5 Quick Ways to Hone Your Intuition
You don’t need a crystal ball or a spooky childhood story to know you’re intuitive.
But you do need to practice it.
This week, we’re back with Part 2 of our deep dive into intuition, psychic gifts, and mediumship. Because if last week cracked open the door to possibility... this week, we’re walking you through it with your stories, real-life chills, and practical ways to develop your own magic.
Here’s the truth: you’re not crazy for sensing things others miss. You’re just waking up to the parts of yourself that always knew.
watch full episode now!
Episode #11 - wE ARE ALL PSYCHICS, MEDIUMS & INTUITIVES part 2
Why Most People Miss Their Intuitive Gifts
Let’s start here: your brain is wired to filter out the unexplainable.
That’s not your fault. It’s literally how the human brain works.
One of our favorite examples? The 1998 Harvard study on change blindness, where participants didn’t notice when the person they were talking to switched out mid-conversation.
Seriously. One guy ducks under a counter, another guy stands up in his place... and the person on the other side doesn’t notice.
Why? Because the brain assumes it can’t be different, so it doesn’t even register the change.
This is what happens to your intuition every day. You get a subtle nudge, a weird dream, a passing sensation—and your logical mind goes, "Nah, that’s not real."
But what if... it is?
What if you’ve just been filtering out the parts of yourself that are trying to guide you?
Practice Makes Psychic
You wouldn’t expect to run a marathon without training. So why do we expect intuition to be perfect the first time?
Intuition is a muscle. The more you use it, the sharper it gets. Here are 5 quick ways to start strengthening yours:
1. Feel the Text
The next time your phone lights up with a text notification—but you haven’t read it yet—pause. Tune in. Ask yourself:
Is this good news, neutral, or not-so-great?
Don’t judge your answer. Just notice. Then open the message and see how close you were.
This one’s great because it’s low-stakes but high feedback.
2. The Threshold Exercise
Every time you walk into a new room (even in your own house), feel the energy shift.
Ask:
Is this space light or heavy?
Do I feel calm, tense, open, or rushed?
Over time, you’ll realize you’re picking up on energetic residue more than decor. (Yes, even in Target.)
3. The Compass Visualization
Have a decision to make? Visualize a compass in your mind. Tell your brain what each direction means—like right = yes, left = no.
Ask the question. Let your logical brain answer first. Then ask again—but this time, wait for your intuition to respond.
Watch what the needle does. That very first instinct? That’s your inner GPS.
4. Body Leaning
Not a visual thinker? Try this: Stand still, ground your feet, and ask your question. Then notice—does your body lean forward (yes) or backward (no)?
It’s subtle, but your body knows. It’s been trying to answer you all along.
5. Psychic For a Day
Pick a friend. Ask for permission to tune in. Then, pretend you’re their psychic.
What do you see, feel, hear, or know about them? Say it out loud without filtering.
You’ll be shocked how often you’re right—even if you “make it up.”
Track Your Hits
Like any skill, tracking builds trust.
So keep a note on your phone, or voice memo, or (if you’re Elise) a color-coded spreadsheet—and write this down every time:
What was your intuitive hit?
How did it come through? (Feeling, image, dream, word?)
What happened next? Did it play out?
The more you record it, the more confidence you build—and the faster your intuition strengthens.
Flip the Assumption
Here’s a trick that changes everything:
Stop assuming “only some people are psychic.” Start assuming everyone is.
You’ll notice more. Receive more. You’ll stop filtering and start feeling.
Because honestly? You’ve always had this. We all do.
It’s just been buried under layers of logic, fear, and "don’t be dramatic."
Let’s bring it back.
Your Stories: Intuition In Real Life
We read listener stories on the podcast this week that had us SOBBING, but here are a few we can’t stop thinking about:
The Stroke Call
Stephanie from Oklahoma pulled over with a gut feeling to call her dad. Turns out—he was having a stroke. She got him help in time. That nudge? It saved his life.
The Cabin From a Dream
Cassie from Boulder kept dreaming of a lakeside cabin she’d never seen before. One day, she found it on Zillow—and now runs art retreats from the exact spot. Dream → download → destiny.
The Lavender Warning
Danielle from Minneapolis kept smelling lavender—only she could smell it—and started tracking it. One night she dreamed of her sister in a car crash. Begged her not to drive. That day, her sister avoided a 3-car pileup on her normal route.
And our favorite, tear-jerking finale:
The Dream That Waited 19 Years
Michelle from Seattle had a vivid dream of her family on a beach—mom, dad, and four daughters. But when her fourth child was born, it was a boy. Nineteen years later, that son came out as transgender. Michelle saw her daughter’s face in that old dream, finally making sense of what she’d always known.
We’re still crying.
Final Reminder: Intuition Isn’t Magic, It’s Memory
You’re not making it up. You’re not crazy. And you’re not alone.
You’re just remembering who you were before the world told you not to be.
So keep playing the games. Keep testing the nudges. Keep tracking your wins.
And when your moment comes—the one you can’t explain but can’t ignore—you’ll be ready.
Your gifts aren’t new. They’re just waiting to be noticed.
Want to be featured in a future episode?
Send your story (voice or text) to: stories@trustyourselfpodcast.com
Until next time—
It’s your move, sis. Make it count. ✨
Full Transcript:
Elise AKA Sissy (00:00)
lalalalal
Heidi (00:02)
Okay, get it out. do it.
For generations, women were shamed for trusting themselves, sensing things before they happened, and believing in their own power. No one encouraged them to embrace it until now. Welcome to Trust Yourself. ⁓
Elise AKA Sissy (00:20)
Last week we talked about what it means to be an intuitive, a psychic, a medium, or all three, right? But today we're going to talk more about how to hone those gifts and give you some fun examples from stories that you have written in. Thank you so much. I'm actually really stoked to get to this part. So, okay. So our goal of reading these stories is just to, to help you see that these are innate abilities.
Everyone has a story. Some are small, some are big, some are Teresa Caputo size, some are like, this just happened yesterday. I had the little hunch that, you know, something is going to happen and it did. Yay. ⁓
Heidi (01:00)
But here's the deal, no story's too big and no story's too small for us to share it. So true. So send in your stories, please. We love this. This is so exciting to read.
Elise AKA Sissy (01:11)
Right. And like I said last week, I was just a girl drawing building details, but yet I could have dreams and get messages from grandparents. Just trust it. Just believe it. Yes. So let's start first with some games to practice because it's really important that we practice this because we're really pushing the limits of our physical and mental beliefs. And usually
Heidi (01:23)
Suspend disbelief.
Elise AKA Sissy (01:41)
We don't believe what we don't see, so we need to practice feeling is believing, not seeing.
Heidi (01:48)
like the magic of Santa Claus.
Elise AKA Sissy (01:50)
That's actually sadly leaving our house now.
Heidi (01:54)
I know. We won't. Don't tell my kids yet. Ooh, they can't listen to this episode.
Elise AKA Sissy (01:58)
Sorry, kids. All right, so tying into that feeling is believing. There's a really, I think it's a hilarious experiment that was conducted by psychologists Daniel Simons and Daniel Levin at Harvard University to demonstrate change blindness. And yes, Heidi, it was done in 1998. However, however.
I think this study, this experiment is still super relevant and it's really funny.
Heidi (02:28)
⁓ my gosh.
Elise AKA Sissy (02:31)
And you know, we haven't changed as a species since 1998.
Heidi (02:35)
much. mean Pavlov still you know that that experiment still sticks so that makes sense. ⁓
Elise AKA Sissy (02:42)
Epilogical
experiment and it's really interesting. So they started this study. I believe it was at a hotel but an individual would approach the counter to check in ⁓ and then a person behind the counter would give them a consent form to sign and As they were signing that form the person behind the counter would duck down to go get something however a different individual would stand up to continue the interaction and guess what?
So many participants failed to notice that they were now speaking to a different person.
Heidi (03:17)
I have seen like similar studies or similar experiments like that and sometimes it's like a man and then it's a woman and it's completely different and they still don't know
Elise AKA Sissy (03:27)
Well, it is a very compelling example of the limitations of our perceptual awareness and how we overlook significant changes when we don't believe it to be true. Like, oh no, it just, has to be the same person, therefore I don't notice it.
Heidi (03:46)
They just bent down and just stood up again. So it's obviously the same human, right?
Elise AKA Sissy (03:51)
So apply this to intuition and we're going to miss so many signs if we doubt or if we assume only what I physically see is really true. So this is why it's really important to just challenge yourself and fun ways to do that are using some games. So Heidi and I do some of these games to practice our intuition and to really hone it. Take what you like. The first one is called feel the text. So anytime you get a text message, if
If you just see the notification pop up on your phone and you don't see the body of the text, just try and get a sense of that text and whether it is going to be a positive or uplifting text, if it's going to make you feel good, if it is maybe a neutral text, or if it's something that's going to stress you out, or if it's negative and really going to bring you down. And just get a sense of it, again, suspend disbelief and see and check yourself. It's a really quick, easy way to
have a feeling, get an intuitive feeling on it and check to see if that was actually accurate. And don't judge yourself if it was right or wrong, but just keep practicing it. See what happens. Another one is the threshold exercise. And this one you can do even in your own house. You can do it when you go to a different building. What it's doing is that every time you walk over a threshold, try and gauge the energy shift in the room because each room may have
a different, like we talked about an energetic soup, a different feeling in that room. Maybe something negative happened in here that somebody just had a really bad conversation and the vibes, the feelings just off versus when you go back to a different office or something, maybe it's a little bit more light and airy. Try and judge the feeling and just notice how it changes with each room that you go into. Then another one is the compass exercise.
So this one's fun if you have a decision that you need to make, ⁓ which I'm really bad at making decisions, so I do this one quite often. It could be a really simple decision. Do I have cake or coffee? Wait, cake or coffee?
Heidi (06:02)
I mean, always cake. And you say, always coffee. ⁓ God, I love cake.
Elise AKA Sissy (06:07)
I want cake and coffee right now.
But if you have to make a decision or if ⁓ there's like a yes, no question that you're trying to answer, visualize a compass in your head and tell that compass, okay, when I see the arrow pointing to the right, that means yes, or that means A in the decision. And if it's pointing to the left, that means no, or that means B in the decision. And then
First, what's really important to do is to let your ego, let your prefrontal cortex decide the decision first. So ask the question and say, okay, logical brain, what should I do? A or B, yes or no? And watch the compass go one way or another because if you let your ego have a voice, then they'll be okay to sit back for a second. they can... Get your ass down.
Heidi (06:58)
sit down and shut up. Shhh.
Spoken now, just be quiet.
Elise AKA Sissy (07:03)
And now let your intuition answer. So then watch again and very carefully judge what your needle is doing in your in your brain as you visualize this needle move watch the very first movement Does it go slightly to the right or slightly to the left? Does it sway the complete opposite direction as your ego? It could do that But take that as your first intuitive hit and then play that out. See what happens
Heidi (07:30)
If
it just sits there and spins around. And then it's like the magic eight ball where it's like, ask again.
Elise AKA Sissy (07:33)
Well then, I don't know.
Could be, yeah. I don't know, I've never had it spin. Great, now it's gonna spin every time I do this. Okay, and another thing is sometimes if people aren't comfortable or don't visualize things very easily, I know it's easier for some to see things in their third eye or in their brain than others. So if you're not one that visualizes easily, try noticing how your body leans instead. So again, the same thing, ask those questions, but notice.
Heidi (07:46)
You're welcome.
Elise AKA Sissy (08:07)
When you ask the question, does your body lean forward or backward and establish a decision for one side or the other. So say, before you do this question, say, yes is forward and no is backwards. And with the very slightest of lean, just feel into your body's gut reaction. What does it want to do forward or backwards? And then another one that we love to do is play psychic for a day with your friends, with your family. And just like I did with Sean, my husband,
Yes, I know almost everything about him, but if you're going to play psychic, ask to receive information about your friend or about your husband that only they know and you don't know and see what happens. See, do you get a visual of something? Do you get a word? Do you get a phrase, a feeling and just let it come out and talk to your friend about it and see what they have to say about it? It might surprise you.
Heidi (09:02)
You know what I was just thinking about back to the study that you were talking about. I just had a thought of, you know, it's almost like a law of assumption. And if you just assume only psychic people can get these things, then you'll never really open up to it. But if you assume that everyone is psychic, maybe then you can actually start receiving things. So just kind of switch it in your brain too of like assume you can instead of assuming you can't.
Elise AKA Sissy (09:28)
99
% sorry we're starting to say 99 % now because I said 100 % way too much in the last steps.
Heidi (09:36)
99.9
%
Elise AKA Sissy (09:38)
Absolutely,
I agree that that totally makes sense. I love it. So also while you're doing these games, use an intuition tracker and that can be as simple as a spreadsheet, right? Or just mark down
Heidi (09:50)
I'm
sorry, spreadsheet is not simple, Sissy. I thought you were about to say, just use the notes app in your phone, and you're like, it's simple, just use a spreadsheet. We are so opposite. ⁓
Elise AKA Sissy (09:53)
I'm so
⁓
For the type A people that love spreadsheets, it's super simple. Type B, Justin notes app in your phone. Absolutely.
Heidi (10:11)
Yeah, or a voice recorder. That's what I would do too.
Elise AKA Sissy (10:15)
better.
A piece of paper by the side of your bed. Write down the date when you get an intuitive hit. How you got it. What did it feel like? you receive the information as a visual? Did you get a gut feeling? Did you get goosebumps? ⁓ And then what that information was and maybe just some notes like follow through. it play out? Did it actually
lead you to something good or maybe you won't know, but just keep notes on that. And then the more you keep tracking it, the more you're going to start trusting yourself. And again, like these, these intuitive moments are just going to keep happening more often and it's going to be so.
Heidi (10:54)
And then ⁓
Elise AKA Sissy (10:56)
Exactly.
Nice segue, Heidi. And then you can give us these wonderful stories, which we are now going to read because we want you to know that this is for everyone. This first one is from Stephanie in Oklahoma. was driving home and I had this urgent feeling in my gut, like I needed to call my dad right now. We talk maybe once a week and it wasn't our typical day for talking, but I pulled over and gave him a call anyway.
He answered, but something was really off. His speech was slurred. I told him to hang up and call 911. Turned out he was having a stroke. He got to the hospital in time and the doctors said it saved his life. I knew something was wrong before anything happened and now I trust my gut like it's the gospel. That's intense.
Heidi (11:42)
Ugh, that gave me chills.
Man, those little nudges, they make sense.
Elise AKA Sissy (11:48)
Well, and
even little things, like I sometimes get the feeling to call my friend and she'll be like, my gosh, I was just thinking about you, but it didn't save her life, but.
Heidi (11:57)
Well, you can't win all of them. I have one. I have one from Cassie from Boulder, Colorado. She says, kept having the same dream where I was standing in a cabin in the woods looking out at this giant lake. I had never seen this place before, but the feeling of peace was overwhelming. I journaled about it for months. Then one day scrolling Zillow, like we do, there it was the cabin, the cabin. I convinced my husband to take a weekend trip and we ended up buying it.
Elise AKA Sissy (11:59)
Heidi, do you have one?
Heidi (12:26)
I quit my corporate job, started painting again, and now run art retreats from that exact house. That dream changed everything. Ugh, that's like my dream. I want that.
Elise AKA Sissy (12:38)
Cassie, let us know where your art retreats are. I want to sign up.
Heidi (12:41)
I want to go. I'm there. It's amazing. Well, and as you know, we've healed our Colorado aversion. So I'll definitely go.
Elise AKA Sissy (12:49)
All right, this one's from Amanda in Omaha, Nebraska.
15 minutes later, shit hit the fan. This man was standing on my front porch, didn't ring the doorbell, but he was trying to open the door. I froze. He stayed there for about 15 minutes, trying to get in multiple different times, multiple different ways. What the fuck? Terrifying. I called the cops. I'm getting goosebumps all over. He left a sharpened branch, hard candies, and an orange peel on my front porch. The cops eventually came and took him in.
Heidi (13:37)
same. Oh, that's scary.
Elise AKA Sissy (13:47)
And they called me and told me that it turns out he lives in our neighborhood and he is a medicated but paranoid schizophrenic, but sometimes forgets to take his medication. And when he does, he can get extremely violent. He's been called on a few times before. So this was most definitely my intuition screaming at me to be on alert. So glad I locked the door. You imagine.
Heidi (14:07)
Damn, Amanda. you?
Fuck, no, that's absolutely terrifying, but yay intuition. Oh my God. Intuition saves lives, people.
Elise AKA Sissy (14:15)
Intuition for the win!
Okay, another t-shirt. ⁓
Heidi (14:22)
Tuition
saves lives. Who wants to buy that tea? I'm gonna rock it for sure. do. I'll buy it. I'll buy it for myself. Okay, next one. This is called the lavender warning from Danielle in Minneapolis. I never thought of myself as psychic. I'm a therapist, pretty rational, and always chalked things up to coincidence until this happened. A few years ago, I started randomly smelling lavender in my house. It would hit me out of nowhere in the hallway, the kitchen, even the car.
No one else smelled it. I don't wear lavender perfume. I don't even like lavender. I love lavender. But every time I smelled it, it reminded me of my grandma who passed. I started journaling each time it happened just to track it. I even joked that this felt like she needed to tell me something. One night after a particularly strong lavender wave hit me while brushing my teeth, I had a dream about my sister getting into a car accident. It was so vivid, I woke up sweating. ⁓
Elise AKA Sissy (14:56)
I'm
Heidi (15:18)
I called her the next morning and begged her not to drive to work. She laughed it off, but promised to take the light rail instead. That afternoon, she called me really shook up. She'd left work early and saw a huge accident on her normal route. Three cars were involved. After that, the lavender stopped. Just gone. I haven't smelt it since. It could have been a huge coincidence, but I certainly don't think so. That was the moment I stopped doubting myself.
I still don't know how it works, but I now pay attention to the subtleties, the sensations, and the nudges. You go Danielle. Intuition saves lives. I think we need to make it a shirt. That's insane. These are so cool.
Elise AKA Sissy (15:55)
Yes.
They're sisters for real.
These are so good, you guys. Here's another one. It's not about saving a life, but it is just as good. And I might tear up reading it. ⁓ okay. This is from Michelle in Seattle.
Heidi (16:17)
my god, she's already crying.
Elise AKA Sissy (16:19)
It's called the dream that waited 19 years. Okay, I'm fine. I'm fine. You're fine.
Heidi (16:25)
I'm gonna cry aren't I? If you're gonna cry, I'm gonna cry.
Elise AKA Sissy (16:28)
Okay, when I was pregnant with my fourth child, whoo, good job, girl. I had the most vivid dream. So real, it felt like a memory. In it, I was standing on a beach laughing with my husband and four daughters. The sun was golden, the water was calm, the girls were twirling around so happy. I saw all of their faces in detail. I knew they were my daughters. A family of six, four beautiful girls. I woke up.
beaming and told my husband, my God, it's a girl. saw her. She's so beautiful.
Heidi (17:02)
⁓ I'm not crying, you're crying.
Elise AKA Sissy (17:06)
But, spoiler alert, it was a boy. A beautiful baby boy, and I was a little confused, but I loved him fiercely, and of course I couldn't shake that dream. I even felt a little guilty for mourning a version of our family that never came. I packed it away and chalked it up to pregnancy hormones.
Heidi (17:26)
Yeah, they got some weird ass dreams when you're pregnant, so...
Elise AKA Sissy (17:29)
Yeah,
flash forward 19 years. My fourth child, my boy, came up to us and explained that he was transgender and that he would now be a she, that she'd always known that she was finally ready to live as the girl. He's crying.
Heidi (17:46)
It's okay. I love it.
Elise AKA Sissy (17:49)
that she was finally ready to live as the girl she is inside. ⁓ The moment she told me that that old dream hit me like a tidal wave. I saw her face and suddenly it all made sense. Today, I'm looking at a framed photo sitting above our fireplace, our whole family standing on the beach, arms wrapped around each other, four beautiful women, one deeply proud dad, and me, the mom who knew all along.
Heidi (18:18)
Okay, we are not using this clip video because we are just blubbering over here.
Elise AKA Sissy (18:24)
I'm writing this with tears in my eyes, not out of sadness, but out of awe. Intuition is real. It's not just a gut feeling. Sometimes it's a whisper that stays with you for two decades, just waiting to be understood. I trust it now more than ever. Michelle!
Heidi (18:41)
Michelle, so many hugs. I just want to like have a cry hug circle with you because not of like sad tears again, like just these happy tears. is so cute. I love that. Okay, you saved like the most emotional for last, which I'm glad because I don't think I could read anymore after that. ⁓ That was amazing, you guys. Thank you so, so much for sending those in.
Elise AKA Sissy (18:51)
In awe. ⁓
Heidi (19:07)
Please continue to do so. Email us stories at trustyourselfpodcast.com. Link is in the show notes. Send us a DM or email us. It doesn't matter. Either way, we'd love to hear your stories, big or small, long or short, whatever you'd like to do. But this is something really fun that I hope we get to continue to do because I think everybody is gonna like hearing these, but you can really help somebody, right? Just you write in one story and
a listener will hear it and maybe that is what they needed to start trusting themselves or maybe they have a very similar story and then it gets them to open up and talk about it. So you never know who you can help with your stories but I truly believe sharing stories is how you help other people.
Elise AKA Sissy (19:52)
Well said, Heidi. I totally agree. So now I think it's time for our Tarot
Heidi (19:59)
Okay guys, let's see what we've got. What is our energy of the week? What do we need to focus on as a collective?
Elise AKA Sissy (20:08)
My energy is on intuition, saving lives.
Heidi (20:12)
Seriously, my energy this week has been on Divine Feminine and just really engaging in that. I got a new goddess necklace, the goddess Yamaeya. Gosh. Or Yamaya. I'm just totally saying that wrong. It's Yamaya. But yeah, Divine Feminine, Mother Goddess of the Ocean. Definitely. Anyways, so we got a few cards that came out. All right, so we got four cards. Okay, let's see. this is beautiful, actually. So the first card...
that we got was the Emperor, which is all about focus and stability. And the deck that I'm using has animals on it. And this is a cougar, right? That's a cougar. All right. So, you know, focusing on stability, to me, it's also showing a lot of power, like your own inner power as well. ⁓ And then three of acorns, which is the traditional three of pentacles, which is shown as a giraffe here.
Elise AKA Sissy (20:50)
good guy.
Heidi (21:08)
all about foresight and exploration. And this one, like giraffe is my spirit animal. So to me, it always is about kind of leading with your heart, but holding your head high and having enough foresight and vision. Cause you know, your giraffes are the tallest animal, right? So they can, they can see for miles and miles. So to me, it's all, it's, this is my intuition card. So this is telling me we need to focus on our intuition, hold ourselves tall and go forward with our heart.
And then we got the Sun, which is beautiful, all about vitality and joy, represented here by a hummingbird. It's a beautiful card as well.
Elise AKA Sissy (21:47)
Isn't that also a yes card? Like if you have a decision, it's like, yes, do it.
Heidi (21:52)
It is a yes card. Absolutely. And it's all just about that joy and then feeling that happiness and that light inside of you. And I love that we're ending this poll with a transformation, this transformation card. It's number 13 represented here by a cicada. Obviously cicadas, they go hibernate for a while and then they come out, they transform, they shed their skin, all about transitions, liberation.
So to me, this is all saying like own your power, tap into your intuition, let your joy shine and watch how you transform. So, ooh, I just got chilies again. Goosey!
Elise AKA Sissy (22:32)
And speaking of transformation, you're watching on YouTube, you can see Heidi's wearing a butterfly sweatshirt, which I just realized.
Heidi (22:40)
Yes, radiate ⁓
Elise AKA Sissy (22:46)
anyone's looking for a butterfly sign. This is
Heidi (22:48)
That
you guys, transformation is happening on such a massive level. I can just feel the shift of all of these women starting to embody this divine feminine power. And it's not necessarily to like take over and just be like women everything. think it's. I'm OK with that too. But I like what I've been hearing and what I've been talking to other people about too is like.
Elise AKA Sissy (23:05)
just because. No, I'm okay with that. Yeah.
Heidi (23:13)
The divine masculine has been out of balance for a little too long. And so now we're kind of all being called to bring in that divine feminine and just get into balance. Like we don't have to fully, you know, take over, but you know, let's just balance some shit this way.
Elise AKA Sissy (23:27)
And if we take over, we take over because we're pretty cool.
Heidi (23:30)
And I think that's okay too.
Elise AKA Sissy (23:32)
Well sis, the best way to help our sisterhood grow is to share this episode with someone who you love, who you think could really hear something like this at this time. Maybe it's your sister or your best friend, your mom, someone who's going through a tough time and may need to hear this. Text this episode to them right now. And also don't forget to send us your stories. We'd love to hear them. Until next time, it's your move sis.
Heidi (23:55)
Make it count Bye!