According to University of New South Wales neuroscientist and psychologist Joel Pearson, a lot goes into that sixth sense. “[Your brain is] processing all the things in the environment; the time of day, how well it’s lit, how well it’s not lit, the pace the person’s walking, for example, the shadows, the tone, and a hundred other [details],” he explains.
Call it intuition – a nebulous concept that Pearson has been studying for two and a half decades. As the author of a book called The Intuition Toolkit, he’s settled on a definition that says, “It’s the learned, positive use of unconscious information for better decisions or actions.”
But it’s a slippery term; not everyone can put their finger on it. So let’s look at a Reddit thread that has plenty of stories to illustrate what Pearson is talking about. Started by platform user TheRealGreedyGoat, it invited people to share the scariest “trust your gut” feeling that they’ve had. Here are the most upvoted ones.
qweenbimbo_ , Aditya Romansa / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
“I love asking Reddit users to share their life stories,” TheRealGreedyGoat told Bored Panda.
“This allows me to learn more about people. Since I also have no problem reading all the comments, I find it incredibly interesting to engage with diverse perspectives and experiences.”
agnesdewitt-pianist Report
Special_You_2414 , freestocks / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
“When you feel something is wrong about someone or ‘creepy,’ there’s probably a fair reason to listen to it. I’ve read comments saying they had this feeling and ignored it and wished they didn’t.”
PHWasAnInsideJob , Sam Rudkin-Millichamp / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
Pinkmongoose , Annie Spratt / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
Nearly one in five rely on their intuition to tell them if something’s wrong regarding their health and two in five follow this “gut-guru” to guide them when it comes to trusting their partner.
duckworthy36 Report
zondervoze , Sasun Bughdaryan / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
Bubbly-Competition14 , JAFAR AHMED / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
Weeyin999 , Jiachen Lin / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
“The brain is really good at restricting the spotlight, so it can make all the resources focused on one narrow thing, like a spotlight on the stage,” he said. But all of that sensory information – the bottom part of the iceberg – is still being processed. And for that, we should be very grateful.
dce_azzy , Alex Chernenko / unspalsh (not the actual photo) Report
scarlett_wonder_9540 , Richard Brutyo / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
mustbethedragon , Matt Popovich / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
why_is_a_raven , Louis Hansel / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
WATGU , Patrick Tomasso / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
dylsster Report
grizzly-claire- , Jonnica Hill / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
sezzy63 Report
LostArgonac , Carlos Alberto Gómez Iñiguez / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
Himlersgasstation , Jeff Kingma / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
PearlHarbor_420 , Headway / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
IdiotOracle Report
You__Rang Report
DrWindupBird , Hooman R. / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
m4nf47 , Shifaaz shamoon / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
p38-lightning , Belinda Fewings / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
YesAndAlsoThat , Kathy / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
Game Report
MattyGWS Report
Far-Warthog2330 , Kobby Mendez / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
decapitatedbunny Report
surprisephysical45 , TR / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
ikbenerook Report
suddenspiderarmy , Caley Vanular / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
Wild story.
Confused_IQ Report
SugarVanillax4 , Taylor Grote / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report
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