How To Get The Best Of Your Intuition

"In 2016, I was 24 and well on my way to achieving my life's dreams I'd been working on since school. But for no reason I started getting sick, became extremely lethargic and an alcoholic. I was not happy at all. It didn't make sense to me or my friends because I was doing everything I loved. Or so I thought. Out of nowhere, this tiny voice started nagging me to the point where I had to listen to it. The moment I did, I gave up everything I thought was my dream and went down a different route. Tbh, I've never felt more like myself than I do right now. It wasn't easy, listening to that little voice, and it took me more than a year to get accustomed to the irrational things it made me do. But, they all made sense in the end." Yeshani, 27.

- Yasodhara Kariyawasam

We call it a ‘gut feeling', ‘sixth sense', ‘inner voice' or ‘intuition'. We all have it. Is intuition something in our head or is it real? We think it is. It's a result of the brain accumulating all the details it has gathered around you and producing a sensation which happens too fast for you to dissect and understand. The lesser known fact is that the intuition you have is probably different from what you friend has. That's because there are different types.

TYPES OF INTUITIONS

Analytical

You may tend to gather data and analyze every possible scenario before arriving at a decision, plus you’d need your decisions to be thorough and precise. "The best way to make a decision is by looking at it in every possible angle!" says Rachel, 30.

Observant

If you fall into this category, you may derive conclusions by picking up physical clues from your surroundings. You’re probably a visual learner, an expert at finding graphical patterns, and you easily notice subtle differences in people or places. "Whenever I meet someone, I tend to read their vibes and register it in my head. If something is going on with them, I instantly know!" shares Shyranthi, 21.

Questioning

You base your judgments on real-life evidence. For example, you won't collect data off the internet and go about questioning people and conducting surveys. "When someone says something, for the moment I’d say ‘ah okay’, but I would always look it up!" reveals Tashya, 28.

Empathetic