A common question I receive is, how do I know the difference between anxiety and intuition?
In this blog, I will share the difference between anxiety and intuition.
First, let us start with anxiety. Anxiety is an alarm system that is supposed to go off in your body when there is a real danger. So, for example, if you are reading this and suddenly you smell smoke, you look up, and you see fire.
Your body and mind will start to do some things automatically. First, your mind will focus on one thing getting away from the fire. Next, your body will get a burst of energy so it can move quickly, and body functions that are not needed immediately will pause to give the functions of your body that are necessary for an emergency focus.
This response is wonderful if there is a real emergency and you are in immediate danger. If you are not in immediate danger, it may feel like you are hyper-focused on something and cannot get your mind to focus elsewhere. Anxiety can also leave you feeling jittery and as if you have a stomach ache. This happens because anxiety is a very physical experience. We may have unhealthy habits to avoid this feeling of anxiety.
Now let us talk about intuition. Intuition is a knowing inside yourself that only you have access to about the best course of action to take. For example, if you are a parent, have you ever had a gut feeling or a knowing about your child when they needed help or were having a bad day? It is your internal knowing system. Your intuition wants you to have your very best life.
It often shows up very subtly at first. It is a still knowing. You might pause and think something is off here. Something doesn’t feel right. What I have noticed about intuition is it is gentle. If you ignore it, it is true it does get louder. Often we don’t notice because we are not paying attention.
For example, I had a friend who was in a job she once loved, but management changed, and she shared she started to have this intuitive, knowing that this job may no longer be good for her. She shared something felt off to her. She didn’t listen to her intuition because she felt anxious about money. Anxiety can also be fear. After a year of working under new management, she got sick and she was eventually fired. She shared that she knew she should leave, but fear got in the way. In the end, life pushed her out of that job. Now she is incredibly happy in a position that she loves. It all worked out.
Anxiety is an alarm system that goes off in our body to warn us of danger, sometimes, it is a false alarm due to fear, and this can prevent us from acting for our highest good. Intuition is a knowing or gut feeling that leads us toward our highest good. We just need to pay attention.
Would you like help to figure out the difference between anxiety and intuition? Then, book a free discovery session with me.
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