As someone who is highly emotional myself, learning to listen to my intuition during times of emotional turmoil has been one of my biggest challenges.
So often this is the work I am facilitating with tarot and Reiki clients. In moments of upheaval, when they feel disconnected and overwhelmed, they come to me to help them sort through the chaos and tune in to their own inner knowing.
So how can we learn to connect even in these emotional moments when our ego is screaming at us, and we are operating entirely from a place of fear? How do we quiet that noise and learn to listen on our own, without guidance from someone else?
I would love to give you some kind of shortcut here, but the truth is that it takes practice and time to learn how to build this muscle. The following are some ideas to get your started.
Write it Down
The easiest and most concrete way I have found is to write it down. When I feel frustrated or desperate, or let down, or inadequate, I sit down with my journal and write out what I think is going on. I keep going deeper and deeper until I reach the root of what is really bothering me.
That might look something like: I’m mad at my partner because they don’t pay enough attention to me. Going deeper: I’m hurt because my partner forgot something important, and it makes me feel like they don’t value me. And a little deeper: I’m really sad because I don’t feel like I’m being supported by the person that matters to me most and I’m worried that means they don’t love me.
Just seeing the words on paper forces you to confront and deconstruct some of the fear that comes up. This exercise is about finding the truth underneath the story we tell ourselves. If you’re not sure if you’ve gotten to the root of the issue you can keep asking questions but try not to be too hard on yourself. Sometimes the real breakthroughs come from going back over your notes later.
Come to Your Cards
There are a lot of tarot teachers who say that you should always come to your cards with a clear mind and when you are calm. I respect their opinions but I also think that really takes away from one of their most valuable functions: self-reflection.
Tarot is a great way to reflect when you are having an emotional moment. The cards themselves don’t have feelings or bias. They give us something outside of ourselves to look at. You might find yourself saying the same thing over and over when you see them and that itself can be clarifying.
In this moment you will notice the story you are telling yourself and sometimes this is downright comical. Sometimes I’ve pulled four cards in a row before I realize I have basically said the same thing to myself in four different ways. Or even more hilarious is, I don’t like the card I pull, so I pull another one and it has a VERY similar meaning. This has happened to me so many times.
Find Moving Meditation
So many people come to me and talk about how they can’t meditate when they are stressed. I get it.
Sitting quietly with your thoughts when your anxiety is cranked up and your brain is going a mile a minute is almost impossible.
This is the perfect time for moving meditation. As a yoga teacher, that is my go-to but there are so many other options if yoga isn’t your thing. Tai-Chi, walking meditation, or even just riding your bike and looking around at all the scenery can be enough to work the agitation out of the body.
Stillness does not equal calm, so don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’re weird because you can’t sit in meditation when your brain is racing.
There are so many ways to come back down to earth when your emotions are running the show. Along with all of these techniques, I have found that just noticing the narrative of my emotions helps me to tune into my intuition.
Any time I have a fear-driven narrative come up, I know what I’m hearing is emotion and ego. It’s usually loud and has a spiralic quality to it. One negative thought leads to another and then another until I’ve gone ten steps down the rabbit hole with my anxiety in full force.
In that moment I notice the noise, but look for the little bit of quiet underneath. That is where intuition waits to be tapped into and called forth.
I’m very excited to announce that I’m bringing my High Priestess Tarot Embodiment workshop to the internet later this Wednesday, February 5th. This is a workshop I have only offered live in person and after a lot of requests for it, I’ve decided to make it available as an online course.
This course is a combination of tarot discussion, yoga, guided meditation and journaling. The purpose of The High Priestess Embodiment Course is to put you more in touch with your own intuition, to build your trust in yourself over time, and to help you tune in to your inner guidance systems in moments of stress and transition. It is open to everyone: male, female, or non-binary. The High Priestess is not about masculine or feminine. It’s about our ability to connect to deep inner knowing and learn to trust ourselves.
If you want to be the first to know about the release, sign up for my email list here.
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