What’s a time you ignored your gut — and paid for it?
Growing up at the 8th child of 10 kids in a world of complex family loss, trauma and poverty meant that I came flying out my mum’s womb with heightened pattern recognition and hyper vigilance. I had to learn to read the room, read people, read micro expressions and tonal shifts. This also meant needing to listen and respect my own mind, thoughts, reactions, body and intuition. I survived because of my intuition. At first it would gently whisper my name, yet its presence would get increasingly louder if I failed to heed the gentle whispers. It would pick up pace until it moved like a heavily laden freight train – roaring to life. It wouldn’t and couldn’t be ignored.
I’ve never really ignored my intuition or gut, because relying on it became an essential component of my experience. It has always served me well, and given the strong gut-brain connection, I believe being highly intuitive, or having great pattern recognition is simply part of my neuro type.
Obviously intuition or gut-instinct means everything to me as my writing persona is Intuitive Counsellor.
Added to this is the face that as I child I also learned a lot through vicariously watching my older siblings. I saw their mistakes and the consequences of not being intuitive, intentional and mindful of self. I knew that I wanted and needed something else from life. I became the social outlier, crawling my way out of my childhood, becoming the first in my family to finish high school and go to university. This was all due to listening to my gut, being intentionally tuned to myself, my environment and my experiences.
The serious question that could span multiple books and doctorates is “what exactly is intuition?” –
Perhaps it’s simply the intersectionality of metacognition. intention, somatic awareness, compassion, connection to self/others/nature, and action.
Who knows – What I do know however is that scientists and medical specialists are starting to realise that it’s real and has considerable value. The 2016 documentary InnSæi: The Power of Intuition makes for pretty riveting viewing. It is based on the Icelandic concept of the sea within. And that is exactly how I experience it, as first it’s a gentle wave – however if I choose not to act immediately, it increasingly grows in volume and swell, until it’s churning within. The moment I respond, the waters settle and it’s instant calm. It may be as simple as the intuitive voice to cal someone, 100% of the time it’s absolutely been necessary. I could give 100’s or 1000’s of examples, some tiny, while others massively impacting my life.
At the end of this, I see intuition or gut instinct as the equivalent of having another nervous system, set of ears and eyes, to which we are attuned to things people often don’t see, hear, feel or know how to explain. It’s both implicit and explicit, esoterically visceral and cerebral. This isn’t grandiose or loud, but quiet and gentle. It’s not pathological or indicative of mental illness, it’s not the same as delusional thoughts or paranoia. That is something completely different altogether.
Intuition is a different kind of intelligence.
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