Why You Should Trust Your Instinct

How much do you trust your instinct, and why or why not? Our society prizes logical analysis, rational thought, reasoned arguments. Yet there is growing evidence that your instinct may be more accurate after all.

Here I’ll take the terms ‘instinct’, ‘intuition’, ‘gut feel’, ‘hunch’ and ’sixth sense’ to all mean the same thing – that deeper part of thinking that your conscious mind cannot access.

The evidence

1. The bestselling book

Evidence of the power of the subconscious was most recently brought to the man in the street by Malcolm Gladwell in his excellent book
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking where numerous examples are given of instinct triumphing over logic and science.

In one example, the Getty Museum in California purchased an ancient Greek statue called a kouros. (An example of a kouros, not the Getty one though, is shown on the left.) The decision to go ahead with the roughly $10 million purchase was made after 14 months of extensive scientific tests that concluded the kouros was authentic.

Three art historians who viewed the statue though, had feelings of unease about it. One stated firmly that it was a fake, one felt it lacked spirit, and the other was repulsed at first sight. They had no logical explanation for their reactions.

Eventually investigations revealed that the statue was a hoax, validating the intuition of all three men.

photo credit: Jorge-11

2. The scientific study

In August 2008, a scientific study was published in the Neuron journal in which Dr Pessiglione and team demonstrated that human beings have a subconscious learning mechanism. The team found that a part of the brain called the the ventral striatum (see image below) picks up subliminal cues with no conscious effort, helping us to make better decisions.

Volunteers were shown masked visual cues which looked like other scrambled drawings, and could not tell these apart. When rewards were paired with the masked visual cues, the volunteers still couldn’t tell the difference yet their guesses now turned out to have a higher success rate than chance.

“This kind of learning had been suggested to be subconscious a century ago, on the grounds that it was observed in some species like rats that were supposed to be deprived of conscious awareness. We just proved this in humans, and identified the underlying neuronal circuit,” said Dr Pessiglione.

Finally, after a hundred years, science is coming round.

Personal experience

When I was younger, I did not understand nor trust instinct. When trying to understand anything, I wanted only logic. Answers like “I just knew” drove me up the wall.

Perhaps it is true that intuition strengthens with age and experience. Recently, three incidents forced me to accept inexplicable intuition as part of my reality, part of my state of mind.

1. The taxi driver

We didn’t speak through out the trip. At the end, when paying the fare, something occurred to me and I said to him “Sir, am I right that you’ve only been driving this taxi for a few months, and are looking for another job right now?” He stared at me and then said, “Ma’am, you have cracked my soul!” (his own words, true story!)

2. The break-up

After an afternoon with three other friends (a couple and another guy), I got into the other guy’s car to go home. As we drove off waving goodbye to the couple, I had a strong feeling that something was wrong with the couple even though the afternoon had been just fine even until that point. Two weeks later I found out that they had unexpectedly broken up that very night after we left.

3. The blizzard

A year ago I was due to travel to China on a business trip. I normally have no feeling either way about travelling for work – no excitement nor anxiety. That trip was the only one where, for no reason, I dreaded going. Upon landing in Shanghai, China’s worst snow storm in 50 years upset all my travel plans, necessitating re-scheduling and re-routing all day long and resulting in a messed-up, tiring, and stressful trip.

In all three cases, there were no outward signs of anything wrong, and I wasn’t even consciously thinking of the taxi driver, my friends, nor the weather. Something just popped up from nowhere, a feeling I couldn’t ignore. Don’t ask me how or why. I just knew.

A different level of thought

I understand things better visually, and so does 70% of the world’s population, so here is a completely unscientific, self-drawn diagram to illustrate why some people seem to have better instincts than others.

Underlying conscious thought is a sea of subconsciousness upon which we, as individual islands of consciousness, float. Intuitive people are those who dare to immerse themselves further into that sea of subconsciousness, while others barely skim the surface and therefore have to depend more on logic.

At the level of conscious thought, we think individually and have to use words, images and other forms of communication to express our thoughts to others. At the subconscious level, no explanation is necessary because at this level, we touch a universal consciousness that is common to all of us.

This is why instinct, or subconscious thought, can alert you to what someone else is thinking, or what is going on somewhere else in the world. The thoughts of that person or group of people, at the subconscious level, can travel to your mind via this sea of subconscious thought that joins all of us together.

How to hone your instinct

First, you have to accept that logical thinking is not the only, nor the best, way to think. If you want to improve your intuition, you have to dare to let go of logical thinking now and then.

1. Meditate

There are many forms of meditation, but what they have in common is releasing conscious thought so that you can enter another zone altogether. The whole point of meditation is to touch the soul of the universe, to experience your one-ness with all things, to immerse in the sea of subconsciousness described above.

Evelyn over at Attraction Mind Map wrote an excellent post on Experiencing the Gap: The Space Between Thoughts. This is a lovely way to understand meditation – the gap between thoughts.

You don’t have to meditate formally though. The simple act of jogging and concentrating on the feel of the ground under my feet, listening to the sound of birds or children at a playground, or lately watching my new fish swim around the tank… all these allow me to focus on the moment and be fully present, driving conscious thought from my mind. That is good enough meditation for most people.

2. Journal

The best way to get in touch with your deeper thoughts is to write down what you feel every time you experience strong emotion. For many years I have carried my journal with me everywhere I go. The moment I feel something, I find somewhere to sit and write about it as soon as possible. I attribute my sharpened sixth sense to this practice and nothing else.

When you journal in this way, focus on how you’re feeling rather than the details of what actually happened. Write down your initial feeling, and whether that turned into another feeling, and so on. There is no analysis or decision necessary here; the purpose is merely to help you know what you are feeling as precisely as possible.

Over time, you will understand this level of thought better, feel less afraid of it, and in a way become friends with it. When you develop this relationship with your subconscious mind, you’ll both work better together in future.

3. Be patient

Unlike logical thinking, intuition does not come when you want it to. Sometimes it takes years to see any change in the clarity of your intuition. Don’t try to force it, nor feel disappointed if you don’t see any change overnight.

Just be aware of this different level of consciousness, let go of conscious thinking sometimes, and wait and see what happens. You will surprise yourself one day. I know it. ;)

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Today’s link from the Carnival of Personal Development Edition 3: Brain Blogger presents Personal Health Records and Mental Health posted at Brain Blogger.

Posted by Daphne | January 7, 2009 | in Think Deeply

26 Responses to “Why You Should Trust Your Instinct”

Celes | EmbraceLiving.Net
January 7th, 2009 @ 10:33 pm
Hi Daphne! Great post :) I agree that meditation and journalling are great ways to let our subconsciousness come into action. When we relax and stop trying to take charge, the best ideas come to us. It’s the same when I write my articles too – my thinking flows better when I move away from laptop, esp after I’ve spent a lot of time writing.
LifeMadeGreat | Juliet
January 8th, 2009 @ 7:31 pm
Hi Daphne

Great tips for developing intuition.
It really requires that one step away from the type of life we tend to lead – one of constant business where our mind is caught up with worries and to-do lists etc.

Juliet
Daphne
January 8th, 2009 @ 8:24 pm
@ Celes, thanks! You’re right about needing to let go of the need to take charge, and let our deeper selves have a chance to speak. From the quality of your writing, I’d say you’re doing a fair bit of stepping back yourself!

@ Juliet, it’s true that we so often think at the speed of a thousand thoughts a minute. It takes me at least 5 days of doing nothing for that to slow down! Yet there is such power in doing so. Thank you for your insightful comment.
Tess The Bold Life
January 8th, 2009 @ 9:11 pm
Hi,

I have learned to trust my intuition. I never had regrets about following it. My regrets come when I don’t. It’s never been wrong! Love the visuals.
Middle Way
January 8th, 2009 @ 10:40 pm
Yes, I’ve learned the hard way by not following my gut. My challenge is in learning to dis-engage my left brain faster before it starts doubting what it is I’m feeling!

Great Post Daphne!
Jeremy Day
January 8th, 2009 @ 11:54 pm
Hi Daphne,

This is such a timely post for me! I recently took a two week vacation for the holidays. All I did was spend time with family and friends. No alarm clocks. No agendas. I scheduled time with friends who had busy schedules, but I mostly got up and decided what I wanted to do with that day in the morning.

It was refreshing to say the least. What was amazing is that my intuition really started to be active and I found answers to things that I couldn’t believe possible.

A friend of mine was about to explain why one of our mutual friends recently decided to get a divorce and I blurted the answer out without knowing any of the circumstances. (I hadn’t spoken with the person getting a divorce for a very long time.) She was shocked and surprised and asked if she had already told me the story. I said no, it was just my intuition.

And I used my heightened intuition sense to tackle some big things that have been bothering me in life. Where there were no clear answers before I had clear workable answers popping up in my mind. Its really been crazy.

If I may be logical for a second I think I can attribute some of it to getting a lot more rest then I usually do, getting out of my routine, and having some deep conversations with friends and family I haven’t seen in awhile. All this change helped me to look at things differently and helped me get to the point faster.

The key was that I wasn’t looking for answers, but my subconscious mind was, and the change in routine helped them pop to the surface.

So I wouldn’t throw logic out… that would be like throwing the baby out with the bath water. But I do think in our logical world we underplay the importance of intuition.

Cheers,
Jeremy

p.s. to be logical again, the art historians had years and years of training and practice to back their intuition up. The third factor may be that their experience helped them make a right decision even though they couldn’t consciously and logically say why the statue wasn’t authentic…
emily
January 9th, 2009 @ 4:45 am
Echo Bodine calls it “the small still voice.”

It even prompts me to say things i cannot explain ..for example, once i was making an appointment for medical tests. I rejected a date saying “no, i need to keep that week open.” I had no idea why that popped out of my mouth; i wasn’t even conscious of a thought process. When ‘that week’ rolled around, my father returned home unexpectedly with serious health problems and suddenly that week was booked.

What is bizarre to me is not just the ’still voice’ we sometimes call premonition but occasions like this when words come out of my mouth that i do not feel ownership of, or understand at the time. But i have learned to accept and not worry about it. Oddly enough, sometimes those words i do not recognize as mine end up being some of the most important things uttered. :)
Evelyn Lim
January 9th, 2009 @ 1:47 pm
Hi Daphne, thanks for the link love. I’m flattered that you’ve found my article useful for yourself and other readers.

Most definitely, it helps to pay heed to the little voices inside our head, the butterflies in our tummies and the intuitive impulses that keep nudging us. As I’ve experienced, they are the signals outside our conscious minds, that there is something else going on.

I enjoyed this post. Thanks for sharing!!
Daphne
January 9th, 2009 @ 5:55 pm
@ Tess,

Kudos to you for trusting your intuition! For many people that takes courage, though it becomes easier as you keep being proven right. Thank you for liking the visuals!

@ Middle Way,

Thanks for your kind words! Yes I find that sometimes when we try to rationalise our initial instinctive reaction, we end up not following it and regretting it later. Trusting ourselves can be so difficult!

@ Jeremy,

Thanks so much for your detailed comment. First of all I’m glad you had a good break, and came back with more clarity. It does come across in your writing, you know? More confidence, more simplicity due to seeing things more clearly, I suspect.

I think it’s amazing that you could sense the cause of your friend’s divorce without any prior information whatsoever. So it can’t be due to experience or clues right? Since you hadn’t spoken to her in years and therefore had absolutely no clues to go on.

That makes your intuition much more startlingly accurate than the historians, whom as you correctly pointed out at least had years of experience going for them.

Thanks for that wonderful comment, and I’m looking forward to your next few posts already, with your newfound clarity in writing them.

@ Emily,

Welcome to the Joyful Days community! And thank you so much for visiting and leaving such an excellent first comment. I’m already looking forward to hearing more from you as you certainly write with insight.

Isn’t it amazing how you were guided to leave that week open even though there was no conceivable reason to at the time? Our subconscious is constantly surprising us with such decisions, and it is only in hindsight that it becomes obvious what a good decision it was.

And I love the Echo Bodine quote. Thanks again for your wonderful contribution.

@ Evelyn,

Your article was truly an eye-opening read for me when I first saw it in my reader. I loved the way you walked us through your experience a step at a time, sharing your thoughts at each stage.

I wasn’t consciously planning to link back either when I wrote this post. But after drafting it, something led me back to your post and I realised it was an excellent resource. Again, the result of following intuition! Thanks for writing that great post and leaving your comment here!
Lance
January 9th, 2009 @ 6:50 pm
Hi Daphne,

Wonderful article. In the past, I’ve had a difficult time believing my intuition. And yet, when I have – it’s been pretty spot on. I’ve been experimenting with meditation – and now you’ve got me thinking about journaling, as well. It does all sound very good – for developing a better awareness of intuition AND for just getting to know “us” better…
snigdha
January 10th, 2009 @ 1:52 pm
Hi, Daphne, loved the post.Thanks for the links given, liked them too. I wonder, how often blunders happen only because a too rational mind shies away from doing something known as irrational – i.e. heeding that “gut” feeling !! The tips are helpful.Thanks.
Daphne
January 10th, 2009 @ 3:50 pm
@ Lance,

Knowing the person you are, I’d guess that your intuition was spot on too, because being at peace with the world tends to put us in touch with our deeper self as well. And you’re absolutely right that intuition aside, journalling helps us know ourselves better, and that in itself is worthwhile. Thank you for your comment!

@ Snigdha,

You’re right that sometimes we ignore our gut because our head thinks it knows better, when it actually doesn’t. It can be quite hard to argue with your own mind though! Glad you liked the links, and thank you for dropping by!
CG Walters
January 12th, 2009 @ 2:43 am
I agree that meditation–and any activity that brings your between the thoughts–connects you to your authentic, natural, intuitive self. Each entry into that ‘center’ will keep you connected for a period of time once you re-enter the hectic, consciously created experience. Regular meditation–connection with one’s center–will give you an increasing buffer of intuitive access during the time spent ‘out of center.’
blessings to you and all you hold dear,
CG
Daphne
January 12th, 2009 @ 6:06 pm
Hi CG,

Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment! Interesting that you talk about centering – once I tried something called centering prayer… I find the notion of having a center very true.

Your blog has a rather nice centering effect on me. I think it’s the beautiful quotes at the start of each post, and the serene pictures. Looks like you do a lot of meditation on your walks. Great blog!
Mark
January 14th, 2009 @ 5:38 am
Instinct, gut feeling, whatever one chooses to call it is very powerful. We are all connected and our instinct is the receiver of our connections. I love the stories that you shared. We all have them and we all have moments where we say, “I knew better, I should have listened to what my gut was saying!”.
Thanks for a wonderful post.
Daphne
January 14th, 2009 @ 11:32 am
Hi Mark,

Welcome to Joyful Days! I’m so glad you liked the stories. Sounds like you have your moments too, when instinct kicks in strongly. You’re right that when those come and we don’t listen, we often regret it. I just visited your blog and like the peaceful, honest aura it radiates. Great stuff!
Diane
January 16th, 2009 @ 9:04 am
Hi Daphne!

Its funny I remember picking up Blink jeese I think when it first came out…I think I loved it… still haven’t gotten to read it yet though its on the ever increasing list I have. Thanks for the review and the ffascinating facts on intuition and instinct. I di watch aspecial on TV with the author. He is pretty amazing and quite astute. Brilliant actually I think! A genius jiggler! You too!
Diane
Daphne
January 16th, 2009 @ 10:14 am
Hi Diane,

Wow, I have not seen Malcolm Gladwell in person, even if only on TV. Would love to… he is obviously such a genius as you said (ha ha, not me though, you’re too kind!) especially since I’ve also read Tipping Point. The amount of research and the degree of accuracy of both books is mind boggling. This is not just someone’s thesis, it is empirically based. Great stuff. You’ll love the book!

And thank you for your comment. It made my day!
Jeremy Day
January 16th, 2009 @ 11:18 pm
Hi Daphne,

Just a heads up. If you go through the Amazon reviews you will see that people have a higher appreciation for Tipping Point then they do Blink. I have read both and liked both, but to be honest. Macro events have a lot more science behind them then Micro events if you know what I mean. In other words, Blink has less “science” behind it then Tipping Point.

Cheers,
Jeremy
Daphne
January 16th, 2009 @ 11:30 pm
Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for the heads up. If I remember right, Tipping Point had more statistics while Blink had more anecdotes. I’m guessing that the science of the subconscious is relatively new, and that is precisely why I’m impressed with how much research Gladwell put into it nonetheless.

I have to admit that I try to write my own review before I read other people’s. This makes my opinion less biased. I tried reading others’ reviews before writing mine once, and almost couldn’t write anything original after that because I was so full of others’ thoughts by then!

Thanks for dropping by, and as always with an intelligent contribution. See you around!
carla
January 17th, 2009 @ 3:13 am
This post is a keeper for me. I have a very strong instinct that occurs when I’m not focused on something. After years of being told to only trust logic, I have to practice at trusting myself more.
Kids Spoken English Ahmedabad
January 20th, 2009 @ 9:04 pm
M sure I will definitely surprise myself up with my gut feeling. Initially it was easy for me to take decision as you said my intuition helped me in that. But since past couple of days I am not able to understand what is going on. I can’t get any answer..:(
Daphne
January 21st, 2009 @ 8:25 am
@ Carla, sorry I only just saw your comment so I’m late getting back to you. I’m so glad you like the post. I know how you feel – school and society wants us to explain things logically, when sometimes you just can’t, but know by instinct. Please do practise trusting yourself – you will also grow to love yourself more if you do this. Keep well and I’ll see you around, Carla.

@ Kids Spoken English Ahmedabad, welcome to the community here! I’m not sure what happened over the last few days, but just be patient. Sometimes when your conscious mind becomes over-active, like going over the pros and cons of a decision, there is too much ‘noise’ in your head for you to hear your instinct. If you try quieting down, going for a walk and just not ‘thinking’, it may come back to you. All the best.
Andrea H
June 4th, 2009 @ 10:15 am
My Googled question, “Should we trust our instincts?” lead me to your website, can you help me with my problem?

I have had this gut feeling for years that someone in my life does not like me, yet he does not make the dislike obvious, its subtle, and I have suffered in silence with this situation for years. I cannot understand why he is this way with me, I am just, a regular type of person, no trouble etc, yet I feel he harbors distance/hostility toward me.This person is my brother-in-law and I think he is not open with me because he wants to keep the peace for my sister, yet the effect it has on me is crushing, my inner self tells me he dislikes me. A few years ago, I actually brought it up with my sister, I discussed what I felt was going on, from her reaction, I felt she knew something but it was just swept under the carpet and it was not sorted out – what I wanted to happen. Here I am some four years later and I still get these subtle vibes.

Ok, if he doesnt care for me, I can live with that, but this constant uncertainty I can not.It feels like a form of psychological abuse, cruel.

Can someone please give me some positive feedback about this?
Daphne
June 5th, 2009 @ 9:25 pm
Hi Andrea,

I’ve replied to you in an email, hope you received it. It’s tough when someone so close to you seems to have a dislike for you. I’m amazed at your patience, having lived with this quietly for years. I’m not sure what your exact circumstances are so it’s hard to give advice. If you think you can both handle a calm chat about it, perhaps that is a good way to understand each other better.

Maybe we could take this further off-line via emails?
macy_c
February 11th, 2010 @ 7:13 am
I used to trust my instinct a bit more, but overtime, self doubt and life in general erode the trust. I just wrote an account of when I should have trusted my instinct: http://bit.ly/93biBA