Here is a quote – Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; unbelief, in denying them.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Those who don’t believe in the power of instinct or passion are always unsure about what they want to do in life. They are very likely to have wrong preconceptions about things in general. This prevents them from discovering their true calling as it might be hidden behind their prejudices.
Since passion is too dicey a term for them, such people are supposed to raise the most absurd queries and concerns. How can one put his or her faith in an intangible notion? Isn’t such overconfidence harmful to the very purpose of a goal? Doesn’t an instinctive decision imply a foolish endeavor to attain something we are not sure about? One more query I often come across – how would we tackle a situation if our passion guides us the wrong way? Here’s an answer:
We need to think of small things that make us happy and inspire us. The next step is to find one idea, ambition, feeling, emotion, or thing from the haystack of those small things that we cannot ignore – come what may. Accordingly, our list of powerful emotions will now be reduced to reveal our passions (or in most cases, passion) only. The final step is to pursue that passion.
Decisions based on instincts can be accurate
Those who advocate the power of passion belong to the clan of achievers; others, on the contrary, keep thinking about a particular passion without doing anything substantial to weave their life purpose around them. Consequently, their endeavors lack precision, determination and the will to excel, which usually translates into average or below average results. We seriously need to look at the bigger picture. We are bound to succeed only if we can identify our passion and act accordingly. We need to believe in the power of passion and instincts to give us a chance to move ahead with our decisions.
According to naysayers, the human mind cannot be penetrative – perceptive, rather – enough to look into the future. In place of taking failure for granted, won’t it be a wise decision for anyone to consider trying to pursue what possibly could be a successful endeavor?
Human nature and sensibilities mold us in such a way that we entertain negative thoughts or unconstructive arguments easily and readily, as it takes too much effort to discover the positive aspect of something and to have faith in it.
The concept of ‘integration of value’
Psychologists at Tel Aviv University’s School of Psychological Sciences carried out extensive research on this topic. They concluded that instinct-based decisions produce desired results, which are both positive and constructive. According to their research, the human brain can sense the best solution every time. It works really fast and often produces surprisingly positive outcomes. Prof Marius Usher, who headed this particular study, and his colleagues focused on the concept of ‘integration of value36’, which means creating an overall picture of a situation by considering both positive and negative factors.
Psychologists asked volunteers to concentrate on the left and right columns of a computer screen, which displayed some pairs of numbers. They asked the volunteers to consider all the numbers, irrespective of their position on the screen, as a group. Since the numbers were changing very fast, participants found it difficult to memorize the numbers. They had to rely on intuitive arithmetic to guess the correct answer. Psychologists were surprised to see the exceptional calculating speeds of participants. On top of that, most of their calculations were correct. This further explains the remarkable ability of the human brain, which integrates different values correctly when asked to do so intuitively.
Intuitions, passion, and instincts are not always wrong. Instead, at times, they may help you choose the right course when you find yourself confused by too many options. Too many options create chaos or confusion in the human mind and discourage its ability to choose the obviously correct option. Nonetheless, if we can take some time out of our reservations, those hazy alternatives will be reduced to nothing. Instincts, thus, promote rational thinking and hence allow individuals to get surprisingly accurate results.
Sometimes, doubt is good
Certainty about anything makes you careless or overconfident, which further translates into recklessness or a devil-may-care attitude. Uncertainty, on the other hand, keeps you vigilant and prepares you mentally for the challenge ahead, since you always know that things or future incidents may be different from what you expect them to be. Your commitment, foresightedness, and efforts will surely pay rich dividends, though you need to be intuitive in your actions.
Sometimes, we confuse our fears with intuition, which make us pessimistic about upcoming events or life in general. Such misinterpretations can force us to make bad decisions or choose the wrong way. Intuition, on the other hand, guides us to the right way of tackling future problems. We can rely on our inner guidance, a powerful feeling, hunch, instinct or gut feeling to infer something positive from our cognitive considerations – don’t include rash inferences, mind you! Then again, we should understand what our intuitions mean to us and accordingly, ready ourselves mentally to accept challenges.
