Accessing your INTUITION through creativity | Sam Horton

In this episode, I dive deep into INTUITION as a powerful, often underused, and underestimated source of inner power and wisdom. I discuss how we can more easily access this on-demand using a creative wellness practice that meets us where we are and promotes the cultivation of this powerful inner resource.

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 Takeaways

💗 What is INTUITION, and why is it so important to find ways to connect with it

💗 What we have to gain when we have ways to access and harness our intuition

💗 Using creativity & art-making to cultivate intuition

💗 Cultivating a relationship with intuition using creative wellness practices

💗 What it means to combine creativity & art-making with soul-led wellness practices

So when I talk about intuition I mean being so intune with your gut and inner knowing that you can understand things or know what to do without the need for conscious reasoning or analysis. 

Like a GUT FEELING or an INNER KNOWING. 

We’re not really taught to get in tune with this very powerful inner dialogue or inner power or inner wisdom. 

And what I’ve come to understand for myself is that getting in tune with this inner magic and really feelling into our decisions and getting comfortable being still in our bodies and minds so that we can tune our inner antenna into this amazing resource, is a big key to living more authentic soul-aligned lives and simply feeling better and more equipped to deal with difficult days or chapters in life with more love, grace and acceptance. 

Accessing our intuition helps us to have more compassion and empathy both for ourselves and for others. And it helps us to not feel as stuck and powerless, more resilient and to able to transition into brighter experiences more easily and quickly than if we were to try and figure out everything in our heads and rely too heavily on the opinions and perspectives of others.

Understandng and trusting that we do not always need to apply logic and reason to problems, decisions, set backs, tension, feels of unrest or disappointment, overwhelm or that sense of unfulfillment when we’ve lost touch with ourselves through the myriad of roles and responsibilities we impose upon ourselves through society's conditioning and expectations. As women we are literally doing it all! And if we don’t stop and take the time to truly know ourselves then no one will really know us.

So when we realise how important it is to spend time cultivating a relationship with our intuition, we can work on finding ways to really nurture ourselves and start to remember who we are at our core, by getting curious about our intuitive instincts. And remembering our strengths and weaknesses with loving kindness that actually empower us to make better choices and decisions that truly support us as we show up in the complicated, noisy, opinionated world that we all live in.

Accessing and harnessing our intuition is a critical part of living our best lives. Developing inner trust, confidence and knowing. Using our inner power and wisdom to guide us an to support us towards a living a soul-aligned life that feels more doable, more gentle and peaceful as we learn to cut out things that harm us and to add more in that nourishes us.

Our intuitive power can be tapping into our subconscious and our mental and muscle or sensory memory. We have lived many experiences and we intuitively know what steps to take when we have already learnt a lesson before. Ever heard that saying: The universe will keep throwing the same problem/toxic situation until you’ve learnt the lesson. Well I would say until you’ve learnt to trust your intuition enough to stop repeating it. This is part of subconscious programming from our lived experiences. But there is also an element of intuition that is spiritual or truly soul-led, inherited from our ancestors or part of the universe's inter connectedness.

We inherently know what to do, but trusting, listening, and acting upon this inner roadmap or compass is a different thing entirely. However when we learn to tune in and harness this inner power, we become unstoppable and resilient and at peace with whatever may come.

A slow-burning light bulb for me has been how creativity and art-making make it easier and more effortless to access my own intuition. 

Through the simple act of creating things with your hands, you able to defer that busy brain into the tactile task at hand allowing your intuition and inner wisdom to bubble to the surface. Helping you to make creative decisions, take creative risks and helping you get so still and quiet in your mind. That your intuitive voice can be heard. 

Often thoughts and emotions will bubble up to the surface randomly as you deeply immerse yourself in creative activities. It will help you to let go of toxic energy and stress but also help you to process thoughts, feelings and emotions without having to apply logic, words or reason to them. Just sit with them and let them go.

This process is enhanced the deeper your creative practice. Mindfulness is one thing but in learning to trust the creative process as you take bigger risks and decisions with your creative work you will also learn to trust that inner guidance in other areas of your life. 

Over time, challenging yourself creatively this way leads to a strong relationship with your inner world.

And it is in this overspilling of trust, power, wisdom, knowing and inner truths that we can really benefit in other areas of our life. 

Making it easier to problem solve, deal with the intricacies of relationships, to seek and act in such as way that you are more life is more aligned with your soul. You feel better and less tangled up and confused and overwhelmed. You will make better choices that support your overall health and well-being.

I can hear you saying, sounds easier that it really is to know how get sarted cultivating this kind of creative practice. And this is why I combine both soul-led wellness practices together with creative and art-making practices. 

When we settle ourselves into our creative sessions, by gently meeting ourselves where we are, taking the time to ground ourselves and meet ourselves with love. When we time to active our creative side by setting intentions and injecting positive energy into the moment we are more likely to experience less discomfort, fidgeting, restlessness and mental chatter as we embark on creative activies.

It is also important to turly give ourselves permission to play and explore with our creative selves before we force too many boundaries or too many goals for our creative work.

I often suggest a warm up exercise prior to launching in, where there is zero attachment to the outcome and we simply playing with our materials, ideas and techniques with childlike curiosity ready to throw out the finished experiment because we really have not attachment to it. We are in it plainly and purely for the creative process alone. This process is cathartic and freeing providing the perfect foundation for free expression and creative risk taking, free of judgement and worry.

Once we have set the scene for ourselves we will get more out of a goal orientated creative session and we will hold less attachment to the finished artwork as a result. Knowing we can always paint over, start again or throw it away, because we will have gained so much from showing up and participating in the creative process.

And last but not least,relfecting on our creative experiences, and our creative work. Really sitting with it and staring at it. absorbing it, immersing ourselves in it, will help us bring it all together and reflet on our intiutve decision, as well as our intuitive experiences and will help us get to know this truly powerful part of our inner world. 

As with all of life we must seek balance! Both the masculine and the feminine, both belong. But they need to be balanced. This is taught in many ancient wisdoms and philosphys (think ying and yang) but has become uncommon in modern society.

When women lose touch with their natural feminine balance, always prioritising the masculine, they get stuck in their busy minds. They feel disconnected from themselves. They struggle to sit still and process their emotions, thoughts, and feelings. Often, they avoid any discomfort. They push through when they need rest, which means they unknowingly hold onto stress and toxic energy.

It can make us feel unwell and separate. Clouded and unfulfilled. So maybe when we feel the symptoms of high stress, restlessness, discomfort, lack of stillness and calm, wanting endless distractions, a sense of unfulfillment and disappointment and when we lose our zest for life. 

Maybe it is not adding more to our self care to do list or even radical change and drastic action, that will provide the comfort and soothe us, but instead it is in activating or rebalancing our feminine creative power that we will find the peace and clarity that we desire?

When we learn to activate and harness our feminine creative power, we can finally hear ourselves again! We can silence other people’s voices and opinions and begin to trust our own natural inner guidance and wisdom. 

We learn what we really need to feel cared for and nourished. We can find ways to heal and release the toxic energy and patterns we are exposed to so we can feel lighter, calmer, and less triggered. 

We become less attached to how things will turn out and more curious about the magic in the journey and the process as we learn to trust, receive, and express ourselves fully without fear of shame or judgement. 

We learn to boldly claim our soul-aligned life and make expansive decisions and take actions that match. 

So, how do we activate our feminine creative energy? The secret weapon we’ve been missing ?

Well, at the heart of our feminine energy is our creativity. When we tune into our creativity and our own unique essence that no one else can replicate. When we learn how to express ourselves in our own creative ways. That brings us joy and life and zest and curiosity and excitement. We empower ourselves to find joy and beauty in our own creative magic and truth. And we become hungry for more.

This looks different for everybody, however I believe there are some key elements that must be in place to activate and cultivate this feminine life force.

First we must learn how to ground ourselves in the present moment and seek the joy and beauty right before us, right now. 

We must set intentions and release negative, toxic energy that is not serving us right here and right now. We need to learn to let it go in the moment.

We must inquire within and ask ourselves what does my soul need right now, right here? 

We must learn to play with no attachment to the outcome, like young children experimenting with new discoveries. 

Making things with our hands is at the centre of this. We are immersed in physical tactics and creative activities with our hands, and our minds and hearts are given the space to open up and take the lead. 

We must give ourselves permission to trust the process, to stay open and to receive. 

We must learn to express ourselves in ways that feel good to us and keep the spark alive. 

And we must take the time to reflect on our experiences and creations and allow them the space and time to reveal themselves to us in surprising and profound ways.

So to finish I’d like you to ask yourself a couple of questions today, and maybe even do some journaling.

Am I prioritising masculine hard task and output-focused energy in my day-to-day life?

And how am I currently activating feminine soft creative energy?

I’d love to know what comes up for you! Feel free to send me an email ‘@ [email protected] or DM me on instagram ’@samhortonstudio.

Thanks for reading

^{Sam Horton
Sam is an Artist, Creative Mentor, Life Coach and Spiritual Guide. A series of life challenges, from divorce and burnout to feelings of inner disconnection and emptiness, were the catalysts for a spiritual creative journey that led her out of the dark and transformed the way she cares for herself and shows up in the world.}

<sup>This journey is what inspires Sam to support other women to turn their pain into power and evolve into the most beautiful, authentic, best versions of themselves using transformative spiritual and creative tools to remember who they really are at their core.

Sam lives on the Sunshine Coast in Australia with her tween daughter. She is a self-confessed homebody obsessed with connecting her heart with her home through her love for art, flowers, nature and sentimental treasures.</sup>

 

_{Website: https://www.samhorton.co/meet-sam}

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