Have you had this happen to you? You’re writing a document and you get too caught up in the words when you go back to edit and revise. You start to think, “Well, maybe I should keep those words in there because that’s what my brain came up with so maybe there’s something to those things?”
Have you ever written an email with sensitive content, and gone back and forth to look over the words? And have you ever thought, “Hey, I put those words in initially – there must be some reason I did that. Maybe I shouldn’t change them.”
It’s a little bit as if the ego (the part of yourself that has an opinion and a viewpoint and a sense of pride) gets caught on a string of words, and doesn’t necessarily want to let that string go.
It might just be a first thought. It might not be intuition.
It might not be something you need to attach your thoughts to.
More on this topic later.
Have a great Wed,
Senia
That’s an interesting distinction. I can see how first thoughts and intuition seem to be the same, because they both happen immediately without that logical rationalization step. They just pop up! Intuition, though, isn’t the thought, but the process of assessing the thought very quickly and knowing it’s right.
Intuition ABOUT a thought also depends on your perspective…so as you’re writing a thought, the perspective is yourself. But if you’re writing an email to someone else, you may also be apply that person’s perspective to your thought, and your intuition will go, “hey, I don’t think this matches up…maybe you shouldn’t say that”.
So I suppose I am suggesting that intuition may be comprised of both the instantaneous recall of a relevant thought, and also the snap judgement of that thought with respect to a particular situation without going through a rational process.
“So I suppose I am suggesting that intuition may be comprised of both the instantaneous recall of a relevant thought, and also the snap judgement of that thought with respect to a particular situation without going through a rational process.”
Hi Dave, agreed.
Suppose my snap judgement says, “Yes, do it,” and then doubt kicks in. The doubt is rationality sneaking in, and the doubt can make you question how firmly your snap judgement believed it to begin with.
Let’s use a concrete example.
A friend emails you, “Should I wear a yellow tie or a blue tie for my date with Susan?”
You kind of know Susan, and you know your friend, and you say “blue” immediately.
Then the friend asks, “Are you sure? Maybe I’ll look gloomier in blue?”
[I think your point in your comment was that if it’s intuition, then you’re definitely sure.]
If that was your point, then I think about it a different way. You can still ask yourself, “Am I sure it should be blue?” whether it’s a first thought or whether its intuition…
and here’s the part I’m still thinking about… how would you answer to yourself differ to the “are you sure” question whether it was intuition or just a first thought? My hypothesis is that if it’s intuition, you’ll be able to say again (as if testing it again and coming out with the same answer), “Yes, blue is the better choice,” and if it’s just a first thought, then you wouldn’t necessarily get the same answer from that intuition.
So, I guess, in short, I’m saying that intuition can be doublechecked: you can see if the coin lands heads a second time if it landed heads the first time.
(These are all thought in progress!)