30 Times People Felt That Something Wasn't Right, Trusted Their Gut And Didn’t Regret It

In order to find out about the inner workings of the mysterious gut feeling, intuition, and what happens in our minds when we experience it, we spoke with Helen Marlo, a licensed clinical psychologist and Jungian psychoanalyst who provides psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and consultation. Helen is also a Professor of Clinical Psychology and the Department Chair at Notre Dame de Namur University.

“Intuition perceives possibilities in the present situation, however, it is perceived primarily through the unconscious and not concrete reality. It presents itself as an instinctive apprehension; an insight, with wholeness; and without awareness of how this psychic content appeared. For better and for worse, intuition intrinsically possesses a sense of conviction and certitude,” Helen explained.

“Jung identified how individuals have a superior and inferior function within this typological system, which consists of two personality attitudes (introversion and extraversion) and four functions (intuition; sensation; feeling; and thinking) that operate in introverted or extraverted ways,” she said. “The different psychic functions, such as intuition, will be more or less developed, depending on the person, given the combined influence of nature, nurture, and experiences.”

Helen argues that the psychic function of intuition, which varies across humans, influences their awareness of “gut feelings” and the extent that they understand or act upon intuition. “That means intuition has the potential to be both very powerful and very weak depending on the person,” the clinical psychologist added.

Having said that, Helen argues that intuition can get mixed up with how we manage anxiety, “that is, our psychological defenses, as well as our issues or traumas, also known as complexes. That can make it easy to mistake a psychological issue—perhaps, a wish, fear, or trauma—for intuition or, conversely, for us to overlook an intuition due to that same psychological wound.” So we should not follow intuition blindly.

And there’s one key challenge that we have to be aware of when addressing an intuitive feeling. Helen explained that it’s that “intuition is learning to discriminate and differentiate what is intuition versus what may be a psychological projection, defense or complex that is shaping and distorting our intuition.”

She continued: “One task for an intuitive person is to ground their intuition with data; to sift through the sea of possibilities with awareness; and to apply discrimination and differentiation to their intuitions. This can be especially challenging with intuition which is often accompanied by charged thoughts, feelings, and sensations that can almost induce action.”

Helen Marlo, who is a Jungian psychoanalyst, also said that “Jung proposed the psychoid archetype, which refers to the interconnected nature and relationship between our psyche, body, and the physical world—that is, between our body, mind, and matter which can provide another basis for our 'gut feeling' experiences.”

She explained it further by quoting C.G. Jung (On the Nature of Psyche, in the Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, The Collected Works of C.G. Jung, vol. 8, trans. R.F.C. Hull (London: Routledge, 1960, p. 215.): “Since psyche and matter are contained in one and the same world, and moreover are in continuous contact with one another and ultimately rest on irrepresentable, transcendental factors, it is not only possible but fairly probable, even, that psyche and matter are two different aspects of one and the same thing.”

According to Helen, even though we often hear, “trust your gut,” she both agrees and disagrees because “this simple statement is usually more complex and often easier said than done! Deciding whether or not to trust a bad gut feeling can be a complex decision.”

“Especially with gut decisions, I feel it is generally better to make them when we are reflective rather than reactive. This is especially true with intuition since it is a strong psychic function that can feel very convincing, true, and powerful in the moment. It can more easily induce us to react rather than act with consciousness,” Helen explained.

She urges us to first understand that intuition is a complex function and be aware that what feels like intuition may include genuine, wise insights but can also be psychological distortions, wounds, projections and defenses. If we do so, “then we are better able to decide if following our gut is wise.”

Moreover, “Exploring internally, for example, how much an intuition is a wise insight, perhaps an expression of the psychoid, versus how much a fear, traumatic memory, or wish is also coloring it, can be helpful in deciding how to act on a 'gut' decision.” Helen concluded that “paradoxically, one of the most and least wise ways to make a decision is by trusting one’s gut” and added that “before deciding to 'trust one’s gut,' I recommend that we also consider our gut’s health in that moment!”

Bored Panda also reached out to the Redditor Throwawaystheway1013 who asked “What has been your most spine-tingling, bone-chilling, ‘I have a bad feeling about this’ experience?” on r/AskReddit and received 27.3k upvotes and 6.7k comments.

The Redditor told us that in her family, “some of my extended relatives have had an almost ESP level of intuition about things (deja vu, premonitions, etc.). I was thinking about that one night and figured it might make a decent Reddit topic.”

The author added that she was not surprised by the responses he received, “because nearly every person alive has had an, 'Oh yeah' moment.” She continued: “Intuition is your 'fight or flight' thought process, just 5 steps ahead of your conscious thought process. In other words, trust your gut. That feeling is just waiting for you to catch up. Even atheists trust their gut. What does that say?”