Imagine you’re in an unfamiliar dingy cafe or on a dark narrow road and in a fraction of a second, your body and mind send you a warning sign that something bad is going to happen. Would you listen to them?
According to University of New South Wales neuroscientist and psychologist Joel Pearson, a lot goes intothat sixth sense. “[Your brain is] processing all the things in the environment; the time of day, how well it’s lit, how well it’s not lit, the pace the person’s walking, for example, the shadows, the tone, and a hundred other [details],” heexplains.
Call it intuition – a nebulous concept that Pearson has been studying for two and a half decades. As the author of a book calledThe Intuition Toolkit, he’s settled on a definition that says, “It’s the learned, positive use of unconscious information for better decisions or actions.”
This post may includeaffiliate links.
I thought my son’s breathing was weird. He was 4 days old. I couldn’t even explain to his doctor what I thought was weird, I just knew it was weird. Took him into the pediatrician and she did a basic look at him, watched him breathe and said he was fine, I’m just “in anxious mommy mode”yeah okayfollowing day I take him into the er telling them the same thing. “I don’t know what it is but his breathing is just weird” and boom his oxygen was 72. he ended up staying on supplemental oxygen at home for 2 months. I was crying to one of the nurses and he told me “mom instinct is real and I’ve seen it save a lot of kid’s lives.”.
We managed to get in touch with the person who started this discussion, and they were kind enough to have a chat with us about it.
“I love asking Reddit users to share their life stories,” TheRealGreedyGoat toldBored Panda.
After going through the replies they’d received, TheRealGreedyGoat noticed a few common themes. Mainly, encounters with strangers or navigating unfamiliar environments.
Not me, my grandfather. He used to never wear his seatbelt. One day he’s driving around with my mom and suddenly remarks, “I feel like I’m about to go through the windshield” and buckles in. Less than 30 seconds later, as they’re going through an intersection, a car blows the red light going like 40mph and slams into my grandpa’s side of the car.He walked away with nothing worse than some fractured ribs and now he always wears his seatbelt.
At school there was an event with a little buffet line. I was in line next to one of my classmates I didn’t know well. Nothing happened. Might’ve said a word or two to him. I went to sit down next to my now-husband. We hadn’t been dating long. He whispered that I should never be alone with the classmate that was next to me in line. I pushed him for more- did he know him? He said no, never seen him before, but he could tell he was a bad dude. Couldn’t really explain it.Later that year we learned he r*ped at least 7 classmates.Husband said he’s only gotten that feeling a few times but it always pans out. He just can read criminal sociopaths or something. We listen to that gut feeling when it happens.
Many do. 70 percent of adults in the UK, for example, always listen to their instincts, with 35 percent physically getting a “gut feeling” about situations,a recent pollof 2,000 Brits has revealed.Nearly one in five rely on their intuition to tell them if something’s wrong regarding their health and two in five follow this “gut-guru” to guide them when it comes to trusting their partner.
Many do. 70 percent of adults in the UK, for example, always listen to their instincts, with 35 percent physically getting a “gut feeling” about situations,a recent pollof 2,000 Brits has revealed.
Nearly one in five rely on their intuition to tell them if something’s wrong regarding their health and two in five follow this “gut-guru” to guide them when it comes to trusting their partner.
I’ve had a few. A coworker in the office next to mine, I just felt one day something was wrong. I asked him if he was okay, he said he was fine, I got him a cookie. He died that night. I’m glad I did something nice for him and I’m glad I asked how he was.3 dudes I’ve met gave me a gut feeling to steer clear. One then brought a gun to school, called in bomb threats, in jail now, may have m**dered his girlfriend. Another was caught breaking into women’s dorm rooms while they were asleep. The third date r*ped my friend.I don’t believe in esp. I do believe your brain is gathering a lot of information that you aren’t really focused on that can tell you things you might feel as gut instinct.
I noticed pain in my lower back one morning and thought I slept on it wrong or something. Throughout the day it continued and started to feel like when you get kicked in the groin.Thought to myself it’s probably cancer.Did a self check and didn’t think I noticed anything and had my GF do the same and she wasn’t sure.Called a urology office on my gut feeling and got the last appointment before Christmas break. It was cancer but it was super early. Got an orchiectomy a few days later, then some mild chemo a few months later and have been just fine ever since.EDIT for more information because this blew up:I had noticed some similar pain that lasted a weekend or so a month or so before the pain that sent me to the doctor. The doctor was very kind considering I walked into his office and said “I think I have cancer.” He and fellow both did a gloved hands on exam of both testicles. The decided to do an ultrasound on both testicles next at the same exam. Showed me both images and there was a huge difference between the normal and irregular. The next step was surgery to remove the bad testicle which is called an orchiectomy. Scheduled it for 3 days later with the same doctor in an outpatient surgery center attached to their building. Surgery went well and then I was kind of in limbo for a few months.The urologist recommended radiation therapy, talked to a radiation oncologist who recommended chemotherapy. Talked to a Chemotherapy oncologist who recommended observation with the urologist. Had a follow up with all three and finally decided to do 2 rounds of carboplatin at a highish dose but over a short period.Shaved my head into a mohawk expecting to lose my hair but did not and just ended up looking like a goober. Had some medical debt and stupidly paid that over student loans which messed up my credit for a second. Though the experience made me realize how caring and kind and amazing my girlfriend at the time was and we have been together ever since. Married for 7 years now :D 10/10 would do again.
TheRealGreedyGoat belongs to the majority; the Redditor also believes intuition can be a reliable guide. “I had this experience too. I was in a forest and the scenery was beautiful. I looked at an area near a cliff I wanted to look out at and got this weird feeling I shouldn’t stand there. I reasoned with myself that there were probably ticks. My friend and I talked for a while and then I heard a giant crash. I turned to the spot I was just about to stay at and there was a giant log there. It would have crushed me! And we wouldn’t have been able to get help because we were a bit lost.”
My dead best friend “visited” me in my dream and ran into her in a grocery store. I remember I was ecstatic to see her and blabbed and she just simply responded “you’re sick” and I woke up. In a few days I found out I had high risk cervical lesions and needed surgery.
This is not mine but is chilling…About 15 years back, I worked with a guy who told me that in his younger days ( aged c 12 iirc) he attended a local youth club. One night, the guy that ran it wanted the boys to go “Shirts v Skins” for a game of football or whatever.My workmate was to be in the ‘skins’ team- He refused to take his shirt off, one thing led to another , a big drama ensued, he got kicked out club and sent home. His Mum and Dad weren’t happy, starting giving him a row, asking why he’d made such a fuss, he said he wasn’t comfortable taking his top off in front of the youth leader as “there was just something about the guy”…A few years later, the youth leader, Thomas Hamilton, brutally m**dered 16 children and their teacher in Dunblane Primary School.
Psychologist Joel Pearson highlighted that the information we are conscious of receiving – the sound of a colleague on the telephone, the smell of coffee when we walk past a cafe, the feeling of hot sun on our skin – is but the tip of an iceberg.“The brain is really good at restricting the spotlight, so it can make all the resources focused on one narrow thing, like a spotlight on the stage,” he said. But all of that sensory information – the bottom part of the iceberg – is still being processed. And for that, we should be very grateful.
Psychologist Joel Pearson highlighted that the information we are conscious of receiving – the sound of a colleague on the telephone, the smell of coffee when we walk past a cafe, the feeling of hot sun on our skin – is but the tip of an iceberg.
“The brain is really good at restricting the spotlight, so it can make all the resources focused on one narrow thing, like a spotlight on the stage,” he said. But all of that sensory information – the bottom part of the iceberg – is still being processed. And for that, we should be very grateful.
Not me, but my daughter. We were at a mall and had just arrived at the food court. My daughter (24) suddenly got agitated and said, “We have to leave! We have to leave now!“I thought she was about to get sick and told her to head to the car, that I was going to get her siblings some lunch, and we’d be right out. She looked terrified and said, “NO! We have to go NOW!“I had no idea what was wrong but we quickly went to the car. We were still in the parking lot 10 minutes later, waiting in traffic, when several police cars zoomed in with sirens going. Found out later a gang fight broke out in the food court where we’d just been. A dozen people were arrested.We have absolutely no idea what she picked up on. There was no yelling or angry voices, no groups gathering, no people who appeared to be anything but families getting lunch. But somehow she knew something was about to happen.
I worked at a bar and had a very friendly gentleman offer to buy me dinner after we had some banter about favourite beer. I was flattered and he was handsome but something in me didn’t feel that it sat right. Turns out he was a serial ker and ked a backpacker (Grace Millane, give it a google, but proceed with caution), mere weeks later. Police interviewed me to try and find out more of what he had said. He had offered to take a few girls out before he ked Grace. Grace and I were the same ageheight/build. I still have nightmares and survivors guilt. He also rped some ladies too. Trust your f***g gut.
Not sure if it qualifies but I used to live and work in the suburbs. One evening I was driving home at dusk. I was 18-19 and had the house to myself. Brother was out of town and Mom was at her parents.My job was about 10 miles from my house and maybe 6 turns on decently sized roads. I’m a fairly observant person and it wouldn’t be odd for the same car to be behind me for half of those turns but this time a car “followed” me all the way to my residential street. I got a gut feeling I was being followed so I passed my house and turned left. My house was one over from the corner of another residential street that was a quarter mile loop that also had another small street in it that reconnected to the loop then back to my street.This car followed me as I made a loop. I then turned right to restart the loop and it followed me again. This time I turned down the small street and completed the loop again. It followed me one more time. As I was about to make the loop for the 4th time they finally drove off. I drove around another 5 mins just to make sure they didn’t circle back as I had nowhere else to park except out front of my house but I was creeped out the rest of the night.I slept with my door locked and barricaded and with a big kitchen knife. I have no idea if or why they followed me. Don’t know if it was a friend pranking me or if my brother put one of his friends up to it since it’s the only time that’s ever happened and it was quite coincidental that I was alone. I worked retail and some of the employees did have records so I just don’t know. .
Not my feeling but my mom’s a few weeks ago. She works near me and also lives near me and was going home at lunch to meet a plumber and offered to drive me to my house so I could let my dog out. I normally take the bus to work and then bus home at lunch and back, so the plan was for her to drive me home so I could walk my dog for a bit longer and then I’d take the bus back. But when we got to my house she said she thought she better just drive me back to work real quick (it’s like 10 minutes) and then go meet the plumber. On our way back we saw ambulances and police cars going back towards my house. I pulled up the police scanner and we realized there was a shooting at my bus stop at the time I would have been waiting for the bus back to work.
When I was about 11/12 walking home from school with my friend (same age), a man driving a red car drove past, slowed down and watched us. He then drove off, turned around, came back and did the exact same thing. Slowly drove past and watched us. He did this at least 5 times as we continued walking home.I had the worst feeling in my gut, I knew something was wrong… My friend was almost home so I said to her, as soon as this red car drives off and we can’t see it, we’re gonna run as fast as we can home. As soon as we lost sight of the car we both ran in opposite directions home. I have never run so fast in my life.The street I had to go down was a dead end and had a park attached to it which I lived on the opposite side of. When I turned around to look back at the road, I could see the red car driving down it.We both got home safe.
I got an absolutely gut twisting nauseating feeling and waited a few seconds before driving through the green light….. Two pick up trucks slammed into each other and would have crushed me on my motorcycle.
Decided to take a day off work. I never miss time well that day there was an explosion in my work area and if I had been there it would have definitely caused significant damage or death.
I don’t know about scary, but there was the guy at work that from Day 1 I really didn’t like, but for the life of me, I couldn’t tell you why. He never did or said anything to elicit this response. I brought up not liking him with coworkers, and they all told me to give him a second chance, etc, and I straight up said no. I was told I was being an a*****e. A couple of weeks later, a coworker came up and showed me a news article with mugshots. There’s the guy I hate for no reason. He had been arrested for producing CP.
I wanted to talk to a professor about an essay I was writing. I knew her office hours were open, just talked to a bunch of friends, and had good grades. It was a new term and things were good, even nice weather for Fall Term. I thought, fk it, I’ll just grab a snack from the student store. I walked in, popped open a Cup-NoodlesⓇ (not a sponsor) and dispensed hot water in it. As I was paying for it at the counter, a student burst in out of breath, crying, and frantic. She said to call the police as there was an active shooter. We hid in the supply closet next to snacks and textbooks, along with at least 6 others. The student explained where it was and it was a rampage through the same building I was about to go to. My professor was with a student, and I would have been waiting right in the open near where part of the rampage took place. At least 9 died that day, and one was someone I grew up with. If it weren’t for my gut literally feeling empty, and my mind saying “fk it”, I would have had a front row seat to that.
My grandparents let this one guy stay with them and do some side projects for cash for a few days. When I met him, he made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. He seemed nice on the surface, but he also just felt wrong somehow.Like a year later, he shot up his entire family, then had a multiple hour standoff with the SWAT team before finally being tear gassed out and surrendering. So while I didn’t do anything, it’s crazy how my intuition knew this guy was bad news.
I was once walking down a street at night and randomly thought to myself, “yikes, I’m going to get mugged.” I ignored the feeling. Got mugged.
Shouting at my daft brother-in-law to get out of the sea. He’s a fit, strong, confident swimmer but he had his young daughter on his shoulders and my gut was telling me that the waves were just too rough to be safe. They were both fine but after we all returned home we heard that another strong confident swimmer died in exactly the same place about half an hour later.
See Also on Bored Panda
This is my dad’s story.My grandfather was old but in good health. Every night, My dad used to call my grandfather, tell him he’s coming over, then go and spend an hour talking to my grandfather.One night he had this feeling… He had to go. Just HAD to go.He called, and said he was coming. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.But then a series of really unlikely things happened… Walmart register transaction had some technical issues that took 15min to sort out. Then there was an accident causing more traffic backup that added another delay. Then a 3rd thing that I no longer remember.When my dad finally got to my grandfather’s, my grandfather had died. As if he had simply fallen over in his bedroom mid-step.My dad (a physician, actually) wonders to this day… What if he had shown up just 30 or 45 min earlier?
Felt sick one morning, borderline whether it was enough to “pull a sicky”…..I did call in sick.My colleague who always gave me a lift to work was Involved in a head on crash with a truck that veered lanes, he survived with minor injuries, the passenger seat was completely crumpled, seat to dashboard.
My Dad (77) has a sweet tooth. I mean he hides little treats all over the house lol there was a donut shop he used to go to regularly because he has been going there since childhood. One time he took me with him and the lady that owned the donut shop greeted me. I immediately felt uneasy and literally sick to my stomach. I would not eat any of the donuts my Dad had purchased.My Dad was very offended I wouldn’t eat any. I told him that the woman gave me the heebie jeebies, and was creepy. He laughed it off because more for him right?Like 5 months later we found out that she had a basement full of abducted children…EDITED TO ADD:She was a much older lady. Had been running the donut shop for 50 years. Very unassuming in appearance.
One of my friends from high school who I kept in contact with had her partner’s good friend living with them. I couldn’t pick what it was but the guy made me uneasy, I just couldn’t shake the feeling. i told her but she dismissed me. I stopped going to their house.A year or so later it came out he was sodomizing her 6yo. He totally f****d up her insides, she’s now 16 or so and still has issues with spontaneous pooping.
My friend and I were supposed to meet for coffee at Starbucks- I randomly was like… do you want to do sushi instead?So we ate at the sushi place directly across from the Starbucks.While I was waiting for my friend I heard the gunshot. Someone was shot in the head at the Starbucks we were supposed to be at, I literally ran outside looking for her, she just got there in her car thank god.It was probably a gang shooting, but I would have witnessed it from like 6ft away had I not listen to the fleeting feeling in my gut.
I had to leave for an appointment and for some reason I felt the urge to just sit in my car before leaving. I’ve sat there just looking around for two minutes or so. Then the feeling went away and I left.When I was on the highway, I saw a crash happened just minutes before I was supposed to be there. Truck blew a tire, hit other cars which hit other cars as well. It was a mess. Two people died. A few others heavily injured to the hospital.I was in the traffic behind the scene for about two hours and was so glad I just sat in my car just staring around before leaving. I still do that sometimes, thinking back to that moment.
Leaving my headphones out when the Bluetooth spontaneously disconnected. A weird guy was following me home, i watched from my patio as he went up and down the street looking for me.A few weeks later a woman has attacked in the area. Serious injuries.
I got one, but it’s not my story it’s my moms. When she was younger, I think like mid 20’s her friend wanted to set her up with some guy she knew. My mom got a weird feeling about the guy. She didn’t know what it was but she decided not to go on a date with him. Her friends were telling her that she should rethink it and give the guy a chance he is a great guy blah blah blah. Mom just said no I’m good, she said the guy just gave her a weird vibe. Guys name was Cary Stayner….Wild story.
I got one, but it’s not my story it’s my moms. When she was younger, I think like mid 20’s her friend wanted to set her up with some guy she knew. My mom got a weird feeling about the guy. She didn’t know what it was but she decided not to go on a date with him. Her friends were telling her that she should rethink it and give the guy a chance he is a great guy blah blah blah. Mom just said no I’m good, she said the guy just gave her a weird vibe. Guys name was Cary Stayner….
Wild story.
Last March before my father passed away I called my mom to see if she got a text message I had sent her after not talking to her for almost a year. Something had told me to call her and when I did she told me she was on the way to the hospital because my father was at urgent care and had a heart attack while talking to the doctor and another one in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.Later on that night we found out that he had a heart attack 2 weeks prior around Valentines as well, which is weird because around that time myself as well as my brother started having really bad chest pains to the point I told my husband I was about to go the ER and not wait for my appointment a week later. We also found out that he had CHF, a blood clot in his eight lung and two clots in his heart. Sadly he passed away less than two month after finding this all out. After he passed away his cardio told my mother he had a genetic heart condition that myself and my siblings need to be checked. So I now have the same cardio as my dad and its sad going in the office knowing my father was there.
Continue reading with Bored Panda PremiumUnlimited contentAd-free browsingDark modeSubscribe nowAlready a subscriber?Sign In
Continue reading with Bored Panda Premium
Unlimited contentAd-free browsingDark mode
Unlimited content
Ad-free browsing
Dark mode
Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?Sign In
So it wasn’t my gut, but my friend’s. I had noticed whenever she had a bad feeling, it almost always turned out to be correct. We were going to sneak out one night and ride in the back of a friend’s truck like we did sometimes. She told me she had a bad feeling and I immediately backed out and so did she. The others didn’t listen and that night the truck flipped with two of our friends in the back. They were both hospitalized for a couple of weeks, one shattered his arm so bad it never fully healed right and one has full back scars from the road burn.
About 15 years ago, I lived in a subdivision north of seattle, and I was out jogging one morning. there were lots of houses and apartment buildings around, but I was coming up to a stretch of road that had some sort of woods on either side of it, which I had jogged through many, many times before.however, on that day, a white van passed me going pretty slowly and I noticed about four blocks up ahead, it had stopped and was just parked on the side of the road.my gut started pinging pretty loudly to not jog on, and just turn around and run home, which I did. I’m super glad I did that because I’m almost 100% positive that van was waiting for me. 😳.
Idk if this counts, but in March 2021, I wanted to get teriyaki chicken at a local shopping mall in Philadelphia, PA, but decided to go to a different mall instead.around 5 pm, a fight broke out which lead into a shooting at the food court i would’ve gotten teriyaki chicken at. if i had gone to that mall at that time, i could’ve been shot.
Had a bad feeling about a routine transit from Ann Arbor to metro Detroit once and asked my buddy if i could follow him home.Hood popped open on the freeway and destroyed my windshield and scared the c**p outta me.Buddy was there to help complete the journey.
Not me but my mom.Back before I was born, her and my dad (I think they were married at the time, but idk) were headed into California.But mom started freaking the f**k out and panicking, and dad listened to her and turned around.The city they were about to drive into had a major earthquake a day or so later.
I was walking home and passed a jewelers window. I think jewelry is a waste of money so normally I ignore their display. That day, a ring caught my eye and I stood for a couple seconds admiring the design. When I got back in motion, a car shot out onto the pedestrian walkway from the side of the jewelers building.If I hadn’t stopped, the car would have broken my legs and hip and thrown me into the road.
Modal closeAdd Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Modal close
Add Your Answer!Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add sourcePublish
Not your original work?Add source
Modal closeModal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Modal closeOoops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.UploadUploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermarkChangeSourceTitleUpdateAdd Image
Ooops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.
Upload
UploadError occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermarkInstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermarkFacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
Error occurred when generating embed. Please check link and try again.
TwitterRender conversationUse html versionGenerate not embedded versionAdd watermark
InstagramShow Image OnlyHide CaptionCropAdd watermark
FacebookShow Image OnlyAdd watermark
ChangeSourceTitle
You May Like“We Need To Leave… Now”: 35 Stories Of People Who Trusted Their Gut And Were RightRugile Baltrunaite“He’s Blind Now”: 30 Times People Played With Fire And Got BurnedGabija PalšytėOne Step Closer: 30 Dangerous Stairs That Make You Question The Sanity Of All That Try Them (New Pics)Dominyka
Rugile Baltrunaite
Gabija Palšytė
Dominyka
Curiosities
