Trusting Your Gut: How Intuition Can Keep You Safe

Have you ever had a strange feeling about a person or situation—and later realized you were right? That’s your intuition talking. Often dismissed or overridden, especially by women taught to be “nice,” intuition is actually one of our most important and powerful self-defense tools. This post explores how to recognize, trust, and strengthen your gut instinct.

The Science Behind Gut Feelings - Your "gut" is wired to keep you alive. It’s not magic; it’s biology. The brain's reticular activating system constantly scans your environment for threats and cues you subconsciously pick up on. The reaction in your body is your nervous system’s early warning alarm in action. There is typically a physical spot on your body where you feel the uneasiness. Some people get tightness in their stomach, chest or throat. Some get tingling in the shoulders, some get warm feelings in their palms or face. It's different for everyone. Knowing where yours lives is one of the first steps to be able to take preventative action.

Intuition Helps to Prevent Harm - Women around the world have credited their intuition with saving their lives. From sensing something "off" about a rideshare driver to leaving a party early, these stories show how listening to that inner voice can change the outcome of a dangerous situation. Listening to your body's internal alarm system gives you the opportunity to leave situations, change your circumstances and prevent problems before they even have a chance to get going.

Trauma Can Muffle Intuition - But You Can Reconnect - Trauma, abuse, and chronic invalidation can disconnect you from your gut instincts. If you learned, either as a kid, or in an early relationship, that your feelings didn't matter or that you were made to feel like your feelings weren't rational, you may have learned to second-guess yourself and your gut. In adulthood, this second-guessing makes you freeze or feel numb in situations where you truly need clarity. The good news? You can learn to reconnect with your intuition through reflection, bodywork, and participation in a safe community.

Simple Exercises to Sharpen Intuitive Awareness - You can learn to assist your intuition like training a muscle. Once you are aware of it's location and what you're looking for, paying attention to that spot on your body where you have the uneasy feeling becomes a matter of practice. After that, you can begin to practice exercises like "snapshot awareness," journaling intuitive nudges, or reviewing interactions to identify what your gut told you. Over time, you’ll learn to distinguish fear from instinct.

Learning to Trust and Act on Your Gut - Acting on intuition takes courage—especially when it goes against social pressure. But the more you pay attention to and honor those gut messages, the more you will find you can trust them. It’s okay to leave, say no, or ask questions—your safety is more important than anyone's feelings or thoughts about you.

Intuition is your personal radar system. Trusting it may feel unnatural at first, but it’s one of the most empowering tools you can develop. You don’t need a reason to protect yourself. You are worth defending; that's reason enough.