A rock sits heavy in the pit of your stomach. You're not sure what to do. Have you ever had the gut feeling that you should hold off a little longer when you're looking to buy something specific? Your intuition is telling you that there is something better around the corner and yet you've done your research. You've comparison shopped and this is the very best deal that you've found to date. So you ignore that gut feeling and purchase it anyway. Then a few days later there it is, a better deal. Sometimes you actually have the opportunity to acquire this item for free from a friend or relative. If you had just trusted in your own instinct, you could have saved yourself a bundle of money. But now it's too late.
Alternately, have you ever found something that you were sure was a smokin' good deal but did not act upon it? Everything felt right about purchasing it but then out of the blue you were plagued by a nagging feeling. Something was telling you that you should just hold off for a little while longer. You thought to yourself that the price was sure to come down. Or maybe there was a better deal out there somewhere. So you waited, hoping for that deal to come around. But it never did. Instead of the prices coming down, they actually went up! You kicked yourself because you had just missed out on the deal of the century.
So how can you distinguish these feelings that you are having? Is it your psychic ability coming through, or is it fear? How can you trust your feelings?
Self doubt sets in each time we have an experience that is less than successful. We don't know what to believe. However the opposite is also true. After a few successes in following our inner nudges we begin to trust the process once again. How can we tell when a nudge is coming from our psychic guide or resulting from fear?
Practice and attention! It's a matter of recognizing that particular feeling of energy that you are experiencing at the time. You may say that they both feel the same. The reality is they don't exactly. When you really pay attention to every single nuance of the feeling you are experiencing, and compare those feelings with others that you have had in a different situation, you find that the feelings are actually very different.
A trick to discovering these differences is in paying close attention to how you are feeling and then writing it down. Keep a small notebook with you and write down exactly what is happening at the time. What specific areas of your body are being affected? Where are you emotionally? How are the circumstances in your life right now? Take note of absolutely everything that you can think of right down to those that may seem insignificant to you. Take note of what you have eaten during the day. What clothes are you wearing? Is your body healthy and strong or are you feeling tired.
Once the situation has concluded write that down too. What decision did you make, and what was the outcome? Did you decipher your feelings correctly or did you judge incorrectly? Either way, it doesn't matter for this exercise. Right now you are simply doing research. Take some time to read what you have written about how you were feeling and everything that was happening at the time. Now that you know the outcome it will be very clear to you where your strong points are in recognizing your feelings and where you need to make adjustments.
This is one route to follow in identifying which path to take at any given point. The truth is that there are many tools at our disposal when we need to make a decision. Here is another that I have found to be incredibly useful.
Keep a dream journal. Pay attention to the messages you are receiving during sleep. With the ego out of the way , it is absolutely amazing how things can become far clearer to you. This can be done in the following way:
Before you go to sleep make a conscious decision that YOU WILL REMEMBER SOME OF WHAT YOU DREAM. Repeat this to yourself once or twice before you fall asleep. The more times that you repeat this thought, the more effective it will be. In doing this it will strengthen the idea within your subconscious mind and help you to remember your intention upon waking. Once you have thought about this for a while then think about the decision you have to make. Tell yourself firmly that when you awake you will have the answer. Then, when you feel ready, simply let the thought go and fall asleep as usual.
The trick to remembering your dreams is to quickly catch them in the net of your conscious mind as soon as you wake up. For some people this comes easily, but for others it is a little more difficult and may take numerous attempts. It is a good idea to commit to your dream journal for at least a month in order to give yourself a fair chance to notice a difference. Before you rise, think about these dream memories for a few moments. REMEMBER THEM. Solidify them in your mind, then get up and immediately write those memories down, in point form only. Otherwise you might find yourself writing a book each and every morning. I did this for a while but found it to be quite tiresome. Write down any details that happen to stick out in your mind.
Where do you think you were: Indoors or out? Were you with other people: who were they or what did they look like? What was the atmosphere like? What was happening to you and to those around you? How did you feel? Write down anything that appears to be an important detail and everything that shines like a beacon in your memory, including how you felt. Occasionally I find that all I am able to recall is the feeling I am left with when I wake. No other details or conscious memories of events are present. This is ok and needs to be written down too. If you do this every time that you wake from a sleep, before you know it you will discover that you are dreaming in far greater detail and you are remembering these details with greater ease.
With a little dream journal practice along with consciously identifying your feelings I am sure that within a very short period of time you will find that you can easily distinguish between the feeling of fear and the inner nudge that is leading you in the right direction.
These techniques can be used in every single area of your life, including saving money by following that inner knowing of whether you should act or not. This applies to simple things, like buying a new outfit just the same as it applies to very large purchases like buying a new home. All that it takes is time, attention and practice.