “For those of us that are highly intuitive or psychic, but just want to live a normal, non-intuitive life, is there any way for us to shut down and close it off, or are we doomed to deal with this for the rest of our lives?”

Well, Marie, it sounds like you’re not having very positive experiences with your intuition. When I was younger, when I was fifteen I started to have some very negative experiences with my intuition as well, so I know what you’re feeling and I know what it’s like to be terrorized by the intuitive abilities that you have. From the age of fifteen to eighteen, I had a lot of encounters with negative entities and even some demonic presences that made my life miserable. I didn’t know how to deal with them. I didn’t know what to do. I certainly didn’t know how to shut it off, and it led me to some trouble that took me a while to recover from emotionally. So, I know what it feels like to be gifted psychically and be having experiences that make you want to turn it off forever.

For me, what happened is I tried to turn off my intuition in college, but what I discovered was I was still intuitive. There was really no way for me to shut it off entirely. I would still get intuitive insights from my dreams and I would still be in contact with my spirit guides who were telling me things that were really important for me to know. So, I accepted that, but I was able to shut myself off from having all the negative experiences by not inviting those experiences to me so easily. So, during college I was able to turn it off a little bit, I was able to sort of turn down the volume on the intuition, but it was always there. Now, what happened was as I got older, in my twenties I started to realize that I was in a much better place vibrationally. I was more mature and I was in a higher vibration like love and compassion and gratitude. And so, I decided, “I’ll give it a shot. I’ll open up my intuitive abilities again, and see what happens.” When I did it at that age, I was in a much better place and I did not attract the negative experiences that I was having as a teenager. So your vibration really does make a difference in the kind of intuitive experiences you’re having. And definitely as I got even older than that I realized that if I can keep myself in a high vibration, then I never attract any of those negative experiences. So, you really, really, really have to get yourself to a high vibration and get yourself to a natural state of feeling love, compassion, and gratitude and happiness in your life, because then the intuitive experiences you have are going to be much more pleasant.

If you’re beginning to have premonitions about bad things happening or if that’s what’s been going on for you, there are ways for you to communicate with your guides to not let those sorts of – that sort of information come through so much because it can be very disturbing. And if there’s nothing that you can do to prevent an outcome like that, then of course, it doesn’t feel good to have those intuitive experiences. I would also recommend that you connect up with somebody who is a practicing professional intuitive who can help teach you how to shut down and draw in your energy so you’re not attracting the negative emotions or vibrations of other people around you, and somebody who can teach and train you how to keep your vibration high when you interact with your guides so that the intuitive experiences you have are helpful, loving, supportive, and encouraging instead of negative.

So, I hope that answers your question. Don’t try to shut it down. It’s a very, very important gift that you can use to help you with your own life and there are ways to make it feel better and safer. So, please try that first before you try shutting down. Great question.

Last Saturday Emily came running into my bedroom and said, “Mommy, we lost a turtle. We can’t find him. Help us!”

A little background. I got my kids each a red-eared slider baby turtle earlier this year. The kids adore playing with them and do a pretty good job of taking care of them. Emily diligently cleans their cage without me asking, and she makes sure they have food, drops, and minerals to keep them healthy. Sometimes when the turtles are roaming free of their tanks, the kids wander into another room for a minute and when they come back, they can’t find their turtles. I’ve admonished them about this many times, not to leave their turtles unattended. In every case we’ve found the turtles hunkered down in a dark corner of the room.

Not so on this fateful Saturday morning. I asked what happened. Emily said, “We were playing with them in your office and Kyle told me to come look at something in his room, so I did, and when we got back, we could only find Fortune Cookie, but not Smoothie.”

I got up to help them look, figuring it would be a piece of cake to find the turtle. Emily said they’d only been away for a few minutes. How far could a baby turtle get in a few minutes?

I spent the next 20 minutes pouring through every nook and cranny of my office. The closet, behind the desk, behind the credenza, inside boxes and bags. Hmm, no turtle. I was sort of stumped. I’d checked everywhere a turtle could reasonably crawl or climb, and I couldn’t find him. I started to worry a little.

“Emily, are you sure he was in this room?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure you were only gone for a few minutes? Like are we talking 2 or 8?”

“Maybe 5 minutes, Mommy.”

Shoot, in 5 minutes the turtle could easily make it to another room. We had to expand our search into the kids’ rooms. I assigned each child an area to search and they got busy. I searched my office again, from stem to stern, but still nothing.

We searched for about an hour and came up empty handed. I was worried he’d gotten past us all and might even be downstairs. Kyle had to go to a play date so I dropped him off really quick and then Emily and I spent literally the next 2 hours tearing up the house looking for our little guy. We couldn’t find him. I knew he must be somewhere, but I didn’t know where. Emily started to cry, blaming herself for losing the turtle. She asked what would happen to him if we didn’t find him. I told her if we didn’t find him soon, he would probably die from lack of food and water. She started sobbing after that. I was pretty sad myself, and quite distraught.

I didn’t know what to do. I had exhausted all of my ideas. Emily came to me a little while later and said, “You’re psychic, can’t you just find him?” Smart kid! In fact, I’d written an article called How To Find Lost Items Using Psychic Abilities. Finding lost items has never been a strong suit for me, though, and when people ask me to help them find lost items psychically I usually have to refer them to someone else. I can find the lost threads of a career, but when it comes to finding physical objects I’m nearly blind. But I decided to give it a shot.

I tuned in clairvoyantly and asked my guides where the turtle was. I saw an image of my big, heavy credenza in my office. And I saw an image of the turtle huddled back there in the dark.

I went back to the credenza in my office and looked behind it. I had to use a flashlight to see back there. There were a lot of plugs and phone wires. I couldn’t move the credenza as it weighs hundreds of pounds, so I shone the flashlight every which way I could in order to see every nook and cranny back there. I didn’t see the turtle. I was frustrated and sad. I considered moving the credenza but that would involve me taking everything off it and I still wasn’t sure I could move it myself. I was reasonably certain the turtle wasn’t back there because I couldn’t see him.

We gave up looking. I put a bowl of food and water near the credenza because of all the places I thought he would be, I still somehow felt he was there or near there. And we went on about our day, always looking at the floor for the turtle.

Saturday passed and we all went to bed sad.

On Sunday we made another search. I had read online that they might be able to survive up to a week without food and water. The pet store had told me not to keep him out of the water for more than 2 hours so I thought he was a goner for sure. Sunday night we went to sleep, beginning to accept we would never find him.

On Monday, the housekeeper came to clean and I told her to be on the lookout for the turtle, and not to suck him up in the vacuum. She knew how much we loved our turtles and she was sad right there with us. Every time I tuned in to the turtle’s energy I saw the credenza in my mind. But I had checked the entire credenza, front and back, and even in the cupboards, but he wasn’t there. I assumed my intuition was on the fritz.

On Monday afternoon, I picked Steve up from the airport. I told him about our turtle and he started asking me about my search pattern. When I told him that I felt he was behind the credenza but upon examination saw that he was not, Steve said, “Well could he be UNDER the credenza?”

I said, “There is no under. It’s flush against the carpet.”

He said, “In the front, sure, but often with that type of furniture it’s raised in the back and even hollow underneath so you can get wires through there.”

“What?!?! Oh my God! I didn’t know that!! He’s probably under the credenza then! That’s got to be it. It would make perfect sense!”

He said, “You’re welcome!”

I raced to get the kids from school and as soon as we got home I put my hand behind the credenza and could feel that the back was indeed raised and hollow! I commanded the children to start getting everything off the credenza. Books, papers, CDs, and office supplies were flying off the shelves.

Once it was empty I tried moving the credenza, but it was too heavy still and wouldn’t budge. Emily offered to help me but I was worried she would be crushed. I called upon every bit of strength I could muster and was able to move the credenza… a millimeter. Emily wedged herself behind the credenza and pushed with all her might. I’ll be damned, that credenza started moving! Strong little child (or I’m exceptionally weak!). With both of us working at it, we were able to swing one side out from the wall. Emily got her face down on the carpet and looked underneath the credenza with her flashlight. “There he is Mommy! He’s right there! I can’t reach him, but he’s there!”

I said, “Does he look like he’s moving?” She said, “No.” I silently prayed, “Please don’t let us have come this far only to pull out a dry dessicated husk of turtle!”

I moved in, looked under the furniture and saw him, huddled, not moving. My arm couldn’t fit under the furniture so I told the kids to find me a stick or something I could use to pull him out. We ended up with a hanger. I used the hanger to hook him and pull gently towards me. He wasn’t trying to get away or move and I feared the worst.

When I got him all the way out his head was pretty huddled in his shell, but after a few seconds he started wiping his head with his paw. He was alive! We immediately put him in some water and got him some food. We were extremely relieved and happy to have found him alive. And Emily spent the rest of the day nursing him back to health and hovering like a worried mother. We discussed why you never leave turtles unattended.

In looking back on the incident, I realized that my intuition had accurately shown me where he was, I just didn’t investigate far enough. I discounted my intuition because I couldn’t see how it was logically possible.

Do you ever do that? Receive intuitive information that doesn’t make logical sense so you discount it as false or a flight of fancy? How many times have I done this myself? Believe me, I’m not immune to the intuition/logic dilemma. Steve took my intuition and figured out how it could make sense. It was through a combination of intuition and logic that we found our turtle.

Intuition is a really powerful tool. Logic has its place as well. Without logic, in this case, I never would have found our turtle until it was too late. Use your intuition to gather and receive information and then use your logic to take appropriate and wise action. Maybe your intuition will someday save a life.

Think of intuition as a guide, someone who is familiar with the path ahead and can warn you of upcoming pitfalls.  Like a scout, your intuition goes on ahead and reports back to you with information you can use to make informed decisions.  Tuning in to your intuition can even save your life.  Wouldn’t you like to be on a first name basis with such a creature?

So how do you recognize intuition?  Intuition is an energetic wave that contains information that you must receive.  The way you tune in and receive intuition depends on your personal dominant psychic modality: clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, or claircognizance (or any combination if you are skilled in multiple modalities).   Here are some phrases and their associated modalities that will help you determine which is YOUR dominant modality.  Have you ever heard yourself say any of the following phrases?

I Saw This Coming a Mile Away
People with clairvoyance (clear seeing) will often receive intuition as a visual download.  Let’s say your friend says, “Dude, I’m gonna jump my motorcycle over those 5 trash cans.  Watch.”  You get an instant flash in your mind’s eye showing your friend crashing into the 4th can and going down in a heap of grinding metal.   You say, “Don’t do it, man.  You’re not gonna make it.”  He jumps, he crashes, and you say, “Dude, I saw that coming a mile away.”  With clairvoyance, your intuition will often play out like a scene in your mind, sometimes over and over again as it tries to get your attention.   If clairvoyance is your dominant psychic modality, tune in visually when you’re about to do something major and see if you’re getting a scene that shows the outcome.

That Little Voice Said…
People who are predominantly clairaudient (clear hearing) will receive intuition as a voice in their head.  An example of clairaudient intuition in action would be, “Anna, that guy you met at the party the other night is in the news.  Turns out he’s a serial rapist!  You almost went home with him.  What stopped you?”  And your friend says, “I don’t know.  There was just this little voice in the back of my mind that said ‘Danger’ so I just walked away from him.  I’m so glad I listened!”  With clairaudience, intuition will sound like a voice in your mind, the same voice you use when you talk to yourself in your head, only the voice will give you information you probably couldn’t glean from logic alone.  If clairaudience is your dominant psychic modality, tune in to that voice when you’re about to make a major decision and see if it has anything to say.

I Just Got This Sinking Feeling
People who are predominantly clairsentient (clear feeling) will receive intuition as a gut feeling, literally in your stomach area.  Has your significant other ever said these words to you, “Honey, we need to talk” and you get a sinking feeling in your gut?  You can literally feel something falling inside you and landing with a thud in your root chakra.  Your security is threatened.  Your emotions are about to be stepped on.  Your stomach is in knots.  Fear wells up inside you.  You are receiving an intuitive flash clairsentiently.  You don’t even know what the other person is going to say, but you know it’s going to hurt or be quite challenging to deal with.  If clairsentience is your dominant psychic modality then let your gut guide you.  If you’re about to do something and you get that sinking feeling in your gut, your intuition is trying to warn you.  You might say, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” and that’s clairsentience too.  Your body chemistry will feel altered.  Pay attention when you feel that and think carefully before making your next move.

I Knew It
People who are predominantly claircognizant (clear knowing) will receive intuition as an instant download of information that needs no processing or interpretation.  You’ll hear them say, “Oh man I knew when you told me you were buying that stock that it was a bad idea.”  “How did you know?”  “I don’t know, I just knew it.”  It comes with great certainty but not a lot of logic.  In fact, claircognizant intuition often flies in the face of logic, and can be one of the hardest types of intuition to act on.  Can you remember a time when you did something and you instantly knew it was a mistake even before the actual results were in?  Maybe you heard yourself say, “Shoot, I think I just made a terrible mistake.  Why didn’t I listen to my intuition?” and then later you find out you definitely made a big mistake.

***

Once you become aware of your dominant modality, use it consciously to access your intuition.  If you’re about to take a step on your path that you’re uncertain about, tune in and see if you’re getting an intuitive hit on it.  If you’re clairvoyant, allow a scene to unfold in your mind’s eye showing you the outcome of your decision.  If you’re clairaudient, listen to that little voice in the back of your mind.  What is it saying?  If you’re clairsentient, check in with your gut.  Do you have a sinking feeling or do you feel strong and stable?  If you’re claircognizant ask yourself what’s going to happen and without thinking about it too much just let the answer come, yes or no, good or bad, etc. 

Learning to be aware of when you’re receiving an intuitive flash is something that needs to be worked on consciously in order for you to get better at it.  To make your intuition stronger, just keep acting on it and taking note of the outcome.  Was your intuition right or wrong?  Did you misinterpret it or get it right?  The more you work with it, the stronger it becomes, and the more you can rely on it to help you in life.

I sat in the back middle.  John is a dynamic, humorous speaker so I was quite enjoying the workshop.  As I looked around the room I noticed a guy in the left section.  He was young, in his 20′s probably, and he had some interesting tatoos on his body.  I took notice of him a few times; his energy drew me.  About an hour and a half into the session I heard my guides say, “We have a message for that guy.”  I said back to them, “What are you kidding?  Not working here.  Enjoying the workshop.  Leave me alone.”  They backed off.  I went to lunch.

When I got back to the workshop I took the same seat I had before.  And so did the young man.  My guides said, “Get up and go sit near him.  You need to give him a message.”  I replied back, “Fine, I’ll go sit next to him, but you have to do the rest.”  The reason I was resisting this is because I don’t like doing what I call drive-by readings, where I go up to a stranger and tell them I have a message for them from their guides.  I don’t feel it’s right to force unsolicited information on someone, but I did reason that since he was at a psychic medium’s workshop he’d probably be open to it.  So I got up and sat down right in front of him.

John continued the workshop and at one point asked us all to find a partner for a chakra exercise.  I turned to this guy and said, “Wanna be my partner?”  He smiled and said, “Sure.”  We got halfway through the chakra exercise when my guides practically forced me to say, “Listen, I’m actually a professional psychic and I think I have a message for you.”  He looked surprised but said enthusiastically, “Please, go ahead, I’m all ears.”  The message poured out of me at breakneck speed.  I knew we only had a few minutes at best.  The message was related to his life path, his lack of confidence in that path, and about the guides wanting him to know he was more than ready for the path he had chosen and to stop listening to the friends and family who told him he was going to fail.  He seemed relieved to hear this message.  I could see a huge weight lift off his shoulders.

He thanked me for the message, told me how accurate it was to his situation, and we sat down.  I said to the guides, “Happy now?”  They said, “Give him your card.”  I said, “Oh for Heaven’s sake, why?  Let’s just leave him alone now.  What does he need with my card?”  To which they stubbornly replied, “Give him your card now please.”  So I grabbed a card from my purse, turned around and gave it to him and said, “Listen, email me when you get going on your path.  I want to know how you’re doing.”  He said, “Wow, I was just about to ask you if you had a card.  Thank you, I will definitely email you.”  I also found out he was local to Las Vegas.

So then I said to my guides, “Happy now?”  They beamed at me.  “Yes. You did well.  Now hush up and listen to John speak.”

At the end of the really great workshop (I got a lot more out of it than I was expecting), I got up to leave to go meet Steve.  I was racing down a back hallway when the tatooed guy came running after me.  “Erin!  Erin!”  I turned around.  He said, “You’re not going to believe this.  Several months ago I was looking through a magazine here in town and I found an ad for a psychic medium.  I was very drawn to get a reading with her.  So I cut the ad out and taped it to the wall above my computer.  You were that psychic!”

Whoa!  Now I realized why I had to give him my card.  I only advertise in one magazine here in Las Vegas, the Nevada Wellness Directory.  My ad in that magazine is the same image that is on my business card (because I was too lazy to create an ad so I just put my business card in as the ad).  When I handed him my business card he of course recognized that I was the very psychic he’d been wanting to get a reading with for months.  How’s that for Law of Attraction?  If I hadn’t given him my card he would have just thought I was some random psychic from God knows where who had a message for him.  But no, I was the psychic he’d wanted a reading with, and he got one.

See, the way my guides work is they go out and find people who would benefit from having a reading with me, then they find a way to get that person to my site, Steve’s site, or my ad in the Nevada Wellness Directory, or word of mouth, etc.  My guides and his guides decided he would benefit from a reading with me so he found me, but possibly he couldn’t afford the reading or he was just waiting for some reason.  So my guides saw that he was going to be at I Can Do It, knew I was going to be there, and knocked me off course from seeing Sonia Choquette so I could go sit near this guy, notice him, get a message, and finally agree to give it to him.  Mysterious ways huh?  I’m sure both our sets of guides were working overtime to make that one happen!

Notice how this could not have happened if I didn’t follow my intuition.  I was all set to see another author speak and my logic told me to stick with the one I had chosen.  But I’ve learned that my intuition can see around corners and my logic can’t.  Steve was even planning to go with me to John Holland but instead got an intuitive urge to go see Bruce Lipton.  If Steve had been sitting with me at John Holland’s workshop I probably wouldn’t have noticed this young man or I may not have partnered up with him during the exercise, which is what gave me my opportunity to speak with him and pass on the message.

It was a powerful reminder to me that intuition and connection with my guides leads to helping others on their paths which helps the planet as a whole.  Powerful experience for me, and probably him as well.  All in a day’s work right?

Your Ego
I like to think of the ego as a little imp that sits on your shoulder and whispers in your ear when it has something to say.  Usually it’s saying things like, “You’re gonna fail.  Who do you think you are?”  Or, “He totally hates you, and if you do that he’s going to find out and hate you more.  I’d keep that little indiscretion to yourself!”  It’s a little subversive and usually broadcasting on the fear and anxiety channel.  On some level it’s trying to protect you from embarassment and failure.  It has a job to do, it has its place, but you’ve got to learn to recognize it for what it is.  It only serves you to the extent that it is trying to keep you safe, it’s looking out for #1 which is you.  It’s only care is to keep you safe and happy and off the front page of the newspaper.  Many people find comfort in listening to this little imp and, technically, it’s a valid way to go through life.  It’s not out to hurt you, only to protect you and keep you comfortable.

Logic
Logic is the mental voice that uses past experience, statistics, probability, and reason to communicate ideas to you.  It is based on knowledge and facts, not ethereal hoo-haw.  Besides drawing from your own experience you can use logic to draw from other people’s experiences, i.e. “Frank said Costco is always crowded on Sundays at noon so I should probably go on Monday when it opens instead.”

Spirit Guides
Spirit guides are celestial beings who are assigned to you to help guide you through life.  They’re very aware of your life plan, which is the plan you concocted for yourself before you incarnated.  They are volunteers.  Their job is to keep you on track and help guide you through life.  Their primary care is your growth and learning.  That sometimes means discomfort for you.  For example they might see that the best way to teach you to value money is to send you through a bankruptcy.  On the other hand, your ego would never let something like that happen to you if it could help it.   Your spirit guides carry the big picture, whereas your ego is involved only in the moment.

Intuition
Your intuition is not a conscious being.  I like to think of intuition as a concentrated blast of Source energy designed to help you avoid catastrophe or steer you in a really important direction.  It’s more like a message than a messenger.  I believe intuition stems from your higher self, angels, and God or Source energy.  Intuition is there to guide you in the moment, to help you make decisions that will have a positive impact on your overall human experience.  Intuition is connected to spirit guides in the sense that intuitive information usually follows your life plan.

How They All Sound
Here are some examples of how ego, logic, spirit guides, and intuition sound when they communicate with you.  I think you’ll be able to see the differences pretty clearly.

Ego
“Don’t go out with that loser, he’ll ruin your reputation.”
“That piece of pie is going straight to your thighs, honey!”
“No way we’re taking speech next semester.  I’ll find a way to kill us first.”
“She doesn’t love you so you might as well cheat on her.”

Logic
“Last time you tried doing that you broke your ankle.  Chances are good you’ll hurt it again.”
“Speaking in front of 30 people won’t actually kill you, so agree to do the speech and just practice until you can recite it from memory.”
“He’s geographically desireable, good looking, and his parents are still together.  You should agree to date him.”
“There’s a traffic jam coming up ahead.  I know a shortcut that will get us there faster.”

Spirit Guides
“You’d be wise to accept the job in Los Angeles.  It’s what you’ve been waiting for your whole life.”
“Don’t be afraid to do the speech.  It’s not going to be nearly as bad as you fear.”
“You know in your heart that he’s not right for you.”
“Remember what happened the last time you ate the whole pizza?  Do you want to experience that again?”

Intuition
“Run!”
“Go left, now!”
“He’s the one!  Introduce yourself.”
“Stop at the gas station on the way home.”

Do you see the differences?  Again, your ego is out to protect you from failure and embarrassment.  While it seems like it has your best interest at heart I wouldn’t say it’s the most encouraging growth-oriented voice in your arsenal.  Still, it serves its purpose.

Logic is a wonderful tool of information.  Developing your logic can certainly help you in life, until you run into something you didn’t see coming or have no information in your mental database to sift through.  That’s when you have a failure, er, I mean learning experience, you update your file and move on.

Spirit guides won’t tell you what to do, but they will help you feel and/or understand your choices better.  They’re coming from a higher perspective than you are, and they’re following your orders (your higher self’s orders that is).  You can trust that your guides have your best interest at heart, but you can’t trust you’ll be totally comfortable following their guidance.  They’re in it for the long run and sometimes see minor setbacks as necessary for your overall success.

Your intuition has but a moment to make an impression.  It’s got to get vital, sometimes life-altering, information to you in a split second.  Its general goal is to notify you that you are in danger or at a vital decision-making moment in your life.  When you become adept at listening to your intuition you’ll start getting information about less life-threatening situations.  Until then, you get snippets.

Now sometimes all four of these voices overlap.  I can imagine a situation where this is possible.  Your ego might say, “Why would that guy be interested in you?” and your logic is saying, “Look, this guy wants you to get in his van parked behind the alley.  That is probably not a good idea.  The chances of you going home in a body bag are pretty high right now.  I say pass.”  At the same time your guides are saying, “Do you really think you can trust this guy?” and your intuition is screaming, “Danger, avoid him!”  If you ever get agreement from all four voices, I highly advise you to listen!

Getting to know the voices in your head can really help you manage your life.  Identifying which one is speaking to you can help you determine how much power and credibility you want to give it.  I have found that I prefer to listen to my guides and intuition over my logic and ego, but I know people who do quite well listening to their logic and ego so what can I say?  It’s a question of where you want to go in life and how comfortably you want to arrive.  In my experience if you opt for a faith, trust, and love strategy in life, you’ll listen to your intuition and guides.  If you opt for a control or fear-based strategy in life you’ll probably prefer your ego and logic.  There really is no right or wrong choice, just preferences.  You might try developing the ability to hear all of them and then decide what works best for you.

The best way to develop the ability to discern them is awareness and practice.  Whenever you consult that inner voice try to figure out if it’s a guide, intuition, or your ego or logic talking to you.  Or consult all four before you make a decision.  You could try 30 days with each as your primary inner voice and see which one gives you the best results.

Now, if you’re hearing other voices in your head like, “She looks tasty, let’s carve her up and eat her,” or “Jump off the barn because you know you can fly,” then you’re listening to something entirely different!  Seek professional help immediately.