Intuition: the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning.
The Britannica Dictionary meaning of intuition goes something like this- “a natural ability or power that makes it possible to know something without any proof or evidence : a feeling that guides a person to act a certain way without fully understanding why”.
In a world besieged by data and analytics, a compelling need for rationalisation, our default thinking and our incredible capacity to miss the word for the trees, we regrettably overlook the value that stems from this secret emissary of knowledge by investing copious amounts of our emotional and cerebral energies making intuition and its significant potential sub-optimal. Unfortunately.
Being prudent in hindsight is a given. It often gives us a clear sense of what was already there, somewhere, well before it penetrated our mind. Not much weightage is given to gut-instinct but it is time that we started throwing that weight around. For all the wonders of modern technology, there is no substitute for the gut instinct. The psychology of intuition is trusting your gut. “Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.“
Javier Marias encapsulates this beautifully in his book Your Face Tomorrow– he writes ” Everything is there on view, in fact, everything is visible very early on in a relationship just as it is in all honest, straightforward stories, you just have to look to see it, one single moment encapsulates the germ of many years to come, of almost our whole history — one grave, pregnant moment — and if we want to we can see it and, in broad terms, read it, there are not that many possible variations, the signs rarely deceive if we know how to read their meanings, if you are prepared to do so..”
When people talk about having great intuition or being good decision-makers, it’s because they’ve worked at honing their gut feeling skills. Intuitions are personal, and no one else can understand the full extent of your gut feeling. You have to deal with it alone. Trusting your gut or intuition is an act of trusting yourself.
Ready?
ENDS