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In the past few weeks I have spent a lot of time talking to many people about nurturing intuition in children. In those conversations, one of the most frequent messages I hear from parents is just how painful life has been for them because they lost touch with their own inner voice and don't listen to their own heart in life, and how they want better for their kids. In fact, the number of stories of regret, lost opportunity, struggle and even sickness resulting from being led by other than one's own intuition are endless.

The more I hear from people the more I realize just what a profound wounding being out of touch with your intuition actually is. I believe losing a connection with your sixth sense is just as profound of a loss as losing a connection with any one of your other senses would be, if not more so. Our intuition is the lifeline to our Source, God. It is the voice that helps us remain in integrity with our real nature, our essence. Being aware of, honoring and following the guiding wisdom of our intuition is the most reliable way to create lives that fulfill our deepest dreams and desires. As important as intuition is, it is no wonder that losing touch with it does so often bear out such unfulfilled lives. Knowing this, I believe that intuition should be perceived as our first sense, not our last, and should never be the sense we ignore or throw away?

I think we lose touch with this inner voice when we are young. We lose it through the million and one subtle ways in which we are told that our feelings are not reliable, and cannot be trusted. Or are told that what we feel is not real, or not important and cannot direct our life. The injuries to our spirit, the voice of our intuition, are usually so subtle that they can never be specifically identified. Rather than dying a death by dramatic blows, it is my observation that intuition usually dies a death of a thousand tiny pinpricks, suffered as we grow up.

The good new about our intuition is that even though some of us have become disconnected to it, because it is inherent to our Spiritual Nature, it is totally possible to reconnect with it in our own lives as well as preserve it in the lives of our children. All it requires to do this is to create the proper environment for your intuition to re-enter your life.

The first suggestion for doing this is to begin by paying attention to your own feelings. As you know from your own experience, we do not necessarily do what we feel when growing up, but rather we do what we observe the important people in our lives doing. Therefore, if you want your children to connect with their intuition, you must demonstrate how to do this by connecting to yours first.

Begin with giving attention to the feelings in your body as you move through the day because this is how intuition gets your attention. Does it come to your attention in your belly, your chest, your throat, or somewhere else in your body? Where? Be aware. Notice.

Next, acknowledge your own intuitive feelings as they come up in your life, and share these feelings openly and without a lot of drama with your children. Be certain not to put a negative or unnatural spin on these feelings when you do speak about them, such as describing intuition as "weird" or "bizarre" or "scary" as some people do. After all, what kid wants to emulate something "weird" "bizarre" or scary?" Probably not yours.

Another thing you can do to foster intuition in your home is to ask your kids how they feel about things. And then respect their feelings when they do share them with you. If their feelings suggest a modification in your plans, be open to changing course. Because intuition works to assist you in making the best decisions possible in life, it is only natural that many intuitive feelings suggest re-directing your course to a better way, or to avoid potential problems.

Another suggestion is to create an atmosphere in your home that is harmonious and invites everyone to share their intuitive feelings without censorship, embarrassment, or a need to justify their instincts in any way. When we create an atmosphere that respects the unseen, but felt world as much as the physical plane, we are well on our way to reclaiming the most important instinct for success that we have.

And finally, encourage your self and your children to ask for intuitive guidance in life and begin to turn your awareness inward and listen for it. Intuition is natural and available to anyone who desires to connect with it. It is never to late to awaken your intuition as well as support you child's intuition, even if you feel you have been out of touch with it for a long time. The reason this is so is that intuition is NATURAL and present in anyone willing to notice.

Nurturing intuition isn't so much a matter of what can we do to foster an awareness that isn't present, but rather it is a matter of what can we do to protect the natural yet subtle soul awareness that is present in all of us. When we connect to our intuition, the world takes on a friendlier place, welcoming us to all sorts of opportunities, surprising us with synchronicities, protecting us from adversity and directing us to the best possible course for sharing our gifts with the world. This is the natural plan and the way it should be. Invite intuition into your home, for your own sake and for the sake of your children as well. It's worth it!