Intuition or “gut feeling” - - what is it exactly? I don’t really know too but I will talk about how I experience intuition and maybe you could or could not relate with it. Intuition for me is a feeling - it is not precise because it is not telling me exactly that I feel happy, sad, scared, cautious, etc but it’s a mixture of everything. You don’t really know what or where the feelings begin or end, or if it just one exact feeling of something. But then you decide you are going to do something and oftentimes it is the opposite of that gut feeling (because you don’t trust your gut). And then you second guess yourself, was it really the right decision? It definitely happens to us! Sometimes the gut feeling is intense that you know that you should do something but sometimes it just nags you until the situation either gets resolved by itself or it goes insanely and regretfully southwards.
According to Donald Schön (philosopher and creator of reflective practice) intuition is not solely based on the technical knowledge or reasoning but it goes through a process of reflection - - a reflection of our own actions and feelings and how our actions and feelings affect/ed what we do or say. Tim Mickleborough wrote an article on intuition in medical practice. He talked about a doctor’s experience who was consulted by a patient for a routine request for pain medication. The nurse said that the patient did not really complain much about the pain he experienced but this time he initiated the request for a pain medication. The doctor’s gut feeling was saying that something was not right so he checked the patient further and indeed, it was something serious and the patient had to undergo surgery.
From experience as a mother, I had the gut feeling that when my son was 2.5 yrs old, that something about his talking was not right. The gut feeling came to a crawling pace and when panic overtook that, I acted on my gut like a rocket - went to see an ENT and found answers to what my gut was telling me. As a therapist, my gut feelings tell me what strategies to use or when and how to use them. So there is that mixture of the technical knowledge and the instinct coming together. What I am saying is, whatever role you have — whether you are a therapist, a parent, teacher, friend, etc, you do come across that gut feeling. Don’t brush it aside because it might be another way of knowing.
So here’s the article on intuition if you’re interested.
