trust your gut? March 12, 2014 6:55 PM Subscribe
So a long time ago there was an AskMefi or Mefi post about something to do with intuition, and one of early comments was from someone whose mum and sister got a really bad feeling about going on a camping trip - but they turned out ok. Where was this?
This is the start of a great book. Like one of those "unexplained mysteries" or "truly amazing coincidences (by which we strongly mean to suggest they were not coincidences, but supernatural)" books. But this one would document all the (100% TRUE!) cases where someone had a premonition and nothing ever came of it.
It could potentially be a very thick book.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:28 AM on March 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
It could potentially be a very thick book.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:28 AM on March 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
But this one would document all the (100% TRUE!) cases where someone had a premonition and nothing ever came of it.
It could potentially be a very thick book.
Perhaps an endless volume set if we include the ones where people think that things will turn out exceptional, but fails to be anything but ordinary.
posted by Brian B. at 6:44 AM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
It could potentially be a very thick book.
Perhaps an endless volume set if we include the ones where people think that things will turn out exceptional, but fails to be anything but ordinary.
posted by Brian B. at 6:44 AM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
I had a premonition that if I just kept ploughing through that book, one of the premonitions in there would eventually turn out to have come true. But that very premonition turned up on page 508, so I stopped reading there.
Maybe if I had stuck with it...
posted by flabdablet at 7:51 AM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
Maybe if I had stuck with it...
posted by flabdablet at 7:51 AM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
I enjoy premonitions and gut feelings. It's an interesting state of mind to be in. I don't actually believe they signify anything external but they're fun to experience and I usually go with the flow just to explore that state of mind further.
The most intense experience I had was about 20 years ago when I still lived in Munich, Germany. It was later in the day during a nice spring Sunday afternoon and I was just hanging out in my apartment doing nothing in particular and having nowhere to go when I suddenly I had this intense urge to GET OUT OF THE APARTMENT NOW!!! It felt decidedly external like someone was yelling at me to get out, get out now and the intensity was incredibly urgent. I decided to let it play out, grabbed my jacket and keys and left.
The sense of being driven and pushed did not diminish quickly. Everything was urgent and I knew exactly where to go. Well, I did not know where to go in terms of a final end point... it was more like getting GPS directions. Go straight, now turn left, go, go, go, turn right, etc. It continued to feel external and extremely urgent and there was never any doubt about which way to go. I walked with a real purpose for about 40-50 minutes and ended up in a part of town I'd never been to and found myself in a small park. The sun was setting and the park had a lot of plants with reddish flowers (can't remember what they were exactly) and everything was quiet and peaceful and glowing in this soft, warm red of the sunset. It was so beautiful, almost otherworldly.
And that's when that sense of urgency and being commanded simply vanished. It was like waking up from a intense and busy dream.
Again, I do not believe that there was anything external at play or that there was any meaning to any of this and I think it's just one of those occasional hickups of the human brain/mind similar to experiences of deja vu etc. But I was glad that it provided me with an intense and unusual experience that ended on a true high note. I stayed in that park for an hour until the light was finally fading and then tried to find my way back.
Of course nothing of note had taken place at my apartment.
I still allow my gut feelings to play out quite often like when there's an urge to deviate from my usual commute or something. Again, not because I think there's anything "real" going on but because it's weirdly fun for me and sometimes takes me to interesting places I would never have sought out on purpose.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 12:33 PM on March 13, 2014 [11 favorites]
The most intense experience I had was about 20 years ago when I still lived in Munich, Germany. It was later in the day during a nice spring Sunday afternoon and I was just hanging out in my apartment doing nothing in particular and having nowhere to go when I suddenly I had this intense urge to GET OUT OF THE APARTMENT NOW!!! It felt decidedly external like someone was yelling at me to get out, get out now and the intensity was incredibly urgent. I decided to let it play out, grabbed my jacket and keys and left.
The sense of being driven and pushed did not diminish quickly. Everything was urgent and I knew exactly where to go. Well, I did not know where to go in terms of a final end point... it was more like getting GPS directions. Go straight, now turn left, go, go, go, turn right, etc. It continued to feel external and extremely urgent and there was never any doubt about which way to go. I walked with a real purpose for about 40-50 minutes and ended up in a part of town I'd never been to and found myself in a small park. The sun was setting and the park had a lot of plants with reddish flowers (can't remember what they were exactly) and everything was quiet and peaceful and glowing in this soft, warm red of the sunset. It was so beautiful, almost otherworldly.
And that's when that sense of urgency and being commanded simply vanished. It was like waking up from a intense and busy dream.
Again, I do not believe that there was anything external at play or that there was any meaning to any of this and I think it's just one of those occasional hickups of the human brain/mind similar to experiences of deja vu etc. But I was glad that it provided me with an intense and unusual experience that ended on a true high note. I stayed in that park for an hour until the light was finally fading and then tried to find my way back.
Of course nothing of note had taken place at my apartment.
I still allow my gut feelings to play out quite often like when there's an urge to deviate from my usual commute or something. Again, not because I think there's anything "real" going on but because it's weirdly fun for me and sometimes takes me to interesting places I would never have sought out on purpose.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 12:33 PM on March 13, 2014 [11 favorites]
Of course nothing of note had taken place at my apartment.
To this day, dear reader, H. Lobster lives oblivious to the changes.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:31 PM on March 13, 2014 [16 favorites]
To this day, dear reader, H. Lobster lives oblivious to the changes.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:31 PM on March 13, 2014 [16 favorites]
I have a theory about all of the people who say that they "knew" that their spouse was "the one" immediately upon meeting him/her or on the first date or whatever. I think it's the case of the Premonition That Keeps Recurring Until One Day It Comes True and then they forget all of the preceding instances.
posted by janey47 at 5:16 PM on March 13, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by janey47 at 5:16 PM on March 13, 2014 [6 favorites]
The end of that thread was creepy - toastchee never came back to say how the move went! What if the premonition came true?!?!
posted by medusa at 7:48 PM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by medusa at 7:48 PM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
toastchee did post a bunch of AskMe threads after that though, so presumably if some eldritch horror had actually happened some of the questions would've been like, "Need to exterminate gigantic tentacled ghostbugs in the greater Silent Hill area. Difficulty level: non-corporeal. Also, will Feliway help my cats stop chasing them? TIA"
posted by en forme de poire at 9:58 PM on March 13, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by en forme de poire at 9:58 PM on March 13, 2014 [6 favorites]
Janey47, I have archived email that proves your therory.
Also some postcards.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 9:47 AM on March 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
Also some postcards.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 9:47 AM on March 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
OK, ever since I posted that, it's been gnawing at me because it sounds flip and snarky, and I want to clarify just a tiny bit. I think it is common to everyone, upon meeting someone they think they might want to date, to subconsciously fill in gaps in information and to do so in the most positive way possible.
So, for example, I meet a guy who seems attractive and intelligent and that's all I know about him but I'm definitely intrigued. So I assume all good things about him and I also assume a perfect future with no disagreements or disconnects and before you know it, I've picked out the names of our grandchildren.
That's limerence and that's lovely and I think it's an important part of a relationship. I think it's really important to have completely unrealistic ideas about the person you're just getting to know so that, first of all, you give that person a chance at all, and then later, when things have progressed and you have a real relationship and it has become kind of quotidian, you can access the memory of those butterflies in your stomach, etc., and maybe get excited again about this person whose socks you're picking up every day.
I think it's a survival mechanism, just like the survival mechanism built into babbies, who have eyes that are large in relation to their faces so we've evolved to think this is adorable so that we don't just toss them out the window when they fuss or are a bother. I think the Premonition mechanism makes us optimistic about our potential partners so that we don't automatically assume the worst about them and so never actually get to know them and so never give anyone any real chance and so we never make any more babbies and the species dies out.
So I meant that as a joke, but one in the spirit of kindness, in case anyone read it and was hurt or offended.
posted by janey47 at 10:13 AM on March 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
So, for example, I meet a guy who seems attractive and intelligent and that's all I know about him but I'm definitely intrigued. So I assume all good things about him and I also assume a perfect future with no disagreements or disconnects and before you know it, I've picked out the names of our grandchildren.
That's limerence and that's lovely and I think it's an important part of a relationship. I think it's really important to have completely unrealistic ideas about the person you're just getting to know so that, first of all, you give that person a chance at all, and then later, when things have progressed and you have a real relationship and it has become kind of quotidian, you can access the memory of those butterflies in your stomach, etc., and maybe get excited again about this person whose socks you're picking up every day.
I think it's a survival mechanism, just like the survival mechanism built into babbies, who have eyes that are large in relation to their faces so we've evolved to think this is adorable so that we don't just toss them out the window when they fuss or are a bother. I think the Premonition mechanism makes us optimistic about our potential partners so that we don't automatically assume the worst about them and so never actually get to know them and so never give anyone any real chance and so we never make any more babbies and the species dies out.
So I meant that as a joke, but one in the spirit of kindness, in case anyone read it and was hurt or offended.
posted by janey47 at 10:13 AM on March 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
I have mixed feelings - and never thought J47 was cold hearted.
Yes, being open and optimistic is the way to go. But then we end up with the type of person who only records their hits telling some pie-eyed naif or sensibly cautious young person (or bruised older person who is suddenly back in the game) a self-serving fairy story about
One-True-Love as though it's always real and the only way so that the pie-eyed is advised to over commit and the sensibly cautious is made feel cold and unloving or else wasting time with someone who is not "the ONE."
Also, people get gooey for all sorts of reasons and it really seems to me that at best only 60 percent of those reasons have everything to do with what the gooey person imagines their image and role in the world is, and very little if anything to do with the other person. (At worst - 110 percent based on personal fantasy. Negative 10 percent based on aggressively denying known facts about other person.)
posted by Lesser Shrew at 10:55 AM on March 14, 2014
Yes, being open and optimistic is the way to go. But then we end up with the type of person who only records their hits telling some pie-eyed naif or sensibly cautious young person (or bruised older person who is suddenly back in the game) a self-serving fairy story about
One-True-Love as though it's always real and the only way so that the pie-eyed is advised to over commit and the sensibly cautious is made feel cold and unloving or else wasting time with someone who is not "the ONE."
Also, people get gooey for all sorts of reasons and it really seems to me that at best only 60 percent of those reasons have everything to do with what the gooey person imagines their image and role in the world is, and very little if anything to do with the other person. (At worst - 110 percent based on personal fantasy. Negative 10 percent based on aggressively denying known facts about other person.)
posted by Lesser Shrew at 10:55 AM on March 14, 2014
I walked with a real purpose for about 40-50 minutes and ended up in a part of town I'd never been to and found myself in a small park.
I love playing "what if." So "what if" you were at that park for a reason? Perhaps your mere presence didn't allow some tragedy to happen (like someone being attached there?).
posted by Sassyfras at 1:48 PM on March 14, 2014
I love playing "what if." So "what if" you were at that park for a reason? Perhaps your mere presence didn't allow some tragedy to happen (like someone being attached there?).
posted by Sassyfras at 1:48 PM on March 14, 2014
GET OUT OF THE APARTMENT NOW!!!
Or you'll miss the beautiful sunset!!!
posted by yohko at 4:46 PM on March 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
Or you'll miss the beautiful sunset!!!
posted by yohko at 4:46 PM on March 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
Richard Feynman did something like this in one of his books. "Had a strong premonition my mother would call. She didn't. Just wanted to add that to the data pool."
Extreme paraphrase.
posted by Trochanter at 6:43 AM on March 16, 2014
Extreme paraphrase.
posted by Trochanter at 6:43 AM on March 16, 2014
This reminds me of the line in Men Who Stare at Goats:
Lyn Cassady: There's a story that Wong Wifu, the great Chinese martial artist... had a fight with a guy and beat him. Then the guy gave him this light tap. Wong looked at him and the guy just nodded. That was it. He had given him the death touch. Wong died.
Bob Wilton: Then and there?
Lyn Cassady: No. About eighteen years later. That's the thing about Dim Mak... you never know when it's gonna take effect.
posted by Capri at 12:11 PM on March 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
Lyn Cassady: There's a story that Wong Wifu, the great Chinese martial artist... had a fight with a guy and beat him. Then the guy gave him this light tap. Wong looked at him and the guy just nodded. That was it. He had given him the death touch. Wong died.
Bob Wilton: Then and there?
Lyn Cassady: No. About eighteen years later. That's the thing about Dim Mak... you never know when it's gonna take effect.
posted by Capri at 12:11 PM on March 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
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posted by paperback version at 11:20 PM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]