Never ignore your intuition. It might save your life. - Healing Arts Institute of South Florida
Written by David Davenport – Contributing author Healing Arts Institute of South Florida
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You likely have experienced a situation where you found yourself questioning your own feelings. Something doesn’t quite feel right. You can’t explain it, but your stomach is in knots, and you can’t shake the feeling that something is very, very wrong.

You try to put your finger on what is bothering you. Everything seems fine – but you know it isn’t.

Suddenly with a shrug of your shoulders and quick dismissive rationale, you push aside any unpleasant thoughts and go about your day.

Intuition is far more than a “gut feeling”.

Think of intuition as your mind’s way of fast-tracking conclusions based on experience.

Your brain processes an enormous volume of information all throughout the day. While you are walking, imagine how difficult it would be to be actively in control of every single muscle that is involved each time you take a step. Your mind would be so occupied with the basic function and control of your body, you would have very little time or energy left to think about anything else.

Intuition and the subconscious

To solve this overload of information, your brain has a system for processing and utilizing information. This system allows you to spend time thinking about higher-order cognitive tasks – like what you’re going to wear at your best friend’s birthday party next week.

But your subconscious mind doesn’t just process and compute baseline physical functions. From the moment you were born, your mind has been soaking up information all around you. It processes that information and returns a result based on your experiences and environmental conditions.

Sometimes your brain tells you that you are close to danger, but it won’t tell you this in words. It tells you by raising the hair on the back of your neck. Your mouth begins to feel dry, and a sense of nervousness begins to set in.

Think of intuition as your mind’s way of fast-tracking conclusions based on experience. It often manifests as vague but difficult to ignore inclinations. If your mind is telling you something is wrong, you should disregard this warning at your own peril.

My intuition is telling me something is wrong, but I don’t know what

This can happen when your perception of reality and your environment conflicts with your beliefs and observations of the people around you. It’s much easier to rationalize unpleasant feelings rather than getting to the root cause of them.

There can be several reasons why you are feeling this way, some of which include:

  • Your mind has found a disconnect between your beliefs, your self-perception, and the reality of your environment. In other words, things seem to be “off” because the way things are, are not what you believe they should be.
  • You are experiencing a manipulative tactic often employed by narcissists called gaslighting. This is when people intentionally convince you to disregard your own feelings and observations. They try to convince you that you are “going crazy”.
  • You have experienced past trauma that is activating your fight-or-flight response. People who are recovering from severe trauma are often hyper-sensitive to situations that are not necessarily dangerous. Trauma victims are often in a near-constant state of being hyper-alert.

Of course, there can be many other reasons as well. Regardless of why your intuition is sending you these signals, the underlying reason must be discovered before you will begin to feel better.

Learn to trust yourself

Whatever the reason may be, it is important to listen to your intuition and figure out why you are experiencing a disconnect between what you believe to be true and what you are perceiving as reality.

If you are in a toxic and abusive relationship, listening to your intuition can help you take the first steps you need to get out of that relationship before it gets worse. If your intuition is sounding the alarm due to underlying trauma, you need to discover what that is before chronic depression and anxiety take hold.

Paying attention to your intuitive emotions can literally save your life. Learn to trust yourself and ask for help if you are experiencing strong feelings of doubt or uncertainty.

What if I’m not sure what to do next?

Nobody should be expected to figure all of this out on their own!

A trained mental health professional can help you discover what your intuitive senses are trying to tell you. They are trained in the language of the subconscious and can help put words to what your mind is trying to say.

Healing Arts Institute of South Florida trains and employs only the most client-centered therapists. Our highly caring staff will guide you through your journey to self-actualization and fulfillment.

Take the first step now to becoming the person you were meant to be – contact us to speak with one of our amazing therapists.
Your journey starts with us today!

Read these related blog articles from Healing Arts Institute:

Citations:

Abramson, Kate. “TURNING UP THE LIGHTS ON GASLIGHTING.” Philosophical Perspectives, vol. 28, 2014, pp. 1–30. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26614542. Accessed 9 Aug. 2021.

Bergland, Christopher. “Unconscious Memories Hide in the Brain but Can Be Retrieved.” Psychology Today, 17 Aug. 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201508/unconscious-memories-hide-in-the-brain-can-be-retrieved.

Myers, David G. Intuition: Its Powers and Perils. Yale University Press, 2002. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1nq71s. Accessed 9 Aug. 2021.

Squire, Larry R, and Adam J O Dede. “Conscious and unconscious memory systems.” Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology vol. 7,3 a021667. 2 Mar. 2015, doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a021667

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