Today I Choose to be Intuitive – How to be Intuitive

I was in a meeting with my leadership team and a very personable, smooth, charming businessman was pitching us a business deal. He was suave, there were no holes in his pitch or demeanor, but my intuition was screaming “wrong, wrong, wrong.”

It was driving me crazy. There was no earthly reason for what felt like judgment, but the longer he spoke, the more my intuition railed. When the person left, everyone was thrilled with the pitch—everyone but me.

Do you know how difficult it is to say, with nothing to support the comment, “I don’t like it, or him. Something is off,” and then field questions like “what?” and “why?” and have zero concrete reasons, just “my gut”?

For various reasons, none of them my gut, we did not do the deal. Months later, a friend at another company said, “Did you see the lawsuit from the FTC against __________?” Turns out he was a total scam.

I still can’t tell you what was off. Maybe Malcolm Gladwell was correct in *Blink*—there can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis.

The Language Beneath Language

Intuition operates in a realm beneath conscious thought, processing information through channels that rational analysis can’t access. While your logical mind was evaluating that businessman’s credentials, track record, and presentation skills, your intuitive mind was reading subtler signals: micro-expressions, energy patterns, inconsistencies too small for conscious detection.

This deeper processing system has access to your entire lifetime of experience, pattern recognition developed through thousands of interactions, and subtle sensory information that your conscious mind filters out as irrelevant. When intuition speaks, it’s drawing from a vast database of human experience that rational thought simply can’t match.

The challenge isn’t that intuitive information is wrong—research consistently shows that gut feelings often outperform careful analysis in complex social situations. The challenge is learning to trust information that arrives without explanation and to act on insights that can’t be defended with logic.

When Logic and Intuition Conflict

The most difficult moments for intuitive decision-making occur when your gut feeling directly contradicts rational analysis. Everything looks good on paper, everyone else is enthusiastic, all the logical indicators point toward yes—but something inside you is saying no.

These situations test your willingness to trust inner knowing over external validation. They require courage because you’re essentially betting your credibility on information you can’t explain or defend. You’re asking others to trust your judgment when you can’t provide the logical foundation they’re seeking.

But these are often the moments when intuitive guidance is most valuable. When surface indicators are positive but deeper patterns suggest problems, your intuitive mind may be detecting deception, manipulation, or instability that won’t become apparent until much later.

The Social Challenge of Intuitive Knowing

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of strong intuition is the social isolation it can create. When you sense something others don’t see, when you feel strongly about decisions others consider obvious, when your inner knowing contradicts group consensus, you face a choice between social harmony and authentic response.

Saying “something feels off” without concrete evidence makes you appear irrational, judgmental, or overly emotional. People want reasons, explanations, logical justifications for decisions that affect them. They’re uncomfortable with guidance that emerges from invisible sources.

Learning to navigate this dynamic requires developing confidence in your intuitive capacity while also learning to communicate your insights in ways that others can at least consider, even when they can’t fully understand your reasoning.

Developing Intuitive Confidence

Building trust in your intuitive abilities requires paying attention to outcomes over time. Keep track of situations where you felt strong gut reactions—both positive and negative—and note what eventually transpired.

Most people who dismiss their intuition discover, when they start paying attention, that their initial instincts were remarkably accurate. The job that felt wrong despite great benefits turns out to have serious problems. The person who seemed off despite charming presentation reveals concerning character issues. The opportunity that felt right despite uncertain prospects leads to unexpected success.

This pattern recognition helps you distinguish between genuine intuitive insight and emotional reactions based on fear, projection, or past trauma. True intuition tends to be calm, persistent, and ultimately accurate, while emotional reactions tend to be more volatile and less reliable over time.

Practical Strategies for Accessing Intuition

While intuition can’t be forced, you can create conditions that make it more likely to emerge clearly and be recognized when it does.

Create quiet space. Intuitive insights often arise during calm moments when your analytical mind isn’t working overtime. Take walks, meditate, or simply sit quietly when facing important decisions.

Pay attention to physical sensations. Intuition often manifests as bodily feelings—tightness in your chest, energy in your gut, overall sense of expansion or contraction in response to different options.

Notice first impressions. Your initial reaction to people, opportunities, or situations often contains valuable intuitive information before your rational mind begins analyzing and potentially overriding those impressions.

Ask better questions. Instead of asking “What should I do?” try “How does this feel?” or “What does my deepest wisdom suggest about this situation?”

Practice with low-stakes decisions. Build confidence in your intuitive abilities by paying attention to gut feelings about everyday choices—which route to take, which restaurant to try, which movie to watch.

When Intuition Protects You

Some of the most valuable intuitive experiences involve warnings about situations that appear safe or beneficial on the surface. Your subconscious pattern recognition may detect danger signals that your conscious mind hasn’t yet processed.

The businessman who felt wrong despite his polished presentation was likely exhibiting subtle behavioral cues that my intuition recognized as inconsistent with genuine integrity. These micro-signals—slight changes in vocal tone, fleeting facial expressions, energy shifts—often precede the revelation of hidden agendas or character flaws.

Learning to trust these protective instincts can prevent involvement in situations that would later prove harmful, even when you can’t initially explain why something feels dangerous or wrong.

The Wisdom of Not Knowing How You Know

Perhaps the most important aspect of developing intuitive abilities is becoming comfortable with knowing things without knowing how you know them. This requires a fundamental shift from demanding logical explanations for all insights to trusting wisdom that emerges from deeper sources.

The businessman story illustrates this perfectly—months later, external events confirmed what I had sensed immediately, but I still can’t explain what specific cues triggered that strong negative reaction. The accuracy of the insight didn’t depend on my ability to explain it.

Today, I choose to honor my intuitive knowing not because I can always explain it, but because experience has taught me that this deeper wisdom often sees what surface analysis misses.

Because sometimes the most valuable information comes not from what you can prove, but from what you simply know to be true.