by Doreen Virtue, Ph.D.

An easy way to accomplish this is to use an emotional vocabulary list (see below). Make several photocopies of this list and keep them handy. Once or twice daily, stop and circle the feelings that describe your current emotional state. Within a week or two, this process will create a marked increase in your ability to distinguish one feeling from another. You will, for example, be better able to sort out your mixed feelings. This process also helps us to own our feelings and heal them ourselves instead of projecting them on other people, and then relying on them to change so we can feel better.

I used a list similar to the one below when I was in my early twenties and newly enrolled in college. I was just becoming aware of the variegated spectrum of emotions.

In one of my psychology courses, the professor emphasized the importance of understanding your feelings. So, he regularly asked the students in the class, "What are you feeling right now?" When he'd ask me, I'd invariably answer, "Well, I think that I'm ... "

The professor would interrupt and say, "No, Doreen. Don't tell me what you think. Tell me how you feel." When I answered, "Tired," he'd reply, "That's a physical feeling, not an emotion!"

I realized I had very limited awareness of my range of emotions, so I used an emotional vocabulary list for several weeks. The rainbow of feelings I had inside amazed me! Through this process of discovery, I learned how to pinpoint the precise emotion I felt.

How are you feeling right now? Circle all that apply:

You can use this vocabulary to decipher the intuitive guidance that comes to you. Whenever you feel a strong emotional or physical feeling, remember that it is a message to you. The feeling is the equivalent of a knock on the door. Our task is to open the door and listen to the feeling. One way to do this is by asking the feeling, "What are you trying to tell me?" Even if this process seems silly or feels forced, ask the question anyway. You will receive a reply.

The next step is learning to trust the feelings. Clairsentience is the reception of Divine guidance through physical feelings and emotions. You may struggle with doubts over the validity of a clairsentient message. You worry that following the feeling's guidance may lead to hardship. Sometimes, clairsentients tell me they are waiting to receive "permission" from outside before allowing themselves to follow their gut feelings. Other clairsentients hesitate to follow an intimidating or seemingly illogical gut feeling.

One way to increase trust in your clairsentience is to review past occasions on which you were glad you followed your intuition, and occasions when you were sorry you didn't. You can also mentally "try on" a situation to feel what it would be like to follow your intuition and to know if you would enjoy the outcome. Another way is through repeatedly saying affirmations to reduce fear, such as, "I deserve happiness," "When I win, others win too," and "I fearlessly follow God's guidance for me now".

The best way to increase faith in your clairsentient guidance is to mentally ask God and the angels to help you release any blocks that keep you from enjoying full faith and clear feelings. Feel the release and lift as you surrender all fearful thoughts and energies to the Divine spiritual realm. You don't need to analyze your fears; just open your heart to God and the angels, and they will do all of the healing work for you. Repeat this method every time you feel afraid.

Remember that warm and loving feelings surround true Divine guidance, even when it warns of trouble or confronts you about unhealthy behaviors. False guidance creates cold, prickly feelings.

If you receive any guidance that makes you feel inadequate or afraid, then you are wise not to follow it. Instead, call on the angels and ask them to help you shed these feelings. They love to be called on to help you understand and follow God's glorious will for you. Heaven wants to help you clear away the effects of the lower self's fears.

When the late, great philosopher Joseph Campbell advised, "Follow your bliss," he meant we should ask for guidance; the joyful, God given directions are roadmaps to success in all ways. When you have joyless feelings, let them tell you what areas of your life aren't working. Ask God to help you have the courage to shed them, and to replace them with situations that truly make your heart sing.

Fears of loneliness, poverty, abandonment, criticism, and other pain come from the lower-self ego. It tries to tell us that, if we let go of joyless parts of our life, something terrible will happen. We must not believe the ego's threats, but instead, honor ourselves. If you feel resistance in any part of your life, listen to it. It is guidance from God and the angels telling you that something is amiss. Heaven does not will discomfort. God wills for you and all of His children to have your material needs met while you fulfill your Divine life-purpose.

God doesn't want you to do anything that could hurt you or your family. When you ask God for guidance, His power works through you to heal your life and the lives of those around you. You cannot fail, because God cannot fail.