For those of us who grew up reading the Spider Man comics, we know one of Spider Man’s most useful skills was his “Spidey Sense”. His strong ability to sense upcoming danger tingled throughout his body, guiding him in determining how to handle the situation he was in and to avoid upcoming danger.
The truth is that each of us have this innate superpower. We just have to learn to trust our inner voice or as some refer to it, our gut.
Science has already proven that the reptilian part of our brain responds to situations in a flight or fight paradigm, instantaneously guiding our decisions moment by moment. Perhaps this is what is meant by intuition, as the mostly unconscious part of our brain focuses on survival instincts, exploring our environment while responding to danger, controls our heart rate, breathing rhythms and primitive senses.
For many people, the idea of trusting their gut or intuition feels unnatural, particularly if they have suffered trauma or carried significant stress throughout their life. These experiences can leave them with impaired judgement, pushing them to perform the same negative patterns repeatedly.
Intuition is certainly a “muscle” that can be trained when individuals choose to focus on positive thinking/outcomes and develop a deeper sense of self-awareness.
As a therapist, I would consider self-sabotage the opposite of intuition. Both seem to occur when one is unaware of their surroundings. However, intuition leads to more positive results and the lack of awareness leads to increased challenges.
It is possible to be an over thinker, trying to rationalize every situation to make sense. But based on my years of clinical work, it seems that physiological patterns can overpower a person’s ability to do so. This would leave them stuck in a state of emotional arousal which may trigger undesired stress patterns that would need to be resolved.
