A recent event in my life affirmed something I have always believed but do not always follow — that we all have a gut instinct (or spidey sense) that if listened to, can help steer us in the right direction and away from situations and people that aren’t good for us.

Our current culture values science, logic, fact, and proof over things like intuition. These days, a gut instinct is dismissed as something akin to superstition, horoscopes, or listening to palm readers.

But I would argue it is anything but. It is a very primitive but ancient defense mechanism, a way to avoid danger in a dangerous world. It happens somewhere is the subconscious mind, or the brain stem and because of this people want to believe “higher reasoning” is better. But is it?

Like I said a recent situation had me examining the result of not heeding my spidey sense enough. I had always thought that spidey sense came from an emotional place. But as I examined the choices I was making I realized the spidey sense was advocating for logic, my higher reasoning was advocating based on emotion. That was an “ah ha” moment for me.

The truth is our minds are always taking in huge amounts of data, but we are only consciously aware of a fraction of it because otherwise it would be overwhelming. And of course we often don’t get to see what would have happened otherwise, had we taken path A over B.

However I cannot recall a single instance in my life where listening to my spidey sense led me down a path that was not in my best interest and how many times ignoring it has.

One frequent commenter who is a soldier and has spent many a day on the front line in dangerous territory swears it’s all about the spidey sense. He is alive today because he listens to it. He’s so tuned into it, it doesn’t whisper, it screams.

Another commenter reported that spidey sense can be easily dismissed because it often surfaces long before the actual cause of it does. At the time, you don’t really understand what is “off” about a situation, you just sense that it is. The common reaction is to wait for conformation the spidey sense was right, however by that time it is often much more difficult to cope with the consequences of not heeding it earlier.

I for one and going to start to honor my spidey sense, and to keep a journal so I can see for myself if it is just hokey pokey or if indeed my life and decisions I am making are an improvement.

Do you believe in spidey sense? Can you think of a time you wish you had, or hadn’t listened to it? Please share your thoughts in the comments!