When I worked in corporate, I over-relied on logic and treated my intuition like a distraction. 

Does this sound like anyone you know? (Maybe you?)

Before you click away thinking, “Oh boy, this is about to get woo woo,” hear me out: 

In a famous study conducted at the University of Iowa and published in Science, participants were asked to pick cards from four different decks to win play money. The decks were secretly rigged: two were “safe” (small wins, small losses) and two were “risky” (huge immediate wins, but devastating long-term penalties). 

The researchers tracked when participants consciously figured out the game was rigged versus when their bodies reacted. The findings were incredible:

• 10 Cards: After picking just 10 cards from the risky decks, participants’ bodies began to show a stress response (skin conductance) every time they even hovered their hand over a “bad” deck.
• 50 Cards: It took 50 cards before participants had a “hunch” that something was wrong.
• 80 Cards: It took a full 80 cards before they could logically explain the rules of the game and why the decks were bad.

The TL;DR: their bodies were 70 cards ahead of their brains.

Think of it this way: logic works great with data points from your historical lived experience. But trying to use logic alone to reason your way through the present moment is flawed for the exact same reason that makes it difficult to predict the stock market: past performance is not an indicator of future success. 

But combining logic with this additional data from your body’s felt response gives you an edge. The result: real-time discernment tempered with insight from past lived experience.

How to Cultivate your Felt Response

• The next time you’re getting ready to make a decision, notice how the decision makes you feel before you use logic to weigh any of the pros and cons. 
• Keep a log of the decision: include the logic used, and how you felt before and after the decision (e.g. how you felt before deciding to take the new job, and how you felt after accepting the job offer).
• Look for patterns in your log over time

Many people begin noticing correlations in their log data. For example, a true “Yes” where logic and felt response are aligned has been described by some (not universally) as light, spacious, or grounded. Similarly, a true “No” is  described by some as heavy, dull, or tight. 

Questions for reflection:

• Where are you using only logic in your decision-making?
• What would change if you viewed your intuition as valid biological data rather than distractions?
• Can you recall a time when your body knew the answer before your mind did?