Say word intuition, and some will cringe. It sounds too new-age, too touchy-feely. And its close cousin, instinct, sounds animalistic. Western culture tends to denigrate information that comes to us through means other than logic, reason and analysis.
Yet, intuition and instinct can save us from hassle and heartache, lead us to happiness, even save our lives.
Here's a real life example.
A number of years ago I was driving in Manhattan on a Saturday night. The light was green. I was crossing Second Avenue, when out of corner of my eye I saw a car approaching intersection from my left running his red light.
I had about a quarter of a second before impact. There was no time for to think, no time for fear. only time to act.
I gunned gas.
Kaboom!
My car was lifted into air, spinning as I was jerked around as if I were in a crazy carnival ride.
The impact was on left side, driver's side of car. I was in middIe of intersection when I felt impact.
I saw driver's side window dissolve. The impact was so great that when I landed, car was on sidewalk facing into street. Its back was just inches away from traffic light.
My car was totaled but seatbelt held firm. I walked out with nothing more than a few minor scratches.
When I gunned gas, my car advanced just enough so other vehicle hit rear passenger seats and not driver's seat.
That action saved me from, at minimum, serious physical injury.
It was an action of sheer instinct - coming from “right side of brain.”
From time to time we are all called to make snap judgments, we have all gotten a bad feeling about a person, a situation.
We've all uttered phrase, “I can't put my finger on it, but …” And more often than not, later on, our apprehensions are confirmed by events.
That is our intuition talking.
So ... Are you listening?
Your ability to size up people in a first impression is, in part, result of your taking in person's body language, dress and demeanor on an unconscious level. Although I think there is more to it than that, question of what makes up intuition is beyond scope of this article.