3 Simple Ways to Identify the Difference Between Intuition and Fear

“Always trust your gut.” This is something I often tell others and something I was told repeatedly when I was growing up.

I’m sure you’ve had that sinking feeling when a crisis situation happened that made you say “I knew this was going to happen!”  We often let this feeling dictate our lives without properly knowing how to identify it.  We very commonly confuse fear for our intuition.  The problem with this is we are actually emotionally handicapping ourselves by not properly separating the two.  We ALL have intuition.

Below are 3 simple ways to identify your intuition vs your fear-

1. Is this an instinctive feeling or a reactive thought?  If it feels instinctive this is your intuition, if it feels reactive this is fear.  Commonly when you behave instinctively, even if it’s a moment of crises, there is calmness to it.  When you react with fear there is anxiety. Sometimes this anxiety can cause stomach pain and this should not be confused with that “gut feeling.”

2. Does the presented question or situation have a simple answer or a complicated answer? If you were trying to tell the difference between intuition and fear for lets say, declining to go sailing would you simply explain “I just don’t feel like it” or would you give multiple reasons why you could not go.  Often when we experience fear we word vomit excuses to rationalize why we feel the way we do.  With intuition we are confident in our choices.

3. Do you feel puppies or do you feel panic?  Does you response to the situation leave you feeling in a calm and loving mood or does your response ignite your ‘fight or flight’ mode?  Intuition is the puppies, fear is the adrenaline.

If your interested in ways to nature your intuition let me know in the comments!