Trusting Your Instincts: How to Tell the Difference Between Intuition and Rational Thinking

Distinguishing between intuition and rational thought (or the “mind”) can be subtle, but there are key differences that can help you identify which is guiding you in a given moment:

1. Source of the Feeling

Intuition: Often feels like a gut feeling or a sudden insight that comes without conscious reasoning. It’s more about sensing something rather than analyzing it. You might not immediately know why you feel a certain way, but there’s a sense of certainty or clarity that comes out of nowhere.

Mind (Reasoning): In contrast, rational thought is deliberate, logical, and based on information, patterns, and past experiences. The mind tends to process information step-by-step, and you can trace how you arrived at a conclusion.

2. Speed and Quality of the Thought

Intuition: Tends to be fast and automatic, like an immediate download. You don’t have to work through a problem. It often has a “flash” quality—something you just know without deliberation.

Mind: Thought through the mind is often slower, more methodical, and involves processing and weighing different possibilities. It requires effort and is usually more analytical.

3. Emotional Tone

Intuition: Often comes with a sense of ease, calmness, or even excitement, but can also feel like a deep inner certainty. It’s often less about emotion in the traditional sense (like excitement or fear) and more about a deep, unexplainable knowing.

Mind: Rational thinking can sometimes be accompanied by stress, overthinking, or analysis paralysis, especially when you’re unsure or trying to figure something out. If you’re overthinking, it’s usually the mind that’s involved, whereas intuition tends to feel clearer and more confident.

4. Context of the Situation

Intuition: Typically operates in situations where there isn’t enough information for rational thinking, or when there’s a lot of ambiguity. It often pops up when you are faced with uncertainty and need to make quick decisions, like choosing between two job offers or picking the right direction in an unfamiliar place.

Mind: Rational thinking is more common when you have plenty of data or time to analyze. It’s helpful when you’re in a structured situation and can weigh all your options methodically.

5. Connection to the Body

• Intuition: Many people describe intuition as being felt in the body, such as a feeling in the stomach (the “gut feeling”), a sense of warmth, or a tingle in the skin. The body often reacts to intuitive thoughts before the mind catches up.
• Mind: Thinking through something rationally tends to be more cerebral, and you might experience it more in your head, with your thoughts feeling more “distant” or intellectual.

6. Certainty vs. Doubt

Intuition: Often feels like an unshakable sense of knowing or certainty, even without full logical support. There’s a sense of “I just know this is right” that doesn’t require justification.

Mind: Rational thinking can bring doubt, especially when considering multiple viewpoints or outcomes. It’s more analytical and skeptical by nature, and you may feel uncertain or unsure until you’ve processed everything.

7. Response to Feedback

Intuition: If you get a “gut feeling” about something, it tends to remain strong or unchanged unless new information comes in. When intuition is correct, you feel validated, even if the reasoning for it wasn’t clear at the time.

Mind: When the mind is involved, feedback might lead to reassessment or reconsideration. You might change your decision or viewpoint as more facts become available or as your thinking shifts.

Example Scenario:

Imagine you’re meeting a new person. Your intuition might tell you almost immediately that you like them or don’t trust them, even if you can’t point to a specific reason. Your mind, on the other hand, might start picking apart their body language, tone of voice, or the things they said, and then build a logical case for why you feel that way.

A Practical Way to Tell:

One way to distinguish them is to pause, close your eyes, and notice where the feeling is coming from. Intuition often feels like an inner “knowing,” while rational thought feels more like a process of calculating or reasoning through facts. Over time, you’ll get better at sensing which is influencing you in different situations.