THE TRUTH ABOUT: People share we need to leave now moments - The Untold Story

Not everything in life can be explained. Some things are just felt... and need to be trusted.

We all have intuition. But not all of ours is the same. “It’s shaped by a combination of biological wiring and life experience,” says psychologist Smriti Joshi. “We often think of it as a feeling that comes from nowhere, but in reality, it’s your nervous system picking up on subtle cues — changes in facial expression, tone of voice, body language — and matching them to patterns stored from past experiences."

According to Joshi, our brains create shortcuts based on what has felt safe or unsafe in the past. "That’s why gut instinct feels so personal: it’s not just general intuition, it’s your intuition, shaped by your own story.”

Joshi says gut instinct is an evolutionary trait, and served as an important survival mechanism for our ancestors.

“Long before we had the ability to rationalize or weigh up pros and cons, our ancestors relied on fast, instinctive responses to threats,” explains the expert. “Today, we still benefit from that wiring. Gut instinct helps us respond quickly when something feels off, even if we can’t immediately explain why.”

Because our gut feelings are shaped by our own, individual stories, they're not always accurate. “It can sometimes be distorted — especially if past trauma, anxiety, or unconscious bias is in the mix," says Joshi. "It’s also possible for gut instinct to misfire when we’re overly stressed or tired.”

But that's not to say you should ignore your intuition just because of your past. Instead, the expert advises that you learn to tune into your inner voice. When something feels off, ask yourself: "is this feeling rooted in fear, in pattern recognition, or something else?”

Jonathan Page is a professor, cognitive neuroscientist and co-founder of the World is Round, LLC. He's spent much of his career researching physiological responses to stress and how stress influences behavior. According to Page, your mind is your most valuable weapon when it comes to protecting yourself.

"The 'threat detector' system in your brain (largely the amygdala) offers 24-hour surveillance. When a threat is detected, the alarm bells sound, jump-starting your fight-or-flight system," explains the expert, adding that you must then use conscious awareness to either confirm or dispel the threat.

According to Page, the "threat detector" in your brain works by gathering information from the environment and comparing it to an expected pattern. "If the pattern doesn’t match up with expectations, the alarms are sounded," he says, adding that the key is to develop an elaborate pattern recognition system.

Page notes that gut feelings can be as faint as a slight twinge in the stomach or strong enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. "Allowing those feelings to surface is the first step, but then you must do something with them."

Like Joshi, Page advises that when your inner alarm starts sounding, you should ask yourself “Why?”

"Obviously your subconscious saw a pattern that didn’t match expectations: What was that pattern? Figure out why the alarm bells were sounded," he says. "If the answer is not immediately obvious, then be cautious. Sometimes the threat is only discovered later."

Maggie Blyth, former national chief officer lead for policing on Britain's Violence against Women and Girls, encourages women in particular to report things that feel "off." Just because gut instinct isn’t evidence of a society/">crime doesn't mean it can't be investigated.

“Gut instinct is a powerful thing and we often hear of women who felt a sense of danger or unease in situations when they were right to listen to their gut and get help,” Blyth told Refinery 29. Reporting something “that doesn’t feel quite right” so the police can check it out for themselves is "never wasting police time,” Blyth says.