<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Kerry says... I wish for the sake of journalism I could say that I walked into this intuitive meeting as the skeptic, the non-believer, ready to bring a sense of welcome, if not suspicion, then perhaps a gentle leeriness. No such luck, when New York Psychic Medium Betsy Cohen told Chrissy and me that we were the ideal subjects, open and ready, I didn&amp;#039;t doubt it. We&amp;#039;re an office that loves spirituality, psychics, mediums and the great beyond\u2014and harnessing its powers and knowledge for ourselves. Consider the source, but my mom always tells me, &amp;quot;you&amp;#039;ve been my daughter who trusts her instincts, goes with her gut.&amp;quot; I think that holds true for many of my life decisions big and small. I get feelings about places and people quickly, and I tend to trust them. I can also pinpoint, quite specifically, the times that I ignored those instincts to some pretty terrible results\u2014nothing dangerous, but there have been plans and people that I think took me off my path, so to speak. I allowed what Betsy calls &amp;quot;the lizard brain&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;the monkey mind&amp;quot; to rule me. I went on logic and what made &amp;quot;sense&amp;quot; instead of what I knew deep down to be adverse to my values. I also think that maybe my intuition &amp;quot;radar&amp;quot; needed a tune up, and that&amp;#039;s what we were there to get, thankfully. The visualization, deep breathing exercise truly left me feeling like I possibly smoked, toked, drank or popped something. It&amp;#039;s good stuff, man. Afterwards, Betsy had us visualize the reality of two different scenarios in order to make a decision\u2014&amp;quot;make it something easy,&amp;quot; she said. I thought of getting out to a baby shower in Long Island that coming Sunday and the best way to get there\u2014drive or take the train. Clearly there&amp;#039;s not a lot on the line, but it&amp;#039;s a decision nonetheless. I actually got a twinge of a &amp;quot;sinking&amp;quot; feeling when I pictured driving. Needless to say, I opted for the LIRR. Later on in the night, Betsy and I discussed some larger life decisions. She had me visualize two scenarios and she did the same, using her psychic abilities. Thankfully, we came to the same conclusions. She definitely had insights about where I am mentally in my life and regardless of your particular belief system, it&amp;#039;s nice to know that someone agrees with your initial instincts. I think the tools Betsy teaches are so helpful for daily life. I don&amp;#039;t meditate enough, or pay attention in a real way. I&amp;#039;m guilty of never putting my phone down, or concentrating on my breath, or even working out. All of this was a great reminder that I am my best resource, and knowing thyself is a tool best practiced.  Chrissy says... Before I was aware of my own intuition, I learned about how powerful it could be through my mother, after disobeying her intuition (or great motherly instincts) to go to a party in high school. Of course I asked for her permission first, but she told me she didn&amp;#039;t want me to go, that she had a &amp;quot;bad feeling.&amp;quot; At 17-years old that meant nothing to me, so after I wore her down, she let me go out with my friends. I ended up paying the price for my defiance when someone stole my handbag that night, with my credit card and my car keys. That was the last time I did something that went against my mom&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;bad feeling.&amp;quot; I&amp;#039;ve always been a &amp;quot;feelings-over-logic&amp;quot; person\u2014sometimes to a fault. However, none of that has stopped me from fighting and questioning my intuitive messages when it applies to my own life. I&amp;#039;ve often acted against my gut feelings, thinking, &amp;quot;maybe I&amp;#039;m wrong!&amp;quot; or I waiver back and forth. It can become hard to remember up from down\u2014but I always reach a point where I can conclude that my gut was right. It consistently proves to be spot on. Take for instance, the last guy I dated. From the very first date, I can recall having that little feeling in my gut that he just wasn&amp;#039;t the right guy for me. On the other hand, I thought, &amp;quot;he&amp;#039;s such a nice guy, so why not give it some time?&amp;quot; But that little voice remained with me for\u00A0months. When he wanted to break things off because he didn&amp;#039;t think it was worth dating long distance anymore, especially with a potential job overseas on the table, I felt relieved. I still mourned the relationship for a few days, but then I never really looked back, except to ask myself, &amp;quot;why didn&amp;#039;t I just listen to my gut, and save myself all that time?&amp;quot; That experience prompted me to make a rare New Year&amp;#039;s resolution\u2014I would make a conscious effort to focus on listening to the messages that were coming from within. Easier said than done though, I&amp;#039;ve already buckled once this year, and found myself involved with\u00A0someone that I perceived\u00A0was not on the same level as me, emotionally. &amp;quot;But he&amp;#039;s just so cute, the chemistry, x, y, z,&amp;quot; my &amp;quot;lizard brain&amp;quot; told me, but the fact remained\u2014it was doomed, and a familiar feeling in my gut confirmed it.\u00A0 When Betsy agreed to meet with Kerry and me for a 2-on-1 intuitive coaching class, I hoped it would be just what I needed to help turn my goal from a forgotten New Year&amp;#039;s resolution to a new way of approaching my life. The experience was truly enlightening, and maybe even a little overwhelming. Knowing that you are empowering yourself with techniques to help navigate your own life using your own inner compass can feel like a lot of responsibility. It&amp;#039;s so easy to doubt yourself, as Kerry and I learned through the monkey mind exercise. It was interesting to know we had both written down mainly negative or worrisome thoughts\u2014that explained why I often tried to test my inner voice. Even though I was so excited about doing this whole session with Betsy, I can&amp;#039;t say it has completely changed my life\u2014not yet at least. I haven&amp;#039;t exactly practiced as much as I thought I would, or should. However, that&amp;#039;s just due to the fact that I haven&amp;#039;t had any pressing decisions on my plate lately. I&amp;#039;m sure Betsy would tell me that that&amp;#039;s no excuse, as she stressed that the most important thing about her intuitive course is doing the homework. I never did like homework, but I know that when the time comes, I&amp;#039;ll be ready to stop, drop and roll with my intuition. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a10675/learning-to-channel-intuition/>