Have you ever felt the energy in a room change when someone walked in?
Or have a strong feeling that people were talking about you behind your back?
Maybe you’ve instantly had a bad sensation about someone you just met. You couldn’t put your finger on it, but something felt very “off” about this person…
If you experience these things frequently, you’re NOT going crazy. These are all signs that you are highly attuned to your intuition.
Intuition exists inside us all, but some people are more connected to it than others.
Being highly intuitive means you can read other people exceptionally well. As a highly intuitive person myself, here are the eight things I commonly sense about the people around me…
1) Change in emotional state
Many highly intuitive people are excellent at reading people’s emotions.
This is known as being an intuitive empath; according to Judith Orloff, author of “The Empath’s Survival Guide,” an intuitive empath is one of the three types of empaths.
Intuitive empaths can sense the overall emotion of someone they have just met and instantly feel a change in emotional state within their loved ones.
Here’s an example…
If their partner had a bad day at work and is feeling stressed, an intuitive person will know as soon as they set eyes on them. Some highly intuitive people may even sense this before seeing their partner.
If you’re highly intuitive, reading emotions can be a great gift as it allows you to tactfully adjust your communication to match the person’s emotional state.
Because of this, intuitive people are often seen as compassionate, understanding, and like they “just get it.”
But be careful, though, because other’s emotional states can alter your own.
How?
It’s all to do with energy…
2) Overall energy
You’ll often hear intuitive people talking about vibes.
If you’re not very intuitive, it can be difficult to understand what they mean by the vibes of a person, place, or situation.
So let me explain….
Everything in the universe operates at a particular frequency (vibration), including fixed objects and living things.
Each person vibrates at their own frequency, which changes depending on their physical, mental, and emotional state.
In general, people in good health and in a high emotional state, like happiness, love, or gratitude, will vibrate at high frequency, giving off good energy, which can make those around them feel good.
However…
If someone is sick, stressed, depressed, or in another low emotional state, they will vibrate at a lower frequency. Being around someone with a very low vibration can also lower your energy.
Intuitive people are very sensitive to the energy of others.
Talking with someone feeling pessimistic can lower their mood while socializing with someone in a high vibration can make them feel more positive, happy, and alive.
3) Troubling thoughts
Along with understanding someone’s emotional state and energy, some highly intuitive people possess mind-reading abilities.
Not to the extent of Mel Gibson in the movie “What Women Want,” but highly intuitive people can sometimes pick up on a recurring and troubling thought a loved one is having.
For example, you might be able to sense:
- What your partner is thinking about a particular situation
- What is on your parent’s mind
- A difficulty a close friend is dealing with
If you’re intuitive, you might pick up on these things through conversation and interaction with the person based on their body language, tone of voice, and overall energy.
This, combined with your knowledge of this person, you can pinpoint exactly what is on your loved one’s mind.
Here’s another thing highly intuitive people can sense about those they know well…
4) Unspoken needs
As intuitive people can sense someone’s emotions and thoughts, they can often understand exactly what they need.
For example, you might sense that someone is feeling very sad, but they give off energy that they want to be left alone rather than talk about it.
Or, you might sense that someone is angry because no one is listening to them, so you decide to hold space for that person.
This is another wonderful gift of being attuned to your intuition.
5) Honesty & sincereness
Did you know that highly intuitive people are better at detecting lies than those who lack intuition?
Two combined studies published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology compared the accuracy of using intuitive vs. deliberative processing techniques in lie detection. Both experiments found that those who followed their intuition rather than used rational thought were better able to detect the truthfulness of someone.
So, if you feel you have a knack for noticing when someone is not honest or sincere with you, it’s because you’re highly attuned to your intuition.
6) Authenticity
Along with sensing lies, you might also be able to tell if the way a person is acting is authentic or not.
For example, in a large group scenario, intuitive people are good at sensing:
- If someone is molding themselves to try to fit in
- If someone doesn’t really want to be there
- If someone doesn’t like the person they are talking to
- If someone is trying to “suck up” to someone
In other words, intuitive people can spot people’s fakeness from a mile off, so they are less likely to get taken advantage of, conned, or used.
7) Compatibility
Intuitive people can sense a lot about the people they know well, but their senses are also pretty impressive regarding strangers.
One magnificent thing about having high intuition is instantly knowing if you “gel” with someone or not.
Within a few minutes of talking with someone, I can usually tell whether we have things in common, such as shared values, goals, and interests.
Therefore, I don’t have to waste time on people with whom I feel no connection or compatibility.
Even if you cannot sense this every time, you’ve likely had the experience at least once where you’ve met someone and instantly “clicked” or “hit it off right away.”
8) Red flags
Along with sensing if someone aligns with your values, if you’re highly intuitive, you may also know when to steer clear of someone.
Not because you’re incompatible…
But because they are toxic.
How?
Well, it comes back to energy.
While an angry or depressed person may give off bad vibes, the vibes an intuitive person will get from a narcissist would be off the scale.
If you’re connected to your intuition, you would instantly get a bad feeling about the person, which you would feel in your gut.
This is known as the “gut-brain connection,” a scientifically proven two-way communication system between the brain and the gut.
Essentially, how we feel (in general or towards someone) shows up as a physical sensation in the gut.
For example…
If you meet your friend’s new partner and feel uneasy in your stomach as you watch how this person talks or interacts, this could be your gut instinct telling you to warn your friend.
While we all have a gut instinct, recent research shows the quality and trustability of a person’s gut instincts depend on their emotional intelligence (EI), something intuitive people tend to have a high level of.
This explains why you may be the only person in your friendship group who thinks your friend’s new boyfriend is toxic.
As Jeremy Yip from Georgetown University found in his research studies, people with low EI often misread their own bodily signals.
So, your friend who is infatuated with their new partner may misread the anxiety in their gut as “butterflies” rather than a warning sign.
Final thoughts
If you’ve only recently noticed signs of high intuition, you may question whether you should trust your feelings.
One thing I’ve found about intuition is that the more you work on building it, the easier it is to trust.
There are many ways to do this, such as:
- Meditation
- Mindful moments throughout the day
- Body scans
- Keeping an intuition journal
Doing these activities is also highly beneficial if you struggle to connect to your intuition.
By developing a deeper relationship with your inner being and the world around you, you’ll become more aware of the energy and intentions of others and, thus, make better decisions.
