Is this my intuition, or am I just overthinking?
It’s one of the most common questions people ask when they begin paying attention to their intuition.
A thought pops into your head. You have a feeling you can’t explain. Something in your body reacts. For just a moment, you know.
And then your mind gets involved.
That doesn’t make sense.
Why would I think that?
I’m probably imagining it.
What if I’m wrong?
What will everyone else think?
Before long, that first piece of information is buried underneath explanations, questions, fear, and doubt.
I’ve been practicing long enough that I usually recognize when that first thought is intuitive information. But I wasn’t always able to do that.
Learning the difference between intuition and overthinking has taken practice. And one of the most important things I’ve learned is surprisingly simple:
You have to slow down long enough to notice what came first.
What Does Intuition Feel Like?
For me, intuitive information often arrives quickly.
A thought pops into my head.
I know something without knowing why.
My body responds.
Sometimes the more random or unexpected the thought is, the more obvious it is to me that I need to pay attention.
Not long ago, I was standing in a deli waiting for my order when a thought popped into my head:
I should get chicken soup.
It was about 95 degrees outside on a hot, humid summer day.
Who eats chicken soup then?
No one at home was sick. There was absolutely no logical reason I needed to buy soup.
But the feeling persisted.
Get the soup.
Years ago, I probably would have dismissed the thought as ridiculous and moved on.
Instead, I paused.
What Happens When Overthinking Takes Over?
Once I noticed the thought about the soup, my logical mind immediately had plenty to say.
No one is sick.
It’s hot outside.
No one is going to eat soup right now.
All perfectly reasonable observations.
But instead of immediately dismissing the original thought, I paid attention to my body.
My gut was churning.
For me, that is a sign to listen.
So I stayed with it.
Then other thoughts came:
Fall is coming.
School will be starting.
Germs will be coming home.
There are people in the family with weaker immune systems.
There’s room in the freezer.
I decided to buy two containers—one for the house and one for my crew member at college.
When I picked them up, my body was at peace.
One of those containers of soup was needed the following week.
That is a simple example, but it demonstrates something important about intuition and overthinking.
The intuitive information arrived first.
Then came all the reasons it didn’t make sense.
Why We Miss Our Intuition
If I had experienced that same moment when I was just beginning to understand my intuition, I probably would have completely disregarded it.
It was illogical.
It came out of nowhere.
It seemed ridiculous.
And that’s exactly why so many people believe they aren’t intuitive.
I believe we are all intuitive, but most people immediately discount the first thought, feeling, image, sensation, or knowing they receive.
Often, they don’t even realize they’ve done it.
We’ve become so accustomed to analyzing and explaining everything that the intuitive information can disappear underneath the noise before we’ve even acknowledged it.
That’s why I teach people to practice the pause.
How to Practice the Pause
Practicing the pause isn’t complicated.
When something unexpected comes in, don’t immediately dismiss it.
Pause.
Notice what you received.
Then notice your body.
What happened in your stomach?
Your chest?
Your shoulders?
Did you suddenly feel tense?
Did something feel expansive?
Did you experience an unexpected sense of calm?
You don’t have to immediately decide that the information is intuition or take action on every random thought you have.
The first step is simply becoming aware enough to notice what happened before your mind started explaining it away.
That is what I did with the soup.
I noticed the thought.
I paused.
I noticed my gut.
I considered the logical information.
I noticed my body again.
And when I made the decision to buy the soup, I felt peace.
The more you practice slowing down and noticing these moments, the more familiar your own intuitive language can become.
Intuition vs. Overthinking: Pay Attention to the Struggle
Buying chicken soup is one thing.
What happens when the decision actually matters?
A relationship.
A career.
A move.
A boundary.
A major life change.
That’s when fear, expectations, other people’s opinions, and our own hopes can make it much harder to hear ourselves.
One distinction I’ve noticed over the years is that intuitive hits tend to help you flow.
Overthinking tends to create struggle.
I worked with a client who had been wrestling with a professional decision for months.
Back and forth.
Questioning.
Trying to figure out what to do.
Eventually, he reached his limit and made the decision.
He gave his notice.
And immediately, there was peace.
The decision wasn’t necessarily the most logical one on paper.
But once he acted on what he already knew, the internal struggle stopped.
That peace mattered.
Intuition Doesn’t Always Make Logical Sense
I’ve experienced this in my own life many times.
At one point, my husband and I decided to put a beloved house on the market.
There was no urgent reason to sell it.
Nothing was forcing the decision.
There was simply a feeling:
Something feels like we should.
I remember telling my husband, “If it’s supposed to be, it will flow.”
The house sold six days later.
Within 30 days, we were completely done with it.
About a month later, my husband said to me, “You were right. Everything flowed.”
At the time we made the decision, we couldn’t have known why selling would matter beyond what we already understood.
Five months later, an opportunity arose to help a family member in a way we would not have been able to do as comfortably if we still had the house in play.
That doesn’t mean every intuitive decision will result in everything working out perfectly.
Life doesn’t work that way.
But sometimes intuition asks us to move before we can see the entire path.
Does Peace Mean It’s Intuition?
I pay close attention to peace.
For me, that grounded sense of peace can be an important confirmation that I’m moving in the right direction.
But developing intuition isn’t about creating a checklist where one physical sensation always means yes and another always means no.
Your intuition may not communicate exactly like mine.
The goal is to learn how your intuition communicates with you.
What does your body do?
How does an intuitive thought arrive?
What happens when fear takes over?
What does overthinking feel like?
What changes when you act?
These patterns become easier to recognize when you slow down enough to notice them repeatedly.
How Do You Learn to Trust Your Intuition?
You practice.
And eventually, you have to act on what you’re receiving.
You can read about intuition.
You can learn about the clairs.
You can meditate.
You can journal.
You can become incredibly good at recognizing intuitive information.
But if you continually receive an intuitive hit and then refuse to trust it, it’s difficult to build confidence in yourself.
The only way I learned to become certain about my own intuition was by acting on what I received and seeing what happened.
Some experiences were small.
Some were much bigger.
Each one taught me more about how my intuition communicates with me.
Practice builds familiarity.
Validation builds confidence.
And eventually, confidence becomes trust.
No one else can do that part for you.
Someone can teach you.
Someone can help you recognize patterns.
Someone can provide a place to practice and receive validation.
But ultimately, you have to learn to recognize your own intuition and trust yourself enough to listen to it.
Is It Intuition or Overthinking?
If you’re constantly wondering whether something is intuition or overthinking, don’t put pressure on yourself to know with absolute certainty every time.
Start smaller.
Slow down.
Notice the first information that arrives.
Practice the pause before explaining it away.
Pay attention to your body.
Notice what creates struggle and what brings a sense of grounded peace.
And when it feels appropriate, take action and see what happens.
You aren’t trying to become someone who never questions themselves.
You’re learning your own intuitive language.
The more you notice it, the more familiar it becomes.
And the more familiar it becomes, the easier it is to trust.
If you’re ready to practice recognizing your intuition, trusting what you notice, and quieting some of the second-guessing that gets in the way, Whispers of Knowing is where we practice exactly that together.
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