So today I was sitting and thinking about intuition and such. Basically it happened after I played a game, where was a puzzle lock that I had to crack...And I cracked it without solving the puzzle, because I was too lazy to think. Basically that puzzle had thousands of possible combination. At fist I just spin it randomly, but then cleared my mind and did the first combination that felt right to me and it was correct. I don't know if it was extremely rare occasion of luck or actually I felt the right combination for it, which changes every time in game to a new one.

After that I started to do some intuition involving test and got pretty high scores. The test were basically guessing tests. But after few high scores with few of them -I suddenly started to do more mistakes than correct answers, basically opposite than at beginning. Is this normal? Can intuition disappear and become wrong suddenly? Is there some kind of limit or something must be kept up for it to keep going in right direction?

I think of intuition like a channel on the radio. The signal is 100% when I'm tuned in to 98.7 FM, for example. If I'm dialed in to 98.6, I might still hear something, but not as clearly. If I''m at 98.5 FM, not only is the signal weaker, but I may be hearing some of the broadcast from 98.4. Once I realize that the signal has gotten weaker, I tune back in to 98.7.

I apply the same approach while using games to strengthen my connection with my intuition, and find myself experiencing what you described. What I realized is that, over time, I start to think of answers instead of intuiting them. When I notice that I'm trying to use logic and reason (tuned in to a different station), I take a break, breathe deeply, and then go back to the games. Usually, I start performing better.

Elise talks about the same thing in her intuitive reading training - cleaning the slate. Get back to a neutral state where your intuitive impressions are as clear and undistorted as possible.

@iimb-alicia

Thank you for your reply!

Now that you mention it -I really did go to logic, in other words started to think about answers as you wrote. Haven't noticed it back then. Could reason be that I became too exited then?

And how intuition feels? Haven't payed attention at it before, everything on autopilot. And what things do affect it in worse way?

Tuning in to my intuition takes focus, since thinking is usually what I'm doing. When I get tired or distracted, it's harder for me to focus and stay tuned in. Maybe excitement makes it harder for you, or maybe it's something else. Notice what you're experiencing the next time you notice that you've switch from intuiting to thinking.

For me, intuition feels like receiving instead of getting - like the difference between a ball being rolled to me (intuition) vs. running after a ball (thinking). I'd love to hear what it feels like to you, now that you're paying more attention.

@hermes:

You are right on. I have to have a clear mind and almost be in a day dream like state for intuition to correctly work. If I try to focus on making it work, it rarely does. And when I really busy or stressed, it definitely shuts down.

I've been reading recently how well our psychic minds work in pre-sleep or when you are waking up. Thinking about things intuitively while waking up can be a little tricky since most people are out of it then. But during pre-sleep when your head hits the pillow you can test out your intuitive mind with greater chance of success. Just throw in a topic of concern in your mind and allow your pre-sleep intuition to kick in. It can be quite amazing.

What about guessing something hidden? Like flipped cards? Or correct answers? Its more than just intuition, right?

@curious-child:

Aside from being empaths, we all have various psychic skills (as I'm sure you are aware). And you can develop these skills over time. I have a skill that is similar to yours that comes from the psychic side of things (but I'm not sure what to label it as other than maybe knowing). But if I am not directly thinking about something and hear a question that I normally would not know the answer to, quite often the correct answer will pop in my head. As an example, this happens quite often when I have a TV on in the background and I'm not really focused on it but do hear a question from a game show or whatever and immediately the answer pops up in my head. It's really fun. But is not something I control. Is this similar to what happens with you?

I don't remember something like that with TV shows, unless I heard answers I need to lock and pick up intuitively right one. That happened often.

But sometimes I just know stuff out of nowhere. Like when something breaks I just find correct spot easily where damage is. Or solving some puzzles without thinking at all very fast, of course the more complicated they are -the more time it takes. Or when kids play ball and kick it somewhere in forest, then they come to me to ask for help to find it I walk straight to that ball and find it without any directions told. But it happens sometimes, not all the time. I do often hear people say "How did you knew it/this/those were over there?" or "How did you find it?" or "Where did you learned that from?".

And thank you for all your replies <3

@curious-child:

You seem to have a pretty strong sense of intuition or knowing. I think that's a fun and useful skill to have. Does it work for you when you want to use it? Or are you like me where it really only works best subconsciously?

I also wonder since you seem to have directional intuition if you might be good at feeling people's physical pain? This works for me sometimes where I see someone who is trying to tough out something painful like cramps or an injury, and I can sense exactly where on their body the pain is coming from. This also works for me with my dogs where I can sense when there is stomach upset or joint pain and know where to locate it to help them. But this is a very minor skill for me that I need to work at to be more consistent.

@hop-daddy

It works for me when I don't think about it mostly. During these times I seem to accept that I was sensing it, when its successful. Like in that ball example. I walk at the edge of forest, then turn my head to left and walk a bit in left direction and stand, then even more left, few steps. After that I turn around and ball is there is bushes behind me.

When I think about it and analyze that "it could most likely be there". I just consider it as lucky guess.

I don't think I can feel peoples physical pain on distance. I mean when someone hits his finger with hammer -I do twitch and act like someone spooked me, startled me. Mostly I feel something in back of my neck when this happening, some kind of tension and also in my chest. Inside my chest I also feel a bit, like I winds blown out everything out of there and its empty for a moment. But if you talk about do I feel same pain in finger -I am not sure. It usually comes to me later when I think about finger being hit by hammer. I think its more about that I imagine the pain other person has, not actually feel it. I think its more like with HSP, not empath. Yet again in that case I feel some kind "special attention" at my finger then. Like its some separate special body part.

About sensing pain in other people. I often was told that I sense it correctly with my hands. As I wrote you before -they are very hot...Even now I look at flat side of my hand and its more red, not normal skin color. When I shake hands of other people -their hands are almost always colder. I met only few people in my life who had same temperature of hands like mine. And I really enjoy touching cold hands or objects. My friends and my mother was telling me that I sense exactly where they got pains on shoulders or back. I do it by hovering my hands close to body and try to find spots that are different from others. Sometimes they are colder, sometimes hotter, sometimes I just feel that I must put my hand here. I really cant say if this is actually true or not. But its like this.

There is a lot of good advice here. Eessentially, what it comes down to being able achieve "mindlessness". The point where you are not concerned about outcome or question why or how it happens. We stop thinking it through and simply do it. Finding lost things is a good way to practice. We just go to them without thinking. It's like your spirit already knows where everything is and all you have to do is get your mind out of the way. Intuition works in the same way. You have to believe and let go of any emotional reaction to the information that naturally comes to you. It grows as you gain confidence in it. You can practice mindlessness through meditation. 

Thank you for all your good responses. Gave me a lot to work with for now <3