5 Ways We Block Our Intuition

Learning to hear our intuition clearly is a life-long journey! I talk about this stuff and I’m still refining everyday.

I think that’s the fun part, there is always more to learn about ourselves and how we can approach the world more mindfully.

I’ve already explored how to tune into your intuition in previous posts, having practical exercises can be helpful but it can also be useful to know the ways you might be blocking intuition too.

A lot of people do the exercises, do the meditations and still feel distinctly stuck.

In this post I want to go over the five most common blockages to intuition I’ve experienced personally and seen in my work.

Why can’t I hear my intuition?

Not being able to hear our intuition clear is one of the most frustrating things.

It can be disheartening to experience blockages in your intuition when it seems other people can hear and follow it so well. We can feel we’ll never get to their level.

I’ve faced this comparison trap in the past, and I know how difficult it can be to shake it.

However it’s important to realize that being aware of a blockage is a positive. It means you know that when something is misaligned. This can be a shift in awareness in itself!

You cannot change something if you don’t notice it, and a lot of people don’t. We get stuck when we start to believe we are somehow the odd one out, when in reality, so many struggle with the same thing and many have been there before too.

1) Thinking in dichotomies

The first way that we block or miss our own intuition is by thinking in dichotomies. We give ourselves ultimatums when a difficult situation arises – I have to do either this or that.

Here’s the thing about intuition, it doesn’t just offer us two paths! Intuition is a multi-dimensional sense, which means it doesn’t just take into account the physical situation in front of us, but the energy behind it.

There are always many ways in which we can achieve the same goal. Often we are presented with two options in life. Quit the job or stay. Continue this relationship or leave. At least it can feel that way.

Taking a wider view on things we might have two distinct options, but there are always other things to consider. When you are presented with two options by someone, remember that you do not have to think in the same way they do.

I’m not talking about ignoring someone’s boundaries, but considering your options fully not just those presented to you. Often it is our own mind that does this.

Ask yourself if you are considering the energy behind a situation before making any decisions.

2) Giving yourself deadlines

This is similar to giving ourselves dichotomies, in that it involves looking at things purely from the physical or 3D rather than from the energetic or 5D.

A lot of these mindset shifts are subtle because practically speaking it can make sense to do these things!

We’re not always going to be able to think as multi-dimensionally as we’d like, real life can present us with a lot of pressure. However, little by little, we can make a shift into better discernment by asking ourselves these questions.

I’m someone who loves working with numbers, I didn’t like Maths at school as a course but I did very well in it. I’m always giving myself little deadlines, and this is an area I’m working on too.

Things may take a certain amount of time physically and that is ok, but it is the attachment to deadlines that restricts our energy.

The next time you feel time-pressured bring a little more focus to the energy you are presently embodying, ground into that.

3) Maintaining draining relationships

This is an important one that often isn’t easy to hear.

There have been many times in my life where I have let go of a draining relationship, and suddenly all areas in my life improve.

The relationships I’m referring to here specifically, aren’t incredibly toxic or harmful relationships, just ones that aren’t aligned. This is why it’s so difficult for people to notice.

When people aren’t directly harming us, it can be easy to overlook that they are distracting us.

It’s not about them it’s about us. When we are maintaining these sorts of relationships, we’re also probably slacking on self-care. We’re allowing boundaries to slip in all areas of our life. Relationships affect our work lives too!

Normalize moving away from someone, not just because they’re harmful but because they simply don’t align – there doesn’t have to be this huge judgement going on.

4) Relying on signs

This is such a huge pattern I notice online because a lot of ‘spiritual’ content replicates other types of content on the internet.

There always has to be more ‘stuff’ to share, post, dissect. There’s always a new collective energy reading or event to look forward to, a lot of people approach this in an imbalanced way.

Seeing repeating numbers is a sign that your spiritual awareness is coming online. Signs can be helpful in guiding us to our path. However, they are not everything.

If you’re finding it difficult to tune into your own intuition, then perhaps spend a few days off social media or even asking anyone for advice.

Tune into the messages you’ve already received. Meditate on signs that you’ve ignored. Go back a bit, to paths that you’ve not fully explored. Trust that the signs & synchronicities you need will come when required.

Ask for signs as confirmation for what you already know or for a little redirection, rather than relying on them all the time. Trust that what you need to know is going to come up if you are present.

This also applies to booking one tarot reading after another or scrolling social media to find the exact message you’re hoping for. Wanting a sign is the sign! Act on what you know to be true.

5) Rushing

This sounds similar to giving yourself deadlines, but here I am taking more broadly.

Spiritual development presents us with this interesting conflict – the less we hold on the more we gain.

When we are aggressively searching for an answer it evades us. If you went to a friend’s house and starting banging on their door ferociously to get them to open up, there’s a chance they would but it’s equally likely they wouldn’t, assuming you were someone else.

We can scare away our intuition in the same way, and in many ways intuition is like a friend.

Get ok with not knowing! Practice surrender. If you can’t hear your intuition right now, no worries, nothing changes anyway. Create the most quiet, peaceful, calming space you can internally and sit with yourself.

Practice gratitude for everything going right in your life however small. Imagine yourself as a magnet – the answer is coming, I am not chasing it.

A lot of people get too logical about the intuition. Don’t get me wrong, intuition is incredibly logical (you notice this the more you follow it) but not in the way we tend to think.

This means leaning into the masculine energy in an imbalanced way – expecting the intuition to give us a date, time, name and location.

Following our intuition is all about surrender, so if those detail arrive in a timely manner great, but otherwise we can trust that everything will be revealed in divine timing.

I hope these subtle mindset shifts are helpful on your journey.