Intuition can be defined as understanding or knowing without a conscious and immediate route to thought or reason. Some may categorize it as mystical, while others may describe it as a response to unconscious cues or previous learning.

However, intuition can be a tricky subject. I have dealt with many clients who confuse delusions or illusive tendencies with intuition. This could be misguiding to them, creating anxiety and confusion. The reason for this is that while intuition is something we all have and can access, it needs activation.

Becoming too much of a logical mind without using your intuition can be unproductive, but the same is also true with being too intuitive and not logical. Some of the greatest discoveries, inventions and creations of our times have been done by experts who were open to their intuitive side and responded to their hunches in a productive way.

In order for you to activate your intuitive tendencies, you may find the following useful:

1.Learn To Become Objective
The more objective you become, the clearer your path to accessing your intuition. Being objective means being less biased in the way you approach life and its challenges.

To do that you need to move above the situation and look at it without being emotionally blinded by it.

You need to look for an uncensored truth of the situation before making a judgment. In other words, you need to be willing to move beyond the tip of the iceberg.

2. Increase Your Knowledge And Experience

The more experience and knowledge you have in a specific subject, the more reliable your intuition will become.

For example, someone who has had more experiences with children seems to be better at intuitively knowing how to deal with them in certain situations.

This is not to say that there are any guarantees, and that one with experience and knowledge is always right, because we all have our self serving biases, but the chances of it being more reliable increases with knowledge and expertise.

3. Activate Your Logical Side

When your mind is functional, you can take in your intuitive information and hunches, and do an evaluation to test its accuracy.

Finding that bridge between the two, and helping them work together brings you closer to your fully functioning self.

Intuition is an access to the innate wisdom and knowledge, but logic is needed to filter this knowledge in a practical and useful way.

If we have all the knowledge in the world without knowing how to make it applicable, we are missing half of the equation. Even worse, the other half may become useless, confusing and even chaotic.

4. Learn To Be Centered

Being centered is nothing more than feeling in peace. I have written extensively about this subject and what it means to feel peace within, which is an ultimate form of happiness.

It is a form of happiness that has all the benefits, but not as much of a cost.

To be centered, you have to learn to go through the necessary behavioral, cognitive and emotional modification to let go of any heavy baggage that you are carrying — and releasing and modifying what does not work.

Connecting to your internal knowing and intuition is easier when you don’t have heavy baggage blocking your way.

When you have more drama than you can handle, your intuition becomes hazy.

5. Self Monitor And Self Reflect

Whether you do this through meditation, prayer or quiet times, it is important to self monitor and check for your intuitive accuracies. Look for patterns and evaluate the feelings and situations attached to them.

See what part of your intuition has been reliable in the past and what has been misleading, and then try to make shifts and adjustments.

For example, if you think you’re intuitive, but your intuitive hunches have mostly been wrong in the past, do a self check in to see what that is.

Do you get overly emotional in situations? Do you overreact? Are you impulsive when something does not go your way? Do you constantly feel drained by drama?

These are some of the questions that may be useful.

6. Learn To Become More Empathetic

Some researchers report that empathy is in our genes, we just need to let it unleash. By becoming more empathetic, unconditionally, we give ourselves the ability to connect.

The more we connect to others, the easier it gets for us to get in touch with our intuitive side.

An empathetic person is able to walk out of her zone and get into something that may be foreign to her, to understand it and to acknowledge the other’s experience as accurate for that person.

Someone who is empathetic learns to give attention and a feeling of significance to the other.

An empathetic person is not only aware of what is in the present, but also the past experiences and how it affects the present.

7. Don’t Let Arrogance Make You Ignorant

There is an old saying, the more you know, the more you know how much you don’t know. The smartest of people who know relatively a lot, have these “wow” moments of realizing how much more there is to learn.

Therefore, don’t let your ego manipulate you into believing that the small little part of this life you see is all there is to it.

Be open to the fact that what humans know, while it is admirable, is but a few drops in the ocean. Therefore, don’t close mindedly deny something just because you can’t see it.

Being reasonably skeptical, but at the same time knowingly convinced, that there is more to life can help you channel through your intuition.

8. Keep in mind that like any other skill, becoming more intuitive takes time and practice.

While some may have a more innate natural tendency toward it, we all are capable of becoming more intuitive and we all need practice to become good at it.

When you learn to find a bridge between your intuition and your logic, you feel more like your complete self and you become more productive, and you get this feeling that things just become easier for you.

At the end, as always, aim for it, enjoy the process and don’t forget to have a little faith.