Keeping In Touch With Your Intuition: Rhysa Sisco Of Regulate with Rhysa On How To Get In Touch With Your Intuition And When To Trust Your Intuition When Making Decisions
An Interview With Maria Angelova
Learn to trust yourself. Once we receive those intuitive messages, then it becomes about being able to trust yourself.
Intuition is defined as the ability to understand something immediately without the need for conscious reasoning. Where does intuition come from? Can it be trusted? How can someone tune in to their intuition? To address these questions, we are talking to business leaders, coaches, mental health experts, authors, and anyone who is an authority on “How to Get In Touch With Your Intuition And When To Trust Your Intuition When Making Decisions.” As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rhysa Sisco.
Rhysa Sisco is an occupational therapist, former health and fitness coach, entrepreneur, and currently a business mentor focused on empowering entrepreneurs and leaders to unlock their next level of success through learning and understanding their nervous system. As the founder and creator of the “Business Regulation” Program, she has pioneered a simple 3-phase system that combines neuroscience, physiology, biology, psychology, her clinical experience in a hospital setting, and expertise of the sensory system into a powerful program to encourage leaders to break through their blocks in life caused by trauma from early-life experiences that prevent leaders from expanding personally and professionally. By simplifying and understanding the nervous system, she helps entrepreneurs and leaders find the tools to regulate their nervous system to better understand who they are, break through money blocks, learn how to communicate more effectively, and make decisions with their intuition that are in alignment with their values.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we start, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
Thank you for having me here! I am so excited to be part of this series and I look forward to helping people get in touch with their intuition.
I love this question because our childhood is when our nervous systems develop, which as adults let us tap into our intuition.
I was raised in Billings, MT with my parents and older sister. I had a pretty “average” childhood up until my mother was diagnosed with cancer when I was 9 and shortly after that I started battling chronic illnesses that lasted until my 30’s. Growing up I was labelled the “good girl”, I got good grades, played multiple instruments, played multiple sports, followed the rules, and always put others first. I was a perfectionist, who avoided any activity that I didn’t excel at naturally, and dealt with a lot of stress and anxiety centered around being perfect all the time. Those experiences impacted my physical, emotional, and mental health. I didn’t realize how much those experiences truly impacted me until I became an entrepreneur and my childhood trauma all came to the surface. It started impacting both my personal and business growth, by affecting my ability regulate my nervous system enough to listen to my intuition when making decisions.
My blocks in business were a direct result of the trauma that I experienced as a child that I had not processed. I was in my 30’s and didn’t really know who I was because I had been wearing a mask for the majority of my life. I had ingrained a lot of stories for myself around always putting other people’s needs first, that my worth was only as good as how much value I provided to someone else, that I should be more concerned about how everyone else is feeling over my own wellbeing, and that I needed to constantly be perfect. This caused a lot of dysregulation in my body, which then made it hard for me to make decisions, hard to feel safe with money, feeling the constant need to be doing something at all times, hard to communicate my wants and needs, and hard to be an authentic version of myself. Due to that dysregulation, and the constant feelings of anxiety, frustration, overwhelm, and panic I was feeling every day, I really struggled with learning to trust myself and listen to my intuition when I was first starting out as an entrepreneur.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
This is a great question and one of my favorite quotes was from one of my mentors Jenn Kennedy who said “how is not your responsibility.” It was so freeing to realize that all of the big goals and dreams that I have, that it is not my responsibility for knowing how they will happen. My responsibility is to lead myself every day, stay in alignment with myself, listen to my intuition to make decisions, and to keep showing up no matter what.
I had spent so much of my first year as an entrepreneur with constant anxiety about how I was going to turn my dreams into reality and once I let that responsibility go, it was like a huge weight was lifted off of me. When I feel like I am getting overwhelmed by everything involved with being an entrepreneur and trying to make things happen, I always come back to that quote.
Lead yourself, align with yourself, and trust yourself. The how will work itself out.
Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan and I love the book and movie trilogies. What I love more than the movie, which is saying something, is actually the behind-the-scenes footage. It shows a group of people all with the same mission, working together, collaborating, innovating, and helping each other. There is something so magical that happens when people unite behind a shared mission. I watch them every year, and am always inspired by how resourceful everyone was, how every detail that may have only been in the movie for a split second was so thoughtfully designed, and the passion that they share in bringing those beautiful books to life. As I build my business, I always have the thought that every little thing I do adds up to create something that transcends me, to something greater. To have a shared mission that everyone can be a part of and fight for, there is something so beautiful about that message.
Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Let’s begin with a definition of terms so that each of us and our readers are on the same page. What exactly does intuition mean? Can you explain?
I would define intuition as the “gut feeling”, “butterflies in your stomach”, or when something just “feels right” when we are making a decision. Intuition can sometimes defy logic or conscious thought. From my perspective, when we get that gut feeling it is our nervous system that is sending us those messages. Our nervous system is designed to keep us safe and it will give us signals when things feel safe or the opposite when we get nudges of what not to do. Intuition is not limited to only telling us what we should do or what decision to make, sometimes it is also telling us what to avoid. For example, if you are exploring a new city alone at night and you get lost and trying to find your way back using your phone. You see that there is a shorter route, but something in your gut tells you not to take it and to go the long way. There may be no logical explanation for why you feel that way, but something in your nervous system is telling you that it was not safe.
Intuition is something our conscious minds cannot totally comprehend. We have all felt those moments when you have been worrying about an upcoming decision, making pro-con lists, talking it through from every angle, and then seemingly out of nowhere, you will have a decision come to you that just feels right. We have all made big decisions that go against what our logical reason was telling us to do, because it felt right or in alignment, that would be how I would best describe intuition.
How would you define common sense? Are intuition and common sense related?
I would define common sense as the logical solution, perception, or judgement of a situation that the majority of people would agree upon. It is part of the decision-making process as it allows us to logically think through the consequences of our decisions and make the most rational decision based on the information that we have available. The problem with common sense is that it is not always agreed upon. For example, if you asked 5 successful business owners the best way to run a business, you would probably get 5 different answers. To them if would appear to be common sense based on their biases and experiences, but there would be differences between all 5 responses. We all have different experiences that will shape our perception of common sense.
Intuition and common sense are related in that they are both ways that people can use to approach a problem or decision. Some will base their decisions solely off of their intuition, others off of common sense or the logical, and others will use a combination of both. I think they are also connected due to the fact that our intuition is linked to our nervous system, which will impact our thoughts, feelings, and actions that can then be processed by our logical brain. If our thoughts and feelings are changed, that will influence how we view a problem from our conscious mind and therefore our common sense.
How are they different from each other?
Everyone will have their own intuition based on their lived experiences, trauma history, and nervous system state. It is something intangible that is unique to each person. It is happening outside of our conscious minds and not something we can always clearly state the logic behind the feelings that we have. We could both be presented with the same decision with all the same factors, but our intuition may tell us to do different things based on what feels right for each of us.
Common sense, even though not always agreed upon, is something that can be argued, analyzed, deconstructed, and evaluated. Looking at that same decision, we could clearly state a case from a logical perspective of how we came to that decision. We could rationalize why we perceive the problem the way we do or how we came to make a judgement. It may still result in different answers for everyone, but it is happening in our conscious minds.
What are the positive aspects of being in touch with your intuition? Can you give a story or example to explain what you mean?
I think it is important to listen to our intuition and to allow it to guide you to what you want for your future.
As an entrepreneur, we get presented with a lot of decisions of how we want our business to run or what mentors we choose to hire. I have made large investments in myself when it comes to mentorship that was based purely off my intuition. There were times when I was already paying for mentorship and my intuition would tell me to hire another mentor because it felt right. Logically, it did not make financial sense for me to hire anyone else at that time. But my intuition was telling me that was exactly what I needed to do. Each time that I have made a decision from my intuition, those decisions have always had the most impact on changing my life and business for the better and when I have seen the biggest leaps in my own personal development as a leader.
Are there negative aspects to being guided by intuition? Can you give a story or example to explain what you mean?
I think following your intuition to help guide you on the right path is important, but a potential negative from that could be that you are not ready for that path that feels right for you just yet. For me this was the case when I was changing the direction of my business. My intuition was showing me the new path that I was going to follow, but I also had to honor where I was currently at with my business. I think a mistake that some people make when listening to their intuition is thinking that as soon as you get those intuitive messages that you have to act on them immediately, when that may not actually be what is best for you. I still had a nutrition and fitness company that had clients that I still needed to make sure were receiving the same quality of services and to continue honoring contracts and agreements that were made. Just because I was called to a new mission and path, did not mean I burned down my current business and started the new one the next day. There was a lot of time and energy on my part of figuring out what I wanted my new business to look like, what I wanted to offer, what would those offers entail, and how I would want to change my marketing. I knew that it was the right path for me, but I couldn’t start acting on it immediately. I think this is an important lesson for anyone when it comes to listening to your intuition is to also remember that just because something feels right, does not mean that it is also the right time. Sometimes it requires patience.
Can you give some guidance about when one should make a decision based on their intuition and when one should use other methods to come to a decision?
I think listening to your intuition if you are making decisions about what feels in alignment with yourself is important. For example, the direction you want your life to go or what kind of business or career you will choose. Listening to what feels like it is the most in alignment with you, your mission, and your values. When I was making the transition between leaving my career in healthcare as an occupational therapist and becoming and entrepreneur, I had a very strong sense of intuition that building my own company was a better fit for me. It was the right choice for me, even though logically it was the much riskier choice. Going from a stable career to an entrepreneurial life where you are building from the ground up with no guarantee that it will work out is not always logical, but a decision based off of what my intuition was telling me.
I also believe, that some decisions require more than just intuition. For example, if you run a business with employees and your intuition is telling you one day to quit your job and go retire on a private island and sip Pina Coladas all day, that may be what is best for you, but you would also need to consider the impact on other people when making those kinds of decisions. As leaders and business owners, we not only have a duty to ourself, but to those we lead. If you were to shut down the business that day, many employees would be out of work and without paychecks with no notice. Every decision always comes down to context no matter how big or small.
I have found working with many entrepreneurs and leaders that when it comes to those decisions, that they often find using a mix of intuition and more logical thought makes for the best long-term decision-making process.
From your experience or perspective, what are some of the common barriers that hold someone back from trusting their intuition?
Too often we our ruled by our fear and doubt instead of intuition.
This is normal for everyone. Our nervous system is trying to protect us and anything that feels new or we haven’t done before will feel unsafe. Our bodies are always trying to stay in a place of safety. It is where we are most comfortable, we know what to expect, and we know how to function. Often times, our intuition is trying to lead us into new levels of ourselves when we have big decisions to make that do not always feel safe to our body. People will feel the nudges that their intuition is giving them, but ignore them because they let the fear or doubt take over when they make big decisions to keep their body feeling safe and in their comfort zone.
We let the fear and the “what if” thinking tell us not to follow the big dreams we have that our intuition is telling us to reach for. “Now just is not the right time” or “that will never work for me” thinking creep into our thoughts that prevent us from making big moves in business that feel more in alignment with our intuition, which tells us we are on the right path.
The fear and the doubts are trying to protect you, but they are also getting in the way.
Here is the central question of our discussion. What are five methods that someone can use to become more in touch with their intuition?
1. Be in a state of regulation. If your nervous system is in a state of fight-or-flight or shut down, also known as dysregulation, your body has gone into protective mode. It is trying to protect you from a perceived threat. Those threats can be something in our present or also from our stored trauma in our bodies that get brought to the surface when we are triggered by something.
Our bodies do not understand the difference between being chased by a bear and having a work deadline or stress from a big upcoming decision. It responds the same way to try and protect us. When that happens, you are focusing on surviving. Your body is not focused on you being able to digest your food, have a strong immune system, be able to lose weight, or even have logical thoughts. It is putting all of its energy into trying to keep you alive. That is why when we are under a lot of stress, we do not always make good decisions or decisions that align with our goals.
When you are in a calm state, or a state of regulation, that is when it is the easiest to listen to your body, to have deep thoughts, and be more in tune with your body. Therefore, more in sync with your intuition.
2. Know who you are. If you do not know who you are, how can you know what you want and what feels in alignment for yourself?
Even after starting my first business, I did not have a clear understanding of who I was or what I wanted. When I was presented with big decisions, I always felt flustered and overwhelmed because I had no clear direction of what I actually wanted in life. When I would have my intuition telling me what to do, it always felt disconnected from where I was. This was because I had not found my true-self or mission yet. My intuition was trying to lead me to a very different life that I was not even aware of at the time I wanted, because I did not know myself.
I now get intuition messages all the time that help me move forward because I discovered who I was and what I wanted. Taking the time to find who you are and want you truly want will be instrumental in being able to listen to your intuition and for it to help define your journey.
3. Be in alignment with yourself. Being in alignment with yourself is embodying and living your mission and values.
Being in alignment builds off of knowing who you are. When you are in a place of alignment, your thoughts, actions, and decisions are all in sync. You will know the direction that you want to go, how you want to live your life, and from that place your intuition can be a guide to help you continue moving in that direction. Working with many leaders, I have seen times when their thoughts or actions become misaligned with who they are, often times to try and make more money or doing things because they see it working for someone else that is not in alignment with them, and they lose touch with their intuition.
Staying in touch with yourself and knowing what feels in alignment will help your ability to listen to your intuition as it helps guide you forward.
4. Learn to listen. Intuition is only as strong as your ability to receive the messages.
Often times our intuition is a “felt” sense within our body. Unfortunately, our society has too often praised people for holding in their emotions, pushing through stress, or ignoring the cues that our bodies are trying to send them. We only have to look as far as chronic illnesses to see this to be true. The trauma that I experienced as a child when my mother had cancer, can be directly linked to 20+ years of struggling with chronic illnesses myself. I had unprocessed trauma that was stored in my body causing a lot of dysregulation, that presented itself as illnesses. It is not a coincidence that once I started processing my trauma and regulating my nervous system, that many of my health conditions dramatically improved. During that process I also learned to understand my body, the cues it was sending me, and that is when I was able to start listening to what my body was telling me through my intuition as well.
Being able to understand and recognize what your body is trying to tell you is a crucial step in learning to listen to your intuition.
5. Learn to trust yourself. Once we receive those intuitive messages, then it becomes about being able to trust yourself.
We build trust in ourselves just as we do when building trust with another person. When someone says they are going to do something for someone else, they typically follow through. Yet, when we make commitments or promises to ourself, we often times will not follow through thinking that it is not causing anyone harm. But, the truth of the matter is that those instances are violating the trust that you have with yourself. You would not trust a friend who always said they would do something and then they don’t follow through, so if you don’t follow through with the commitments that you make to yourself your body learns to not trust you. That lack of trust is often times what stops people from following through with their intuition because they no longer have the ability to trust their gut instincts. This is a skill that can be built by setting small commitments and then following through each time.
Once you build trust with yourself, then when those intuition moments happen, you are more likely to believe and then act on them because you trust yourself.
You are a person of significant influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
What an amazing question. What I am passionate about is my mission to create a world of aligned and regulated leaders that improve the lives of everyone they impact and lead. I truly believe that if the leaders of this world are leading from a place of alignment and regulation that they will make better decisions, which would improve the lives of everyone they lead, and in doing so create a ripple effect throughout the world. We can only lead others as much as we are able and willing to lead ourselves, furthermore the more we are able to regulate our nervous system to stay in alignment with ourselves the more we will be able to lead ourselves and therefore lead others.
As leaders, we often get stuck in our own trauma responses that prevent us from building businesses and lives that are in alignment. Dysregulation that is caused by trauma can appear as chronic stress, scarcity mindset, inability to make decisions, difficulty communicating, feeling disconnected from who you are, feeling unworthy, imposter syndrome, and much more. Those feelings can hold us back from becoming the magnetic and powerful leaders we desire to become.
The “Business Regulation” program is designed to help bridge the gap for leaders to understand themselves in a whole new way, to understand that everything they are experiencing is normal, and then to develop the tools they need to break through those blocks at each level they expand into. These are the tools that people need and use everyday to continue the constant growth and evolution that is required of leaders. This is your invitation to join this mission if you are ready to lead from a place of alignment and regulation.
Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!
I would love to have lunch with Peter Levine. He is the founder of Somatic Experiencing and has made such an impact in helping people heal trauma. He brought together the worlds of physiology, psychology, biology, neuroscience, and biophysics in helping people understand and heal trauma and stress so they could live better lives. He has created amazing programs and resources to change the world. I would love to have a chance to sit down and chat with him about how we as individuals, and as a collective, can continue changing the world through the use of trauma healing.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Yes, I would love to connect with your readers! They can follow me on:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/regulatewithrhysa/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rhysasisco
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rhysa.huston/
Follow on Instagram for tips and tricks for breaking through blocks in your business and for announcements on free masterclasses that are held throughout the year.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
About The Interviewer: Maria Angelova, MBA is a disruptor, author, motivational speaker, body-mind expert, Pilates teacher and founder and CEO of Rebellious Intl. As a disruptor, Maria is on a mission to change the face of the wellness industry by shifting the self-care mindset for consumers and providers alike. As a mind-body coach, Maria’s superpower is alignment which helps clients create a strong body and a calm mind so they can live a life of freedom, happiness and fulfillment. Prior to founding Rebellious Intl, Maria was a Finance Director and a professional with 17+ years of progressive corporate experience in the Telecommunications, Finance, and Insurance industries. Born in Bulgaria, Maria moved to the United States in 1992. She graduated summa cum laude from both Georgia State University (MBA, Finance) and the University of Georgia (BBA, Finance). Maria’s favorite job is being a mom. Maria enjoys learning, coaching, creating authentic connections, working out, Latin dancing, traveling, and spending time with her tribe. To contact Maria, email her at angelova@rebellious-intl.com. To schedule a free consultation, click here.
Keeping In Touch With Your Intuition: Rhysa Sisco Of Regulate with Rhysa On How To Get In Touch… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.