Listening to your gut feelings: Know when to trust and when not to trust your instinct

Gut feeling is all about getting the sense that something is right, without even understanding why. With so little clue, should you trust it?

Everyone has had the call of the gut feelings once in a while that sways the most logical reasonings. The pull of that vague instinct is so compelling and convincing that you listen to it, despite the best rationalising. In a way it can't really be put into tangible description, it's just a very strong feeling about the choice.

But the main question is, should you trust them? Can these gut feelings mislead you somehow? At the juncture of different life choices, it's often a faceoff between logic and gut.

In an interview with HT, Dr Rajiv Mehta, Vice-Chairperson of Psychiatry at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, shared the science behind these gut feelings.

Understanding gut feelings

Instinct is emotional, passionate and shaped by subconscious thoughts. (Shutterstock)

Gut feeling or intuition is not easily understandable, as Dr. Mehta explains. They may appear out of the blue, without any anticipation, as very strong and inexplicable feelings. Intuition may seem random, but on a deeper, unconscious level, it carries a sense of deep belief- knowing instinct is almost always right.

Explaining more on how intuition works, he said, “Our brain keeps on, consciously and subconsciously, gathering information and organising them in certain patterns. The brain tries to fit in the new information in those already set patterns eventually giving rise to gut feeling. They are often trusted because of previous successful experiences with them and for some, they are valuable survival tools. Ultimately, intuition works at a subconscious level based on pattern recognition and emotional experiences."

He further identified emotional people to work more on gut feelings, and they can figure out cues easily, sensing the situation.

When to trust

When logic has no defensive arguments, let your instinct win. (Shutterstock)

So when do you trust your instinct and let it override the logic? When do you let gut feelings be the guiding force, driving your actions?

Dr Mehta elaborated, “Gut feelings can be depended on in situations when rapid decisions are needed or there’s a lot of confusion in taking an appropriate decision even after much deliberations over pros and cons of every choice.”

So intuition can topple logic when it comes as an intense compelling force and the brain is fumbling to keep up with logical reasoning. Go for gut feelings, when the brain has no more argument left or is too overwhelmed to decide and evaluate all the prospective consequences.

When NOT to trust

Don't trust your instinct for high-stakes decisions like marriage. (Shutterstock)

Not in all circumstances, gut feelings should be relied upon. You may have a strong belief in your intuition as an inner compass, but it is not error-free always.

Dr Mehta likened gut feelings to gambling. He said, “They are like gambling and need to be avoided in high-stakes personal or professional decisions like investments, job change or marriage. It's best to rely on logic and objective analysis of the data at hand or wait for the time to clear the confusion.”

As Dr Mehta explained before, instincts are in a way shaped by the subconscious mind, so they feel inherently powerful. But they also lack clarity sometimes, failing to see the blind spots that logic may notice. The subconscious mind is very emotional as well, so there might be a biased, emotional influence in instinct-based decisions.

Navigating challenges requires a balance between logic and gut feelings, understanding when you should listen to what.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional advice.