10 signs of intuition you should never ignore.
How can you be sure that you are hearing your intuition and acting upon it, rather than some other feeling?
Firstly, intuition is typically a neutral or positive emotion—it is calm. It doesn’t weigh heavily on you like anxiety or fear might.
People often describe it as “knowing” that something is right or wrong. You feel inclined to do a particular thing, though that doesn’t mean you have to be impulsive and act right away. You can sit with the feeling for a while to get more in tune with what it is telling you.
It is possible to misinterpret other feelings for intuition, which is why it is so important to practice paying attention to the signals your subconscious mind sends you so that you can better recognize what you are feeling and trust yourself to act wisely.
Since your intuition is a gut feeling rather than thought-based reasoning or cognition, it is vital that you understand the signs it may send you. These signs include:
1. A sudden clarity about a decision.
Whether you have been pondering a decision for one minute, one day, one week, or one year, it may suddenly become clear to you what that decision should be. This is especially true if there is a lot of information—or complex information—that is difficult to keep at the surface level of your thinking. Psychology Today highlights that intuition provides clarity, rather than a loop of negative thoughts which would be indicative of anxiety and overthinking instead.
Out of the blue, you may experience a calm, deep knowing about how to act—a hunch that may be difficult to explain or articulate.
2. Answers and solutions come when you aren’t thinking about them.
The clarity mentioned above is likely to come when you least expect it. Often, your intuition will show as an “Aha!” moment while your mind is quiet or engaged in some unrelated activity.
This is because your subconscious mind has been processing the data in the background and springs the answer on you when it has finished its calculations.
3. A sudden sense that action needs to be taken.
Sometimes, the chance to act passes if it is not taken. So, if you get a sudden, but calm feeling that you need to do (or not do) a thing, it is your gut telling you that you should take advantage of this limited window of opportunity.
This is different from an impulse. An impulse is a feeling you struggle to control—a feeling based on primal needs and desires. Intuition doesn’t dictate what you must do, it gives you the information you need to make a good decision but leaves that decision to you.
Still, if time is of the essence, you’ll know to make that decision swiftly.
4. You feel uneasy about a decision you took.
Your intuitive mind will highlight when an action was not a good one to take. According to Dr. Gerd Gigerenzer, a psychologist and director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, gut feelings work in this way by taking advantage of the wealth of unconscious information stored in our brains. If you experience a sense of dread or regret, or feel physically uncomfortable, it may be your body and mind’s way of screaming that you need to turn back or take remedial action.
5. You feel positive about a decision you took.
On the flip side, soon after taking action, you might experience a feeling that it was the right action to take. You feel like a weight is lifted and that you chose wisely. Stick with the choice and don’t let your rational mind persuade you otherwise.
This feeling occurs before the full consequences of that action can be seen, meaning it cannot be hindsight bias—the tendency to look back on an unpredictable event and believe we predicted it.
6. Your senses go into overdrive.
Dr. David Myers, a social psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Hope College, discusses intuition and heightened awareness in his book, “Intuition: Its Powers and Perils.” If you suddenly find yourself sensing things with extreme clarity, it could be that your intuition has picked up on something in your surroundings and is trying to make you aware of it.
That might be your hearing becoming crystal clear because your subconscious has overheard a conversation that might influence how you respond to the people having it.
It might also be that the movement of a crowd, or the body language of the people in it, is telling you that something bad is about to go down.
If your senses perk up, ask yourself what information they are trying to communicate to you.
7. An inner voice says YES or NO with great conviction.
Although intuition is a feeling and not a thought, you may still get a sense that a voice somewhere inside of you is talking to you. Call it intuition, call it wisdom, it doesn’t matter—you can almost hear someone saying yes or no to a choice you might be about to make.
And the voice is one you feel you must listen to and trust because it speaks with authority.
8. You have recurring thoughts.
When making a decision, if you find your mind returning to the same thoughts, it means you should pay more attention to the subject of those thoughts.
If the recurring thoughts are about a specific aspect of the decision, your intuition is trying to highlight it for a reason. Maybe there is something important that you haven’t considered properly.
9. There are patterns to your dreams.
Dreams are portals into your unconscious mind and should be considered valuable messengers of your intuition.
Our true feelings and desires often exert a great influence over the subject and intensity of our nocturnal thoughts, and if your dreams return to similar themes over and over, it’s a sign that something needs your attention.
10. Good fortune and coincidence are regular occurrences.
Fortune and coincidence are not driven by a mystical force—they occur because you perceive something in a particular way. That same thing would not be considered good fortune or a coincidence if you were in a different mindset.
When you do notice something, therefore, it should be considered carefully to extract the true meaning. If you notice a coincidence, you may read it as your subconscious mind highlighting a particular chance event because of its importance to a decision you are making or will soon make.
