As I slowly began working with my intuition as an adult, I became aware of how it could influence my decision-making, and I questioned that influence. Should I trust my intuition unthinkingly simply because it exists? Is its influence always beneficial? If so, to whom?

Being a logical person, I knew I needed to understand my ability enough to determine if the influences derived from my intuitive moments could be considered within my ethical parameters. I prefer starting with facts and a broad base of verifiable knowledge but in this case, I could find very little other than the fact everyone agreed intuition is real. So, I approached my research from another direction: crowdsourcing anecdotal musings to discover if there was anything close to a unified personal gnosis on the subject and compare what I found with my experiences. I hoped I could glean enough information to help me find an answer.

I began with intuition's standard and suitably vague definition: "The ability to understand something immediately without the need for conscious reasoning." I found no new insights, and it raised far more questions than it answered. Where does intuition come from? Does everyone have this ability? How does it present itself?

Through my research, I learned we have an instinct alerting us to imminent situations outside ourselves. We might identify it as a feeling without adequately describing its form. An example might be our reactions to danger, such as when we want to move away or avoid an area or the hairs on our body begin to rise for no reason we can consciously discern.

For many, this primal instinct has evolved into something more. As with every evolutionary trait, it exists along a spectrum, and as far as I could tell, I was probably on the more sensitive end. As I searched, I found descriptions of how others experienced this ability. Everyone perceived and interpreted their experiences differently, but most fell into a few distinct groups. Experiences of bodily sensations and dreams were common; others discussed hearing inner voices or musical scores. (1) My intuitive ability seemed to pull from most of the experiences described and incorporated unexplained insights more often. Search as I did; I could not find any reference to what I called the shimmer, which I experience when my empathic abilities overlay my intuition.

I have no way of knowing if the way I utilized this ability was common among others; the act was always described in a stand-alone manner, existing separately from all other aspects of our minds. My intuition integrated and worked in my mind in a way I can't explain adequately with words alone. If I were to try, I would say my intuition would come to bear on a situation and send the knowledge to my subconscious, which would combine it with information gathered from my senses and my unconscious minds. In many ways, this facet of my psyche was my data analyst and my strategist. When immediate urgency wasn't required, the knowledge from my intuitive ability was simply data my mental self could use to assemble my options.

I have an unprovable theory: What the world considers intuition is linked to other extrasensory perceptions (2) and comes from our instinctual and unconscious relationship to everything around us. I believe our intuition is part of a widening of our genuine connection to the totality existing outside ourselves, and if it is present, it can be strengthened. Everything I know and have experienced through all these years continues to find a place within my theory.

Even without the influence of my intuition, I considered what making a decision actually meant. How important was it to find a decision-making process I could trust? I looked at the definition of decision: "A conclusion or resolution reached after consideration," which was slightly more straightforward than the previous definition. But what needed to be considered? How much emphasis should be placed upon which considerations?

We all make decisions countless times a day. Some are instinctual and require no thought, while we consider other acts trivial. However, the law of unintended consequences (3) applies to every one of us daily. When we choose something as simple as what to eat for breakfast, does the reason we do so really matter? What are the ramifications and the repercussions of a particular action? Even unintentionally, the ripples from our actions may spread out and affect others, even those we don't know personally. When our decisions impact more than ourselves, does it matter how many or who? How do we balance our wants now against their needs later? How do we know when our choice is truly consequential?

The honest answer is we can never know how far the consequences of our actions will ripple in the grand fabric of humanity's progress. We can't always know who else or how many others will be influenced. As someone who believes we are all connected, I choose to treat every conscious choice as consequential and ensure my efforts fit within my ethical and moral framework.

Along with every action comes the need for more choices, each leading to the next. Sometimes, the choices appear slowly and in a linear manner, allowing us time to sit with the knowledge we gain until all becomes clear. Other times, the choices jump, never seeming to be related until it is too late to change anything. And there are always going to be times when swift decisions are required. I find my intuition most useful in these last situations, but never as the only factor. I've also learned that while I can trust the outcomes provided by my intuition, my interpretations before the fact may be fallible.

Take our first full day in the Habitat after we arrived on our tour. My intuition was strong, and I knew what it wanted. But, while I thought I knew why it was pulling me, I was wrong.