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As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that I’ve grown curious about my mental health, cognitive processes, and overall personal growth.

My journey began with my origin stories. They collectively gave me the idea to research intuition. I’ve always thought of intuition, also known as gut feelings, to be quite strange. After becoming curious, I started to take notes on the timing of these feelings, if my gut steered me in the right direction, and if intuition was worth depending on.

Some common beliefs of intuition are that it’s a sixth sense, it's part of your innate instincts, or that it has nothing to do with our minds and is purely spiritual. It’s intriguing to see so many different views of intuition. Many unique thoughts on the topic make me truly believe intuition plays a big part in our lives, whether we are conscious of it or not.

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When you have a sudden gut feeling or intuition, your brain hints that it has already dissected many cognitive processes, analyzed your current situation, and is ready to guide you to your next step or decision.

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I want to tell a story about an intuition I had when I was younger.

I was 17 years old, and my friend and I went to our very first concert alone. It was a rap show in downtown Denver. I was naive for thinking two 17-year-old girls in downtown Denver, alone, at 8:00 pm, was a good idea. But teens will be teens. I remember that we were walking toward the concert venue in the dark, getting ready to cross the street. I felt the hair on my arms stick up and suddenly felt like someone was following us. Scared to look behind me, I told my friend Jenny we should hurry.

That's when it happened. A man approached us and asked, "Can I ask you girls a question?" I already had such a weird feeling that I did not answer the man and began to pick up the pace. But Jenny didn't have the same sense and was about to answer him. That's when I pulled her arm as hard as I could to run across the street.

Thankfully, we got away because it turned out that the man was holding a knife and was detained by an undercover cop not even 2 minutes after we safely made it across the street. CRAZY!

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So, how does intuition work, anyway? Author and psychologist Elaine Fox works to illustrate what intuition looks like inside the mind in this article. "Many studies in psychology tell us that intuition is a very real process where the brain uses past experiences, along with internal signals and cues from the environment, to help us make a decision. This decision happens so quickly that it doesn't register with our conscious mind" (Fox).

This supports the idea that the brain analyzes situations and hypothetical outcomes before an individual is even conscious of it.

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According to Elaine Fox's article, intuition isn't magic. Instead, it's led by memory and cognition. Fox states, "The way it works is that your brain gathers as much information as possible, checks this information with the big data from your prior experiences, and then makes a prediction." This further helps to piece together how intuition is more than just a gut feeling.

However, I like to think of it as a bit like magic. There are always secrets in magic, right? That's what makes it magic—an illusion. Your brain is the magician, the cognitive processes it goes through are the magic tricks, and the outcome (your intuitive decision) is the show the magician has produced.

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In the TED talk "The Creative Power of Your Intuition," former Netflix chief of marketing Bozoma Saint John describes how intuition can be a liberation movement.

In the beginning, she reflects on how intuition has played a significant role in her life, including in her career, making her the successful woman she is today. Saint John validates her success by recognizing her work with Spike Lee in the early 2000s, which helped Beyonce make a name for herself.

Then, she highlights the intuition of Henry Ford over 100 years ago and his invention of the Model T automobile. Ford asked people if they would like something like the Model T, and people said they would prefer faster horses over his new invention. Saint John recognizes how powerful this is because Henry Ford stuck with his gut feeling about the invention, a colossal success still prevalent today.

She concludes her TED by saying, "As I think about data and how we want to live and change our world, I'm reminded that sometimes, data is the pill we take to calm our insecurity about what we intuitively know. So, I'm advocating that we decrease the dosage of our data and we increase the implementation of our intuition. You'll feel great, you really will. When you're able to prove to yourself that the power of your intuition is actually accurate."

www.ted.com/talks/bozoma_saint_john_the_creative_power_of_your_intuition/transcript

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Does anyone like cheesy 2000s TV shows?

Shawn Spencer is the Santa Barbara Police Department's lead "psychic" detective in the early 2000s TV show Psych. Shawn's father taught him at a young age to always keep his head on a swivel and assess things in his environment, no matter how small the detail.

Fast forward to Shawn as an adult, and he has everyone (but his dad and best friend Gus) fooled that he is a psychic. Shawn uses his ability to do quick assessments and identify clues in the environment to solve crimes.

Think of your brain as Shawn Spencer. In this clip, Shawn spots many objects that help him figure out who the culprit of the crime is. Like this, your brain spots stimuli in the environment and cross-references the situation you are presented with to memories, leading you to make an intuitive decision.

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Enjoy Patrick Jane using his intuition to know where the criminal will be trying to escape from, and blocking him.

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31 seconds · Clipped by Alison Hall · Original video "Let the Mind Games Begin - The Mentalist Season 1" by goldmund

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Yet another 2000s TV show, The Mentalist, classically shows intuition. Patrick Jane is a former psychic medium turned consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation, kind of like Shawn Spencer.

Jane has the ability to read people exceptionally well. From his first appearance on the crime scenes, he observes everything, from people's body language to feelings about objects that may be misplaced and speculations about individuals' tendencies. Patrick Jane single-handedly solves crimes without even breaking a sweat. And his secret is...

Intuition! He leans on his intuition so consistently that he's a professional at it. So, not only can you use intuition for decisions for yourself, you can also use your intuition to feel out situations involving others.

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Intuition is an automatic thought process. This means you don't have to think about it consciously; it just happens. As you age and gain new experiences and knowledge, your intuitions progress and become stronger. Your brain has more experiences to sift through to suggest the best option or decision you should make. So, why does it matter?

Your gut feelings are more present in decisions that affect your well-being and safety. At the end of the day, the choice is up to you. But trusting your inner self is essential to your personal growth. Of course, there is always a risk to trusting your gut feelings over logical information (fact-based). However, I believe, along with other research, that you will feel more free once you start trusting your gut and yourself.

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Next time you feel a sudden intuition, think about what your brain might be telling you. Remember, your brain has already gone through many processes and is trying to get you to the right destination. However, don't forget to include some logic in your decisions as well. If we all acted on our intuitions alone, there might be a sense of chaos instead of order. Also, try not to overthink about thinking. It sounds silly, but the more you think about the actual intuition itself, the more doubt you may have, which may sway you in the wrong direction.

But don't sweat it. You've been making decisions based on your intuition your whole life, and most of the time, you probably didn't even realize it.

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Please take my survey and show me what you think!

https://f77ncs9yufm.typeform.com/to/fv4x2U8Q

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