Intuition is by definition, “the act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition.” The word to focus on here is rational; while there may not be any tangible reasoning behind our understanding, it does not make it any less real. The reason many of us dismiss our intuition is due to lack of evidence, or fact. Sometimes we may feel a certain way, but not have anything to support this feeling so we ignore it. We will generally find a way to talk ourselves out of whatever we were feeling, and move in favor towards real-life evidence.
For example, we may meet an individual and immediately feel a sense of unease towards them. In that moment the unease we feel may be our personal intuitions way of letting us know this is not a good person for us to personally be around or directly associate with. However this same person may be extremely close to individuals around you. We then switch to facts and tell ourselves if everyone around us has a good relationship with this individual, why shouldn’t we? This leads to us giving our intuition, and initial feeling a backseat to our logic and facts.
More often than not we end up regretting our decision to ignore our initial feeling of unease towards this person. A conflict, or shocking action from that person will leave us wishing we had not second guessed ourselves.
I want to stress that our personal feeling of unease does not necessarily mean that the individual towards which we are feeling these emotions is a bad person. It simply means that they are not the right person for us to be around. All of us have different personalities, experiences, and surroundings which shape us into the unique individuals we are. We cannot expect to click with everyone. Often times our intuition is letting us know that the person before us simply isn’t the right type of person for us to be around, but it has no definitive reflection on others.
I consider intuition to be one of our inherent human senses. Something we have been born with, however much like our other senses have the ability to diminish overtime, so does intuition. Consciousness and inherent insecurities, the inability to trust ourselves gets in the way and distracts us. In modern times we are constantly bombarded with messages of how we should feel, act, dress, speak, etc. We not only get these messages from our peers, and family, but also from media. All of this is difficult to digest, and as a result overwhelms us. It causes us to become distracted from our internal voice. We choose, often unaware, to mimic the behavior of others, and us such disregard our own potential path.
However, the facts remain that more often than not, we regret not trusting our initial feelings. It is also true, that some of the most successful individuals in the world, got to their points of success simply by listening to their gut.
Below is an excellent video which explains intuition, and the wisdom behind it. Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine. He describes intuition as “being in touch with the wisdom of the body.”
I encourage everyone to begin trusting themselves. Walk your own personal path. Listen to your internal voice, and understand that only you truly know what is best for you. This means that sometimes people will not agree with you, or support you. However, if you are listening to the wisdom within, you will be following what is right for you.
Intuition like our other senses has been given to us for a reason, to understand life on a deeper level. Do not allow the many messages from the world to cloud your judgement. Believe in yourself. Only then can you find your internal peace.
