Ten Things Highly Intuitive People Do .. . . Intuition is challenging to define, despite the huge role it plays in our everyday lives. Steve Jobs called it, for instance, more powerful than intellect. But however we put it into words, we all, well, intuitively know just what it is. Pretty much everyone has experienced a gut feeling -- that unconscious reasoning that propels us to do something without telling us why or how. But the nature of intuition has long eluded us, and has inspired centuries worth of research and inquiry in the fields of philosophy and psychology. Cognitive science is beginning to demystify the strong but sometimes inexplicable presence of unconscious reasoning in our lives and thought. Often dismissed as unscientific because of its connections to the psychic and paranormal, intuition isnt just a bunch of hoo-ha about our Spidey senses -- the U.S. military is even investigating the power of intuition, which has helped troops to make quick judgments during combat that ended up saving lives. There is a growing body of anecdotal evidence, combined with solid research efforts, that suggests intuition is a critical aspect of how we humans interact with our environment and how, ultimately, we make many of our decisions, Ivy Estabrooke, a program manager at the Office of Naval Research, told the New York Times in 2012. Here are 10 things that people in touch with their intuition do differently: 1 .They listen to that inner voice. The No. 1 thing that distinguishes intuitive people is that they listen to, rather than ignore, the guidance of their intuitions and gut feelings. In order to make our best decisions, we need a balance of intuition -- which serves to bridge the gap between instinct and reasoning -- and rational thinking, according to Francis Cholle, author of The Intuitive Compass. But the cultural bias against following ones instinct or intuition often leads to disregarding our hunches -- to our own detriment. 2. They take time for solitude. If you want to get in touch with your intuition, a little time alone may be the most effective way. Just as solitude can help give rise to creative thinking, it can also help us connect to our deepest inner wisdom. 3. They create. Creativity does its best work when it functions intuitively, writes researcher and author Carla Woolf. In fact, creative people are highly intuitive and just as you can increase your creativity through practice, you can boost your intuition. In fact, practicing one may build up the other. 4. They practice mindfulness. Meditation and other mindfulness practices can be an excellent way to tap into your intuition. As the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute explains, Mindfulness can help you filter out mental chatter, weigh your options objectively, tune into your intuition and ultimately make a decision that you can stand behind completely. Mindfulness can also connect you to your intuition by boosting self-knowledge. A 2013 study published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science showed that mindfulness -- defined as paying attention to ones current experience in a non-judgmental way -- may help us to better understand our own personalities. 5. They observe everything. Youll gain a keen sense for how often coincidences, surprising connections and on-the-dot intuitions occur in your daily life -- in other words, youll start to tap into your intuition. 6. They listen to their bodies. Intuitive people learn to tune into their bodies and heed their gut feelings. If youve ever started feeling sick to your stomach when you knew something was wrong but couldnt put your finger on what, you understand that intuitions can cause a physical sensation in the body. Our gut feelings are called gut feelings for a reason -- research suggests that emotion and intuition are very much rooted in the second brain in the gut. 7. They connect deeply with others. Mind reading may seem like the stuff of fantasy and pseudo-science, but its actually something we do everyday. Its called empathic accuracy, a term in psychologythat refers to the seemingly magical ability to map someones mental terrain from their words, emotions and body language, according to Psychology Today. When you see a spider crawling up someones leg, you feel a creepy sensation, Marcia Reynolds writes in Psychology Today. Similarly, when you observe someone reach out to a friend and they are pushed away, your brain registers the sensation of rejection. When you watch your team win or a couple embrace on television, you feel their emotions as if you are there. Social emotions like guilt, shame, pride, embarrassment, disgust and lust can all be experienced by watching others. Tuning into your own emotions, and spending time both observing and listening to others face-to-face can help boost your powers of empathy, says Reynolds. 8. They pay attention to their dreams. Both dreams and intuition spring from the unconscious, so you can begin to tap into this part of your mind by paying attention to your dreams. 9. They enjoy plenty of down time. We always have an intuitive sense about the people in our lives -- on a deep level, we know the good ones from the flatterers and dissemblers -- but were not always awake enough to our intuition to acknowledge the difference to ourselves. The problem is that were simply too busy. 10. They mindfully let go of negative emotions. Strong emotions -- particularly negative ones -- can cloud our intuition. Many of us know that we feel out of sorts or not ourselves when were upset, and it may be because were disconnected from our intuition. The evidence isnt just anecdotal: A 2013 study published in the journal Psychological Science showed that being in a positive mood boosted the ability to make intuitive judgments in a word game. Thats not to say that intuitive people never get upset -- but your intuition will fare better if youre able to mindfully accept and let go of negative emotions for the most part, rather than suppressing or dwelling on them.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 19:42:45 +0000