Have you ever had a gut instinct?

[confusedbydating]

Inspired by another post.

have you ever just had a gut instinct that something was just wrong that you couldn’t put your finger on? Did you or didn’t you act on it? What happened?

one time i had this overwhelming feeling to stop and stay quiet. I did. Next thing I know something heavy fell off a balcony I was meant to be walking under.

have never not trusted my instincts again since.

Oh yes some more which are weird:
my first child, when he was conceived I felt a voice saying, I’m here, you’re going to be ok. I thought at the time I’d just been drinking too much but dates wise that was weird

my sexond I knew he was coming early and he arrived 10 days early.

both times I knew I was pregnant before I tested.

very weird

Thank you for saying that. I think a few people (myself included) are really worried about saying the wrong thing and being ripped apart again.

it is very interesting. I have read the gift of fear which talks about this at length. Also studies on Déjà vu.
it happens so often. Definitely had some very weird experiences.

Yes! And pheromones. While I've never heard of a human able to knowingly 'smell' pheromones, we're happy enough to accept that we do register them in a sexual context. Our bodies secrete all sorts of compounds which may or may not be classed as pheromones, they do have aromas, and they do change according to health, emotional state, age and so on. We are a social animal - it would be strange if we weren't able to detect such signals.

Yes. One time a bunch of us were leaving to go out for an evening joyride in a convertible on a gorgeous night. As I stepped outside something told me not to go. I begged off and went back on the house. An hour later they returned, having misjudged a turn and hitting the brick corner of a building. Two were banged up a bit but refused to get checked out, and the car was quite banged up.

Well, without knowing the context, I posted quite innocently and then felt you'd ticked me off for being interested in the non-spooky side of gut instincts.

Not quite the same but a few years ago I got the most awful intense wave of feeling very unwell/sick. It came completely out of nowhere at around 9pm one night and lasted about 15 minutes and then completely passed and I was fine. I thought no more of it. A few days later I found out an elderly family friend was missing (they lived alone and a neighbour reported they hadn’t seen them for a few days) Big search by police etc. They were found a week later, dead in a ditch a few hundred yards from my house. The autopsy report put the time of death at around 9pm on the night I had my funny turn. Probably a big coincidence, but it was odd.

YY, exactly!

I think we have got into the habit of thinking we are very different from animals, but actually we're really not that different. I remember reading about seizure dogs who can tell when their owners are going to need a warning of an oncoming seizure, and that sort of thing.

I think it's partly also about paying attention in a way we've stopped being used to doing. This is much more practical and explicable, but it's like the way that most of us, these days, couldn't be dropped down in the middle of an unfamiliar place and tell you immediately which way is north (some could). But in societies where this sort of thing matters, or for people who pay attention to tiny details, it's quite easy to learn how to do this, and you get people who do it quite habitually.

intersting book about this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blink-Power-Thinking-Without/dp/0141014598/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2PWEPPWGIOP05&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.cLC7UJ8TyDZ0x1AOs9vGN6aUJ7VfrYlsIOFHmgwu7OW8SS20CWU7jPZZbIAnqxZhn9qHJL5flGdEcWWxtxM6apd6q7fn8YqfDpGNT6NS5izc9fu7Xjm6bicNjUot-Q_B2sQzL2cAVPCKIBq7tQ5t-r2_s15nLG0SEZqyN1q7T3fXJJRsekOVNnTiKCS_kiCN7d3x_3xp2LgXyuUiyTp8LzxDNfe0ySMsDCG8VCgtawQ.l2KMibKPDL7QzHgSe-496v3b_U-r9A0R15dtY1gIlRA&dib_tag=se&keywords=blink&qid=1774270273&s=books&sprefix=blink%2Cstripbooks%2C322&sr=1-1

I have become like this from travelling and living in places where you need to have your wits about you. I think it depends where in the world you live. Definitely in the UK you don’t need this as much but there are places where you just cannot let your guard down.

lol that post got 100s of comments… I would go and check it out and see why a few of us are feeling a bit annoyed and ready to shut it down

I am a midwife and my midwifery gut is never wrong and I always listen to it. It has genuinely saved lives. At least 2 off the top of my head.

I'm so glad you shared this. I really relate to this. When I had unsettled babies people kept telling me to trust my gut instinct. I kept thinking " my gut is telling me that I don't know why this baby is crying!"

I still don't think I really trust my gut instinct, and I find it very difficult to read a room, for example...

I had an overwhelming feeling of dread when my stepdad said we were nipping to rent a video on the way home (this is how many years ago it was). Something made me adjust the headrest and remain very still in the car. On the junction of the blockbusters a car ran into the back of us, crushed the boot and the parcel shelf hit us on the back of the head. We were fine just had sore necks for a few days but gave me the creeps a bit as the feeling was like I knew it was going to happen.

Yes actually once when I was a student living in halls a male friend walked home with me after a night out (as he walked past anyway). When we got to my halls he asked if he could come in to use the loo - I didn’t really want to let him in but I did anyway, he then asked for a glass of water so we went into the kitchen. Then “don’t tell him your room number” popped into my head really clearly, next thing he’s asking which one is my room. I gave him a vague answer and showed him out.
Always wonder if he really had malicious intentions or whether he was trying it on, or completely innocent.

I’ve had gut feelings about people too but this is the only time I have felt it really strongly like a warning

Yes! At a school reunion I got talking to someone I very vaguely remembered. She gave off the most horrible energies and body language and my intuition just kicked in and I made some small talk and excused myself. I found out later from a friend that she'd served time for stabbing someone with a knife. GBH.
A male friend went on a blind date, (coffee) with a woman he got dreadful vibes from & didn't see again. He later saw her on TV and it was Rose West.

Ordered it, @godmum56! Thanks.

A few years ago I felt like I had the cold. No other issues, just felt a bit hot and cold, felt like that loads and would usually have a cup of tea and ignore it. This time though I just had this feeling I really needed medical help (which I would usually never seek due to fear I was overreacting!) I had the urge to call 111, they told me to come in and get checked - everyone was quite shocked to discover I had sepsis!

I'm having this gut instinct at the moment, OP. I am going through a huge change this week in leaving a job with no job to go to. My lights at home have been flickering and a few times the doorbell has gone off with nobody there. I feel like this is a warning/someone is telling me something - unfortunately I have no idea what (other than to possibly check my electrics.)

doorbell camera?

I'd say check your electrics!

Wishing you luck with the job change.

I'll steer clear! Doesn't sound great.

Over 20 years ago now, but... I was helping at my daughter's primary school disco and to me the DJ had a neon sign flashing "paedophile" on his forehead! I sidled up to the head of the PTA and asked some innocuous questions about him such as how long he'd been doing these discos etc and she gushed back at me about how wonderful he was, so lovely with the children etc etc so I felt really bad that I had decided he was a dangerous criminal! Told myself off and carried on. Two weeks later the headlines in the local paper were all about his arrest for paedophilia, sex offences etc. Did wish my gut had been wrong really.

When my son was a tiny baby he had slow weight gain. The (lovely) HV said "he looks fine but we should check anyway" so he got referred to the paediatrician for tests.
At one point the Paed asked me "you're the mum, what does your gut say?"
I said "I think he's fine"
And he was.
They were all doing their jobs properly, in running tests etc, he just gained weight slowly. As the HV said, if we were just looking at him and not weighing, we wouldn't think there was anything wrong.
Now 3, he's still fine!

Sadly yes. Sadly because I ignored it. TW if you keep reading.

i was 17. A man I knew from my parents pub asked if I wanted to go his house to watch a film. I agreed. He told me to walk to a particular spot and wait for him, he’d come and pick me up. As I walked there, my gut was SCREAMING at me to go the other way, head home, go back to where there were people. I told myself I was being silly, I knew him, he was a friend of my parents, it was just a film.

Sure enough, he raped me once he got me in his room. The guilt I’ve felt because it was “my fault” - I went with him, I didn’t say no (I now understand the freeze response - I was terrified) explicitly, etc.

Anyway, if my gut says something now, I bloody well listen.

It’s not your fault. You’ve been socialised by society to ignore your instincts. How do you know he wouldn’t have followed you and done it somewhere else anyway? Please don’t blame yourself, he is the one who did it and deserves blame.