Intuition and the Subconscious
L-R: Intuition can be prophetic or premonitory. Imagine the upper part of the iceberg as conscious state of mind, the rest is subconscious
This has been true for me two times in recent years. In my second year of university, one night I saw in my dream one of my friends was asking me to go to his village with him the next day. On the very next day, he asked me the same thing I heard already!! Believe me or not, it materialized. The second one happened not in my dream; it was an anticipation that became true very fast. Both the incidents indicate what we call intuition. In my last article, here in Science and Life, I explained the role of genes and environment in shaping the mind which starts very early in the developmental stages and I was emphasizing on conscious state of mind which could make our life better and happier. But, today I will be talking about the other state of mind, the subconscious one. Does it offer any good for us? The answer is affirmative. Subconscious mind, in fact, may play a crucial role in many of the mental facilities we prize as uniquely human, including creativity, memory, learning and language. Our subconscious is not an unthinking autopilot that needs to be subjugated by rationality, but a purposeful, active and independent guide to behavior and what it suggests come as intuition. "Intuition is a subconscious mind-body connection that is with us from infancy", says Mona Lisa Schulz, M.D., Ph.D. It can be an instance in which you suddenly know the answer to a question you have been struggling with, or it may come as a message. If you listen to these signals, you will make better decisions about your health, career, and relationships. Think about your childhood. You used to take decisions very quick without judging what was good for you, not judging what was bad for you either. Rather, you only used to focus on what you wanted. That is the exclusive use of intuition. But, as grownups, you use logic, rationality and consequences as you become more conscious about everything, relying on common sense and advice to make important decisions. Nonetheless, grownups too, should not ignore their intuition. Should they follow their heart then? Should they do what their gut tells? It can be suggested that they should not, at least, ignore them. "Our minds process vast amounts of information outside of consciousness and beyond language. Within a quarter-second of seeing anything, we evaluate it." This process is exceedingly correct in most of the cases. In a study done at Harvard University, a group of observers were shown 30- second video clips of graduate students teaching a class and were asked to fill out an evaluation of the teacher based on their first impressions. Amazingly, their assessments of the teachers accurately predicted those made by the students who had been in the class for an entire semester. The observers' snap judgments were almost always correct. Importantly, the other side of the coin should also be taken into consideration. Like our mental abilities, intuition is not perfect in every case. The key to successful decision making is, therefore, realizing when to trust your intuition and when to be wary of it. Some intuitions are stubbornly resistant to analysis, and it is exactly those intuitions that we should not trust. "I am a gut player. I rely on my intuitions", President George W. Bush explained to Bob Woodward of the Washington Post regarding his decision to launch the Iraq war. See, how dangerous it can be. At the end, it is all about making a balance. As over-thinkers become stuck in a cycle of endless reasoning and ultimately decide nothing, while the speedy types feel remorse and go into damage-control mode for not thinking through the consequences, balance of these two could be the savior. Microsoft's Bill Gates said in a 2010 interview with CNN, "If I think something is going to catch on, I trust my own intuition." Crucially, he also acknowledged that intuition can be "often wrong, but my batting record is good enough that I keep swinging every time the ball is thrown". What you need to find is a happy medium where you make sound decisions without regrets. This can be done by trusting intuitions coming from your subconscious while applying some logics and reasoning. This is a holistic way showing you the bigger picture. So, listen to your heart, follow your gut and, at the same time, do not forget to do some logical analysis. The writer is a Lecturer in Biotechnology at BRAC University
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