Trust my intuition

4 Ways Trusting Your Intuition Is A Superpower

Learn how to trust your intuition.

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By Sarah Jeanne Browne—

Have you ever had a difficult decision to make, and you didn’t know what to do? You create a pros and cons list to no avail. Any choice you make comes with consequences and questions. But you know you have to make one.

In those moments, you know you have to ask yourself what you really want. But what happens when you don’t even see that? You might unravel or spiral, act on impulses, or people-please rather than rely on yourself. You might choose incorrectly.

The pressure is paralyzing. It’s hard to move forward when you feel like that. The good news is that intuition can be a game changer. You can call it in your inner voice, inner guidance, uncanny knowledge, instinct, gut feelings, a six sense, or a hunch. Sometimes looking within is all you have to do.

There are a few things that get in the way of intuition. They are overthinking, ‘shoulds,’ bias, approval seeking, when you really want something, and even trauma. To get through those obstacles, become self-aware, scan your body, and examine your beliefs. Getting out of your own head can actually lead to more intuitive thinking. The benefits are that you find yourself, you make the right choice, you take chances, and you take action where others will not.

Intuition can be of great help. Intuition leads to insight. Scientists and poets both are puzzled by it. Yet it’s a phenomenon that exists. It’s a superpower we all have.

1) Famous Examples of Intuition

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There are many examples of intuition. Here are some that might make you think:

Henry Ford: During decline of demand for his cars and high worker turnover in 1914, he doubled his employee’s wages. He went against others’ recommendations by doing so. Within a year, turnover turned around and demand was back because Ford’s own workers could finally afford Ford cars!
Stanislav Petrov: In 1983, he defied Russian military protocol. His intuition told him that the early-warnings of missile launch by the US were false alarms in the Russian detection system. By following his gut, he prevented a nuclear war between Russia and the US.
Albert Einstein: He went against common presumptions in physics due to intuition. In physics In his own words, he said, “I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right. I do not know that I am. When two expeditions of scientists, financed by the Royal Academy, went forth to test my theory of relativity, I was convinced that their conclusions would tally with my hypothesis. I was not surprised when the eclipse of May 29, 1919, confirmed my intuitions. I would have been surprised if I was wrong.”
Winston Churchill- There was a bomb near Churchill when he was dining at 10 Downing Street in London. Before a second could land at his exact location, he told everyone to evacuate. His intuition saved everyone.
Paul McCartney - He had a dream of a tune that would become one of the most popular Beatles songs, “Yesterday. ” However, initially he feared it was too different from what they already played. Good thing he listened to his intuition. He called it “the most magic thing!”

2) What Is Intuition

Intuition is “nonconscious emotional information” from your brain or body. Intuition is when you make decisions devoid of analytical reasoning and replaced with emotional information or insight based on experience or other factors. There are two types of thinking- analytical reasoning and intuitive thinking. Most people use a combination of both as they are complementary.

There are three types of intuition. They are as follows:

Coherence and Insight- Knowing something without knowing the source of that knowledge. This largely correlates with IQ.
Implicit Learning- Not knowing that you know something. This is picking up cognitive patterns.
Subjective Intuitive Abilities- Thinking you know something. This is for the intellectually curious who like puzzles and philosophical debates. They tend to prefer intuitive thinking.

Intuition can come from pattern-matching, seeing correlation in patterns from experience to present moment. The brain processes patterns of information through explicit and tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge is when you are consciously aware of what you know. Tacit knowledge is unconscious. According to Situational Awareness Matters, tacit knowledge is “knowledge that resides outside of everyday awareness.” Intuition can be deemed ‘tacit hunches.’ It pulls from that unconscious knowledge and patterns we pick up. The insights we get from intuition enter the conscious awareness of what we know or think we know.

The brain is a large predictive machine. It is always predicting using present information or with past knowledge or prior model. This is also called ‘predictive processing framework.’ According to World Economic Forum, “intuitions occur when your brain has made a significant match or mismatch (between the cognitive model and current experiences), but this has not yet reached your conscious awareness. ”

Positive Psychology says intuition can happen anywhere and sometimes “it just happens.” It also says that deeply stored knowledge can mean better decision making than simple logical choices. There is declarative knowledge in which deep seated experience gives way to the best decision. If you have experience in something, you are more prone to be intuitive about it. According to Huffington Post, “Intuition is really learned expertise in disguise. So if you’ve played tennis your whole life, go with your instinct on the court instead of thinking through each stroke.”

Exploring Your Mind says brain areas involved with intuition may be the precuneus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the caudate nucleus, and “it’s hard to chalk all these processes up to accidents or a product of our imagination. Not only is there a neurological foundation to intuition, but it also involves your past experiences, your personality, and your subconscious, or the place that contains the essence of who you are. ”

Whether intuition is due to experience or anything else, many cognitive processes occur when you call upon intuition. It may not always be one way, one method. Sometimes, you just know what you know, and there’s not always a logical explanation for where that knowledge comes from. It is something that continues to be studied, but there is a lot of evidence for intuition.

According to Joel Pearson, an associate professor of psychology at the University of New South Wales in Australia, intuition is real and can be measured. In fact, it’s been studied.

In one study, participants had to decide whether dots were moving left or right on a screen. While this was occurring, subliminal messages were flashed quickly influencing their choices. The positive subliminal messages made them more confident in their choices and trusted their intuition more resulting in more accuracy. These subliminal messages triggered an emotional response that relied less on judgment and more on feeling.

Daniel Kahneman says we have two different thought systems. According to Scientific American, he says “System 1 is fast and intuitive; system 2 is slower and relies on reasoning.” He argues that intuitive thinking can actually cloud judgment at times. But Gerd Gigerenzer of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, believes most people don’t reason with logic alone. They use some measure of intuition, which is underappreciated. He says it’s a “form of unconscious intelligence.” Furthermore, Kamila Maleswka doesn’t think intuition equates irrational or illogical. According to her, it’s “experience and knowledge that people gathered over the course of their lives...an ability that can be trained and can play a constructive role in decision-making.”

Cristina Becchio formed a study where participants had to guess where a person was going to drink or dump a bottle of water. This clip was one-second long and people watched hand movements to try to figure it out. Their accuracy was beyond simple chance. People trusted their intuition to make this prediction.

How is the person able to intuit whether someone will drink or dump water? Becchio believes that the brain’s ‘mirror system’ comes into play. We actually see ourselves as the person with the water and based on that, we are able to predict what will happen. We mirror their movements in our mind. In another study, basketball players were able to predict where a person’s shot would go when watching videos of basketball.

Michael Pratt says firefighters use a mix of sensory information and expertise to make a quick decision. He says, “I’ll talk to a firefighter who left a burning house a minute before the floor collapsed. I’ll ask them how they knew to leave - how they got to that decision - and they usually say their gut told them to leave.”

There was another study where participants played a rigged card game. There were two decks of cards that they had to pick from. One was rigged for both big wins and big losses. The other was small wins with rare losses. After 50 cards, a hunch began to tell them which deck was safer. After 80 cards, they absolutely knew the difference between the decks. But before their analytical brain knew anything, at 10 cards they started to intuitively select from the safer deck. Their intuition took over.

Dr. Keiji Tanaka did a study with experienced shogi players. This is much like chess, and the players relied on intuition for many moves. In the scans, their precuneus area of the brain lit up which deals with consciousness. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex also lit up. This is where we store past rewards and regrets. This part of the brain assists in decision-making, and it responds to emotions. So it has some neurobiological foundation.

Yet, intuition can also depend on the task at hand. In one study, participants completed eight tasks. Four were reflective thinking and the other four were intuitive and creative thinking. The former was about discerning rules. The latter was about innovation. They rated the extent they used intuition or gut feelings for both. The result was that intuition hindered the results of reflective thinking and benefited creative thinking. Intuition may not always be right, but there are arenas where it is strongest, and it can be practiced overtime.

How To Be Highly Intuitive

There are 8 ways to be highly intuitive.

Introspection

Highly intuitive people tend to take time for introspection. They check in with themselves for self-awareness and body scans. They ask themselves what they are feeling and where they are feeling it in the body. They do a lot of reflecting on their day and inner self. They look for ways to express themselves, and often talk about their feelings. They do not feel ashamed of their emotions. They let themselves feel to heal. They feel the full spectrum of feelings and welcome it as part of the human experience.

They tend to ask themselves, “How am I feeling right now?” more often throughout the day. That way, they know exactly how they feel when something happens and trust that feeling. That leads to intuitive feelings coming forward to show them what to do.

Solitude

Highly intuitive people recharge often and unplug. They seek solitude when they can to separate themselves from what others think they should do. They listen to themselves. They take a long walk in nature. They take breaks. They look for silence and stillness. This gives their intuition breathing room. It helps them hear their inner voice when they shut the world out for a moment.

Authenticity

Highly intuitive people are grounded in their authenticity. That means they put their authentic self first. Every space is an authentic one because they do not wear a mask. This helps them to truly be self-aware and reflective of their wants and needs. They don’t act from a place of ‘shoulds.’ They act from a place of their values. These values dictate their perspective, leading their intuition to keep them in place.

Empathy

Highly intuitive people are often empaths. They experience a lot of empathy because they are able to imagine what an experience is like for someone else. They do not necessarily project their own experiences when they do this. It is a selfless insight of desire to help someone else. They are the first ones you call when something goes wrong. They are the ones you lean on in tough times. That’s because they put themselves in others’ places. Their intuition comes from wanting to know how to make a person feel happy and secure. They might go out of their way and even become altruistic to make sure someone is okay. They pick up on body language and other social cues from people that may go unnoticed by most. They see when someone is smiling on the outside, but crying on the inside. They are the ones who hold space and listen.

Seek safe spaces

Highly intuitive people know the importance of safe spaces. They go where they are celebrated and welcome others who are in need of acceptance. They know what it’s like to be different because they are deeply feeling and highly sensitive. So, they know how to interact with people who feel insecure. They are right there with you in the struggles you face. They have great empathy, but also great compassion. They are willing to be a safe space for you.

Exploration

Highly intuitive people are explorative. They are always seeking new experiences and to learn new things. That’s to sharpen their skills, but also to develop their self-awareness and awareness of the world. That means that they can become more intuitive because of self-discovery and exploration. When you go to an intuitive person, they are pulling from all their experiences in order to listen to you. And they often know just the thing you need.

Creativity

Highly intuitive people are creative. They trust their intuitions and feelings to guide them with certain projects and tasks. They may find solutions that are not so obvious and straightforward. They may do things in an independent fashion. But they love to help out and are sincere about finding answers to complex problems. Being creative helps them come up with ideas. They intuitively know if something works or doesn’t work.

Mindfulness

Highly intuitive people are mindful. They focus on the present moment and tune out everything else. They know what matters most is right in front of them. They are in tune with themselves. They know how to practice the pause. They pause before they react or make a choice. They ask themselves, “What is best here for everyone?” Mindfulness helps them make decisions rather than choose something rashly. They are less impulsive. They know their insights come sometimes in the form of meditation.

A meditation to become highly intuitive is as follows:

Feeling Meditation: Intuition is felt in the gut. Do a body scan and feel your entire body. Inhale deeply and exhale to breathe into your body. This centers you. The body senses what your conscious mind does not. Ask yourself how you are feeling about something and note the sensations that come up. Imagine assessing the situation as swallowing a pill. How does the pill settle in your stomach? Do you have irritation, heartburn, or indigestion? If your body responds well, then you know you have the right answer.

Sarah Jeanne Browne is a speaker, writer and activist who has been published on Lifehack, Tiny Buddha, Thrive Global and more. See @sarahjbrowne.

9 Ways to Tap Into Your Intuition (And Why You'll Want To)

by Karen Young

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You know the feeling. It’s a ‘knowing’ or at the very least a gentle persuasion that something is off, or awesome, or needs our attention. It’s subtle and doesn’t clamour for attention, which is why it’s easily missed.

It’s intuition, and like most things that speak with a quiet voice, if we listen the potential is life-changing.

For a long time, intuition was dismissed by science as pseudo-science – sort of science but not really. Really! Fortunately for all of us, science is now on board and researchers have found the part of the brain where intuition does its brilliant best.

Intuition: We’ve all heard of it, but what is it?

Researchers at Leeds University analysed a hefty pile of research papers on intuition. They concluded that intuition is a very real psychological process where the brain uses past experiences and cues from the self and the environment to make a decision. The decision happens so quickly that it doesn’t register on a conscious level.

Intuition exists in all of us, whether we acknowledge it or not. The more we can learn about it, the more we can use it to shape our lives for the better.

The human brain has two ‘operating systems’. The first is quick, instinctual and effortless. This is where our intuition lies. Intuition works by drawing on patterns collected by our experience and when we have to make a quick decision about whether something is real, fake, feels good, feels bad, right or wrong, we draw on these patterns. It all happens ‘offline’, outside our conscious awareness.

The second operating system is slower to respond. It’s more analytical and deliberate and it’s conscious.

The Evidence

Science has found real evidence to support the existence of intuition. There are plenty of studies, but let’s talk about one in particular – because it’s a good one. This particular study showed how the intuitive part of our brain knows the right answer long before the more analytical part.

In this study, participants played a card game which, unknown to the participants, was rigged from the beginning. Participants had to choose from one of two decks of cards. One was rigged to provide big wins, then big losses. The other – small gains but hardly any losses.

The participants reported that after 50 cards, they had a hunch about which deck was safer. After 80 they were able to explain the difference between the two decks. But here’s where it gets interesting – after only 10 cards, the sweat glands on on the palms of their hands opened whenever they took from the dangerous deck. It was about then that participants started to prefer the safer deck but there was no conscious awareness that this was happening. So, before the analytical part of their brain knew what was going on, the subjects’ intuition guided them towards a better decision.

Sharpening Your Intuition

Every person on the planet has intuition but not every person listens chooses to listen to it.

Intuition is the way the subconscious mind communicates with the conscious mind. The information that informs ‘that feeling’ is real. It’s like any other decision but the workings of it – the collection, the storage, the putting together – happen outside of our conscious mind.

So intuition is a brilliant thing. The sharper it is, the better off you’ll be. Here’s how to feed yours so it’s flourishing and ready to advise …

Shhh. Listen.
It’s sounds simple enough – and it is. No tricks here. Your intuition can’t talk to you if you’re not listening. When you start to take notice, good things will happen. Just try it and see.
Trust your gut feeling.
When a word like ‘gut’ teams up with a word like ‘feeling’, you know there has to be a good reason. And there is. Research suggests that emotion and intuition have a physical presence in our gut. The gut is lined with a network of neurons and is often referred to as the ‘second brain.’ It’s known as the enteric nervous system (ENS) and it contains about 100 million neurons, which is more than the spinal chord and peripheral nervous system but less than the brain. This is why we get ‘sick’ about having to make a tough decision or knowing we’ve made a bad one.

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Feel.
You’ll know your intuition is there because you’ll be able to feel it – if you let yourself. You’ll feel it in your belly and it will goosebump your skin, send a shiver down your spine, race your heart and quicken your breath. Sometimes it’s even more subtle and the only way to describe it as a ‘knowing’. You’ll feel when something is right – it will feel clear, nourishing and enriching. And you’ll feel when something is off – for me it’s an ache or a flattening. Trusting your intuition might be difficult at first if you’re not used to it, but give it time and trust it bit by bit, if that feels better. It will be worth it.
Be ready to let bad feelings go.
Negative emotions wil cloud intuition, which is why when you’re angry or depressed bad decisions can happen so easily. Research has backed this, finding that people made better intuitive choices in a word task when they were in a positive mood as compared to when they were in a negative mood.
Be deliberate about the people you hang on to.
People who drain you will add to the noise and make it more difficult to hear what your intuition wants you to hear. Chances are that you already know how they are. If not, be still for a moment – your intuition will be trying to tell you. Keep people who enrich and empower you and walk away from those who drain you. Understandably, you can’t always walk away from the troublesome ones and if that’s the case, empower yourself by making it your decision to stay, rather than not theirs because they’ve taken your choice. The difference is subtle in language but big in impact. One lets the power stay with you, one gives it over to them.
Pay attention to what’s going on around you.
The more information you are able to gather from the environment, the more the intuitive, subconscious part of your brain has to work with – and the more accurately it will inform your decisions.
Connect with others.
There are so many things that inform our opinions and decisions other than speech. Tone, volume of speech, body language, gestures – they all contribute to the meaning we give to our interactions with people. Sometimes, we have a feeling about people but can’t quite put a finger on what it is. People might seem distant, distracted, uninterested, and often these aren’t spoken but are ‘picked up’ through in different ways. The ability to pick up on the thoughts, feelings and intentions of others is referred to as ‘empathic accuracy’. The more time we spend with people, the more we can finely tune or empathic accuracy. Being able to pick on the signals of others will all add to intuition.

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Find time to be silent and still.
Having solitude turns down the clamour of the world and allows you to tune in to your intuition. Our intuition is always sending warnings and encouragement but often we are too busy to notice. Let your mind wander and be open to what comes to you – feelings, thoughts or words. One of the ways to do this is through mindfulness. By focusing your thoughts on your own experience in the present moment, mindfulness gets rid of mental clutter and makes way for you to connect with your intuition.
Use your dream time well.
Dreams are the brain’s way of processing information that’s left over from the day. They are rich with valuable data – experiences, memories, learnings – so they can work hard if we let them. Paying attention to dreams can provide information that we may not have access due when we are awake. Before you fall asleep, turn your thoughts to any unresolved issues or problems. Think about possible options or resolutions as you’re falling asleep. Close your eyes and let your brain do the rest.

But of course …

Intuition is powerful and can lead to amazing insights, but that doesn’t mean you follow it blindly. It’s still important to use common sense and a balance of rationality. You need a balance of both – call into play both the intuitive and rational parts of the brain to position yourself to reach the best decisions.

6 signs that he is cheating on you

Signs of infidelity become so obvious over time that they can no longer be ignored, even if you really want to. Also, when your intuition tells you that your partner is cheating, you don't think so! Here are a few situations from which it clearly follows that he is unfaithful to you.

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1.

Phone and computer

If a person suddenly put a password on their gadgets, this is a bad sign. If you didn’t set it, but spends a lot of time with a smartphone in your hands and doesn’t let it out of your sight, that’s the same. Moreover, modern technologies make it possible to hide numbers from contacts, hide correspondence after shaking the phone, and one of the applications for exchanging erotic photos even has a calculator icon! The question of whether it is ethical to get into someone else's phone has been discussed for more than a year, but usually, and by indirect signs, one can understand that something unpleasant is happening.

2. Car

If he suddenly starts driving more often, the passenger seat is not moved in the way that is comfortable for you - this is suspicious (of course, if there are no obvious circumstances). Cigarette butts in the car with a non-smoking partner, garbage that clearly does not belong to you - any little thing can give away a big secret.

3. Changes in appearance and behavior

There is nothing strange about a partner wanting to lose weight or change their haircut. But too many changes at once should alert you. The man you buy shirts for suddenly has great taste? This does not happen, unless he went to the courses for this. Other unexpected moments are the shower right after work, the desire to wash your things separately from yours.

4. New interests

Unexpected new words in conversation, playlist of songs you both have never listened to - there are no sudden changes in a long-term relationship. Love for sports or the series, which he has always despised, also does not arise from scratch.

5. Loss of communication

Has he stopped talking about work? And in general, he began to talk less with you? This is not very good! Changes in bed (usually not for the better) are also a strange sign.

6. Missing money

If he has a new account (which you found out about by chance), strange purchases or attempts to hide some money movements from you, then this is hardly preparation for your birthday (for example, in March when you were born in November). In any controversial situation, listen to your intuition and do not try to justify your partner at any cost.

Why you should listen to your heart and trust your intuition

The heart has reasons that the mind does not know

Often such phrases are said after:

- something unpleasant happened,

- you made the wrong choice,

- the job is already done,

- you did not listen to this very heart.

Have you ever wondered where these clues come from? Who tells us and why? Why are we given premonition and intuition? And the last, but, in my opinion, the most important question: why do not we hear and listen to these important clues?

Our body helps us to live in this world! And together with the soul, it ensures the correct presentation of information. Sometimes these are illnesses, ailments, sometimes just premonitions, and sometimes joy. So, if you are joyful, then you are on the right track! If in doubt, turn around.

If your heart hurts, these are accumulated unforgiven grievances that you cannot heal with pills, only forgiveness and letting go. This is our body telling us that we carry with us unnecessary, long-forgotten grievances.

If the stomach hurts, it is, as a rule, an unhealthy diet and an irrational attitude towards oneself and one's health. And pain warns us to pay attention to our diet and our health.

Excess weight is protection from the environment, self-rejection, improper nutrition and extreme inattention to oneself.

And if the soul hurts, then this is a lack of love, low self-esteem and even self-hatred. Humiliation of yourself and your dignity. Decreased confidence and lack of inner core, own goals and outlook on life.

Our body is our indicator and guide to the world of a happy and wonderful life.

OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO LEARN TO LISTEN TO YOURSELF!

THIS IS A VERY STRONG SKILL THAT HUMANS CAN HAVE. A WOMAN'S INTUITION, AS KNOWN, IS STRONGER THAN A MAN'S.

Listen to your heart, not your mind! Why is it so important to listen to the heart, and not be coldly calculating in reasonable thoughts?

As Louise Jones writes: “The role of the mind is to study and analyze. The role of the heart is to choose and execute. Hearts unite, minds divide.

Only the heart can love, and love is much stronger than logic!

It is love that rules the world, and only true human relationships are of value!

Well said by Helen Keller: “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or heard...they are felt in the heart...”.

Pascal similarly echoes her: “The heart has arguments that the mind does not know” .

For example, it is easier and more joyful for me to give in precisely to my premonitions, to my heart, and not to the arguments of reason, because later I will say to myself a hundred times: “After all, I felt that I needed to do it differently, but I didn’t do it . .. and that now?!".

And after the decision, come what may... And you know, such decisions always bring great results. Here is what Ray Bradbury writes about this: “If we listen to the voice of reason, we will never have a love relationship. We will never have friends. We will never get into any business because we will decide: "Nothing will work." Or "She will hurt me." Or “I fell in love unsuccessfully a couple of times, and therefore…” . All this is nonsense. You must not miss life. Jump off the cliff every time and grow wings as you fly down."

Of course, you shouldn't jump head first into the pool. The most ideal option is when both the heart and the mind agree with your choice. And in order to meet such situations more often, it is worth listening to the heart, being very attentive to the voice of reason and distinguishing information: WHERE the mind speaks in order to help and suggest, and WHERE in order to dissuade you not to do what you have never done, just because he is afraid . Reason is given to us to protect us, to keep us safe. Habitual affairs, a stagnant swamp - this is the beloved state of mind.

But if you are a person who knows how to think correctly, a person who is responsible for his life, then learn to control your mind and make sure that his thoughts benefit you, and do not stop you halfway.

And finally, an excerpt from the parable “Mind or Heart?!”:

Once the Heart quietly said to the Mind:

– It seems that I begin to understand what the catch is… In fact, I always acted the way you wanted.

The mind looked at the Heart frowningly:

– Because by doing your own thing, you were losing me.

- When I did my own thing, I was alive! Acting as you tell me, I die...

– Well, well, tell me: who needs a heart without reason?

– And who needs a mind without a heart...

The mind only smiled coldly in response:

– Calm down. I'll definitely come up with something. And no one will ever notice.

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