One of the questions that frequently arises in therapy is: “How can I know the difference between intuition and anxiety?” Although all of us are born with our very own internal compass, many of us grew up discouraged to trust our natural curiosity and gut feelings. We learned we needed to act in ways that give us approval and are considered “appropriate,” even when it meant overriding what felt right to us. Over time, we may start relying on our intellect to figure things out or we may start looking at others for guidance, believing that they have our answers. Because of this, distinguishing between intuition and anxiety might be challenging at first, but like anything else, with practice, this becomes easier and more intuitive.

Many of us learned to not trust ourselves. Our internal experiences may not have been validated and our ideas and thoughts may have been dismissed or ridiculed, so we disconnected from our own intuition and wisdom. We learned to turn outside of ourselves for guidance, because we learn that it is not safe to trust ourselves.