How INFJs and Empaths Use Intuition
Intuition is often misunderstood. We talk about "gut feelings" and "inner knowing," but in a world obsessed with logic and data, intuitive guidance can feel elusive—especially when anxiety is loud. So how do you tell the difference between intuition and fear? And how do you sharpen your intuitive gifts without getting lost in fantasy?
This post is a deep dive into the nature of intuition: how it works, how it speaks, how to strengthen it, and how to distinguish it from the inner critic or anxious mind.
What Is Intuition?
Intuition is the ability to sense and perceive truth without explanation. It’s a calm, clear knowing that doesn’t come from reasoning or analysis. It’s the whisper before the thought.
Unlike anxiety, which is fear-based and frantic, intuition feels grounded—even when what it’s telling you is uncomfortable. If it feels panicked, rushed, or self-critical, that’s anxiety. If it feels calm, spacious, and neutral, that’s intuition.
Society Rewards the Wrong Voice
As Einstein once said, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
Western culture tends to prioritize logic and dismiss anything not immediately provable. But the truth is this: everything that exists in reality was once a product of imagination—an idea, a vision, a what-if. Intuition is the birthplace of innovation, art, healing, and foresight.
There’s even a German word for the dismissal of this kind of knowing: Faktoriotin. It refers to the mindset that insists everything be divided neatly into fact and fiction, real and unreal. But intuition, soul, and symbolic language don’t work that way.
Two Types of Intuition: Introverted vs. Extroverted
If you’re familiar with Myers-Briggs personality theory, there are two kinds of intuition:
Extroverted Intuition (Ne): Present-based, improvisational, sees possibility in the moment.
Introverted Intuition (Ni): Future-based, predictive, draws from a subconscious web of data over time.
INFJs, for example, are introverted intuitives. They often "just know" how things will unfold but can rarely explain how they know. It’s not about logic—it’s about subconscious pattern recognition.
How Intuition Shows Up
Intuition expresses itself differently for everyone, but common forms include:
Visions or symbolic images
Voices or inner dialogue
Sudden emotional knowing
Bodily sensations or discomfort
Channeling or “downloads” that come in fragments
For some, it’s visual. For others, auditory. Some feel it in the gut. Some feel it as a pull or a push in their energy field.
The intuitive voice is never cruel. It may be blunt. It may ask you to do something uncomfortable. But it will not shame you or rush you. If you're hearing criticism or fear, you're likely hearing your inner critic, not your intuition.
Why Some Intuitives Feel Disconnected
Many highly intuitive people developed this skill as a survival mechanism. They left their bodies during trauma and retreated into the higher chakras—especially the third eye. The gift came from needing to sense danger before it arrived.
But if you live too much in that space, you can become ungrounded. A toxic third eye becomes delusional, manipulative, or overly idealistic. On the other hand, those with no intuitive development can be tone-deaf to others, impulsive, and short-sighted.
A healthy third eye balances insight with empathy. It senses truth without weaponizing it. It guides, but doesn’t control. It trusts, but doesn’t fantasize.
Strengthening Your Intuition
You don’t access intuition by trying harder. In fact, intuition works best when you stop doing and start being. You must quiet the mind and slow the nervous system.
Intuition lives in the alpha brainwave state, the zone between effort and rest. This state can be accessed through:
Breathing
Driving
Showering
Meditating
Walking alone
Listening to rhythmic drumming
This is why drums are called the shaman’s horse—they help you ride into trance states where the thinking mind steps aside.
Key tips:
Be alone (at least 15 feet away from others to avoid absorbing their energy)
Be undistracted
Be calm and unhurried
Rest without guilt—because rest is only restorative when we believe we deserve it
Projection vs. Intuition
A common mistake is confusing projection with intuition. Projection is fear-based and comes from past experiences. Intuition is based on present inner knowing.
For example:
If you've been betrayed before, you might project that fear onto someone new. But that’s not intuition—that’s a trauma imprint. Intuition speaks from the now. It doesn’t need justification.
Symbolic Language and Tools
Intuition speaks in symbols, not facts. Tools like pendulums and tarot help us tap into that symbolic language. They don’t "predict the future" so much as they mirror your unconscious, giving you access to your deeper wisdom.
For example:
A pendulum swings based on micro muscle movements that reflect your true inner state
A tarot card will mean different things to different people depending on what you're going through
The interpretation itself is an intuitive act. The more you trust the process, the clearer it becomes.
Intuitive Assignments (Homework)
Want to strengthen your intuitive channel? Try one of these exercises:
Go for a drive with no destination. Let your body tell you when to turn.
Start drawing without a plan. Let shapes and forms emerge intuitively.
Pick a random book page. Read it and ask, What message is this holding for me right now?
You can’t do this wrong. Just practice trusting the process—even if it doesn’t make sense.
Final Thoughts
Intuition won’t always lead you down the most comfortable path—but it will always lead you down a growth path. Sometimes it tells you what you need to believe in order to keep going. Sometimes it points you toward something challenging because that's where the transformation lives.
It is never wrong, but your interpretation might be. Be willing to listen again. To slow down again. To try again.
The slower you go, the more you will see.
