There is so much advice out there it can be really difficult to navigate.
Advice about hormones.
Advice about relationships.
Advice about food.
Advice about exercise.
Advice about sleep.
Advice about boundaries.
Advice about careers.
Advice about parenting.
Advice about happiness itself.
Sometimes it feels as though everyone has an opinion about how you should be living your life. And while some of that advice is useful, thoughtful and genuinely supportive, there comes a point where too much information starts creating a different problem.
Noise.
The kind of noise that makes it difficult to hear yourself think.
The kind of noise that leaves you second-guessing every decision.
The kind of noise that makes you wonder whether youâve lost touch with your intuition altogether.
I hear women say this surprisingly often.
âI donât know what my intuition is telling me anymore.â
âI donât trust myself to make decisions.â
âI canât tell whatâs fear and whatâs instinct.â
âI genuinely donât know what I want.â
But I donât think intuition disappears nearly as often as people think it does.
Yes I think it gets drowned out, like birdsong beside a motorway. But the birds are still singing, itâs just difficult to hear them.
The wisdom beneath the noise
When we talk about intuition, people often imagine something mystical.
A lightning bolt.
A sudden certainty.
A dramatic knowing.
Sometimes it can feel like that but more often, though, intuition is surprisingly ordinary. It arrives quietly - something like a small tug. A feeling. A sense of ease. A subtle resistance.A moment where something inside you whispers âoh noâ or âthis feels right.â
Long before your mind has gathered enough evidence to explain why.
The challenge is that most of us have been taught to prioritise thinking over sensing.
To analyse.
Research.
Compare.
Gather more information.
Seek more opinions.
And whilst all of those things have their place, they can sometimes pull us further away from the very thing weâre looking for. Our own inner knowing.
What somatic wisdom teaches us
One of the things I love about somatic work is that it invites us to stop treating the body as a vehicle for carrying the brain around.
The body is constantly communicating.
Every moment of every day.
Through breath.
Through tension.
Through energy.
Through sensation.
Through instinct.
Long before we consciously understand a situation, our nervous system is already responding to it.
Think about the last time you walked into a room and instantly felt uncomfortable. Nobody had said anything. Nothing obvious had happened. Yet your body knew something.
Or perhaps youâve met someone and immediately felt safe with them.
Again, no analysis.
No spreadsheet.
No pros and cons list.
Just a quiet knowing.
The body is incredibly intelligent. The problem is that many of us have learned to override its signals.
Especially us women.
We are often encouraged to be accommodating. Reasonable. Flexible. Pleasant. âLow maintenanceâ.
To explain away discomfort.
To ignore tiredness.
To push through resistance.
To convince ourselves we âshouldâ want something.
And over time, it becomes harder to recognise the difference between what genuinely feels right and what simply feels familiar.
What does a âyesâ actually feel like?
One of the biggest misconceptions about intuition is that a yes always feels exciting.
It doesnât always.
Sometimes a yes feels joyful. Sometimes it feels energising. But often it feels something much quieter.
A sense of relief or calm. A deep exhale. A softening of tension in the body. A feeling of spaciousness.
You may notice:
Your shoulders relax.
Your stomach settles.
Your jaw unclenches.
Your mind becomes quieter.
You stop trying to persuade yourself.
You stop arguing with yourself.
There is simply a sense of:
âAh.â
Not always certainty. But enough to take the next step.
And what does a ânoâ feel like?
A no is often easier to recognise in hindsight.
Itâs the thing you kept talking yourself into.
The opportunity you endlessly justified.
The commitment that felt heavy before it even began.
The invitation that left you feeling tired just thinking about it.
A no often feels like contraction. Not fear. Contraction.
The chest tightens.
The stomach feels uneasy.
The body becomes heavy.
Your energy drops.
You repeatedly find yourself creating arguments for why you should do it.
Sometimes I think one of the biggest clues is this:
If you have to keep building a legal defence for a decision, your body may already know it isnât a yes.
When intuition feels completely absent
Of course, there are times when none of this feels accessible.
When life is busy.
Stress is high.
Hormones are fluctuating.
Sleep is poor.
Emotions are running close to the surface.
At times like these, intuition can feel frustratingly distant not because it has gone anywhere but because the nervous system is overloaded.
Itâs difficult to hear a whisper when everything around you is shouting.
This is why creating space matters.
Not because space magically provides answers.
But because it reduces the noise.
And often, once the noise settles, the knowing was there all along.
A simple exercise to try this week
Think about a decision youâre currently facing.
It doesnât need to be life-changing.
Perhaps itâs a commitment.
An opportunity.
A conversation.
A purchase.
A plan.
Now sit somewhere quiet.
Close your eyes.
Take three slow breaths.
Imagine yourself saying yes.
Not analysing.
Just imagining.
Then notice:
What happens in your chest?
Your shoulders?
Your stomach?
Your breathing?
Your energy?
Now imagine saying no.
Again, simply notice.
No judgement.
No interpretation.
Just curiosity.
Very often, the body responds before the mind catches up.
Five ways to strengthen your intuition
1. Stop asking everybody else first
Sometimes we seek opinions before weâve even checked in with ourselves.
Try asking yourself first.
You can always seek advice afterwards.
2. Delay the decision
Not every question requires an immediate answer.
Space often reveals clarity.
3. Spend time without input
No podcasts.
No scrolling.
No researching.
Just a walk.
A brew.
A quiet hour.
The nervous system needs silence occasionally.
4. Notice patterns
One feeling can be misleading.
Repeated feelings are information.
Pay attention to what consistently leaves you feeling lighter or heavier.
5. Trust small knowings
You donât need certainty.
You only need the next step.
Most intuition arrives one step at a time.
A reflection for this week
If you have a notebook nearby, or even a few quiet moments to yourself, sit with this question:
Where in my life am I waiting for certainty when I already have a quiet knowing?
And perhaps:
What happens when I stop searching for the loudest answer and start listening for the quietest one?
The quieter path to happiness
Perhaps happiness isnât always found in having all the answers.
Perhaps sometimes it arrives when we stop fighting ourselves.
When we stop trying to think our way through everything.
When we stop assuming somebody else knows us better than we know ourselves.
And when we begin trusting that the small, steady voice within us might be wiser than we realise.
It may not shout.
It may not demand attention.
But it has been travelling with you through every season of your life.
Patiently waiting for a little more space.
A little more quiet.
And a little more trust.
A gentle next step
If this prompt resonated with you, and youâd like a little support reconnecting with your own voice, your own wisdom and what genuinely helps you feel lighter, calmer and more like yourself, Iâd love to welcome you into The Lighter Way Collective.
Itâs a gentle space for women who are tired of conflicting advice, tired of pushing, and ready to explore a softer, more sustainable path to wellbeing.
You can find out more here.
Until next week, be gentle with yourself - and donât underestimate the wisdom that already lives within you. đ§Ąï»ż
