How intuition can help in the counselling process
When clients come to counselling with an issue, it is often because they didn’t follow their intuition. Time and time again I see the destructive consequences of what happens when people don’t follow their intuition. As a result of blocking, denying, and repressing their intuitive signals people find themselves in sticky situations which are sometimes very difficult to get out of. This is where counsellors come in. But what if issues presented in the counselling room could be solved by helping people to connect and develop a more healthy relationship with their intuition?
Helping individuals to develop a more conscious relationship with their intuition is a key part of treatment within counselling. Rather than having the therapy just be an emotional outpouring, it is important to be taken beyond your emotions and into the power of your intuition.
As defined by Psychotherapist Carl Jung, intuition is a psychic function that gives outlook and insight. For many people intuition is experienced as a gut instinct, a knowing, something you sense even if you can’t always put your finger on it.
People have often spoken of intuition as a gift, or something that enables you to see into the future. The truth is everyone is intuitive. It’s a sense that we all have. From the time you are born your intuitive signals are up and running and the first place it speaks to you is through your gut instincts. Animals are also incredibly intuitive. If you’ve ever seen a wildlife documentary you will know that in order to survive animals have to be incredibly attuned to their intuitive instincts, otherwise they will not survive.
As humans, intuition is also essential to our survival. It alerts you to when danger is present, when to cross the road, or when you sense that something is just off. In our culture we are taught to rely on our five senses, however our intuition plays a key role in not just our physical survival but also in our emotional and psychological well-being. And yet many people rarely seem to trust their intuition, and in many cases fear it. Rather than it being a voice of guidance, an inner resource to help them make more informed choices, it becomes something to be afraid of.
When you tune into your intuition you are able to access a higher level of internal truth, which can feel intimidating if you find it hard to perceive truth with clarity. If you are not ready to acknowledge the deeper truth about what you feel and sense, you will most likely block your intuition.
When you become disconnected from your intuition you won’t trust the messages that it is trying to give you on a daily basis about what is going on in the world behind your eyes. Much of the conflict people experience with their intuition can be put down to the fact that it is often irrational - it doesn’t always make sense to the mind as it’s not dependent on what you can see on the external level. As we are conditioned to perceive truth through what we can see, hear, or think on the mental level, following our intuition may seem damn right stupid.
On the external level intuition is what allows you to read the energy of others more acutely, but its main function is to pull you more inward, into your own inner senses.
In helping clients to find the answers to the questions they often present, I always turn it around and ask them what their intuition is telling them about how they should move forward with their life.
When clients fully connect with the wisdom of their intuition, there is often a very big shift in the way they view the circumstances that lead them to counselling. In connecting with their intuition they are able to see how their intuition was trying to guide them all along in making choices that fill them with a greater sense of congruency. They are able to develop healthy self-esteem, because when you make poor choices as a result of blocking your intuition, it affects your emotional and psychological well-being. When they accept the intelligence and validity of their inner resources they feel more confident in facing challenges ahead.
Ultimately developing a healthy relationship with intuition is about learning to trust and work with your internal sensory system. When you can sense something is off, or that you are being guided in some way trust that feeling, and allow it to steer you on the right path.