I have taken a major decision in my life depending entirely on my gut feeling. I keep on wondering whether I did right or reacted to my fears and insecurity. Your article reassures me that it was my gut and I do feel relieved after taking that action :).

I have discovered this site y’day and its just what I need currently. Thanks…its a wonderful endeaver..

-
Anushree

I see what you’re saying about timing, and not being able to follow impulse. I hold back, too, and sometimes I’m glad, other times I’m not. It sounds like you’re in a work where quick thinking is beneficial to you.

Thinking on my feet has never been my strength, because I am also feeling-oriented. I have to wade through my feelings before I figure out what my intuition is telling me. But I am starting to figure out that once I remove some of my perceived threats (whatever I consider to be threatening) then I can begin to think clearly and quickly. Both in terms of following logic and listening to intuition. Emotions are important indicators of where we are or where our weaknesses lie, but letting them drive us unchecked is something I’m trying to steer myself away from.

ari

Like you, I’m a strongly intuitive type, and all my mistakes have come from not listening to that voice. Most of my professional work has called for quick decisions with groups, and they depend completely on timing. I don’t know why but I have so often held off from just the right comment at the right moment and lost a key opportunity. And the big decisions have gone the same way, as you say - I always know what’s right for me but often go with what’s good.

This is one of the most important posts - in fact, blogs - that I’ve been reading. I’m only sorry that I haven’t gotten here a lot sooner.

One other thing - the differences between your approach and ethan’s are exactly reflected in recent books, as I’m sure you know. For every book like Blink or Sources of Power, there is a contrary one like On Being Certain. Two completely different styles of making decisions - I can’t see a right or wrong there. Different minds relate to the world in different ways.

All my best — John

John D´s last blog post..Feeling Fine on Prozac

Thanks for the comment, and also for linking to this article! Like you, I’ve always considered myself intuitive, yet I’m beginning to realize how strongly so now that I have given more full permission to live and make decisions based on it. I agree that intuition is a skill one can develop, and I’m looking forward to see where it takes me, now that I’m developing my skill intentionally.

ari

Glad to know how to call you!

Well, the problem with logic is that you can go on forever coming up with various reasons why things are or should be.

I do see your point about gut, and I’ll be honest, your argument is valid. I constantly question myself that same question — what if my gut is wrong? I am not a god, like you said.

But yet, in my experience, all my mistakes have come from misinterpreting or rejecting my intuition, not from following it. I can’t tell you that my intuition is 100% accurate every time. It appears that way to me, but I haven’t done a scientific research. But I’ve been wrong more often from not following it, and I can’t remember a time when I really felt that I correctly followed it and thought that it was a wrong decision. So I’ve learned to trust my intuition over my logic.

I’m not asking everybody to follow this, Ethan. Just like not everybody is meant to be opera singers, some people are simply not intuitive.

I’ve always said “a few principles, infinite applications.” There is no one blanket advise that applies the same way to every person or situation — you have to look at the context to see the validity or how the principle applies. To tell an non-intuitive person to follow intuition is a bad advise. And that is the case to you.
I can accept that.

I’m simply asking you to also be open to the possibility that this advise may be a good one to other people, as other commenters indicated.

ari

you seem to not realize my point about virtue based ethics.
in order to truly trust your gut, you must be perfect, incapable of mistakes
no one is perfect, everyone is capable of mistakes
so no one should trust their gut.

this ‘intuition’ you seem to support (based upon the myer-briggs scale) seems to imply a subconscious thought process that leads to the right result.
as much as i wish everyone could simply follow this, that process is too illogical, too irrational, and too often wrong to be followed, in my opinion
-ethan

Welcome to OBV, and thanks for a great comment! I totally follow you with your coin toss trick — it’s a great way to simulate what you’d feel after you make the decision!

Also, there are situations where the choices are so even that your intuition tells you “it doesn’t really matter which you choose.” In that case, a coin toss will be just fine.
I’ll doing that one of these days. Thanks again!

ari

Welcome to OBV, and I appreciate your dissenting comment. (I would have respected you more had you identified yourself)

To your point, I’d like to say that I do agree that thinking and logic are very important. And I know that for some people that’s really all they need, and there’s no problem they can’t solve with their rational thinking.

For others, however, intuition does play a part, and to them some situations seem to defy logic. I wrote this article for them. You do realize that Myers-Briggs classify personality types as either Sensing or iNtuitive? They are both valid ways to make decisions.

There are also some people, who, despite being an intuitive person, have the inner compass so thoroughly screwed up or detached that their deep intuitions (or whatever they call it) are separated from any sense of ethics or morality. And I agree with your point that such people are quite dangerous.

But your point about equating intuition with religion is a stretch too big. There’s a strong logic behind, for example, believing that homosexuality is invalid and should not exist. After all, a race would cannot reproduce from homosexuality — wouldn’t it be logic to conclude that nature made us heterosexual for a reason and homosexuality is unnatural? (That is not my view, by the way — I am a strong supporter of gay rights & marriage)

It is hard for logic-based Senser to understand this, I do realize. I have family members like you. But there is a very deep, inner core with built-in sense of fundamental ethics — that of honoring safety, love and companionship — that us intuitives can tap into to help guide us in our decisions. You have it, too, though your antenna there is not very strong or developed. Just like TVs are not built to receive radio signals and vice versa, you have to accept that there are people who can see things you cannot, and you not being able to see it doesn’t make it untrue.

ari