Do you always listen to your instinct?

@rosdimy (3926)
Malaysia
July 24, 2010 9:25pm CST
One of my weaknesses is trying to fund a logical explanation in almost everything, even when my instinct tells me otherwise. As a result I missed out on a few things. There were many occassions where I wished I had listened to my instinct. I shall narrate two of them. The first event that I remember happened when I was 12 years old. At that time I regularly entered a competition ran by a local newspaper. I had to collect seben potraits, and arrange them according to attractiveness. Once my heart screamed that the end pictures should exchange positions. I asked myself why should I? If I did I would have won RM2,000. It was a large sum in 1971. A few years back Proton, the national carmaker, ran a competition for the name of the new MPV. The prize was a brand new MPV. Instinct told me to choose 'Ixora'. My mind said no because the previous model was given a Malay name. Otherwise it would have been a battle between Ixora and Exora, the final name given to the MPV. Are you like me, or have you started to listen more to your instinc?
19 responses
• Hungary
27 Jul 10
I'm quite like you, not trusting my instincts and never learning the lesson. I usually realize that I had been wrong a second after deciding to listen to my careless mind. Even though I'm trying so hard to work on it. A couple of weeks ago, however, before leaving home I suddenly felt that I should take the 90 bucks (worth of money in my country's currency), that I'd have casually carried around any other day, out of my wallet. I did so, thinking that I wouldn't need so much cash anyway... and a couple of hours later my wallet was stolen. I might have been able to avoid even that if only I had been paying a little more attention to those mysterious instincts.
1 person likes this
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
28 Jul 10
Are you a male? I checked your profile and there was no gender listed. That could be one of the reasons for you not to trust your instinct completely. You must have been relieved to have followed your instinct. Three weeks ago I had a strong feeling that the hydraulic jack that I had would be stolen. Mt spouse went to a shopping comples with our daughter as the driver. True enough, someone broke intp the van and took the jack.
• Philippines
25 Jul 10
like you, i also try to find logical explanations for everything and it has often gotten me into trouble in the past. Oftentimes, instinct tells me otherwise than the logical sum up i come up based on signs and expected behavior of a person or natural way of things. even though instinct tells me that what i am about to do is not good for me, i plunge in still and realize in the end that my instinct was right. I used to believe that there is a reasonable and logical explanation for everything but not anymore. i realized that sometimes things happen for no reason at all. People who are in-touch with their own inner core are the people who manifests high in instinct level. I am not that instinctive in matters of financial undertakings but in matters of the heart and people-judging, i now rely on my instinct. It had never err me.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
26 Jul 10
There is usually at least one reason for things to happen. The problem lies in us for not expecting the unexpected, for being comfortable with what can be detected by the five senses. So far I have detected the inconsistencies in other people, especially those who lied.
@raik02 (78)
• Philippines
25 Jul 10
Yes i always trust my instincts. i don't know, i just find taking the risk a lot more exciting than doing a set of events that i had already thought of. besides based on my experience my instincts tends to lead me out of harm and most of them also strengthen the security of my life.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
25 Jul 10
I believe that ur instincts are more tuned to the surroundings and the xosmos. That could be the reason why they are always right. There were times that I did not follow my instinct because there was no plausible explanation to give to other people involved in a decision making. Some people simply disbelieve in this.
• United States
25 Jul 10
Hr rosdimy, I think we all, at one point and time in our lives, wished that we had listened to our innerselves. I know many times that I didn't make the right choice because I didn't listen. The little OOPS! don't matter so much, but the huge life changing decisions, whether we listen or don't listen can have a profound effect on our lives and sometimes the lives of our loved one. The stock market fasinate me. I, at one point in my life was an avid reader of the Wall Street Journal. Well, there was a stock, Chysler,that had hit rock bottom. Nobody wanted anything to do with it. My gut instinct say to buy it while it was at $3 a share. Since I am here writing and trying to make some extra money, you know what my decision was. Need less to say, Chysler survived. Through the years, not because of that one incident, but many, I have learned to acknowledge the leadership of my instinct.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
25 Jul 10
Angelgirl16, In the late 1979 I was walking along Oxford Street, London, when suddenly I stopped, turned to the left, and gazed at the display of a goldsmith. My instinct strongly told me to buy something. My logical thinking told me to forget it as I had no real reason to make a purchase. What wasI going to do with it? Less than a week later the price of gold more than doubled...
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
3 Aug 10
I think that I do. Following your own instinct can be very important to avoiding unwanted situations.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
7 Aug 10
My guess is you had gone through many incidents to form that opinion. Care to share a few of them?
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
16 Aug 10
LOL, just because you ask for an example my mind has gone blank. I can say there are times my instinct tells me to avoid something or to do something and I have had good results and then there have been the opposite situations where I should have listened and regretted it.
@hestylim (1210)
• Indonesia
25 Jul 10
Yes. I listen to my instinct most of the time. ^^
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
26 Jul 10
Is there any specific reason for you to so? Have you been doing it ever since you were a child? A one sentence nswer is alright but myLot prefers some detai;s. That is why I ask you further questions so that you can give a longer reply and earn some money.
@hestylim (1210)
• Indonesia
28 Jul 10
I don't know how to tell you that, but I do always listen. I have done it since I was a little. If my heart tells me to stop, I will stop. If my heart tells me to go on, then I will go on. But what mostly happen is, when my heart tells me that I will get along with this person well, then it will happen.. ^^
• United States
25 Jul 10
I just about always go with my instinct. I've learned that I'm about 99% right when i do. But my gut dose tend to piss off my friends. They hate that i'm almost all ways right. Some times you have to let people mess up. Right? No one should no every thing. They say everything happens for a reason. So has something good come out of what has happen to you?
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
25 Jul 10
Yes and no. I have mentioned two of my losses for being stubborn. On the other hand I have also gained something. For example there were many times when I slowed down while driving for no apparent reason, only to meet a police or traffic enforcement agency block a few miles ahead.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
26 Jul 10
Maybe you should start writing one. It could become a best seller.
• United States
25 Jul 10
that is true. I'm just glade she is calming down with the things she dose and now lesins a little more. The odd thing is i could write a novel on the weird things that happen to me. lol
@creationhub (3066)
• Malaysia
25 Jul 10
Instincts or gut feelings gives me a sense of security when making certain decisions. I suppose it is neither right or wrong to trust our instincts. Even if the results turned out adverse, we will still feel good about it. I have many a time trusted my instincts and found that it saves me a lot of trouble.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
26 Jul 10
Do those around you know that your instincts can be trusted? Does anyone asks you for your opinion (gut feelings) on certain issues in life? Sometimes I do get a request to give an answer based on my instinct. I do not think that it can be summoned at will.
• Thailand
25 Jul 10
Dude, instincts arent always right. lets just say u were just unlucky thats why it didnt work out for u when u instincts were right? Usually i dont have this problem because i never really listen to my instincts. If something negative happens u should blame it on urself just because u think u shouldve listen to ur instincts. what if it happens ur instincts were wrong like mine usually is then what would u do?
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
26 Jul 10
So far my gut feelings have never been wrong so I am unable to answer your last question. I prefer the word instinct because usually it was not my guts that were affected. Yes, I blame myself for not trusting my instinct when things go wrong. If I had not been too mechanical I would have gained a lot, including not losing my partner who really casred for me.
@monkeylong (3139)
• Guangzhou, China
25 Jul 10
Yeah, as far as I am concerned, I think I will usually just follow my instinct ,which I think can be so right feeling that I must follow in my life. As you see, many of my instincts have help me a lot in getting rid of the troublesome. Natter what happened, I think the instinct may be the first choice that I need in my life!
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
26 Jul 10
What made you following your instinct in the first place? Or when did you realise you have been doing so? Does your instinct work in every aspect of your life, or only in certain areas of it?
• Philippines
25 Jul 10
It was my instinct not to continue to college but it was also my instinct to follow my parents who say I have to. Thereby I studied architecture. The marriage of two opposing instincts resulted with me dropping out of college but filled with memories funny and awesome a few sad. I remember a classmate good in chess and the game we played inside the classroom. My bishop took his pawn at f7 he took it with the rook at f8. At that time my queen was maybe at a7 and his rook at a8. Because he took my bishop and forgot his rook at a8 I took the rook with my queen. I felt more a soldier who had his beloved war finished and done.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
26 Jul 10
So it means that you did not regret it?
• Philippines
26 Jul 10
indeed i had no regrets except the money wasted on education that did not bear fruit. many things to pay that i don't think are important. projects and lots more.
@udaymohan (437)
• India
25 Jul 10
Well, you could be right. I also had similar experience. In India, Tata had announced manufacture of a new car and they organized a competion for naming the car. I wrote on a piece of paper 'Indica' and I wanted to send it. I forgot and I never sent it. It so happened some other person had also thought of the similar name and he sent it. The car was named 'Indica' and he got the reward. I don't remeber what it was but it was hefty.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
26 Jul 10
I guess by the law of universal equilibirium someone has to get something that has been destined to be in existence. Did you kick youself when the winner was announced? I bet not many people believed you, because it is easy to make such a claim after an event has passed. Myself? Some believed, some do not. A friend of mine wanted to go to a specific address which neither he nor I had been to. He had heard my claim so he kept quiet. I drove fast, and ended up at the address without asking anyone.
@Steinway (307)
• United States
25 Jul 10
I try to. In the past when I have not listened to it, I've ended up regretting it in one way or another.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
26 Jul 10
Can you give any example? It would be interesting to share and compare experiences on this matter. In my case it was not an outright disbelief. I was trying to find a reason why I should take an alternative action to what I already had in mind. Maybe it was because I tend to analyse things according to my mind.
@oldchem1 (8132)
25 Jul 10
If you are writing a fictional story I am sure that you would be able to get enough background knowledge and in formation about an area that you have not visited to make it sound real enough, naturally it is far easier to write about somewhere that you know well as you write from experience and know about atmosphere and small things that you can't pick out from reading and pictures alone. But it is not always possible to visit everywhere you want to describe, so I am sure that a decent writer would be able to describe the place well enough from what they can pick up on the internet, in books and TV etc. Good luck I hope it works well for you
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
25 Jul 10
Do not worry, I do not hold it against you. When I read the first line of your post I tried to think of a connection between it and the discussion. I thought you may be presenting something from a totally different, yet relevant, angle. What you wrote seems to have a rather vague relationship with the subject. Then I saw your apology. No, I did nt laugh at your mistake. The same thing could happen to me.
@oldchem1 (8132)
25 Jul 10
OOPS!!!! Sorry I have responded to the wrong discussion
• Poland
25 Jul 10
Hmm its depends of situation, but mostly yes and the.. i always lost something.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
26 Jul 10
I wonder what you have lost in the past because you refused to trust your instinct. Money? Frienship? Significant other? If possible fo reply to the questions so that I will be enlightened. Maybe someone else will understand better.
@carrine (2743)
• Philippines
25 Jul 10
we should listen and trust our instinct. that's why God gave us that kind of gift for us to know or for us have a guidance. but sometimes were not confident to trust our instinct. thats what i learned based on experienced too like you.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
26 Jul 10
We tend to believe in things that we can see, or understand with our feeble minds. That could be the reason why we find it hard to unserstand, what more to follow, someething which is not tangible.
@qianyun6 (2067)
• China
25 Jul 10
I always listen to my instinct. These mysterious inklings ususlly appear in my mind suddenly and I don't know where they come from. But they help a lot. From small things like reminding me to go back and lock the door to large thing like review something which was really in the test paper of an very important exam. Instinct, is not illusory at all.
• United Arab Emirates
25 Jul 10
I dont remember such incidents ...as i just forget my past. there is no point crying over the spilt milk. If i have situations that give me happiness then only i keep in mind and i dont allow any such situations that give me pain.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
25 Jul 10
I do realise that there is no point in crying over spilt milk. My approach to life is to try remembering the mistakes done in the past, and try to make them as alert posts. My intention here is to find out how people deal with a similar situation. Maybe I can learn something new, and possibly adopt a modified or different approach to it.
@denise36 (128)
• United States
25 Jul 10
Like you, I can name a couple of times that I have not listened to my instincts but they weren't on big issues. As I've gotten older, I've just learned to trust them and go with it, logical or not. It seems to be working pretty well so far.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
25 Jul 10
Glad to hear that there are people who havelearnt to trust their instinct. When it comes to driving I can find a given address without referring to a map. The requirement is for any passenger not to give directions while I let myself go. What I mean is by not thinking about where I should go, sort of like automatic driving.
• China
25 Jul 10
I am much like you .people say those who are like us more smart,which i don't think so .To be calm all the time means some kind of wisdom.but it means the lackness of passion .those who lack passion are not as happy as they seem.
@rosdimy (3926)
• Malaysia
25 Jul 10
I beg to differ. People who are calm do not necessarily lack passion. Most, if not all of them, have controlled passion. When they are on into something they are capable to be more passionate than other seemingly happy and normnlly excited people. An inner calm leads to an inner happiness.