Intuition
Today I’m interested in the role of intuition in everyday life. I’m not going to claim that I have good intuition, only that I use it a lot, and I wonder how much more or less a role it plays for me than for others.
It’s not (usually) blind intuition, by any means. It’s the consequence of past experiences, the successes and the failures, and over time they blend and mix enough that I can make decisions without thinking too much about them beforehand. This is mostly a good thing, but troubles can arise when I’m questioned as to why I made or didn’t make a particular choice. Many times I honestly don’t know, and have to scramble in attempts to reconstruct a plausible thought process.
Does a decision reached via intuitive process have less merit than one reached through a more conservative method?
May 5th, 2005 at 4:16 pm
I totally relate to this. Having been identified as an “INFJ” in the Myers-Briggs personality-type system (http://www.personalitypage.com/INFJ.html), my kind makes up only 1% of the total population, if you believe this stuff. In fact, I do find myself relying on my intuition a great deal. And, I understand the dilemma of having to provide a rational defense for a decision made entirely upon internal gut feelings or intuition. Some, who have come to know me well over time, have come to respect that intuition. And, like me, no longer need to articulate a rationale for my decision, but rather trust in probable accuracy of the decision. Why fabricate a decision process after-the-fact? And, for sure, don’t ask me how this intuition thing works!