Trusting Your Inner Knowing: Is It Intuition or Fear?
- ✨Kena 🌻
- Mar 3
- 3 min read
I recently recorded a Call Me Courage Midweek Inspiration & Motivation episode on Trusting Your Inner Knowing. The heart of the conversation was this question:
How do we know whether it’s intuition… or fear?
In the episode, I shared a real-life example of how my husband learned to trust his gut in a situation that didn’t feel quite right. But I also wanted to ground the conversation in science — which led me to a fascinating book.
I referenced The Intuition Toolkit by neuroscientist Joel Pearson.
What I appreciate about Joel’s work is that he doesn’t dismiss intuition as mystical or magical. Instead, he provides scientific evidence explaining how intuition works — along with five essential rules for using it wisely.
He uses the acronym SMILE to outline those five rules.
The SMILE Framework for Intuition
S — Self-Awareness
If you’re highly emotional, don’t trust your intuition.
Strong emotions can hijack the intuitive process. When we’re overwhelmed — whether with excitement, anger, fear, or even elation — our judgment can be clouded.
For example, if you win the lottery, that rush of excitement might tempt you to make a spontaneous, life-altering decision. But in that emotional flood, you’re not operating from grounded intuition. You need a pause. A breath. Space to regulate before deciding what to do next.
Intuition speaks clearly when we are calm.
M — Mastery
Intuition requires learning and experience.
As Joel explains in an interview, our brains need to learn the links between situations and outcomes. Intuition isn’t simply an innate superpower — it’s built through pattern recognition.
You can’t sit down at a chessboard and expect intuitive brilliance without first learning the game. Your brain must recognize patterns and outcomes before it can respond intuitively.
In other words, intuition is informed wisdom. It’s experience processed beneath conscious awareness.
I — Impulses and Addiction
Impulses are not intuition.
If you feel compelled to eat a donut and tell yourself, “My intuition wants this,” it’s likely not intuition — it’s a craving.
Addictions and impulses masquerade as intuition because they feel urgent. But intuition is steady, not frantic. It nudges — it doesn’t push.
L — Low Probability
Don’t use intuition for statistical judgment.
Probability is its own science. Intuition isn’t designed to calculate odds. When we confuse intuitive knowing with guesswork about probabilities, we step outside its proper function.
Intuition works best in pattern-based environments, not in random chance scenarios.
E — Environment
Intuition works best in familiar environments.
This part fascinated me. Scientifically, our brains retrieve information more effectively in the same environment where it was learned.
For example, if you learned something while in a swimming pool and later struggle to recall it, returning to that pool can actually help trigger memory retrieval.
Our brains are deeply contextual. Intuition thrives where patterns have been learned before.
Applying SMILE: A Real-Life Example
In the podcast, I shared a story about my husband having a “funny feeling” about someone lingering near our parked car before a ball game. When we returned, our car window was broken and items had been stolen.
Let’s walk through SMILE:
S — Self-Awareness
Was he unusually emotional?
No. We were simply parking in our usual spot.
M — Mastery
Did he have experience recognizing suspicious behavior?
Yes. From years working downtown, he had learned to recognize subtle patterns of loitering and threat.
I — Impulse or Addiction
Was this an impulsive reaction?
No. It wasn’t urgent or reactive — it was observant.
L — Low Probability
Was he guessing odds?No.
It wasn’t about probability. It was about specific behavior that felt off.
E — Environment
Was this a familiar context?
Yes. His past work environment had trained his brain to recognize similar situations.
When we look at it through the SMILE framework, what he experienced wasn’t fear — it was informed intuition.
Final Thoughts
Joel Pearson’s The Intuition Toolkit offers a grounded, evidence-based approach to something many of us experience but struggle to explain.
If you’re working on trusting your inner knowing, I encourage you to pause and run your experience through SMILE.
Is it calm? Is it informed? Is it grounded in experience?
When intuition passes those five filters, it becomes something powerful — not reactive fear, but quiet wisdom.
And that, my friends, is courage.
A couple links if this topic interest you:
In closing, I will leave you with this mantra:
I release fear.
I quiet impulse.
I trust the wisdom built through experience.
My intuition is calm, informed, and courageous.
Until next time.....
Much Love,
✨Kena 🌻
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