Are you a human encyclopedia but with feelings?
Would you say curiosity is the driving force behind all your ambitions?
Are you a Gemini?
The last one aside, these are a few of the signs that can mean you’re more perceptive than the average person.
And here’s 11 more!
1) You need a lot of time to yourself to process life.
It’s not a want, it’s a need!
If you feel and think deeply, you probably want the space and time to do so without distractions. And when you process your experiences, you probably come up with deep, profound conclusions.
People might say you think too hard or are considering too much of everything. But you’re not doing this to make your life more complicated. In fact, this is how you stay sane.
It helps you feel deeply connected with yourself and what you need. Which probably makes you very independent!
2) You have insane pattern-recognition skills.
Because you have an extensive understanding of yourself, you’re able to extend that to your understanding of the rest of the world.
That probably makes it easier for you to see people for who they are and recognize when there’s discrepancies in their actions versus their words.
It can be hard to trust yourself when you feel like you see beyond what others show you. But embrace it!
It will keep you sane in the long-run by growing a sacred trust with yourself.
3) You enjoy learning new things.
Like I mentioned earlier, if you’re perceptive, you’re motivated by your curiosity.
If you like to occupy your time by investing in your intellect and experiencing new things, you’re a lot more perceptive than the average person.
Because by engaging in new experiences with an open mind, you’re consciously affirming that the world is beyond what you thought it was.
And you’re able to learn something new rather than affirm what you thought you already knew.
That probably gives you room to hold a lot of space for objectivity and opportunities for unique insights!
4) You have a lot of compassion.
Not only are you intellectually complex, but you’re able to make space for emotional complexities through your introspections.
If you make a practice of analyzing yourself and accepting your complexities, you probably do it for others as well. And understand that all human beings have their share of struggles and ways of coping with it.
Of course, there’s a healthy way to do this, but I find that a lot of perceptive people think deeply about other people’s behaviour in an attempt to understand them.
If you find yourself spending time trying to understand others, you probably also find that:
5) People trust you and often come to you for advice.
Almost like you’re their second brain!
You’re able to help people not from the perspective of what you would do if you were them, but rather how they might benefit from doing things their way.
Almost like you’re more keen on helping people see their blind spots, rather than emphasizing their fears.
That’s when opinion becomes insight.
6) You challenge your perspectives.
Just as you would help others overcome their obstacles, if you find yourself always striving for objectivity, you probably enjoy having open debates in your head.
That’s a sign your objective isn’t to win an argument, but rather come to a conclusion that gives you a better understanding of all sides.
You might get stuck in analysis paralysis and we all need a second brain sometimes to get out of a rut. But you manage to come out of it looking extra shiny.
Like a devil’s advocate but instead of the devil, it’s two angels that want the best for each other.
Whatever that means.
7) You wait before reacting.
Have you ever been sleep-deprived and found that your thoughts are immensely different than they would be if you were well rested?
Or how your inner dialogue changes when you’ve had caffeine?
Whether you wait before you believe everything you read, or wait until the morning to make a big decision, you see value in not indulging in impulsivity.
Perceptive people notice these subtle differences in themselves, and they try not to identify with them. But maybe use them as tools to tap into different headspaces!
Or avoid certain headspaces.
8) You learn from other people’s mistakes.
Speaking of deeply analyzing external stimuli and how they affect your internal information!
Not in like, a critical way where you berate someone. But in a way that makes you imagine what it would be like to be on the receiving end of someone’s behaviour.
And whatever conclusions you make about how it made you feel, you might use it to help yourself become more considerate!
A lot of perceptive people tend to be considerate without trying because when you’re super aware, it’s less likely to make mistakes that stem from ignorance.
Not to say they’re perfect, but they have the gift of foresight.
It’s quite an incredible duality to be so socially aware, yet need so much time to yourself.
9) You’re interested in seeing the bigger picture.
And it’s only getting bigger as you get older.
You probably have ever-changing opinions on the meaning of life, the universe, and what it all means.
On a “smaller” scale, you might see the multiple outcomes of a decision before others can. You probably can do math in your head with these thoughts and categorize them based on their benefits and what not.
Plugging in different circumstances and doing a version of fortune telling that no one can deny makes at least a little bit of sense.
10) You see the good in everything.
It’s easy to feel pessimistic and indulge in what’s going wrong. And let those thoughts infiltrate every other idea or thought you have.
It takes real outside-of-the-box thinking to see the good in situations and people.
It’s one thing for those good things to overshadow your judgment, but being able to perceive the good, bad, ugly, handsome, and funny is a skill.
So while you can see a million different possibilities, you’re able to pick out the most favourable based on what you need. Like I said before, it’s like real-life math!
The only time algebra is relevant in life scenarios.
11) You know there’s a time and place for everything.
If there’s an unspoken vibe in the room, you can probably catch on to it. Or maybe you just know when you’re supposed to give a friend practical advice versus listen to them vent.
It’s something that you can’t quite put a finger on or articulate using words. Because it’s something that you intuitively feel.
For perceptive people, it goes beyond reading a room or being of service. It’s like you inherently view spaces as places of collaboration. Where, even if you’re aware of it or not, you are contributing to a collective energy.
And they want to contribute without disrupting the flow of things too much. Which can mean anything.
I think this stems from perceptive people’s innate desire for learning, particularly through social learning.
Alternatively, if you’re unsure, you’re probably the type to just ask what they need or how you can help.
Being perceptive is like having the most exquisite access to a library where the topics and areas of interest are like… tailored to you.
But imagine having interests that range from the history of everything, to what your friend wants in a husband and why.
And then all these imaginary publications are constantly learning from one another to create new conclusions.
We love to see it.
