Surprising science behind your intuition

Do Do you feel like the world (and your mind) runs? As if the floor under your feet was not sure or solid?

We now have access to an unprecedented quantity of knowledge, data and information that is given to us in a few seconds. Artificial intelligence and complex crises amplify the pace and the scale of change, from economic and political changes to the flow of information, which makes us more difficult for us to see the situation as a whole and to adapt and to think.

In this uncertain and fast world, we need more than logic and data to navigate. We need a strong interior compass – a very attractive intuition.

Intuition has often been rejected as vague or not scientific. But it changes. An emergence evidence shows that a well -trained intuition, what we sometimes call “intestinal feelings”, is the key to our ability to make good decisions and innovate, in particular in times of uncertainty.

Intuition allows us to process a massive amount of information and sensory data, which we collect with our whole body, not just the brain. It is much faster than our conscious and concentrated mind.

In The intelligence of intuitionGerd Gigerenzer explores how intuition is our difference in difference in the AI ​​era, and that without intuition, there would not be much innovation. A 2017 study From a group of laureates of the Nobel Prize has shown that intuition has played a major role in their discoveries, helping them to connect apparently disparate ideas and to offer “AHA moments”. A 2022 research The study in the field of management maintains that intuition and creation of meaning are essential to build knowledge, in particular in the complex and uncertain context today.

But the connection to our intuition can be difficult in our upset world. Social media, the information cycle 24 hours a day and the congestion of modern life competes for our mental space. We have become disconnected from our attention and our own body.

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I know it by my own experience. In my 1920s, I worked in post-conflict development for the United Nations in Kosovo. I spent a year there, but it was like 10 years wrapped in one. Going to Kosovo was like entering an open injury. I could see and feel the consequences of conflicts in the air, in the eyes of people and in the houses and buildings in ruins.

I wanted to make a difference for the victims of the war and contribute to a better future. But I did not know how to set personal limits, and I did not even understand why it was important. I thought that taking time for myself, recharging my batteries would be a sign of weakness. My sleep deprivation has increased, just like the nervous pain of the discs slipped into my spine. And without my knowledge, a new life was formed quietly in me.

One night, during a stopover at Frankfurt airport, during a work trip from Kosovo to Kazakhstan, I felt terrible pain and I started to bleed. I didn’t think about it much – I just took pain relievers and continued my trip. It was not until later that I realized that I had made a miscarriage. Whether I pushed myself too hard or that pregnancy was simply not supposed to be, this experience showed how much I was disconnected from my own body and my own body.

It was just a matter of time until the system of circulation of my mind, my body and my soul stops. I hit a wall and I was forced to connect inside, because I had nowhere to go. And it changed my life.

During the healing process, I returned to my country of origin in Iceland. In Icelandic, the word for intuition is Innsæi. The word is poetic and evokes “the sea inside”, the flow of our unconscious. If we put the sea inside boxes or silos, it stops flowing. When we lose sight of the flow of life, we are less able to connect the dots and see the overview. When we remove our emotions and ignore our pain, “the sea inside” freezes and turns into a glacier. We lose access to one of our most powerful tools for resilience, connection, meaning and clarity.

When we lose a link with our intuition, we lose our inner harmony which allows us to act with mastery and ease, as the anesthesiologist Ronald W Dworkin describes him with so much in a recent Aeon article. In today’s world, we also tend to count more on experts, browsers and technology than our own judgment. As the British doctor said, Dr. Rangan Chatterjee interview: “We have outsourced our interior expertise.”

It’s time to recover it. But to be able to align with our intuition, we must become the guards of our own attention.

Start by paying attention to what you are paying attention and document it in your journal. Attention journalization is a powerful tool to notice what our busy attention captures and fills our senses. Notice with your whole body, your skin, your intestine and your heart.

Be careful to improve flow. Consciously create more head space and clarity by filtering what you pay attention to, such as advertisements, media and toxic relationships. Create space in your days so that your mind was walking, is inspired and to find joy.