Hello Tanya

Listening To Your Gut and Intuition

• Tanya Barlow

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Welcome back to the Hello Tanya Podcast! This week I'll be discussing how to listen to your gut, tell intuition and from the anxious “roommate,” using body cues, first thoughts and self‑love to make clearer choices. 

• Why The Roommate keeps you small and stuck 
• What intuition feels like in the body 
• The first yes rule for faster clarity 
• How maybes and not sure often mean no 
• Using energy and self‑love to boost signal 
• Final mirror work affirmations for daily use

And surprise! That's a wrap for Season One! Thank you so much for being here!

If you are enjoying what I’m creating here, I would really appreciate if you subscribed, liked, and commented, because it literally makes a huge difference in visibility in the algorithm. If you are just on podcasts, a rating and a review would also make a big, big difference too! Thank you! <3


Production design, intro music and video by Christopher Stratton. Podcast photos by Frances Carter. Find Tanya at @hellotanya and the pod at @hellotanyapod on IG, and https://www.youtube.com/@hellotanyapod <3

SPEAKER_00:

Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Hello Tanya podcast. This is where I share small bite-sized concepts, frameworks, and exercises that I've learned from seeing a spiritual healer and mentor for the last three years. If this is your very first time here, I recommend starting back to episode one, way back at the beginning, because this is accumulative. You know, we're kind of building on things here. So welcome to episode 12. 12. 12. I can't believe I've I'm doing 12 of these. Anyway. So last week was a biggie. Forgiveness letters to others. How did you go? Did you try it? Did you try really letting go and really truly forgiving? I hope you did. And if you didn't, that's okay. You can always try these another time. That's the beauty. That's what I've been trying to do with this series, is like you can kind of pick up at any time when you feel ready to. This is not kind of like bullying you or guilting you or forcing you into doing every single one of these exercises all at the same time because you do kind of have to feel like you're ready, you know? Anyway, um, so this week I finally, because I know last week I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. Um, funnily enough, I listened to my gut and I listened to my intuition, and I'm gonna talk about how to listen to your gut and your intuition and how to differentiate between your gut or intuition and the roommate, because they're very similar, or at least, you know, it could feel like they're similar. They're kind of coming from the same place, right? Okay, so so what does listening to your gut actually mean? How do we discern between your gut and the roommate? Because they do come from the same place, it seems, and it's also so easy to confuse the two, thinking that you're listening to your gut when perhaps it's been your roommate the entire time. If the roommate doesn't make sense, that's another hint. Go back to the beginning, okay, guys. In early sessions with Lika, she encouraged me to start listening to my gut, that my intuition is never wrong, and that that is information. At the time, I was like, huh? What does that even mean? Like, which voice is my gut? Which voice is my intuition? Which is the roommate? I was super confused because at the time, the roommate had been in control and had been in charge for a very, very long time. I'd confused him with my intuition, which led me to make decisions that were not right for me. Like I said in episode two and others, the roommate is fear-based. It does not like change. What the roommate wants is to keep things the same, to keep you small, to keep you scared, and place way more weight on what others think of you than you should. Learning to listen to your gut feels pretty similar to deciphering when the roommate is being active, stopping, and listening. Self-awareness, being in your body and paying attention to where those messages are coming from. Whoops, hit the mic. Where you're where those messages are coming from. From my personal experience, the roommate feels like it comes from the head. Panicky, high-pitched, unsure, and reactive. Like a knee-jerk reaction to something, like a sulky teenager reacting to being in trouble. It'll hurl unhelpful thoughts my way that are rooted in fear and rejection. Messages from my gut or intuition. Oh, oh yeah, surprise, Delilah's sitting here. She's on my lap. Oh, there was a big yawn for a little puppy. Yeah, we got some happy grumbles on the mic. Thank you, Delilah. Um, messages, messages from my gut or intuition. Feels like it comes from my heart, my soul, and weirdly, deep in my body, like my stomach or chest. That was another yawn. Intuition feels more grounded, finite, unquestioning, solid, secure, and confident, wise, sure, unwavering, and true. I interpret this as essentially emails from the universe giving you clues as to what to do next, clues about who to trust or which way to go. Funnily enough, my gut told me to do this episode. And I checked in with Lika before writing this. Oh pups. I checked in with Lika before writing this, and she confirmed some things for me in terms of differentiating between the roommate and your intuition. When I'm so distracted by she's yawning so much. Hi, sweetheart. Do you need some attention? Hello, darling. When your intuition or gut is speaking, it's the very first thought, the first feeling, the first idea or hunch. That's the voice you should listen to. The same applies to when something comes to mind as soon as you wake up, without thinking too much. That's a direct message from your gut. The first yes, the first excited response to something, the first idea, that's your intuition saying, go for it, to go ahead, to make that decision or do that action. She calls it the voice of the soul. And intuition is a sign, a feeling, singular, not talk or chatter. Even though I just said she calls it the voice of the soul, and I know, I know, I know she said that she calls intuition the voice of the soul, but it's actually not voices. Does that make sense? Anyway, on the other hand, on the other hand, when you are second-guessing, overthinking, overanalyzing, and ruminating, that's the roommate. It wants to keep you unsure, anxious, and make a meal out of what should be a clear decision or action. What sometimes happens is that the second guessing from the roommate is justifying an action based on what other people think rather than coming from a place of self-respect. If the response is a maybe, if you're not sure or you don't know, that's a no. Leave it be. This can apply to invites, opportunities, people, relationships, anything. I don't know is a no. I'm not sure is a no. Maybe is a no. An example of when your intuition or gut might pipe up and send you a message is meeting someone for the first time. Your gut or intuition will sometimes subconsciously tell you, this person can be trusted, this person has good energy, and this person does not. It might not be instant, sometimes it'll kick in later in the day, or there'll be a download of, oh, I felt good about that person, or oh, I did not, I did not enjoy being around that energy. Intuition or gut feelings are the same as having a hunch. And I bet that every time you've had a hunch about something or someone, it's been right. I do believe that energy plays a big part in being able to listen to your intuition and really hone your skills in listening to your intuition. I've personally definitely found that the longer I saw Lika, the higher my vibration became and the stronger and louder my intuition became. For me, sometimes it feels like a magic eight ball. Like if there is a job, event, person, situation, whatever, I'll shake my magic eight ball or tune into my intuition and see, and I'll see what it says. It'll almost always tell you what to do. And one of the things Lika has drilled into me has been never say yes if your heart or gut says no or intuition says no. And like I said, and I feel the same way about not being sure. For me, like I said, a not sure is also a no, but in a different font. Listen, I know talking about something as esoteric as and intangible as intuition and gut feelings is difficult. There isn't a shortcut to tapping in or describing what it's like to access it to everyone. It's tricky and unspoken. But what I do know is that learning to love myself, to prioritize myself and respect myself and my time and value myself have all massively helped me tune into my intuition. Doing that self-love work was like adding a signal booster to a weak connection. It was always there, but just quite weak. And the roommate, like a toddler with a tantrum, was at his loudest when I didn't value or love myself. That's a good yawn, pups. So, my friends, interpret this as best you can. I hope what I've talked about makes sense. It truly isn't easy writing about it, but I hope this has helped in some small way. Speaking of listening to your gut and intuition, mine has been piping up for about the last two weeks about wrapping up episodes for the podcast, wrapping up episodes for the year. And I could even feel the roommate also piping up, being like, no, keep going. But ultimately, at 12 episodes, ultimately at 12 episodes, I do feel like this is a great place to wrap up as the official end of season one. The current format of the podcast as it is was always going to be finite. And it just feels right to end things here. Isn't that right, puppy? Who knows what season two will look like, but rest assured I will return next year. I've got some dreaming to do, I'm not sure what it will look like, but I am as always open to ideas or suggestions, or you know, let me know if there's anything in particular you want to hear from me about, or um, I could give advice if you have anything you need advice about. I'm very, very open. Um, so please let me know. And before we get into the final mirror work moment of the season, a handful of you have asked me about this heart-shaped handheld mirror. And while it's probably a few weeks away, I do have plans to make some heart-shaped mirror merch for you all. So keep an eye out on socials for an announcement as numbers will be incredibly limited, but I'm very excited. All right. Okay, here we are, the final mirror work moment of season one. We know the drill, right? But I'm gonna do the spiel anyway. As we all know, mirror work is gassing yourself up in the mirror, giving yourself a pep talk, telling yourself the things you have always wanted and needed to hear, speaking kindly to yourself as though you are your best friend, because you are, right? You are your own best friend. You're speaking to yourself as a fan, as a huge fan. And do this. We want to work up to minimum five minutes a day. And I'm hoping that we are doing this because we've been doing the work, right? We gotta do the work, you gotta work it to work it. The best time to do this is when you are doing your skincare, after you've brushed your teeth, maybe in the rear view mirror of your car or you're about to go into a meeting or something. Any time that you have five minutes to yourself that you can give yourself a little leaven is the best time. Okay, so let's build on what we've done so far, shall we? Okay. I feel a bit emotional that this is the last one. Okay. I love you and I'm proud of you. I trust myself, I value myself, and I accept myself. I can do it alone. The universe is always with me. I am ready for miracles. Thank you, universe. And why am I so lucky? I am too strong to be broken. I am powerful and protected. I am grateful for this moment. I am the greatest project I will ever work on. All that I need is already mine. I am capable of achieving anything I set my mind to. I choose to focus on the positive aspects of my life. Miracles are normal, but everything always works out for me. I attract positive energy and people into my life. This week, and finally for season one, I'd like to invite you to also try saying I am the best. I am the winner. I trust my gut completely. Oh my goodness. I don't even know how to wrap this up. I just want to say thank you all so much for listening and or watching to the handful of you who have been here from the beginning. I see you. I am grateful for you. Thank you for being my cheerleaders. I appreciate each and every one of you. If you are watching this weeks, months, years later, I'm really glad you're here too. Um, this will be my final plea for engagement for the algorithm, because it really does help. Please throw a like, subscribe, a comment, please, because it really does make a difference in this invisibility. And it really would mean a lot to me because I am gonna be taking quite a bit of a break, and I don't want this to disappear into the ether. So please engage and please share this with people you think might find this helpful. Thank you for your kind words of support. Thank you for your DMs saying that you needed this at the right time. And finally, thank you to Frances Carter for the amazing photos. And my number one thank you to Christopher Stratton for all that you do. Doing the intro music, doing the set, production design, and major, major support. Okay, and one last time, thank you to Lika, my spiritual healer and mentor for allowing me and encouraging me to share these insights with you. And that's a wrap for season one. I love you. I love me. Thank you. Thank me. And I'll see you next time. Bye bye. Wait, I gotta get Delilah up here. Come on. Here she is. Yeah, that's a good grumble. That's a good grumble. Delilah says bye too. Bye bye. I'm gonna press the intro. Oh, the outro button. Ow! Okay, bye.