There’s never been a more important time in our history to start learning to follow (and trust) our intuition. As humans, we like to follow others because it feels safe. We’ve been conditioned over time to not stand out from others and instead, go with the majority. But what if we just ‘feel’ that something is wrong? Can we learn to trust our instincts and then use this information to then make decisions?
Here are some points as to why following our intuition is important right now.
Using our body to ‘sense’
Firstly, let’s explore what ‘intuition is. Intuition can be described as having a ‘gut feeling or reaction’ or a ‘hunch’ that occurs before we have time to consciously think. Intuition usually presents itself as an ‘uneasy’ feeling that comes across us in a certain situation.
Sometimes we can get a physical response (usually in the gut), that isn’t a learned response. It’s like we have an innate ‘sense’ when something feels off. Sometimes we listen to it but more than often, we tend to brush it off, go with what’s logical and therefore don’t follow what this ‘sense’ is trying to tell us. In some cases, ‘warn’ us.
Is it possible our logical thought processes take over our body’s natural response because it’s what we’ve learned to do? I guess we have to ask the question, if we have this natural response to situations, people or events, what stops us from following this instinct? Have we forgotten how to use it, it is caused by the fear of standing up and doing something different, or are we just wanting to take the logical path?
The video below helps explain how our intuition is activated before our brain has time to process it.
Getting over the ‘hunch’ feeling & having the courage to voice our opinions
Now, this is where it gets tricky. If our body ‘senses’ something and we feel that response, we are now faced with a decision. Do we act on the feeling or override it with logic or what we’ve been conditioned to think or believe?
We’ve all been in times where we can say we’ve used our ‘gut feeling’ for something. If we can get over the ‘overthinking’ part, we should voice our opinion and let it be heard. Find a way to speak up if something isn’t right. Do it in written form, talking with others, whatever way possible. This does take courage but it’s better than doing nothing if we ‘feel’ that something is a miss.
Question things and don’t be afraid not to. Questioning and thinking critically about a situation leads to different points of view which can help lead to better solutions to problems. We can be the person who diverts from the crowd to make our voices heard. This initially can start with just one person to speak up.
Do what feels right for us & empower ourselves
We are all different. That ‘difference’ is what makes us unique. Too often these days, we don’t want to look or appear different. We have to ask ourselves ‘why?’. After many years of being in the education system, standing out or looking different is pretty much frowned upon. In fact, it’s actually discouraged in most systems we have today. We’ve been taught to go with the group otherwise you may look dumb or stupid. This often prevents us from doing what we know is right.
But it’s time to use our instinct to do what feels right for us. Going against the crowd is never easy (that’s why we’re all not doing it) but it’s something that we need to start doing and fast. I guess the reason why we don’t speak up and go against the crowd, is the fear of being embarrassed or looking odd. This can also be due to anxiety as it feels ‘safer’ not to challenge. But at what point do we say enough is enough and start to do what is right for us, for ALL of us???
Use our moral compass
We often know if something feels right or wrong. I know I have a strong moral compass and for that I’m grateful. I can’t sit back and pretend anymore that nothing is going on. I feel I have a moral obligation to speak up now if I see something wrong. I guess I’ve always had it because it’s got me into trouble before, like when I was a student. But over the years that ‘speaking up’ seems to have gotten crushed by the systems I’ve worked in, namely the education system.
Our morals are also there for a reason and we often get a physical response when we do something we inherently know is wrong. We either get a feeling in our gut, or we know in our heart if we’re doing wrong. They may sound all wishy-washy and whatever but these two parts of the body usually don’t lie to us. It’s our brain that takes over and tries to give us a logical reason for staying quiet or doing nothing. Go with your gut, your heart, and override what the brain thinks. Be different. Stand up for what you believe. Be the yellow pencil.
Using our ‘built-in’ instinctive feeling
Our body sends us subtle warning signs when things are arrayed. But often, these signs can be quite obvious too. Gurgling in the stomach can be a massive indicator of impending trouble. We often hear stories about how people got a strange feeling in their gut right before an accident or before something disastrous happened. How did they ‘know’ something was about to happen? Why do we even have this instinct and where did it come from?
Maybe we will never know the answers to these questions but now if I have a gut feeling about something, I act on it. I listen to it because it’s obviously there for a reason.
Analyse the situation but don’t overthink it
Obviously, we want to analyse or make sense of what’s going on around us in order to make a decision on the situation we’re in. But if we start overthinking it, the brain has taken over from the intuitive feeling we first had. This is when we want to be listening to ourselves, especially if we’re in a situation that requires us to act fast on our gut instinct.
Listening to our intuition before assessing a situation is crucial if we want to go with our gut feeling because it means we need to act before the brain kicks in and tries to overthink things. Our gut feeling is usually right. Think about it 😉 but not too much.
Our brains will always try to find the logic in everything. It’s what we’ve been taught from an early age which is then amplified when we hit the school system. We hold ourselves back to not stand out from the crowd which is what we’ve been conditioned to do.
We’ve been ‘taught’ to NOT question the status quo because god forbid we challenge what’s going on around us and look ‘different’ from those around us. Be the fish that swims away from the ‘school’! Be that fish. Besides, it looks happier than the rest of them 😉
Using our intuition to challenge the status quo
Well, what does this mean? The status quo means going with the grain of the current situation. What’s considered the so-called norm at the time? But what if that ‘so-called norm’ went against everything that we ‘felt’ was right?
An experiment called the Asch Conformity Experiment, looked at how we humanoids, when in a group, start to ‘go along’ with what the group is doing, in order to conform with everyone else. Check out this clip that helps us to understand how ‘standing out’ can be altered very quickly depending on social pressures.
What’s interesting about this experiment, is that when the individual was able to write the answers down, they were more likely to record what they actually saw, rather than be persuaded to go with the group.
The Milgrim Experiment – Intuition gone astray
In this next video clip, the Milgrim Experiment, a famous study of obedience in psychology, shows how authority figures can persuade us to do things we don’t feel are right. In this 1961 study, participants appointed as the ‘teachers’ used an electric shock generator to shock other participants appointed as the ‘students’. Luckily, the ‘student’ participants getting shocked were just actors and part of the experiment.
When the participants giving the shock felt that they should stop, due to the screams they could hear from the students, they were told by an authority figure (the study coordinator) to continue. What was alarming, was that over 65% of the participants continued to deliver the shocks because they were told to continue by the authority figure running the experiment.
Check out the clip for yourself to gain an understanding of how easy it can be to NOT follow our intuition even if we know something just ‘feels’ wrong or is just ‘downright’ wrong. Challenging the status quo is not easy because we are conditioned from an early age not to question those in authority and to, therefore, conform. This is just a short clip from the full documentary.
Now take a look at what’s going on in the world right now and connect some dots. Can we switch off the ‘idiot’ box, put down the phone, and ask ourselves ‘what does my gut tell me about this situation?’. Our intuition is often trying to tell us something and we need to give ourselves time to listen to it (before our brain tries to reason with logic etc..) and before we are shut down by those around us.
If we get that ‘gut feeling’, go with it
We have our ‘gut feeling’ for a reason. I didn’t listen to my intuition for years until I was forced to and couldn’t ignore it any longer. So we can all do ourselves a favour and start listening to it from today. Listen to it! Act on it!
If we feel something just isn’t sitting right with us, we need to go with it because it’s usually right!
