Psychology: 4 gut feelings that we can basically follow

intuition
4 typical gut feelings that you can always listen to

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A gut feeling is not a convincing argument for you? But it can be! At least in the following cases.

For many people, gut instinct is a kind of emergency nail: only when they really don’t know any better do they follow their gut instincts grudgingly – but they are not necessarily convinced that they are doing the right thing. It’s actually a shame, because whoever thinks that way gives the good old gut feeling far too little credit! As is known from brain research, the gut feeling or intuition arises in our basal ganglia, a tried and tested and very powerful part of our brain that kept us alive and made correct decisions long before the pro and contralists and search engines existed. We may not be able to explain our gut instincts as easily and precisely as we argue “I read it on the internet”, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a good explanation – it’s just not that easy to put into words.

In the following cases we can take our intuition seriously with a good feeling and without stomach ache and, in case of doubt, should even follow it rather than the voice of our reason. Unless we are not looking for the decision that is right for us, but for others …

4 gut feelings you can listen to with a clear conscience

1. “That doesn’t make me happy”

Neuroscientists recommend that we should rely on our gut instinct, especially in very complex situations, because our pimply frontal lobe is quickly overwhelmed if too many parameters are to be considered. Unfortunately, those situations in our lives in which we have to make important, groundbreaking decisions are usually particularly complex: Which profession do I want to learn? What is my priority to starting a family? What kind of person do I want to be? Of course, we can consider factors such as salary, opportunities and role models in these questions, but as soon as our gut feeling tells us “that doesn’t make me happy”, that should be more important than anything else. Most of the time it is like this: We can only find out what makes us happy by trying out a lot. But we know intuitively what doesn’t make us happy – and we don’t need another argument to rule out an option.

2. “I feel good with this person”

If we feel comfortable with a person and harmonize with them, that may be enough for us to give them a high priority in our lives – because that is something special! If we think about it, we will surely come up with a lot of people whom we think are nice and whom we cannot really say anything about. But most of them lack something that draws us to them and means that we could spend a lot of time with them without being annoyed. What exactly that is that we are missing cannot be stated – but our gut feeling knows.


Sympathetic woman

3. “This person is not doing me any good”

On the other hand, is there a person in our life who robs us of strength, where we have to weigh every word on the gold scales, who asks us for advice but then dismisses it as if we were stupid, who doesn’t care about us but expects that we keep approaching him, or doing anything else that we can’t even put into words makes us feel bad about him – then we should listen to it and distance ourselves from him. No matter how nice he is, how long we’ve known each other, what relationship we have with him. If there is one force that can keep us from investing energy in the wrong people and neglecting the right ones, it is our intuition. And for that we can show our gratitude by following her.

4. “I can’t anymore”

Against this gut feeling, all other arguments and considerations are like little flies: They can irritate us, but it would be foolish to follow them and let them show the way. If intuition says “I can’t do it anymore, it’s too much for me, I need help”, then it’s the same, no matter how the situation of reason presents itself. In this case we have to investigate – also with the help of our reason – and ask questions until we can put into words what exactly is too much for us and what we can no longer, but ignoring our intuition and just going on would be a mistake that we would certainly feel sorry for later. All the more because we actually knew better intuitively …

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