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Intuition as a Game

October 2025

If you ever struggle to use your intuition or would like the practice of it to be more enjoyable, you can try treating it as a game. There’s less pressure in a game to make the right decision, less of a bummer when you lose, and more light-hearted during the whole process of playing compared to when you have to make choices in real life (though it’s also often the case that how you play games is how you play life).

Intuition During Games

I’m often accused by my husband of cheating when we play games. If he wins, it’s pure skill of course. If I win, it’s due to “cheating with your psychic abilities.”

Firstly, I play games for fun, so cheating holds no appeal for me because it would take the fun out of it. There’s no sense of victory unless a game is won fair and square.

Secondly, most games can’t be won based on intuitive abilities alone (unless it’s something like Battleship where guesswork is involved – having strong intuition can be advantageous in those cases). If a grand chess master were to compete against the best psychic in the world, I’d be betting on the master to win at chess, no matter how well the psychic might predict each move. Winning a game tends to result from good strategy, luck, practice, or a combination of all three, none of which rely solely on our sixth sense.

Thirdly, anyone is entitled to use their intuitive/psychic abilities at any time. I want to use my intuition as much as possible, so why would I purposely block it for any area of life, including play? Providing that I abide by the rules, the use of intuition is fair game – no pun intended.

Do people complain about tall basketball players when their team wins a match? No, they are celebrated. Their height gives them an advantage over other players, but they are never blamed for cheating.

Unlike our height which can’t be changed at will, we can all develop and practice our intuitive abilities in many ways, including while playing games. While it doesn’t usually create an unfair advantage (or at least no more so than being tall when playing basketball), it can be amusing to consult our intuition to choose what move to take next, or to avoid getting stuck on endless little decisions so that the game can flow along more smoothly.

Intuition for Choosing Games … and a Video Game Console

Intuition can be used not only while playing games, but also when choosing what game to play in the first place. Test this out for yourself. Whether you’re into board games, cards, sports, or video games, consider the many options available and then choose one based on how it makes you feel. If you get a sense of light-heartedness or happiness when you tune into a game, then give it a go. If it feels dull, heavy or like a chore, then leave it. Even if a game has rave reviews, has won awards, and your friends love it, there’s no need to invest your time and energy into something that doesn’t feel good.

Perhaps you don’t particularly enjoy any of the types of games mentioned above. However, everything can be turned into a game if you get creative enough. For example, maybe you could aim to beat your own record for how quickly you complete a normally mind-numbing task for work, using your intuition to pick a new approach you’ve never tried before. 

Decision making in day-to-day life is something we do all the time, and it can be turned into a game as well. What rules would you like to set? Will you make decisions primarily on your own, or invite others to decide with you, or to decide for you? Would you like to change your decision-making style depending on the context? Perhaps base decisions only on your intuition for one day, and then only rely on your logic for the next?

I recently watched someone agonise over a decision that seemed like it should be easy. It involved no serious consequences either way, as it merely involved choosing between two video game consoles.

This person had already bought the consoles but was now tossing up whether to keep both, as they were very similar. He playfully handed each of them to me and asked, “What do you feel? Should I sell it? … What about this one?” My immediate sense was that the slightly smaller console was a keeper – it was cute, nice to touch, and felt loved by its owner. The other felt neutral, as though there was no emotional attachment to it at all.

“But what if I want to look at a bigger screen?” he asked. I replied to say if he wanted that option, then it wouldn’t hurt to keep both consoles.

“But then maybe I should sell the smaller one?” he said. I agreed he could, except didn’t he just confirm that he loved it?

“Well, I could play more on the larger one, then maybe I’d like it more.” Okay, I nodded.

“But it does hurt my fingers when I play it, because of where the buttons are placed,” he continued. Why keep something that hurts when you play it? He explained that it would be fine to play in short spurts, and he didn’t want to use it for long stretches at a time anyway.

This went around in circles until I suggested that he stop overanalysing everything and simply write the pros and cons of holding on to each console. The bigger one had a longer list of good things associated with it, and the cons list was small. He decided that he didn’t want to keep both, so the little cute console would have to go.

Within the hour, he told me definitively that he was going to sell the bigger console. “Why? What happened?” I asked. He said he had tried to play the bigger one and his fingers got cramped. Plus, he just really liked the other one and wanted to stick with it. So, in the end, he came around full circle to what my intuition had told me and what he’d acknowledged at the very beginning: He was happy playing one console, while the other didn’t cause any joy and was not missed once he got rid of it. His detailed logical analysis only delayed the inevitable.

Intuitive Decision Making

I’ve often done the same thing when faced with various decisions. My intuition would tell me something clearly, but I’d keep searching for a rational answer as if to justify it. Over time, I’ve become more willing to follow my intuition straight away when it’s clear enough, because it tends to lead to happier outcomes.

While I’d never really thought of it as a “rule” before, for a long time I’ve prioritised intuitive guidance over other factors when making decisions. Just as some people will only play games if they have a good chance of winning, while others will compete simply for the delight of playing (even when they are unlikely to emerge victorious), the purpose of life and decision making is not the same for everyone. For me, decision making is like a game to practice my intuition. My goal is not to stay safe, or take unnecessary risks, or achieve a perfect outcome (what is a perfect outcome anyway?). My aim is to trust my intuition as much as possible, even when it’s hard to do. 

For this reason, pros and cons lists don’t work so well for me because whatever my intuition says is my ultimate deciding factor. I don’t care if I “lose” at times, i.e. fail to trust my intuitive guidance occasionally, or follow it to an outcome that may not please me in the moment. It wouldn’t matter if option A had hundreds of pros and no cons, while option B had only a few pros and a long list of cons. If I’m intuitively guided to option B, then that’s enough for me to choose it. That’s how I play this game, and the surprises, delight, and unexpected outcomes that often result from playing it make the game worthwhile. If I ever get bored with this approach or it no longer works for me, I’ll update the rules or play a different game.

Intuition as a Game

Intuition itself can be treated as a game. You’re in charge of your own intuitive practice, so what rules would you like to set? Will it be solo, like a game of Solitaire or one-player Dice Conquest, or will you ask another person to join, as for Checkers or German Whist? Would you prefer to invite a whole group of people to participate, similar to Charades or Celebrity Heads? (For more info on how to intuitively play with others, check out Chapter 3 of the book Channel). Of course, you can opt out of this game altogether – just use your rational mind, ignoring intuition entirely. The option is always there to play in future if you change your mind.

If you do decide to play this game, how often would you like to do it?

There’s a paradox with intuition in that it tends to strengthen when we use it as often as possible, yet trying to practice it all the time can lead to complacency or diluted efforts.

One way to address this is to consider intuitive ability as a treat. The option is still there to check in with our intuition throughout the day, but what if we were to practice it deeply and intensely only once or twice a day? Treat ourselves to a dedicated quiet time of stillness and receptivity to receive intuitive guidance? Now that could be exciting! Or if it doesn’t feel adequate to tune in a couple of times each day, what about on the hour? Or whenever the phone rings? Or while listening to a person talk, to feel what they really mean to say (which is often quite different from the actual message they speak out loud)?

Last week, my sister asked what my intuition had to say about a particular event from a while ago. I wasn’t sure, because I hadn’t tuned in about it at the time. She questioned me about something else, and what my guides thought about it – again I responded that I didn’t know. She was baffled as to why I hadn’t used my intuitive ability to ask about several things.

If I were to concentrate, consult my intuition, and tune into spiritual guidance for everything in life, that would take the joy out of it. I don’t mind going with the flow and surrendering to intuitive knowing when it’s available, but that’s different to using it excessively for endless questions. To use the analogy of a walkie-talkie, we can have it nearby to receive messages when needed, but we wouldn’t use it to check in for every little thing. Can you imagine?

“I’m about to set up my tent, are you okay with that? Over.”

“My lunch consists of curry and rice. Let me know if that’s acceptable. Over.”

“It’s quiet but just checking if any people might arrive in the next few days to disturb the peace. Over.”

Just set up the tent, eat lunch, enjoy quiet time, and live your life. We can be open to our intuition any time but actively tuning in for specific spiritual guidance uses energy; doing it too much can be draining. 

I do have certain rules when it comes to playing with intuitive abilities. For instance, I have a rule that I meditate for a certain amount of time before tuning in for any specific spiritual guidance. I generally limit this practice to once or twice a day at most; the only exceptions being if I feel a ping to tune in again later, or when I have an intuitive consultation booked so I need to tune in for someone else.

I also mix it up a bit in terms of how I listen to my intuition. Sometimes I’ll wait for a sense of knowing, other times I’ll check for a whole body yes, and often I’ll aim to simply follow light. 

How do you want to play the game of intuition? Explore what might work, experiment, set some rules, invite other players if you want, practice, and have fun!

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