Sometimes things just don’t feel right. There’s a feeling inside of you saying something is off. I’m sure you’ve had this happen to you before. You might have ignored this feeling and then found yourself in a bad situation, or maybe you listened and avoided something completely catastrophic. That’s called a gut feeling, and it comes from your intuition.
Humans are master rationalizers, and rationalizing things can be dangerous. We often do this in two ways. The first is by understanding problems in black and white instead of seeing the grey area or a creative solution. Not everything has to be looked at as polar opposites like yes or no.
The second way we rationalize is by ignoring what our heart or gut is trying to tell us. Your heart and gut send and receive inputs to and from the brain to help us make decisions, so we need to learn how to listen.
There are quite a few things that can get in the way of listening to your intuition, and it’s essential we lay them out for you to avoid possible misjudgments in the future. It’s also important to learn the difference between your intuition guiding you and your trauma misleading you. I wrote about it extensively in a post you can find here – but here is the gist of it.
Overthinking
Overthinking is probably the biggest obstacle to intuition. It is paralysis by analysis. If you put too much thought into every decision, you can easily justify or rationalize a decision in a counterintuitive way. It often leads to confusion. Sometimes, it’s best to meditate when you have a big decision.
Bias and Prejudice
Bias is the opposite of overthinking. Bias and prejudice come from a place in the brain that can quickly make judgments and decisions based on previous experiences instead of reason.
Other People’s Opinions
It’s all too easy to listen to other people’s opinions, especially people you love and trust, which can lead you astray from your path and destiny.
If you want to become a master at listening to your intuition, we’ve broken it down into three steps.
1. Slow down and clear your mind. The first thing you should always do when trying to make a good decision is slow things down. This will help you process the information you receive more productively. Allow yourself time and space to sit and clear your mind of any distractions before trying to tackle a decision.
2. Listen to your head and your heart. Your head and your heart often have differing opinions. The heart wants what it wants, even when the mind knows what’s safe. You need to be able to take both into account if you’re going to have the whole picture.
3. Pay attention to how your gut feeling makes you feel inside. Your gut will speak to you in different sensations. A positive gut feeling may be accompanied by a sense of warmth, the ability to breathe more easily, a wave of goosebumps, or relaxation. These feelings are often affirming. A negative gut feeling can come in the form of cold hands, a chill, a clenching pain, nausea, or a sense of being on high alert. These feelings are warnings.
