Well, it’s Friday again, actually my first Friday post this year! This time, I was about to write about something else, but life was surprising me a bit recently, bringing a different topic on the table. If something sounds weird, it’s because it’s not that easy to write about something we don’t fully understand.
Of trusting your intuition and (not) getting tripped up by misreading it as bad fate just because something goes wrong. Very often, interpreting intuitive thoughts or feelings is a question of, sort of, to which picture a jigsaw piece might belong if any. Yet, in trying to answer the question, time goes by — so we might completely miss a chance life is offering to us.
On the other hand, don’t take this post as an advice to (metaphorically) sell all of your sheep and step on a one-way train without a ticket, not reading where it’s about to go to first. It’s about taking chances mindfully — bearing in mind, there’s often a »later«, like in a few hours when you’re back home from work. Yet, sometimes it’s a question of the moment, you have to react, or else…
Here are some of my intuitive moments, of which I understood the why — and, most importantly: I understood that taking a chance thereon didn’t mean I was about to risk that much. Rather the opposite: I’d have missed a lot if not.
Think for a moment: This brain, built for doing maths and science, pure logic, gets messages far beyond logic? Yes.
Berlin, tea time.
Somewhere between late summer and early autumn, I sat alone at my desktop at the university one day, doing some research. While the computer beside me was humming patiently, performing calculations, I was getting hungry — however, I did not want to get lunch at the canteen for some reason. So, I refused to go there until I was late. Too late for the canteen, which at that time would already roll down the rolling shutters…
Then suddenly, I got a message; something inside my head was telling me to try that cafeteria in the other building, which had opened a few years ago. No hints as to the why, though. But still, I did what it told me, took my bag and went out.
By how the next minutes unfolded, I suppose, I had to come there to meet someone… however, now I stood there, unprepared, faltering, digging out and discarding some half good first words off my logical mind, while waiting at the food counter, staring at some almost empty shelves of brushed steel, feeling cold from hunger… When it was my turn, my hand was shaking uncommonly, giving in to some troubled thoughts of mine I suddenly had — and spilled hot tea water on my right hand… ouch!
My brain, busy with discarding things to choose from, one after another — ending up choosing nothing at all, instead of taking a look at what’s there and making the most of the situation, off the cuff, seemed to have lost the capacity for a careful movement.
The minutes after this accident turned into a lesson about mindfulness I had been just taught without meaning to: In regulating my thoughts, I noticed that I was able to regulate the pain! (No worries, I‘m only human — not an expert, neither Jesus or something, however, I had grasped a dash of wisdom from somewhere while looking for advice on mindfulness. Focus on what is around you, lay down the trouble for a while.)
Shut the door
The summer holidays arrived, offering some free time before a planned trip, some time to just relax. It was hot, too hot… I still remember that sticky summer evening, sitting in the garden, sweating, pondering…
Thirsty and tired, but nervous, I tried to focus on the crossword I had brought. A few minutes went by… An awkward silence surrounded me, which I could hardly bear. The air felt solid. I sat there, not just listening — rather scrutinizing, sensing something unknown — until an inner voice suddenly urged me to hurry inside before the rain would come rushing down — which, in fact, was rather a dry storm uprooting plenty of trees in one minute. A tornado, a beast I had thought never could occur in Germany. After it happened, the streets looked like boondocks, cars were distorted… No damage to us though, the roofs nearby resisted.
A cold breeze on a warm day
The sun was setting earlier, we were moving towards autumn. But it was still warm, both outside and inside of me. The food was comforting, too, time for a little wine. But first, checking my apps. It had been a while since we played cards, so it was about time to organize our next round, so I texted a friend, then I left the phone on the desk.
The sofa was waiting kindly for me to take a seat, nothing to do, nothing worth watching on TV, so I opened the paperback I had been reading.
A few pages were left. The story unfolded, the last open questions were answered, finally the arc of suspense was about to reach an end. I could estimate that the main characters would survive the scene. Yet, suddenly, I felt cold inside without any obvious reason. I wrapped myself in a blanket and kept on reading, page after page, getting to the end of the story, then I put it down.
Bathroom break, phone lit up for a moment.
Then I saw the message: the daughter of the friend I had just texted with was in hospital, in a critical condition…
Teaching me something
The weather was kind, so was the wind, warm and comforting. Confidently as usual, I went down, stepped on my bicycle and took the route I always enjoyed. With my help, the schoolboy had improved in mathematics and got some better marks now.
After we had been sitting together for a while, his mother had to answer the phone. Minutes passed… Suddenly, I had an awkward feeling, hard to describe, I’d say it was like the noise of a distant storm breezing somewhere inside my head I could both hear and feel. My pessimistic logic said, what if she had some bad news to share with me? Like, they were fed up with me? On the other hand, I wondered why…
So, I did my best: I regulated my feelings, which helped me to stay focused, resisting my questions, not showing my doubts — a few minutes later, she brought a beautifully decorated coffee, melting away my doubtful feelings.
That day, nobody was breaking up with me. Not at all.
Stumbled out
On Sunday, I suddenly had a pain in my left knee — I had hurt myself while I was connecting my recharger, hurrying towards yet another round of people pleasing. Suddenly, I had to toss my to-do list into trash, instead, I slowly crawled downstairs on hands and feet to fetch some ointment…
Mild and weightless exercise and a gentle massage with caution already reduced the pain so it’s a matter of days until I can forget it.
I could have misread my mishap as »I have to stay here forever« or »I can’t even recharge my phone without making a mistake« or even »My last days have come«.
Yet, I took it as a message to better take a few deep breaths first and finally learn to say no if I feel it’s right for me.
In writing this, I was searching for song titles with the word »breeze« in it for inspiration, and this is what I found.
Lessons
Far from being an expert, I learned a few things by myself about that inner voice.
When to follow it immediately (like with that storm), or when not as I’ll check that later anyway (like email or text), or when »later« might be »this evening or weekend« because your timetable is full.
What I found out:
Accuracy versus precision.
Intuition is not always like precise reading, sometimes it’s more like a game of guessing which you’ll get better at over time. Yet sometimes, it may be just wrong, or have nothing to do with anything relevant, and that’s okay.
So is mine. Sometimes it’s just like »something’s going on«. Precision: zero. Accuracy? Unknown. Only thing I know is that I’m not sick.
Yet, a pull towards a room, wherein both my phone and laptop stayed silent, with empty batteries waiting to recharge to bring up a message I might not want to miss. All it has to do is let you check your apps, it doesn’t have to tell you who wrote.
Accuracy > precision. A slightly different word on a word grid or even a slightly different name or trading storm for rain, with the same urgency. Following it means you should go to the same place to look at, same things to do, so alright.
Yet another time, it was like that sudden voice inside my head could just be printed on paper that way, both accurate and precise.
Out of the blue beating logic ideas. How does that happen? No clue… When it’s my subconscious computing some message I had read a while ago, now understanding its full meaning which was downplayed? This is a thing I can understand and test. Yet, some things, I just don’t get. Like, how will I »get a message« from someone who can’t call me, or while my phone’s off? These are things I’ll have to call a miracle. 🪄
Yet, what to do when it strikes us in a moment when we're in the office or suddenly afraid of getting a bad message we don't dare to ask what's up to either sound weird or even jinx it?
Often, it’s testable.
With email and somebody about to tell you something, you can always breathe and wait, checking silently (!) if you really got fired before blindly believing that you’re the worst person in town or anything just as stupid. (Which you aren’t, of course, if you read this. 🤓)
Sometimes yet, resisting it is necessary.
Once upon a time, I came to a place where I had an appointment on schedule. There, I suddenly felt weird, as if I was about to get lost, maybe strolling around and getting late — as if searching for something. But I resisted, obeying the timetable, just kept the memories — surprisingly finding an answer years later.
In such a case, you need to keep on time — but what about standing still for like half a minute, collecting your subliminal thoughts which come up and might point into the right direction? A house? A person? The weather? A colour or a pattern? You can journal these, return and pick up the thread of thoughts a little later.
I could have taken that more seriously though — but on the one hand, I didn’t know of that option, and then, my story would have been more of an ordinary.
Did you know? Intuition can even be trained.
For further reading:
https://www.wikihow.com/Develop-Your-Intuition
https://positivepsychology.com/intuition-training/
https://thismindfulspace.com/intuition-exercises/
Some easy exercise which can be fun at a low risk: Next weekend, go to a library or to your bookshelf, and try to let your intuition guide which one to read next. Or try to choose your next meal that way.
This was an awesome read. I really loved the flow of examples then insights then training. Approaching intuition in a deterministic approach is interesting.
There’s something for each one of us to learn when it comes to intuition, its unique nature and how it feels when we have it vs other feelings is an important thing everyone should try. I really enjoyed reading this post.
A thoughtful reflection on intuition and mindful decision-making. Daniela, you perfectly show how subtle inner signals, even when unclear, can guide us to the right choices...and how awareness, patience, and practice help us trust them without being misled. A long read with beautiful, calm music.