What is Intuition?

Intuition is something we all use yet few understand. Science often ignores the subject as an inconvenient truth and new-age nonsense moves in in its place. So exactly what is intuition?

Intuition is something that I rely upon in my own training business and life in general (working in conflicted countries a few years back it saved my life a number of times) and is a topic that often arises when working with the body in leadership. Recently I’ve lead a session on intuition for Brighton social entrepreneurs group BScene and been on an Edgewalkers workshop to further my own study. Thanks to Joolz “the corporate hippy” for hosting and co-leading a great day. Intuition is an interesting subject to figure out as most people who can do it well aren’t into analysing it! Happily I’m a logical, no-nonsense guy who’s been forced to (re)learn it, so here’s one perspective on the intuitive:

What Intuition Is an is not

Think of the human psyche as an iceberg. The small part above the water is the conscious mind that likes to think it’s in charge and with a little education uses logic and reason step by step to work things out. The subconscious however can process data in a non-linear fashion, very very quickly and taking far more into account. We are all geniuses at this – bringing our entire life experience to bare in a single moment (hence the title of Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Blink”). Think of a simple act such as walking or choosing what to say next in light conversation, it would be impossible to work out all the variable and come up with a logical plan in time, hence we use intuition. The unconscious mind processes vast amounts of past experience and gives you the best option. Experienced nurses, mechanics and stock-brokers all rely upon this. The way in which the unconscious communicates to the conscious differ from person to person – some for example feel a direction, some images, some sounds – but the body as the repository of the unconscious is always key – hence “gut instinct” and similar phrases about intuitive intelligence. It is much easier to have an intuition about another person when we can see them or even better feel them.  Bodies mimic each other unconsciously and we are constantly “leaking” ourselves and “absorbing” others through this process. This subtle  unconscious communication is why businesses will fly people around the world for a face-to-face meeting, militaries march and courting couples dance in very known culture in one form or another.

Note that intuition is not simply habit. Simply scratching an itch is not using intuition. Intuition can be used in novel circumstances where there is little habit. It is also not working things out logically (which is also fine and very useful and the domain of the conscious mind).

Transpersonal intuition is knowing beyond the personal unconscious – to stay with the metaphor it is like all the icebergs joining up deep down in big collective unconscious/morphogenic quantum energy field/ synchronistic divine love fest! I’m mocking the new-age writers on the subject of course and most intuitive phenomena does not rely upon this explanation and can be explained at a subconscious level. That being said I do believe there is something in these explanations as there is a growing evidence base on non-localisation and perhaps intuition will always have an element of the magic and mysterious to it.

Advantages of Using Intuition?

Intuition is:

  • Quick (almost instantaneous in fact)
  • Able to arrive at conclusions based on limited data (known and “thin-slicing”)
  • Largely cross cultural
  • Good for spotting liars and empathising with human emotion (intuition is social)
  • Usually reliable…

Barriers to Intuition?

Intuition can be hard when people:

  • Prize conscious thinking and logic above all else (Western civilisation has been doing this for the last few hundred years)
  • Have a “head full of chatter” and can’t “quiet down to listen to the deep still voice of intuition”
  • Are dissociated from their bodies and emotions (endemic in the modern workplace East and West)
  • Second guess themselves and lack trust in intuition
  • Need to be right
  • Need to be certain/ can’t handle not knowing for sure (intuition is always a question?)

How to Build Intuition?

Intuition is something we can all do – kids use it all the time to make decisions like whether to ask mum or dad for pocket money – and evolution has led to a fine sense of it in animals, so it’s more a matter of reactivating it with people. To do this practices are necessary and like any skill practices makes better.

  • Meditation – quieten your mind – intuition is “under” the normal conscious chatter.
  • Sleep on it/ distract yourself/move and relax your body – in the short term one can get an intuitive insight by taking time away form thinking about a problem and distracting oneself with other things. Going for a walk is good as moving the body unleashes intuition. The shower and toilet are the two most common location for good ideas because of the embodiment and relaxation involved!
  • Body practices – intuition is bodily and having body awareness improves intuition.
  • Practice! – Guess when the bus will come. Pick your lunch based on a hunch. Use empathy to guess how your partner’s day was. Practice using intuition regularly and you will grow your intuitive capability.

When not to use Intuition?

Telling the difference between intuition and plain ‘ole prejudice can be hard. Intuition can easily lead people astray – for example is it intuition that draws me into MacDonald’s as I walk past – probably not. People tend to make non-random errors of judgement and it is worth knowing about these to differentiate them from intuition. Politicians for example are often elected on their looks not track-record and neither Lincoln nor Churchill would get elected in the television age I dare say. Intuitively, one can learn to differentiate intuition from prejudice by the feel. Intuition for me feel deeper, less “grabby” and have a sense of “quiet rightness.” If desire, a quick gratification (e.g. the MacDonald’s), justifiable fear or anger are involved it is normally just a habit or craving that is being triggered not true intuition.     NB: Unusual fear that seems our of place can be a survival aid against dangerous people so don’t ignore this one (see The Gift of Fear).

Logic and past history can also be used to check intuition – if an employer knows from experience that they tend to hire pretty young blonde women regardless of skill-level for example, they may be suspicious if their intuition tells them to do this again.  “Know thyself” becomes a dictum worth following as ever. Intuition is not truth but one stream of information to be considered and integrated, the facts are also worth looking at!