I used to be really bad at this (especially when it came to making a decision and my mind was on overdrive). Sometimes I’d feel a “gut feeling” but then I wouldn’t trust it because then anxiety was yelling in my head too. The thing is that anxiety can sound so real and loud and urgent and intense. But the more I’ve learned about anxiety and intuition, the more I’ve realized they don’t feel the same even though they both originate in the body.
Intuition (also known as your gut feeling) is defined as a knowing or a hunch that leads or guides you without having to overanalyze things. It is a combination of your subconscious mind as well as your past experiences and your emotional intelligence that are all at play within your body without you even realizing it. Anxiety, on the other hand, generally manifests in your head as worry, doubt, and mental pressure. Even though anxiety and intuition both stem from the body (physically), anxiety is generally louder, more repetitive, and more overwhelming while intuition is calmer, clearer, and more quiet and steady. By learning to recognize the difference between the two, you can change the way you make decisions as well as your level of self-trust.
From a psychological perspective, intuition exists because your brain processes so much information subconsciously and without you even realizing it. You are reading all these cues, patterns, and memories from the past, and your mind is using this information to guide you. Anxiety generally comes from a fear of the unknown. It causes you to overanalyze everything, make up the worst-case scenarios, and doubt every move you want to make.
Physically, both intuition and anxiety can cause certain physical reactions or sensations within the body. They may both make you feel a fluttering in your stomach, or tightness in your chest, or they may even create a weird “pulling” type feeling. But anxiety generally feels more chaotic and intense while intuition is generally a lot more subtle and even-keeled. Even when intuition is trying to warn you or signal that you need to make a decision, it is almost never coupled with a sense of panic.
Once you learn to listen and trust your gut, you are no longer left wondering and over-analyzing things out of anxiety. You start to get better and better at making decisions and moving forward rather than being held back in a pool of doubt. The more you practice tuning into your inner self, the easier it becomes to filter out real intuition and the more anxiety-driven inner chatter.
8 Ways to Trust Your Gut Even When You’re Anxious
1. Identify what your gut feelings really feel like
Before you can learn to trust your intuition, you have to first be able to recognize when it is speaking to you. The thing is that intuition is not always going to come in the form of a loud “voice.” Sometimes it is more of a gentle nudge, a strong sensation, or a quiet whisper.
Journaling is one of the best tools for helping to identify your gut feelings. When you write down moments when you felt a strong sense of knowing about something, you can look for clues such as:
- what was happening around you at the time
- what you were feeling emotionally
- what your body was feeling
- what decision you made
- the outcome/result
Over time, you will start to see patterns of which feelings generally lead you down the right path and which feelings are based in fear. This awareness of your gut feelings can help you to filter out intuition from anxiety.
Mindfulness is also another tool you can use to identify your gut feelings. When you slow down and practice observing your thoughts without judgment, it becomes much easier to separate calm inner guidance from fearful inner panic.
You can also use a simple gut-check technique as well. When you have to make a decision, pause and ask yourself:
“If I choose option A, how does my body react? What does it feel like?” and then do the same with option B.
The interesting thing you’ll notice over time is that intuition generally feels like a sense of calm clarity or lightness, whereas anxiety feels like tension and urgency.
2. Challenge negative thoughts
Negative thoughts often come hand in hand with anxiety, and if you don’t address these negative thoughts, they will continue to drown out your intuition. A good technique you can use to deal with negative thoughts is called cognitive restructuring. Basically, this is when you begin to question the negative thoughts in your head. For example, if anxiety begins to yell at you:
“I will fail if I do this.”
You can begin to challenge this by asking yourself:
- “Is this thought a fact or a fear?”
- “What evidence do I have?”
- “Have I not handled hard things before?”
Then replace the negative thought with something that is more even and balanced. For example:
“This might be difficult, but I can learn and grow from it.”
Affirmations are another way you can counter negative thoughts. By repeating simple phrases like:
“I trust my instincts.”
“I can make good decisions.”
“I don’t have to be perfect to move forward.”
…can slowly weaken the anxious thinking in your mind and help you to increase your level of self-trust.
3. Practice mindfulness and meditation
When your mind is anxious, it can be nearly impossible to listen to your intuition because it’s just so damn loud. Mindfulness and meditation are excellent tools that will help to quiet your mind so your gut feelings can become clearer.
Mindfulness is just the act of being present and remaining in the present moment. It helps you to observe your thoughts without following every anxious idea that comes into your mind.
Meditation can be as simple as sitting and focusing on your breath for 10 minutes a day. When anxiety comes up, you can do breath-focused meditation to help reduce panic and increase your level of emotional clarity.
Body scan meditation is also a really helpful practice when it comes to identifying your intuition and anxiety. As you slowly scan through your body from head to toe, you will start to notice tension, discomfort, or calm. These physical signals are almost always a reflection of whether something is anxiety or intuition.
The more you practice meditation and mindfulness, the easier it becomes to listen and trust your inner voice.
4. Embody your gut feelings
Intuition is not just a mental thing; it is also a physical thing. That is why getting in touch with your body can help you to trust your gut.
Movement practices such as yoga, stretching, or even dancing can be an excellent way to help you tune into your body so you can better understand what it is trying to tell you. Yoga in particular has the added benefit of not only connecting your breath with your physical sensations but helping you to also notice the subtle intuitive signals.
Posture is also very important as well. When you sit or stand with open and confident posture, you are more likely to feel grounded and emotionally balanced. On the other hand, if you slouch, then you are sending a message to yourself that you are smaller and more anxious than you actually are (without you even knowing it).
Creative expression is another way to help your intuition become more clear to you. Writing, drawing, painting, or even just using voice notes is a great way to process any feelings or thoughts you may not yet have clarity around. Often, when you start to express your inner world, then your intuition can become more clear to you.
5. Seek clarification through reflection
Reflection is the only way to separate fear from the truth. The thing about anxiety is that it makes everything seem urgent when, in reality, that may not be the case at all. When you take time to reflect, you can slow down long enough to understand what is real and what is not.
You can use journaling to do this or even deep questioning. Some great questions you can ask yourself include:
- “What am I actually afraid of?”
- “Is my fear based on facts, or is it just assumptions?”
- “What experience from my past is influencing this feeling?”
- “If I wasn’t so afraid, what would I choose to do?”
Creating a list of pros and cons is also another excellent way to balance emotion with logic. If your gut is telling you to go one way, then a list can help you identify whether or not it is truly a good decision or if your anxiety is just pushing you away from growth.
Reflection will not necessarily get rid of your fear, but it will bring you clarity, and clarity will help you to strengthen your intuition.
6. Seek support from trusted people
In certain cases, you are unable to trust yourself because the anxiety and self-doubt is so loud that you can’t hear yourself think. That is when it is time to seek outside support from trusted individuals.
Talking things out with a friend, a family member, a mentor, or a professional is an excellent way to get a new perspective on a situation you are in. They can help you to see whether you are just being avoidant because of fear or whether your intuition is actually giving you a real warning.
Outside support also brings with it a sense of validation. If someone that you trust either echoes your concerns or encourages your intuition/gut feeling, it can further strengthen your confidence in yourself and your decision-making. And even if they challenge your intuition, it can cause you to reflect even deeper to truly get to know yourself better rather than just self-dismiss yourself.
7. Take small steps towards action
When you’re anxious, making big decisions can feel overwhelming. You don’t have to always take a giant leap all at once. Taking small action steps helps you to test out your intuition and increase your level of confidence along the way.
If your gut is trying to steer you in a certain direction, then take small action steps such as:
- researching it
- asking questions
- gathering more information
- taking one small step in that direction
Each small action will give you some form of feedback that you can use to strengthen your ability to trust your intuition.
You should also be sure to celebrate small wins along the way as well. Even if it is as small as “I made a decision and I didn’t overthink it for three days straight,” that is still a win.
8. Embrace failure as a learning tool
Sometimes you will trust your gut and things will not turn out perfectly. This does not mean that your intuition is broken or doesn’t work. Failure is an important part of the learning process. And when we fail, we get to learn more about how our intuition works and how it doesn’t.
Rather than blaming yourself when things go wrong, take time to reflect and ask yourself:
- What did I learn?
- Was this really intuition or was it fear?
- What signs did I miss along the way?
- What would I do differently next time?
Failure helps us to build resilience, and the more resilient we are, the less afraid we are of making decisions. When we stop viewing failure as a form of shame, then we start to view it as experience, and experience is what will help you strengthen your intuition.
Final Thoughts
Trusting your gut does not mean that you will never feel anxious again. It just means that you know how to listen to yourself even when anxiety is present.
The more you practice self-awareness, mindfulness, reflection, and small action, the easier it becomes to identify your intuition. And once you are able to identify what is just fear-based inner chatter and what is calm inner guidance, you will be able to make decisions with greater confidence, clarity, and self-trust.
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