Obstacles to Developing
Psychic Abilities and
the Corresponding Gifts
Becoming aware of your innate psychic abilities and making the decision to further develop them embodies many of the characteristics of the hero’s journey. In his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell describes the universal archetypal pattern of the hero and how it guides human development and spiritual transformation. Since the beginning of recorded time we have sought the adventure and challenge of exploring the unknown and reaching beyond ourselves. Although each story is unique, with different characters and challenges, the hero’s journey is a common theme found in many current books and films.
The archetypal pattern of the hero begins in the safe and comfortable environment of the ordinary world. Within this predictable shell of the known, the hero goes about his or her daily routine with little thought as to what lies beyond. The hero does not necessarily crave adventure or new experiences. However, unexpectedly and seemingly out of nowhere, something comes along and calls the hero out of his or her comfort zone.
The invitation into psychic awareness often initially begins this same way. You may be going about your daily routine and suddenly an uninvited psychic experience comes your way.
Here are a few common ways that psychic awareness may unexpectedly enter our lives:
• You suddenly think of someone whom you have not heard from in a long time. Then later that day you receive a phone call from the person.
• After dreaming of a lost item, you find it in the exact place where you dreamt it would be.
• The gut feeling that a financial investment will not work out goes ignored. Despite the intuitive warning, you go forward with it, only to lose money when it suddenly loses value.
These kinds of psychic insights and feelings often open the door to our curiosity and hint at a reality that goes against the accepted norms.
When an unsought psychic awareness comes our way, the carefully laid inner structure of how we thought the world worked cracks a bit and leaves us wondering How did I know that? Is this just an odd coincidence? What else is possible?
Questions begin to flood our mind and we find that we have no answers. The rational, logical conscious self is perplexed and confused. We may even try to rationalize, ignore, and talk ourselves out of believing what we have experienced. However, we may also be curious, energized, and motivated to know and discover more.
It is at this crucial juncture that we confront the next step of the hero’s journey. We can either cling to the old beliefs and sense of reality or move forward into unknown territory.
Changes That May Occur
While Developing Psychic Awareness
To successfully develop psychic awareness, we need to let go of our assumptions and beliefs about what is possible and allow our curiosity and desire for truth to guide us. It takes courage to answer this call and move forward and further explore the mystery of psychic awareness.
Most of us are initially nervous about our ability to receive and interpret psychic energy. We don’t want to fail, appear foolish, or be disappointed by our lack of intuitive potential. While these concerns are understandable, everyone is intuitive and can further develop their innate ability. While some people might catch on faster than others, our intuitive sense has an intelligence that knows what it is doing. Similar to our five senses, our natural intuition is programed and encoded with its function. We don’t need to know how to see in order to see or how to smell in order to smell; it is natural and easy. While we do need to learn how to better listen to and access our intuition, psychic development is more of an act of allowing than of making something happen.
In addition to these fears, there are other obstacles that lurk in our mind and heart that can sabotage our intuitive efforts. Although we are not always conscious of these concerns, most of us harbor fears and stress about other changes that may occur as a result of psychic development. We may wonder how being psychic will change us, how others will view us, and if we might become vulnerable to dark forces or unseen dangers.
Chelsea’s experience is a good example of the changes that often happen when we embrace our psychic potential. A software salesperson, Chelsea experienced success in her career and personal life and lived with her husband and two children in an affluent part of town. Life was working out the way that Chelsea had always hoped it would.
Chelsea contacted me for a reading at the suggestion of a friend who is a client of mine. Right on time, she nervously made her way into my office and sat timidly at the edge of my couch. After our initial hellos, I began the reading and immediately felt her apprehension. I found this interesting because she seemed to be quite psychic herself. When I told her this, she seemed to become even more nervous. When I gently asked her about her own psychic experiences, she shared a recent psychic experience that she’d had while meditating.
Feeling stressed from high sales goals at work, Chelsea thought that she would give meditation a try. After just one session, she felt better and so continued to meditate before work. After sitting down on her meditation cushion half-asleep one morning, she was surprised by a spontaneous vision that seemed to come out of nowhere. In this vision she saw one of her coworkers, Keith, walk out of the office and then into the office of a competing company. She thought this was odd and didn’t give it too much thought.
A week later the office was all abuzz with the news that Keith, a top salesman, had just quit his job to take a position with a rival company. Chelsea was shocked at the news, not so much because Keith was leaving but because she had seen him leave during her meditation. She was uncomfortable and didn’t know where the vision had come from and why. We talked a little more about this, and I continued with the session. When our session ended, Chelsea asked me about psychic development classes and seemed determined to further explore her abilities.
The next time I saw Chelsea was in one of my classes. She was a natural, with an open and determined attitude, and her psychic abilities blossomed.
Over the next few years, Chelsea took every class I offered, and her psychic abilities grew and strengthened. However, her family was not always enthusiastic about Chelsea’s new interests. When she shared her psychic insights and some of what she was learning, her husband looked at her perplexed and her mother and sister rolled their eyes in mock belief. Although she still attended the Methodist church that she had belonged to for many years, she no longer agreed with all of the accepted beliefs. When she found a spiritualist church where the minister gave medium and psychic messages to the congregants, her family became wary and alarmed. The occult had no business in the church, they told her, and they refused to discuss it further.
Other areas of Chelsea’s life were also changing. No longer satisfied with her career, she longed for more meaningful work and wanted to make a difference in the world. Unfortunately her family and friends were not supportive of her psychic exploration and the changes she was considering. They hoped that it was a phase and that she would soon return to the sensible woman they knew her to be.
With a lack of support and understanding from family and friends, Chelsea also wondered if her interest in developing and exploring psychic abilities was just a passing interest. The feeling of being misunderstood by others was uncomfortable, and at times she felt nervous about what other changes might come her way.
The Obstacle of Feeling Different and Alone versus the Gift of the Inner Comforter
Like the archetypal hero who chooses to leave the comfortable and ordinary world and embark on the hero’s journey, Chelsea left the predictable rhythm of her day-to-day life to explore her psychic awareness. Once the hero begins to explore the unknown, unforeseen tests, challenges, and obstacles crop up. However, when confronted, these obstacles and challenges bring with them unexpected gifts and an increase in power and awareness.
As you move forward and develop and explore your psychic awareness, you too will likely confront obstacles and tests.
For instance, like Chelsea, you may want to share your interest in psychic awareness with others and invite those closest to you into this experience, yet your efforts may be met with resistance. Your new interests may feel threatening to family and friends, and they may fear the unknown. Although psychic awareness has opened your heart and mind to new possibilities and insights, the people in your life may be guarded and approach you with puzzled questioning. You may feel as if you are alone, odd, or no longer as connected to others in the way that you had been. Feeling judged and misunderstood, you may begin to question yourself and the repercussions of your budding interest in the psychic world. But it is difficult to simply walk away.
At some time during the process of developing psychic awareness, many people confront the challenge of feeling at odds with and disconnected from family and friends. When we accept this uncomfortable passage and continue to grow instead of backing away, an unexpected new awareness often comes our way.
Every obstacle and challenge brings with it a transformative gift. Although we may initially feel more detached and distant from family and friends, psychic development brings the gift of presence. Although unseen and intangible, psychic energy often brings with it the awareness of a comforting divine, loving presence that assures us we are not alone. Something in this vast and unknowable universe reaches out and lets us know that we are loved and being guided. When we intuitively open our heart and mind, we encounter the divine presence of the spirit realm. With psychic awareness we become aware that we are never truly alone. There is a kind, unseen gentleness that touches our heart, mind, and soul. Although it is difficult to know and grasp this illusive energy, the gift of this presence invites us into a world of meaning and connectedness where we feel known and cared for.
The Obstacle of Religion
versus the Gift of Spirituality
Our past and present religious beliefs and practices may or may not always support our interest in psychic abilities and the new understanding and insights that come our way when we listen to them. Our beliefs about God and our sense of our own spiritual nature may be challenged, and we may feel spiritually lost and vulnerable.
If we were brought up in a religious tradition that believes that psychics and spiritualists are messengers of the dark side or the devil, then accepting our psychic awareness may be especially difficult. Even if our place of worship is more open-minded and nontraditional, developing psychic abilities may still be viewed as nonspiritual nonsense.
The gift of this obstacle is a personal connection with the divine spirit that resides within. While developing and using psychic awareness, many people experience the intuitive realization that God is not outside of ourselves. The awareness that the power and presence of God emanates from within may slowly make its way into our consciousness or suddenly surface, challenging our religious convictions.
Another gift that tends to surface as our personal connection and relationship with the divine begins to strengthen is the awareness of the intrinsic goodness of the unseen. One of the most compelling obstacles to developing psychic abilities is the fear of psychic energy and the spirit realm. The uncertainty of what and who may be lurking and ready to negatively influence and harm us prevents many from developing their intuition.
However, as we open our heart and mind, we begin to feel the warmth of an inner light that is comforting, warm, and all-encompassing. We become aware that beyond the fear-based dogma and restrictive beliefs of many religions, the Most Holy is positive, loving, wise, and always available to guide and help us.
The Obstacle of Rational Intelligence
versus the Gift of Intuitive Intelligence
Another common obstacle that many people encounter is the belief that psychic awareness is nonsense, unintellectual, woo-woo, stupid, and a waste of time. This feeling and belief may come from our own inner judgments and from others’ judgments.
Along with religious objections, this attitude was particularly strong in my family. When I was young, getting good grades was highly prized. While my brothers and sister were making scholastic gains, I struggled to pay attention and find interest in my studies. However, this did not stop or slow down my intuition, and more than once I relied on it to provide me with the correct answers to tests and to supply me with information when called upon in class.
Many of my clients and students initially approach psychic awareness through intellectual curiosity. They often place an emphasis on definitively proving its existence in a way that makes sense to the rational mind. I appreciate their passion and attempts to wrangle the wild child that psychic awareness can be into a controllable research object. However, the desire to intellectually grasp psychic awareness can keep the experience of it at bay. Your psychic awareness has to be experienced to be known. You cannot place the thinking mind in charge of your intuition. It will repress, deny, and ridicule it as if it were a rebellious insurgent attempting a coup. Psychic awareness is a few steps ahead of your conscious ego-centered thoughts. The psychic playing field has no limitations, and if you try to confine and control it, it will dissipate and become elusive.
Believing that intuition is not a legitimate form of intelligence is an obstacle. Even though intuition does not fit within the parameters of the kind of logic and reasoning that we most promote and trust, it is still a valid form of intelligence. If you have been led to believe that intuition has less to offer than other types of intelligence, let go of your judgments and adopt the beginner’s mind.
The gift of this obstacle is the awareness that intuition is our most natural wisdom. Experience this truth for yourself. Don’t define your intuition and your interest in psychic abilities according to outer standards and others’ beliefs. Listen to it and trust that psychic awareness is worthy of your time and attention. As you do this, you discover the positive and powerful contribution that it can make in your life.
The Obstacle of Doubt
versus the Gift of Soul Awareness
Doubt is a common obstacle that many people must confront when developing psychic awareness. We may at times doubt that psychic awareness is natural and real, doubt our capacity to develop it, and doubt the intuitive messages that we receive. Doubt is a product of the ego, and it will regularly surface when developing psychic abilities. How could it not? The ego does not want the surly upstart of psychic awareness to take over the reign of your day-to-day consciousness.
Recognize doubt in its many disguises. It can surface as skepticism and a need to have psychic phenomena meet an unreasonable standard of proof. It is always healthy and a good idea to question psychic information and be mindful of errors in insights and interpretation. However, there is no perfect science to psychic ability. It is an evolving art, and while it is important to notice any mistakes that you may make while working with it, learn from them and keep moving forward. Too often, psychic abilities are held to a higher standard than other skills and talents. For instance, we do not dismiss the medical profession as invalid when an illness has been misdiagnosed, and we are not expelled from school when we do poorly on an exam. It is all part of the process of growth and increased awareness.
Doubt often surfaces in my psychic development classes, and I encourage my students to confront and work through it. Almost everyone experiences doubt, but don’t let it control and limit your psychic growth. Recognize the difference between doubt and questioning. Questioning is a positive tool that can help you refine your psychic abilities and become aware of their subtle nuances.
For instance, it may at times be necessary to question the source of your intuitive impressions. It can be helpful to ask yourself if you are receiving psychic energy information or if you are generating insights and impressions based on your own thoughts, beliefs, and desires. You may need to question your interpretation of what you are psychically receiving, and it may be helpful to ask yourself what you may need to do differently to better improve your abilities. Questions can play a crucial role in the process of developing psychic abilities, but this is not the case with doubt. Instead of encouraging your development, doubt stops you in your tracks. It says that you have no psychic aptitude and natural abilities or that psychic phenomena are fake and phony.
Confront doubt and move through it and you will receive the gift of soulful knowing. When you feel truth deep within, you experience a recognizable and sure sense of knowing. This kind of awareness comes from the soul. Doubt may overwhelm you with confusion and produce anxiety, yet your soul always knows when it meets the truth.
When you experience a clear, gut-affirming psychic awareness, hold on to it and feel it. You may not always understand and be able to adequately put what you receive into words and interpret it correctly. This will come in time. It is enough at the beginning to recognize the unique feeling that accompanies a true connection to psychic energy information.
Once you have received energy information and insights, you may begin to doubt your ability to interpret and understand what you have received. In this phase, questioning can also play an important role. If you are not sure if your interpretations are correct, intuitively check for accuracy. Ask yourself if it feels right. What does your gut or heart tell you? These are messages from your soul that will let you know if your interpretations are correct.
There will be other times when doubt surfaces. When it does, remind yourself that your insecurities are coming from your ego. Shift your awareness deeper within, and feel and listen for the voice of your soul. Trust your inner sense of soul awareness when it surfaces and you will be able to rely on it whenever you use your psychic ability.
These are a few of the common obstacles to psychic development. You will likely confront one or more of them, and a few others may crop up. Remember that within every obstacle you confront during psychic development there is a gift. Once you acknowledge and continue to explore and work through the obstacle, resistance gives way and new awareness and deeper levels of insight emerge.