Ever find yourself being introduced to a new acquaintance that your friends insist you’ll love because the new person is so funny?  A connection is made via a handshake, and you feel intense dislike instantly.  Or you meet the new boy/girlfriend of your best friend and despite their stunning good looks and charm you cannot stand anything about him/her, but have nothing to base this feeling on?

Have you ever found yourself in a store and for no apparent reason start to feel like something bad is going to happen, only to turn around and realize a stranger is following you and eerily ends up in every department you visit?  At the airport, have you had irrational thoughts that you shouldn’t board a plane to the point of breaking out in a cold-sweat and being physically sick from fear?

Instincts.  They are real and we have a tendency, as educated people, to ignore them.

Don’t.

When I become hypersensitive and feel the hair rising on the back of my neck, or experience an intense cold in my solar plexus, that’s enough to signal a flight or fight response.  I warp speed my checklist of logical reasons.  Did I recently read a book, have a dream, or see a television show that can be attributed to my feelings of overwhelming anxiety?  Once I conclude no, my spider senses are on full alert.

What is it that stimulates the gut feeling of not trusting or liking someone?

Revisiting the examples of meeting someone for the first time and having an adverse reaction, I engage my checklist.  Why does everyone love the new person and I cannot abide the sound of their voice?  Am I jealous?  Is this new person holding a mirror to the stuff I can’t stand about myself?  If I answer no to these questions and I can’t logically quell my dislike, then I look to past life relationships.  Who were they and what were they to me in another time.  I’ll journey and ask my power animal to help me find the answer so I can develop a healthy relationship or bring clarity as to why it’s not in my best interest to pursue it.

We have inbred primal responses that help us to diagnose the sensation of imminent danger.  Sensing a person or situation that has the potential to bring us harm is invaluable.   Diminish distractions by pulling off your iPod headphones, stop making needless calls on your cell and pay attention to your gut.

Develop and use your sixth-sense awareness, it could save a life.

Tags: Domestic Violence Awareness, Gavin Becker, Gift of Fear, gut feeling, meeting someone new, save a life, sixth-sense