Is It Intuition or Anxiety? Learning to Trust Yourself Again

By Dr. Arati Bhatt | SereinMind

You get a gut feeling. Something feels “off.” But then doubt creeps in.

Is this my intuition warning me? Or is this just anxiety speaking?

This confusion is incredibly common—especially for people who have experienced trauma, gaslighting, or chronic self-doubt and learning to tell the difference between inner wisdom and inner worry is one of the most powerful parts of the healing process.

“When you’ve been taught to ignore your truth, even peace can feel unfamiliar.”— Dr. Arati Bhatt, Counselling Psychologist – SereinMind

Why the Line Between Intuition and Anxiety Gets Blurry

Anxiety and intuition both show up as inner signals—gut feelings, thoughts, physical sensations. But while intuition is calm, grounded, and quietly confident, anxiety is fast, fear-driven, and urgent.

Still, many of us lose touch with our intuition because:

• We were taught to override our feelings (e.g., "You're being dramatic.")

• We experienced gaslighting or emotional invalidation

• We lived in survival mode for so long that hypervigilance became normal

• We internalized shame for having needs or boundaries

In other words, if your system has been conditioned to expect threat, anxiety may start impersonating intuition.

How to Tell the Difference: Intuition vs. Anxiety

Feature	Intuition	Anxiety
Tone	Calm, neutral, grounded	Fast, panicked, racing
Focus	Present-moment clarity	Future-oriented fear
Feeling	Quiet certainty	Inner chaos or urgency
Body	Gentle awareness	Tension, nausea, tight chest
Intention	Guidance and protection	Control or avoidance

Intuition whispers. Anxiety shouts.

But here’s the catch: when your nervous system is dysregulated, those signals can feel the same.

Signs You're Operating From Anxiety

• You feel the need to act immediately or something bad will happen

• You're ruminating or looping through worst-case scenarios

• You seek excessive reassurance or over-research

• Your thoughts are catastrophizing or all-or-nothing

• You feel disconnected from your body, breath, or gut sense

Signs You're Tuning Into Intuition

• A quiet, persistent knowing

• A felt sense of “rightness” or “this isn’t for me”

• Clarity that arises after you’ve paused or grounded

• Gentle nudges rather than desperate demands

• It respects your boundaries instead of overriding them

  
  

Rebuilding Self-Trust After Trauma or Gaslighting

If you’ve been taught to distrust your own reality—by caregivers, partners, or systems—you may feel disconnected from your internal compass. But it is possible to reconnect.

Here’s how to begin.

1. Pause Before You React

When a strong feeling hits, practice pausing. Ask:

• “Is this a grounded yes/no?”

• “What’s the story I’m telling myself right now?”

• “Do I feel expansive or contracted?”

Often, anxiety demands action now. Intuition is okay with waiting.

2. Regulate Your Nervous System

You can’t hear your intuition clearly from a dysregulated state. Use grounding practices like:

• Deep breathing or vagus nerve exercises

• Holding a weighted object

• Cold water on wrists or face

• Mindful walking or body scans

Once you're regulated, revisit the situation. Does the signal feel different?

3. Journal Your Internal Signals

Start tracking moments when you thought it was intuition or anxiety—and how it turned out. Over time, you'll see patterns:

• “That panic didn’t lead to anything real.”

• “That quiet feeling was right—I just didn’t trust it.”

4. Talk It Through With a Therapist

Sometimes it’s hard to sort these feelings alone—especially if you’ve experienced emotional manipulation, neglect, or trauma. Therapy helps you reconnect to your inner cues in a safe, supported way.

Ready to rebuild your inner compass? Work with Dr. Arati Bhatt at SereinMind and learn how to distinguish fear from wisdom with clarity and compassion.

What Rebuilding Self-Trust Looks Like

• Saying no even if you can’t justify it

• Honoring your first gut feeling

• Letting go of the need to explain yourself

• Allowing rest without guilt

• Trusting that your body remembers the truth—even when your mind is confused

  
  

Your Intuition Is Still There

You may have doubted yourself. You may have been told you were "too sensitive" or "overthinking."You may have learned to fear your own instincts.

But your intuition isn’t broken—it’s just buried beneath years of noise.

And as you heal, that quiet inner voice—the one that protects, nudges, and honours you—will grow stronger.

Begin your journey of emotional clarity with Dr. Arati Bhatt, and reclaim the self-trust that has always belonged to you.