Recognize Your Body’s Intuitions About Vibes

Editors Note: This article about making reading vibes is the second in a series. Please also see: How to Intuitively Make Smart Decisions and Intuition: Learn How to Pin Down and Act on Your Vibes

Learn to Intuitively Read Vibes

A people-skill most of our parents didn’t know or teach us is intuitively reading vibes. We’ve learned to draw conclusions from surface data: how nice someone seems, looks, education, or if a situation adds up on paper. But attraction goes deeper; to make it work for you other ingredients must be considered such as what positive vibes feel like, for instance, a sense of heart, compassion, and nurturance. In contrast, negative people project prickly, draining vibes that put you on guard. Now I want you to become even more definite about a positive person’s energetic gestalt, and how you react to it, though our preferences may differ. Then you won’t get baffled if someone sends a mishmash of signals.

Here is a general guideline of body-based intuitions. Use this checklist at a first meeting, to troubleshoot problems if you’re already involved, or to weigh “opportunities.” Also, feel free to add to it. Being an intuitive, I know that an signature energy always accompanies situations or people. Remember the Lil’ Abner jinxed cartoon character who always had a black cloud hanging over his head? Not a vibe that bodes well for auspicious outcomes. Instead, learn to gravitate towards brightness, a positive intuition your body’s responses will affirm. When tuning into vibes take a few quiet moments to go into sensing mode, not intellectual analysis. Look for these signs to determine attraction.

Positive Intuitions About Relationships or Situations

* a feeling of comforting familiarity or brightness; you may sense you’ve known the person before, as with the experience of deja-vu

* you breathe easier, chest and shoulders are relaxed, gut is calm

* you find yourself leaning forward, not defensively crossing your arms or edging away to keep a distance

* your heart opens; you feel safe, peaceful, energized, expansive, or alive

* you’re at ease with a person’s touch whether a handshake, hug, or during intimacy.

Negative Intuitions About Relationships or Situations

* a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach or increased stomach acid which may prompt an unpalatable deja-vu

* your skin starts crawling, you’re jumpy, instinctively withdraw if touched

* shoulder muscles are in knots, chest area or throat constricts; you notice aggravated aches or pains

* the hair on the back of your neck creepily stands on end

* a sense of malaise, darkness, pressure, agitation, or being drained.

These criteria provide a no-nonsense appraisal of your body’s comfort zone. (The more positive intuitions the better–even one can be definitive–but nagging negatives often mean “watch out.”) They’ll lead you to friends, lovers, and work milieus with copacetic vibes. Plus, you’ll know when to cool it or exit in the face of blatant warnings. However, what may obscure the picture is an intense sexual attraction. If so, go slow until you get a keener intuitive read, particularly whether your gut feels safe with a potential partner. Anxiety can also cause crossed signals. Whenever you can’t separate the jitters about first meeting someone from “beware” messages your body sends, you may want to give the relationship some time. Meanwhile, breathe and keep centering yourself. Also, when others are nervous their vibes may come off as squirrelly. Typically, though, as you get to know them, early jitters (yours or theirs) dissipate, but your body’s pro or con instincts persist. Before making any conclusive moves these distinctions must be addressed.

My patient Alison, at forty, was consistently attracted to the wrong men and wrong jobs. But being deserted by her boyfriend after a miscarriage was “the kick in the head” that brought Alison in. She said, “I’ve always looked to others for what I ‘should’ be doing–how I behaved, dressed, who I dated or became friends with. I kept changing careers based on what people deemed right for me. I never asked myself what I wanted.”

As part of Energy Psychiatry, I taught Alison this law of attraction, which necessitated defining her intuitive needs. To keep Alison on track, I served as a kind of drill sergeant, gentle but firm. When she’d meet a man or interview for a job I’d ask, “What does your body say about the vibes?” Each time, I’d instruct her to go through the positive and negative intuition checklist. “Write them in your journal; bring it in. We’ll review the results together.” My job was to help Alison trust her read on vibes. As with everyone, she doubted herself, got scattered, forgot to tune in, talked herself out of what she did sense. But, from experience I know there’s always a moment of critical mass when intuition creates magnificent outcomes. Once Alison risked acting on her body’s signals, her choices became aligned with what she really wanted. Now, she’s pursuing a career as a free-lance illustrator which is fun for her and is beginning to spot and attract caring, compatible men.

It is important to know your body’s reactions to vibes, and so you can better gauge where you’re drawn. When evaluating the intuitive checklist, pay particular attention to the experience of deja-vu. It’s the cellular memory of having known a new person at some other time or place. To meet is not an introduction, but a reunion. (This sense of inexplicable kinship differentiates deja-vu from sizzling physical chemistry, though both have juice.) Deja-vu may be positive or negative, sudden or slow, will be more significant with some people than others. Always, however, it’s telling you to “stay aware,” perhaps to complete what’s not yet finished. Whether instances of deja-vu are explained by a premonition or a past life recollection, they’ll draw you toward mystical alliances.

Many of my closest relationships have begun with deja-vu. The first few minutes with a person a special attraction is there. It isn’t that I associate them with someone else or that their traits are simply appealing. Rather, my body and soul relate to them not as strangers, but spirits with whom I have an earned trust and shared history. With others, the timelessness of this rapport is missing.

Reflect on your relationships. Have you ever been chatting with a woman you just met at a business meeting and suddenly it strikes you, “Ah-ha. Here’s an old friend I feel I’ve known all my life.” It’s obvious: You’re both just resuming where you left off. Other deja-vus are protective. In possible dicey situations, they caution you to halt, and separate friend from foe. The instant a screenwriter patient of mine, who’s facile in the tools of Energy Psychiatry, walked into a meeting to sell a project, he cringed. One look at the prospective buyer, whom he’d never even spoken to before, and every cell screamed, “I know him. Get us out of here!” Fortunately, my patient knew to trust his intuition. Soon after, this man was indicted for fraud. Either heralding a good omen or veering you away from harm, deja-vu is your body’s way of taking care of you.

Intuition helps you act from instinct, not impulse–a look before you leap wisdom that points you to positive energy. When it comes to who you love, where your work, or any important decision, the last thing you want to be is vague. Tuning in keeps you specific. Practice the next exercise to get this down.

Click HERE to Connect with your Daily Horoscope!

You will also enjoy Judith Orloff: The Empath’s Survival Guide and Why Intuition Fails You and What to Do About It

About the Author

Judith Orloff, MD is the New York Times bestselling author of The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People, upon which this article is based. Dr. Orloff is a psychiatrist, an empath, and is on the UCLA Psychiatric Clinical Faculty. She synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting edge knowledge of intuition, energy, and spirituality. Dr. Orloff also specializes in treating empaths and highly sensitive people in her private practice. She is the author of Emotional Freedom, The Power of Surrender, Second Sight, Positive Energy, and Guide to Intuitive Healing. To learn more about empaths and her free empath support newsletter as well as Dr. Orloff’s books and workshop schedule, visit: www.drjudithorloff.com