Instinct & Intuition: Partners in Perception Ep 202

Episode Focus: Understanding Instinct and Intuition
Theme: Survival instincts, intuitive awareness, and personal growth

Episode Overview

In this thought-provoking episode of Evolving Humans, host Julia Marie takes you on a journey to explore two essential forces that shape our behavior: instinct and intuition. Julia invites you to reflect on the moments in life when these two powerful inner guides emerge, helping you navigate your experiences and decisions.

Julia begins by defining instinct as the biological, hardwired response that prioritizes survival, often manifesting in automatic reactions. Through vivid examples, she illustrates how instinct operates in our daily lives, keeping us safe from immediate threats. On the other hand, intuition is presented as a subtle, nuanced form of knowing that arises from our subconscious, shaped by personal experiences and insights.

Listeners will gain clarity on the differences and connections between these two forces, learning to discern when each is at play in their lives. Julia provides practical exercises to help you cultivate awareness of your body's signals, encouraging you to pause and reflect before reacting to situations.

Throughout the episode, Julia emphasizes the importance of recognizing both instinct and intuition as valuable aspects of your inner guidance system. By understanding how they work together, you can make more informed choices that align with your deeper well-being.

Join Julia in this enlightening episode as she empowers you to embrace both instinct and intuition, fostering a harmonious relationship with these guiding forces in your life.

Key Themes & Highlights

✨ Defining Instinct and Intuition

• Understanding instinct as a survival mechanism
• Exploring intuition as a subtle form of knowing

✨ Distinguishing Between the Two

• Recognizing the different triggers and responses
• Identifying the intensity and urgency of signals

✨ Practical Exercises

• Body scan for awareness to differentiate between instinctual alarms and intuitive whispers
• Creating space between reaction and action to enhance decision-making

✨ Self-Reflection Questions

• Reflecting on past experiences with instinct and intuition
• Exploring how understanding these forces can impact your choices

By the end of this episode, you'll be better equipped to navigate the complexities of your inner guidance system, allowing instinct and intuition to work together in your favor. Remember, you are evolving your entire inner guidance system—embrace the journey!

Many thanks to Pixabay's Relaxing Time for Relaxing Music Pt 1-141198 for the music bed for this episode.

Transcript

Julia Marie (00:01):

Welcome to Evolving Humans. I'm your host, Julia Marie. If you're a thoughtful seeker who feels something shifting inside and you want to understand what that means, evolving humans is the place for you. If you're ready to see your life as part of a greater wave of remembering, we'll take that journey with you. We're going to take a closer look at two powerful inner forces that shape so much of our behavior instinct and intuition. You know that moment when you're walking through a quiet forest and suddenly hear a rustle in the bushes? Your heart jumps, your muscles tense and before you even think your body is already deciding, do I run? Do I freeze? That's instinct.
(00:58)
Now picture meeting someone for the first time and instantly getting a sense of trust or a little internal, something's off here, even though they're smiling and saying all the right things. You can't explain it logically but you feel it. That's intuition. Both are non-rational forms of knowing. They're instantaneous in their response times, but they're not the same thing and they do play very different roles in your life. By the end of this episode, you'll have a better sense of what instinct does for you, how intuition helps you, how they work together, and how to start telling them a part in your own body and when making your daily life choices.
(01:58)
As always, I'll give you some exercises and self-reflection questions you can use right away. Let's start with instinct because it's the oldest sensing system we're equipped with. Instincts are innate, hardwired patterns of behavior shared across our species and laser focused on one thing, survival. They're automatic reactions that bypass conscious thought. Your brainstem and limbic system are in charge here. They're the older parts of the brain that don't care about your fear plan, your brand, or your spiritual growth. They care about, am I safe? Am I fed? Can I avoid pain? Think of it this way. Instinct rules when you're yanking your hand away from a hot stove or you duck when something flies at your face or your heart races and palms sweat when you hear a sudden bang behind you. You don't decide to do any of that. It just happens. Instinct is automatic and reflexive because it's rooted in biology.
(03:22)
Here are some examples of what I'm talking about when instinct takes over for your immediate physical safety. You swerve to avoid a car accident. You grab a child stepping off a curb into traffic or you slam on the brakes when an animal darts in front of you. You reacted quickly without any thought prior to that action.
(03:48)
Instinct? Well, you could consider it your internal guard dog. It's always on alert and it doesn't mind overreacting as long as you stay alive. Now, let's recap and revisit our working definition of intuition because intuition operates a little differently. Remember, we defined intuition as a form of knowing that arises without conscious reasoning and it's often experienced as a gut feeling, a strong impression, or a quiet sense of certainty. Intuition operates differently from instinct. Intuition is subtle and nuanced. It's softer than your instinctual responses are. It's less a slam on the brakes reaction more. Let me think twice about this. Intuition is learned and experienced subconsciously. You're born with the capacity for intuition, but what it tells you is shaped by your own experiences, your knowledge, and your subconscious pattern recognition. Your brain has been silently watching, connecting the dots behind the scenes. Intuition often requires interpretation.
(05:23)
It doesn't usually move your body for you. It presents a message or a feeling and you still need to choose what to do with it. Intuition shows up in relationships and social dynamics, creative insights and problem solving situations, maybe around career choices or the timing of a move and your spiritual growth and alignment with your values.
(05:57)
Here's some examples of what I'm talking about. You get a subtle no about a job offer that looked perfect on paper or a gentle but persistent nudge to reach out to someone, move, start a project, or in something that wasn't working for you. There's not an obvious thread in any of these situations, but there is a clear sense of this is right for me or this is not for me at all. Now let's play with the main question I asked earlier. Are instinct and intuition totally separate or are they interrelated? First, the argument for them being separate from each other.
(06:52)
Each has a different origin and purpose. Instinct is biological, species wide, and designed for immediate physical survival. Intuition is more psychological and individual designed to help you navigate complex social, emotional, and intellectual landscapes. Each has a different degree of specificity. And what do I mean by that? Well, instinct is triggered by very specific primal cues like threat, food, sex, or danger. Intuition on the other hand can be broad, abstract, and subtle. Kind of a, "I don't know why, but I don't trust this business partner." Instinct is harder to override. You can walk on stage to give a talk even though every cell wants you to run, but you'll feel your nervous system for testing. Intuition is much easier to ignore, dismiss, or rationalize away. It requires you to listen, but you can always choose not to. So yes, they function differently, but perhaps they're more connected than it seems at first glance.
(08:25)
Here's a good analogy we can use. They're like two branches growing from the same ancient root because both instinct and intuition bypass slow, deliberate thinking. They arise from a deeper, faster processing system in the brain and body and they're trying to guide us even when we don't have the evidence yet.
(08:51)
Some theories suggest that many of our gut feelings are a refined extension of survival instinct but now applied to the complexity of human life. Instead of, is that a predator? It's, is this person safe? Is this environment aligned with me? Is this opportunity advantageous or depleting? Let's maybe look at it this way. Instinct lays the groundwork. In other words, it's all about self-preservation and withdrawal from harm and intuition will build on that. Let's say you get a bad feeling about walking down a certain street at night or you feel a subtle discomfort at a party where nothing is wrong but something feels off.
(09:46)
That could be seen as our intuitive pattern recognition capability layered onto our basic survival wiring. Both of them speak to us through our body and they do it in different ways. For example, a rapid heart rate, tense muscles and shallow breath. Well, that's most often going to be instinct. A quiet clench in your stomach, heaviness in your chest or a sudden lightness or expansiveness is often intuition talking to you. The same nervous system that runs fight or flight also carries those subtle intuitive cues and that's where we get tripped up sometimes. Think back to a situation when you turned down a business deal, changed your travel plans, or said no to something that on the surface looked like you should have said yes.
(10:50)
Can you recall how your body responded and how there wasn't any obvious danger, but later you were glad you listened? Take a few moments to record this in your journal. Perhaps we can try to think of instinct and intuition combined together as a layered protection and guidance system. It's not an either or situation. It's a both and. Instinct would be your immediate alarm system. Intuition is your sophisticated radar. Here's a couple of examples for you. You hear a sudden loud crash behind you. Instinct is going to make you freeze or jump and your pulse is probably going to spike. Then intuition, drawing on context and prior experience steps in. That sounded like the neighbor dropping something, not a home invasion that allows you to relax and just move on. Or instinct says, "Move away from the edge, it's dangerous." Intuition says, "And by the way, this whole job relationship pattern you're immersed in is kind of an edge for you.
(12:12)
Maybe it's time to step back and reconsider.
(12:17)
Instinct keeps you alive. Intuition helps you thrive. And when they work together, they allow you to survive immediate threats, make wiser long-term decisions, and choose environments, people, and paths that support your deeper wellbeing. But this question still remains to be answered. How do we tell the difference? Well, here's where we get practical. How do you know what's talking instinct or intuition? You can't always separate them perfectly, but you can begin to discern which is which. Here are some things to consider. First, the intensity and the urgency of the signal. With instinct, it's going to feel really intense and urgent and it often comes with a surge of adrenaline, racing heart, sweating, or tunnel vision, and you may feel like I have to do something now. Intuition on the other hand is usually quieter, more spacious, and can feel like a calm certainty, a gentle nudge, or a persistent whisper.
(13:40)
Even when it's strong, intuition tends to feel more grounded than panicked.
(13:48)
Second, take a look at the trigger itself. In other words, what caused the response? Instinct is going to be tied to a clear immediate stimulus, a sound, a movement, a physical sensation, or a direct threat. Intuition can arise in more ambiguous situations or maybe even come at you from out of nowhere and it can show up when you're reflecting or daydreaming or thinking about future choices. Third, your relationship to it. Instinct is a reaction you have. Your body moves before you think. Intuition is information you receive and there's usually a beat if you're paying attention where you notice it and then you decide what to do.
(14:48)
And fourth, the why behind the signal. With instinct, the why is clear. Survive. Avoid pain. With intuition, the why might not be so obvious at first. You often just know something and the reasons become clear later. Here's an example of where our wires might get crossed. Maybe you feel intense fear that would be instinct, but you assume it's intuition saying, "Don't do this, " but later you realize it was just old conditioning. Or it could be the opposite. You ignore a quiet, intuitive nudge because it didn't feel intense and later you wish you'd listened. I've had both of these more than once in my life and I continue to work on discerning for myself, which is which. It's not an exact science. What I'm trying to do here is to give you some suggestions that you can use to help you learn to discern between the two types of signals for yourself.
(16:06)
And now let's bring this into your body and your daily life. Here come the exercises. Now you can listen and come back later, or you can pause the episode here when you want to actually do them. The first one, we'll call it a body scan for awareness and this is to help you become more fluent in your body's language so you can learn to better distinguish instinctual alarms from intuitive whispers.
(16:40)
Here's how it works. Once a day, you're going to take three to five minutes and you're going to sit quietly or lie down comfortably. Close your eyes if you want to and just slowly move your attention through your body. Starting at the crown of your head, moving through your face and jaw. Now your neck and shoulders, your chest, your upper back, your belly, and your lower back, your hips, your legs, your feet. At each area, you're going to notice tension or relaxation, maybe heat or coolness, any numbness buzzing or pulsing and any areas that feel loud versus quiet. You're not trying to change anything here, you're just observing. This will train you to notice what your baseline is so that when instinct or intuition show up, the change is more obvious to you.
(18:02)
If you want to add another layer to this, you can silently ask, "Body, what are you telling me? " And see what words, images, or sensations arise, but you're not going to force anything here. Don't forget to take a few moments to write down some notes about your experience. The second one is an exercise designed to create space between reaction and action. Next time you feel a strong internal response, be it fear, anger, excitement, or dread, try this. Pause if it's safe to do so for 10, 20 seconds. Ask yourself, "Is there a clear immediate threat here? If yes, that's likely instinct. So take care of your safety first.
(19:01)
Is this a more ambiguous situation where I feel something but I can't point to an obvious danger? In that case, it might be intuition or it might be conditioning. Stay curious and open. Notice your body's response. Is your heart pounding? Are your muscles tense? Then it's more likely instinct or a fear response. If there's a steadier, quieter sense of this is right or this is not right, even if your mind is noisy, then it may be intuition. You don't have to get it perfect. The value isn't slowing down long enough to notice what is happening.
(19:51)
Here's one last exercise for you. This will help you learn to see pure instinct in action. Spend time watching an animal, your pet, birds, squirrels, anything. Just observe quietly and notice how quickly they respond to sudden sounds or movement, how they tend to constantly scan their environment and the way they relax when things feel safe again. Imagine your own nervous system doing the same thing just with a more complex human overlay. This can help you learn to recognize, oh, that's my instinct, versus the more nuanced guidance of your intuition. Before we close, here are some self-reflection questions for you to work with.
(20:51)
You might want to pause after each one and jot your answers down or just silently reflect. Think of a time when you clearly experienced an instinctual response. What happened? How did it fee in your body? What did you do? Now recall a situation where you experienced an intuition about a person, place, opportunity, or decision. How did that feel different from instinct physically, emotionally, mentally? Was it loud or quiet, fast, or slow? Can you remember a moment when you confused fear with intuition? What helped you untangle them? What does that teach you about your own inner signals?
(21:54)
And how might understanding the difference between instinct and intuition change the way you approach big decisions or even small everyday choices? Is there an area of your life right now, work, relationships, health, where you suspect you've been listening more to instinctive fear than to your deeper intuitive wisdom? Ask yourself, what would it look like to give your intuition more space there? We've covered a lot of ground today, so here's a list of your takeaways from this episode. First, instinct and intuition are both ancient forms of wisdom. Instinct is your bodyguard, fast, blunt, sometimes dramatic, but deeply loyal to your survival. Intuition on the other hand is your quiet advisor. Subtle, pattern-based, attuned not just to will you survive, but also too, will you grow? Will you feel fulfilled? Is this true for you? You don't have to choose one over the other. The art is learning to recognize who's talking, when, and why, and then letting them work together.
(23:30)
In our next episode, we're going to get much more practical with intuition itself. How can you deliberately access it? How do you tell it apart from wishful thinking or anxiety in the moment? Not just in hindsight, which is how most of us make those connections is after the fact. And how can you build a daily relationship with this inner guidance so that it becomes a trusted partner in your life? For now, just notice when your inner instincts jump or when you're quiet inner knowing whispers and give yourself the gift of that tiny pause in between.
(24:13)
You're not just evolving your mind. You're evolving your entire inner guidance system. It's not going to happen immediately, but with patience, practice and persistence, you can become better attuned to these two very different voices. Well, that's our time for today. If you found value in this episode, please share it with two other people so that together we can bring more light to this world. And please reach out to me at juliamarie.us if you're in need of energy, healing or life guidance, or you simply want to hear from your friends and loved ones living on the other side of life. Just click the book now button on the homepage. I look forward to connecting with you. And until next time, remember that you are the light this world so desperately needs.