Welcome to Conscious Curiosity: "zoom out" edition—a monthly email that helps us think about how we think with quick insights from experts & thought leaders. Basically cliff notes for grown-ups!
Gut feelings: the power of trusting our intuition
Conscious Curiosity: Edition No. 6
{excerpt }:
"We really only trust conscious decision making. But there are moments, particularly in times of stress, when haste does not make waste, when our snap judgments & first impressions can offer a much better means of making sense of the world. The first task of Blink is to convince you of a simple fact: decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately.
There can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis."
***Note from Ansley:***
Listening to, much less trusting, our gut instincts is hard. It's hard because there are a lot of voices in our heads, a lot of voices *out there* (gestures at everything from friends & family to social media) to listen to, & deciding which voices are worth listening to feels like it requires a PhD.
"Blink" teaches us that if there are a few areas of our lives that we are "experts" in, we can feel confident listening to our instinct & gut feelings when making decisions in those areas. BUT, in the areas of my life where I am most definitely not an expert, I would be best served by listening to people who are experts in order to make a wise decision.
If you're, say, an interior designer & you have that feeling when you just "know" the room should be laid out in a certain way, or that this pattern would go great with that pattern & this paint color, you can trust it. And if design novices get nervous over your recommendations, they would be best served to trust your expertise. That example holds true for any area of your career or life where you have a particular specialty.
But to take it a level deeper, those of us who are parents are familiar with the constant tightrope between trusting our gut instincts with our kids vs. knowing when to get an "expert" involved—from medical concerns & care to knowing what's "normal" in the realm of behavior & emotions to academic growth & development & on & on & on.
Those of you who know me know the story of how my "mom gut" was put to the test literally our first night home from the hospital with our first child in a life-or-death situation, & with God's help & by His grace, it saved our son's life.
All I can attribute that to, aside from God's divine intervention, is that I do believe as parents (and yes, maybe moms in particular...dads, you have your own super powers!) are given a special intuition on behalf of our kids.
That does not mean we should try to diagnose it or handle it ourselves or decide what the treatment is, but when we sense something on a deep level, particularly as it pertains to their safety, we must trust that intuition. We are the experts on our kids' well-being.
And even more than that, we need to act on that intuition & not be afraid to reach out to the experts for help, whether it's a doctor, a therapist, their teacher, a specialist, etc. We may not be the expert in exactly how to help our kids in their time of need (in fact usually we're not), but we know in our gut when something's not right or we need to act in some way. And if we spend too much time questioning that instinct, precious time & opportunities to intervene can be lost.
So bottom line—in the high stakes areas, parent or not, when you know you know something but you don't know *how* you know...it doesn't matter.
You know. Go with it.
Curious to learn more? Recommended resources below:
WHO IS MALCOLM GLADWELL?
Best-selling author of Revenge of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell employs masterful storytelling to break down complex and often misunderstood concepts shaping society, offering a unique perspective on the forces driving human behavior. A New Yorker writer for 29 years, he hosts the Revisionist History podcast. Gladwell has been named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People and one of Foreign Policy’s Top Global Thinkers.
Thanks for reading Conscious Curiosity! If you found this issue helpful in *thinking about how we think,* help the Conscious Curiosity community grow by forwarding it to a friend.
AND, if you or someone you know are interested in being a guest author on an upcoming issue of Conscious Curiosity on a topic you're interested in, email Ansley at ansley@consciouscuriosity.com!
Stay tuned for the next edition dropping July 1st!
What to expect from Conscious Curiosity emails:
- on the 1st of each month: "zoom in" editions with useful tidbits from the experts on relationships, faith & psychology.
- on the 15th of each month: "zoom out" editions with quick insights from experts & thought leaders to help us think about how we think.
consciouscuriousity.com
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
