How I Strengthened My Intuition and Learned to Trust It

Ever since I can remember, I have always had a strong intuition. One of the strongest parts about it is that I could always sense death. Not just literal death, but endings. Someone losing a job. Someone losing a friend. Someone’s life about to flip upside down. I could feel it, and it always felt heavy.

I would see things in dreams. I would feel it on people. I genuinely thought I was going crazy for the longest time. It wasn’t until I was 22, sitting in therapy, talking about it, when a therapist told me, “You just have a strong intuition. You should listen to it.”

I burst out laughing because people had been telling me that my entire life.

One night, I sat and really thought about it. Not just death, but all the things I had felt before they happened. The warnings. The gut feelings. The moments I ignored and regretted later. It took me years to actually apply what I already knew, but in the past year and a half, I can honestly say I’ve been listening to my intuition more.

And because of that, I’ve avoided so much unnecessary drama, pain, and trauma just by listening to myself and using better judgment.

I’ve also met some of the most amazing people and had some of the best experiences simply by trusting that inner nudge. Sometimes I just knew I was meant to be at a certain place, with a certain person, at a certain time. Instead of psyching myself out, I went. And every time, it confirmed I was right.

So here are seven things I did that helped me strengthen my intuition.

Number One: Slow Down and Listen

Intuition speaks quietly. It’s not something you hear at first. It’s something you feel. That’s why when you feel it, you have to give it a name.

You can meditate. You can journal. You can just sit in silence. Pay attention to your gut feelings. They are rarely lying to you. What you feel in your gut is the truth.

Your body is talking to you because it has been here before. You might not remember, but the body keeps score. Noise drowns out instinct. Less scrolling. More listening. Your intuition cannot compete with doom scrolling and 17 group chats.

Number Two: Track Patterns and Signals

Notice how your intuition talks to you. For me personally, it shows up in dreams and gut reactions. My dreams have never been wrong. Ever.

In 2022, I had a recurring dream that two friends would break into my house and eventually take my life. I had that dream for two months straight. By month three, I learned those same two friends had done something extremely weird and heinous behind my back.

I have not spoken to them since. One of them still stalks me on social media to this day even though she’s blocked. If intuition had a resume, mine would be undefeated.

My gut reactions have also never lied. When my stomach says, “This situation is not right,” I leave. I stopped waiting to see what the red flag was. If I feel a red flag, I am not waiting for it to slap me across the face. I’m exiting immediately.

Write your patterns down. Track repeated thoughts, repeated feelings, repeated warnings. When that feeling comes back, reference it. That’s how you learn the difference between anxiety and intuition.

Number Three: Trust Your Gut on Small Things First

I started with micro decisions. Which coffee shop to go to. Who to text back first. What outfit felt right.

It started small, but once I learned I could trust myself in little things, it became easier to trust myself in big things.

If something tells you not to hang out with that friend today, don’t. If something tells you not to bring that umbrella and it doesn’t rain, clock that. You are building self-trust reps like it’s the gym.

Small decisions build confidence for bigger ones where more is on the line.

Number Four: Limit External Noise

The biggest enemy of my intuition was other people’s opinions. Friends. Family. Social media. Comment sections. Random people who should not have access to my life decisions.

Too many opinions create fuzzy instincts.

The best thing I ever did was reduce social media noise and stop over-consulting everyone. Nowadays, I only consult two friends. They get the raw, unfiltered truth, even if it makes me look unhinged. If I want honest feedback, I have to be honest about the situation.

Set boundaries with energy-draining people. If you let people take, they will take. Keep some things to yourself. Your intuition is strongest when it’s just you and your vibe, not you and 14 outside voices.

Number Five: Connect With Your Body

Your body often knows before your brain does.

The book The Body Keeps Score taught me that. I used to think it was hocus-pocus. Baby, the body knows. And it keeps receipts.

The biggest realization for me is that butterflies are not romantic. Butterflies mean warning. My body is saying, “You’ve been here before. You read the book. You saw the movie. You did not like the ending.”

Move your body. Yoga. Walking. Dancing. Breathing. Learn how to check in with your physical sensations. Intuition is not just mental. It is physical.

Number Six: Reflect and Analyze Past Decisions

One of the biggest confirmations that my intuition was right came from reflecting on past relationships with men.

What worked. What didn’t. How my body reacted from the start.

With the first man I ever loved, I knew he was hiding something. We talked every day, then suddenly he went cold. I felt there was another girl. I gaslit myself into thinking I was crazy. I told myself I was sabotaging something good.

Plot twist: there was another girl. And she was pregnant.

That was 2018. Almost a decade later, every time I feel that same feeling with another man, I am always right. It might not be a baby, but there is always another woman.

Now, when I feel it, I leave. No hard feelings. I have no interest in watching a sequel when the original already traumatized me.

Reflection sharpens your internal radar.

Number Seven: Practice Regular Mindfulness

To strengthen your intuition, I recommend journaling. Thanking your intuition. Thanking your body for warning you about things you cannot see but can feel.

Daily meditation helps. Learning to control your breathing is life-changing. There are times I get so stressed I forget to breathe like I’m buffering in real life.

Quiet moments. Nature. Gratitude journaling. Meditation. These things strengthen your connection to your inner voice.

Exercise it. Your intuition is a muscle.

Intuition is not magic. It is your mind and body’s past experiences speaking. The more you listen, the clearer it gets.

Listening to your intuition is one of the biggest forms of self-love. You are honoring yourself. Respecting yourself. Teaching your mind and body that their voice matters.

You are not crazy for feeling what you feel. There is truth in it. You do not need to build a full RICO case to validate a gut feeling. If you feel it, it exists somewhere.

And if it exists somewhere, the best thing you can do is get out before it gets to you.

That’s the beauty of having strong intuition. Heavy gift. Heavy price. Heavy reward.