Intuition Explained
Is your partner cheating? Is someone stealing from your business? Does something feel like a little out of place?
Vibe, instinct, foreknowing, clairvoyance, premonition… our intuition is widely believed to be a random and unconsciously formed set of information yet many people can attest to relying on this mysterious ability to make the most important judgement calls.
According to the hugely successful Myers-Briggs Personality Test (MBTI), we process new information in one of two basic ways which are Sensing (S) and Intuition (N). Sensing types process information based on what their 5 senses can touch, taste, hear, smell, and see. Relying on sensing causes us to stay grounded in the present moment by assessing facts and tangible details. They are highly practical in everyday life, but what do you do when you can’t pinpoint why you just know something?
This is where intuitive types shine. They process information based on impressions, feelings, patterns, and underlying meanings. The MBTI states N’s consequentially look to the future and are concerned with possibilities, potential outcomes, symbology and abstract information. Both types of thinkers are crucial to societal structure, however intuition is still widely dismissed as a highly illogical and a second-best way to draw conclusions. It may then come as a surprise that intuition is not at all random.
According to Psychology Today, intuition is similar to sensing because it results from a systematic process just like sensing. Think of it as if sensing types are the pilots of our brain, and intuition types are the ones in charge of autopilot. To understand this process, Psychology Today describes “Highway Hypnosis” which is the general concept that we can be completely focused on other things besides our path to a destination and still successfully arrive there.
Highway Hypnosis is when you go on a jog around your neighborhood focused on your music and not where you are running, yet you still arrive home without getting lost. The way highway hypnosis operates is very similar to how intuition works. It illustrates that not all important information is processed consciously, and the information that we intake without actively seeking it out is just as vital to our decision making. Now picture yourself on the same run, and you come across a street closure, so you automatically reroute yourself to get home. Now imagine if you took the car out for errands and instinctively choose a different route against your spouses suggestion, without recalling the street closure from earlier. You may not be able to explain your actions but this is just one small way our gut feeling helps us to make crucial decisions. Sometimes these decisions aren’t as small as choosing between the scenic or fast route on a drive.
If your 6th sense is prickling, you gut is nagging, you’ve got a hunch, or just a feeling that something is up, chances are that you should trust yourself and look a little closer at the devil in the details. Call the Investigation Hotline team today to get the help you need to get answers!
