How do I tell the difference between my intuition and my trauma response?

Full Question: “Maybe I’m too in my own head with this one, but I have a hard time figuring out the difference between what my gut is telling me or if it’s just a trauma response coming from my past experiences. How can I tell the difference?

Response:

Ah, the million-dollar question—especially for those who’ve been hurt and have worked hard to become more self-aware.

Intuition tends to feel calm, grounded, and quietly certain. It’s a knowing that doesn’t need to shout. Trauma responses, on the other hand, often feel urgent, loud, or emotionally flooded: fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.

But here's the trick: sometimes trauma can masquerade as intuition because it lives in the body, too. If you've been betrayed, dismissed, or unsafe in past relationships, your nervous system might scan for threat even when none is present.

So what do you do?

You slow down. You get curious. You track the difference between reactivity and resonance. You ask:

• Is this feeling expansive or contracting?

• Am I acting out of fear or integrity?

• Is this about the current situation, or does it feel familiar from my past?

Part of healing is building your ability to tolerate uncertainty while staying in relationship with yourself and others. Your body has wisdom. It just needs support untangling the past from the present.