Episode 110: Why Highly Intuitive People Stop Trusting Themselves: Returning to intuition after grief, trauma & self-doubt

After an intentional pause, Caitlan returns to the mic with one of the most personal episodes of the podcast yet. In this kickoff to a brand-new intuition series, she shares the raw and profound story of losing her father to pancreatic cancer and the intuitive hits, body sensations, dreams, and undeniable inner knowing that emerged throughout the experience.

This episode explores what intuition actually feels like beyond the curated “trust yourself” content online. Caitlan dishes on the ways intuition gets shut down over time through trauma, power dynamics, logic-only conditioning, narcissistic relationships, anxiety, and self-gaslighting — and what it looks like to slowly reclaim that connection.

From spirit guide experiences and dreams to Human Design, therapy, grief, and nervous system awareness, this conversation lives at the intersection of the mystical and the practical. If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re intuitive, ignored a gut feeling, or felt disconnected from your own inner voice, this episode is for you. 

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

•  Why intuition often gets dismissed in highly logical or professional environments 
•  The difference between intuition, fear, anxiety, and trauma responses 
•  How narcissistic or emotionally invalidating relationships disconnect us from our inner knowing 
•  The role Human Design, IFS, spirituality, and healing work can play in reconnecting to intuition 
•  Caitlan’s deeply personal story of intuitively sensing her father’s illness and passing 
•  The ways grief can heighten intuitive sensitivity and connection 
•  Why reconnecting with intuition requires unlearning as much as learning

Chapters:

 02:45 — Mercury signs, astrology, and how we receive intuitive information
 06:10 — What intuition actually feels like
 08:02 — Intuitive vampires, gaslighting, and losing trust in yourself
 11:30 — Anxiety vs. intuition: how to tell the difference
 14:28 — Why reconnecting to intuition isn’t just meditation and journaling
 16:40 — Childhood intuition, energy sensitivity, and early spiritual experiences
 19:15 — Healing, IFS, and rebuilding a relationship with intuition
 24:10 — Spirit guides, flickering lights, and messages from her grandmother
 27:05 — The intuitive knowing before her father’s diagnosis
 29:10 — Sensing the timing of his passing before medical professionals did
 31:25 — Dreams, grief, and learning to trust inner knowing

Links & Resources:

•   Aycee Brown on Instagram for the Mercury intuition post that inspired this episode 
•  Explore Caitlan’s work + current offerings at Caitlan Siegenthaler
• Book your Power Move
• Subscribe to Return+ for bonus episodes, essays, and deeper conversations

Support the show

Produced by Caitlan Siegenthaler
Cover Art by Kiara Opara

If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend, post it to your Instagram stories, and tag me. And if you really loved it, the best thank-you is a written review on Apple Podcasts or a comment on Spotify. 

That is a beautiful energetic exchange for Caitlan creating the show.