By Rob Orgel
Intuition is that little voice in your head telling you something isn’t quite right. We all have it, but are we in tune to it? In the moment, you might have a feeling that something is a bit off, but don’t quite know what it is. Later, you understand what it was, but it might be a bit too late.
Think back to a time when something was amiss, and a few hours later you knew what it was. As we tell the story, we understand in hindsight. It’s possible to bring hindsight into tomorrow, trusting our intuition so we’ll understand why the flag is going up.
What is Our Intuition Telling Us?
Very often, our eyes see something our brain hasn’t comprehended yet. What we’ve taught our brain is important. For example, let’s say we’ve opened the refrigerator door looking for milk. We either see milk or we don’t. What your eyes see that your brain doesn’t quite comprehend – yet – is last week’s Chinese takeout. Later that day we get the odd feeling that it’s time to clean out the fridge!
Applying this to a potentially dangerous situation involves having a weird feeling about an acquaintance or coworker. Your brain doesn’t know what it is yet, but your eyes see that he blocks the doorway when he talks to you. Your ears hear that he brings in things off topic to the conversation. Later, your brain decides that you don’t trust him. But that might be too late.
Changing the picture of what’s to come, let’s understand what intuition is saying to us.
What is the intention of our intuition? It has NO interest in deceiving us and is fully invested into our preservation. If intuition had a theme song it would be the dark, ominous
tones of the soundtrack of a horror movie foreshadowing an attack. Even if we don’t know who the attacker might be, our guard should be up.
For example, let’s reflect on our own experience. Do you remember that old acquaintance, coworker or classmate – the one who ended up in trouble with the law? Were you not surprised that he found his way into trouble? Did you know in advance that he was trouble? Or was it just an unexplained feeling? As we reflect on these moments, we all too often find that lack of clarity – just a “feeling.”
Make it a Point to be Rude
To paraphrase an old adage often attributed as a quote by Thomas Jefferson: In matters of style and trends, flow with the current. In matters of morals and safety, stand like a rock.
What that means to us is that no one cares more about your safety than YOU. So, be vocal, pronounced and even rude if you must.
Coming back full circle, when the guy from work who gives you that weird feeling asks to accompany you to your car after a late night at the office, LISTEN to that voice of caution that hasn’t quite come into words yet. That premonition of trouble is telling you to get out of the situation. Tune into your intuition and don’t hesitate to be rude. Bad people have always leaned on the societal needs of their victims to “not offend” or to “be polite.” NOT when it comes to your safety. Again, don’t hesitate to be rude. Don’t cater to the emotions of a person you don’t trust. Be vocal, be loud and attempt to draw the attention of others.