You know the truth by the way it feels

We make decisions by thinking long and hard, looking up every piece of evidence and analyzing all aspects. Science and proof is what we want to see, facts, facts and more facts. Only then can we make a rational well thought out decision, only then do we make the right choice. Emotions on the other hand are not welcome to the decision making table, they are not rational and too subjective. Only someone that is weak, naïve or even foolish would use their emotions to make an important decision. We have all heard this time and time again : facts over feelings. But through all the sharp evidence and cold analyses, we forget to think - and feel - where those thoughts actually come from. Might it be possible that deep down inside we all are weak, naïve and foolish?

To clarify this, there are two kinds of decision making. One, as mentioned above, requires research and careful thought as to reach feasible outcomes. The oth

er simply relies on the gut. Call it a hunch, an intuition, or an instinct—we sometimes don’t even know why we feel that way, yet the feeling can be so compelling, so strong, that it moves us to act. But why? The key feature of intuition is that it operates automatically on a subconscious level, quite differently from deliberately thinking. Deliberately thinking is bound to a persons capacity of memory and information. We can only think in a sequences, focusing on one piece after the other. Whilst when our intuition kicks in, multiple pieces of information come together simultaneously and switches on a bundle of sensors in our body. Thus explaining that strange pull we feel in our stomach when we sense something is dangerous or familiar.

What we often forget though is that when we feel, we think at the same time. Feeling is where our thoughts begin and are slowly shaped, it is a sense humans have grown and evolved with through millions of years. All individuals have that one feeling through which they subconsciously make decisions, that one feeling that comes from the centre of their body. We forget that we are not only our minds, but come as a whole with our bodies. And our bodies often tell us more than our minds. May it be fear, anger or pride, it is the feeling we feel when we have to make a strong personal decision and have to decide what is best for us. That decision is strongly influenced by the deepest feeling we feel in our gut, the feeling we trust the most. 

Now don’t get me wrong. We should not run around making decisions based solely on our feelings, it is not for nothing we have 3 pounds of gray matter stuck in our skulls. Feelings and rational thinking should go hand in hand. Humans often forget the things that matter most in our busy lives, the things that actually make us humans. Our thoughts, our feelings and our body. By connecting all these dots together, is when we function optimally. Completely ignoring our feelings or bodies, make us overlook certain things that we don’t see when we are only looking at the facts on a black and white sheet of paper . Humans are not black and white, so why should we act as if decisions are? After all our gut has gotten us this far, might as well keep listening to it, right?