Imagine walking into a room of people and immediately feeling a shift in the mood, a sense that you already know something about the person you're engaging with, a gut feeling you can't shake that turns out to be right. If you're an HSP, this may be a common experience for you. As HSPs, our nervous systems are highly attuned, picking up on subtle cues in the environment and in the people around us. Experiencing this depth across all five senses really is a unique sensation, one not everyone has the privilege of knowing. And yes, I say privilege, because it is a kind of superpower, one that can help elevate humanity by allowing us to truly see others, to engage with curiosity and intention, and to create deeper connection through these heightened awarenesses. This is part of the beauty of being an HSP.
Exploring intuition is one of my favorite parts of being an HSP myself, and of working with fellow HSPs who also experience the world through heightened awareness. Learning that you are a deeply intuitive person may feel alarming at first. It is often confusing and maybe even scary at times. But this ability to connect so deeply with yourself and others is not just a quirk to manage. It is an intuitive gift that, when treated with awe, reverence, and respect, and developed with intention and curiosity, can become one of your greatest joys.
HSPs process more deeply, notice subtle cues others miss, and feel things in the body first. Intuition isn't just some kind of nebulous "magic." It is actually your finely tuned nervous system picking up on real information. Some common ways it shows up include sensing the energy in a space, absorbing others' emotions, or needing to get quiet in order to "hear" yourself. Sensory overwhelm is real and intuition is just as real. In fact, the two are often mistaken for each other if you haven't yet learned to slow down, listen to your internal guidance, and deliberately trust that your intuitive sense is accurate and quite wise. This is discernment. Overwhelm and intuition are two sides of the same wiring. Learning to access true intuition is a refinement process that happens over time and with intention.
In our culture, we are conditioned out of trusting our intuition. We are taught to prioritize logic over body awareness. We are not taught to trust ourselves on a deeper, cellular level, and are instead encouraged to be "logical" and "rational" when making life decisions. Yes, there is a time and a place for logic but there is a special flow we can access in life if we also learn to integrate our inner knowing. For those of us with sensitive nervous systems, this can be especially confusing: we are constantly inundated with sensory material, and our systems are picking up on an "inner knowing" about things, even as the logical mind is encouraged to question it. This conditioning created a lot of confusion in my life over the years. But as I've continued on my healing and spiritual journey, I've come to land in a place of trusting my inner awareness more often than not. I don't need a logical explanation to make certain decisions when I simply KNOW, deep in my gut. I just know what I know.
When I was a young child, I was quiet and constantly observing my surroundings, often not engaging, but sitting back and noticing patterns in people. At some point around the age of seven or eight, I developed a practice of stepping outside and going into my "secret garden," a special place in my backyard where I could sit quietly by the ditch and talk to spirit. I never questioned what I was doing. I had a strong sense of my guides and angels, and I spoke to them directly, even though I never consciously thought about what I was doing. All I knew was that I felt a deep comfort in talking to them, a comfort I wasn't receiving anywhere else. At some point in my adolescence, I stopped, because I started to think it was "weird," and I no longer engaged.
Fast forward to my thirties. I went to graduate school and began my career in the mental health field. During my training, I had the chance to work with clients while being supervised by professors who had far more experience than I did. In those early sessions, I remember feeling deeply comforted whenever a supervisor offered suggestions about what to say and how to engage. Later, I began holding sessions with clients on my own and I discovered a clear, consistent voice within me that would guide me through sessions, creating more ease and direction.
This inner guidance has been with me throughout my whole career in the mental health field, and I am so grateful. I've come to call it my intuitive guidance, and I am beyond grateful for the way it consistently shows up as I work with clients, helping them heal and gain insight into how to live lives that feel more fully aligned with their sensitive nature.
As I continued to develop my intuitive abilities and took courses in channeling and reading the Akashic Records, I began to realize that this clear, calm voice within me was my Higher Self. I also began to directly channel a benevolent group of spirit guides, whom I now work with when I access the wisdom of the soul through the Akashic Records. I am in awe of the wisdom they carry, and of the energetically supportive way they show up in these sessions, helping to release or move energy, cut energetic cords, or rebalance energy across the chakra system.
Surrendering to the guidance of this energy brings me great joy, and it is only possible because I have a sensitive nervous system. I am finally understanding why I have needed such a highly attuned nervous system: this is a huge part of the work I'm meant to do in the world, and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to connect with people on a soul level. What once felt like an exhausting and confusing way of being in the world is now one of the greatest gifts I have to offer.
Through many years of engaging in my own personal healing work, including IFS, EMDR, and Brainspotting, I have learned to trust my inner knowing so deeply that I no longer question myself when I get a strong intuitive hit while working with others, or when a strong inner knowing in my personal life nudges me in a direction more aligned with my authentic path. I am a work in progress, but I know now that I can trust my felt sense and my internal guidance system.
As an HSP, your system has its own unique sensitivity, a gift you can choose to explore more deeply if you wish. Intuition is a muscle; it strengthens when you make space to listen. If you'd like to practice trusting your intuitive sense more, try taking a sacred pause this week before you make a decision, or before you let your mind come to a conclusion about something. Take a moment of stillness and notice the first felt response, before the thinking mind jumps in. Begin noticing the information your body is giving you in the moment. And notice whether you can hear the calm, clear voice within, the one that is always guiding you.
In honor of your own “inner knowing,”
~ Angie
An Invitation
If reading this has stirred something in you, I'd love for you to join me. I'm opening a monthly channeling circle in Makawao: a warm, grounded space where we gather to receive channeled wisdom from a collective of loving guides, and to practice trusting our own inner knowing alongside others walking a similar path. Whether this work is brand new to you or something you've felt your whole life, you are welcome here.
Our very first circle is Monday, August 17th, 5:00–6:30 PM, at 1135 Makawao Ave, Suite 204. Reserve your seat for $55 at angieschaeffer.com Walk-ins welcome as space allows (Venmo accepted). It would be an honor to hold this space with you. Contact me with any questions: [email protected] Access more details with the QR code below.
