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May 22, 2025 17 mins

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Here's the truth about that "bad feeling" you can't shake.. you know.. the one you had when you spiraled over that text, replayed a conversation 100 times, or felt a knot in your stomach and wondered—Is this my intuition warning me… or just fear playing tricks on me? 

Today you’ll learn how to finally tell the difference between your inner wisdom and your old survival patterns—so you can stop second-guessing yourself and start building real trust with your own intuition.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

  • Why many highly sensitive people mistake fear for intuition—and what to do about it
  • How past trauma creates "false alarms" that feel very real
  • The physical differences between fear and intuition in your body
  • Why intuition feels calm and expansive—while fear feels tight and urgent
  • How fear often disguises itself as logic (“I’m just being realistic…”)
  • 5 practical tools to help you tell the difference between fear and intuition:
    • The 10-second body check
    • The 24–48 hour time test
    • The “Best Friend” perspective shift
    • Journaling to connect with your intuition
    • The worst-case scenario exercise
  • How to know when it’s a true intuitive nudge vs. emotional reactivity

Challenge for the Week:

Choose a current situation where you're feeling uncertain or emotionally activated.
Apply the 10-second body check and ask:
💭 “If I say yes to this, how does my body feel?”
💭 “If I say no, what shifts inside me?”


Then journal using the prompt:
🖊️ What does my intuition have to say about this?
Let your body—not your fear—lead the way.

Work With Me:

If you're ready to stop living in your head and start living in alignment with your inner knowing, I’d love to support you.


My coaching packages are designed for those who want to reclaim their energy, trust their intuition, and create balance in relationships.

✨ Curious? email me at maryann@maryannwalker.life and lets talk! 

Don’t Forget to Subscribe:

Don’t miss future episodes on emotional mastery, energetic boundaries, and deep healing.
Follow the podcast so you never miss a chance to reconnect with your authentic self.

Links Mentioned in This Episode:

Join my email list and get a FREE GIFT! https://maryannwalker-life.ck.page/3da1fd88a9

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Have you ever felt a pit in yourstomach and wondered, is this my
intuition warning me, or just myfear Trying to protect me?
If you have wrestled with thatquestion, you are not alone.
When you can't trust yourself,you end up second guessing your
decisions, doubting yourfeelings, or handing your power
away.
And the truth is that many of uswere never taught how to trust

(00:21):
ourselves.
I remember going to a cacaoceremony with a very intuitive
friend of mine, and at one pointduring the ceremony, she reached
out and she touched my arm, andit was very nice.
I felt a lot of affection inthat touch.
But after the ceremony, when wegot to talking, then she said,
well, when I touched you, Ireceived the impression that we
are not friends.
And I was shocked because I hadinvited her.

(00:44):
And I thought that we werefriends, I invited her because I
thought we were friends.
So once I got over my shock.
I could tell that she was reallyspiraling, even though in this
moment we were really enjoyingour time together.
Then her insecurities about thetime between our hangouts was
feeding her fear about therelationship, which had her
wondering if she was too much,too little or said the wrong

(01:05):
thing.
She was convinced that this washer intuition speaking, when
really it was her fear.
Insecurity.
And I'm so glad that she saidsomething so that I could speak
up and kind of set the recordstraight because that wasn't how
I was feeling at all.
And while it can be really easyto see in other people when
they're allowing fear to drivethe train, then I wanna remind

(01:25):
you that this is something thatwe all experience from time to
time.
We've all done this before.
So think about that time whenthe other person didn't respond
to your text right away, ormaybe they didn't respond at all
and you assumed that they didn'tlike you anymore.
Or what about that time when youwere at that party and then
afterwards you kept replayingevery single word in every
exchange at that party, livingin the insecurity around"I don't

(01:49):
know if they're ever gonna callme again.
I think I might have blown it,"but these stories may not be
true.
So if you've ever sat therewondering whether that
uncomfortable feeling thatyou're having is a warning sign,
or if it's just an old fearplaying tricks on you, then this
episode is for you.
Now, I want you to know also aswe're talking about this fear,
I'm not talking about thosetimes when you are seriously in

(02:11):
danger, okay?
I'm talking about those timeswhen we're experiencing a fear
response, even when we're safe.
Okay?
There's a big difference there.
So first, let's talk a littlebit about understanding fear
versus intuition.
Fear comes from pastexperiences, trauma or
conditioning.
For example, you felt abandonedonce before.

(02:32):
So now when somebody doesn'ttext back right away, you
immediately fear that you'rebeing abandoned all over again.
Or maybe after your relationshipwith your hypercritical ex, then
even gentle feedback during yourwork performance review, it can
feel like a personal attack.
Or maybe because yourmother-in-law often criticized
your parenting, then you findyourself overreacting and

(02:53):
feeling extremely defensive whena friend shares some
well-meaning advice forsomething that really worked
well for them.
Fear is often loud and anxious,and it can often come with a big
sense of urgency.
Okay.
The volume is usually attachedto that level of urgency, and it
also fills your mind with whatifs.
So like, what if they don't likeme?
What if I lose my job?

(03:14):
What if I say the wrong thing?
What if they leave me?
You probably have a lot of storyaround your fear.
A story with the volume turnedall the way up.
You're thinking it's happeningagain, or you're thinking, well,
I know it's eventually going tohappen, and so you keep
replaying that in your mind.
So notice what's happening inyour mind when you're
experiencing fear, and alsonotice what's happening for you

(03:35):
in your body.
In the body, then fear feelstight.
It can feel panicky andconstrictive, and you may feel
very anxious and have a hardtime sitting still.
Or maybe your body is sittingstill, but your mind is still
really racing and having a hardtime being still and quiet
internally.
It can feel so loud and sointense at times that oftentimes

(03:57):
we can actually mistake it forintuition, but intuition is
gonna feel a bit different.
Intuition is softer.
It's more subtle.
It is slow, quiet, and steady.
It quiets the mind rather thanoverstimulating it.
It doesn't force urgency, butinstead then it's kind of just a
deep calm knowing.

(04:20):
In fact, you might even findthat instead of feeling panicked
by your intuition instead,you're almost curious about it.
Curious about that idea thatjust came to you that you hadn't
really considered before, butwhen you hear it, when it comes
to your mind, you're almost kindof neutral about it because it's
opening you up to possibility.
You're thinking, wow, I've neverconsidered that before.
Could that possibly be true?

(04:41):
How interesting! It shifts ittowards that open curiosity
rather than closing you off.
When you're experiencing thatfear response, so when you're
experiencing intuition, you'refeeling at peace, you have a
clear head, you feel open ratherthan closed like you do with
fear.
It's a deep calm knowing, not afrantic urgency.

(05:02):
In the body intuition, it feelsopen, clearheaded, and
expansive.
Now, some people might say,well, but intuition warns me
too, right?
So fear often is a warning sign.
Intuition can also be a warningsign, but the intuitive warnings
feel a little bit different.
When it's an intuitive warning,it can feel more like a gentle
tap on the shoulder rather thanan emotional earthquake.

(05:24):
So it might be a gentle, it'stime to buckle up, or maybe
you're thinking something like,I think it might be time to
start looking for a new job.
Or maybe, yeah, it might be timefor a change.
So notice that each of thosethoughts, they're a bit more
expansive, they move you forwardrather than keeping you stuck in
the moment.
Intuitive nudges.
Then they offer more expansivepaths rather than trapping you

(05:46):
in those old fear cycles andcreating resistance around your
current path.
You might even notice thatsometimes then fear disguises
itself as logic.
You might be thinking, well, I'mjust being realistic, or of
course this is true because Ican see all of the evidence.
But remember that your mind isconstantly going to be looking
for evidence that whatever it isthat you're thinking about is

(06:08):
true.
And that means sometimes itignores the things that seem
obvious to everybody elsebecause it's looking for all of
the things to back up what it isthat you are thinking and
thinking that that is true,right?
It wants to support your thoughtprocess.
So remember my friend from thatceremony in my mind, then
inviting her to this event,picking her up, bringing her

(06:28):
with me, choosing her overothers to attend this event with
me was ample evidence to me thatwe were friends, that she was
chosen.
But because she had a differentexpectation in the relationship
around how frequently we shouldbe spending time together or how
frequently we should be talking,then her fear was focused on the
gaps rather than being focusedon the quality time together and

(06:50):
the intention behind dedicatingtime for us to spend together.
Intuition looks at the wholepicture, not a selected
narrative.
In fact, there might not be anystory at all when it's an
intuitive knowing.
It's just a feeling.
And so sometimes this feeling,it might even feel illogical,
but it also feels deeply, right,like a new idea that you know

(07:12):
you didn't come up with on yourown.
One other way to think aboutthis is to just imagine yourself
going to a haunted house.
Now, we've all been to thesehaunted houses.
Some of us love them, some of ushate'em.
For me, it depends on the day,but it can be really interesting
attending these haunted housesbecause there's basically two
kinds of people that attendthem.
There's the people who attendand they scream through the

(07:32):
whole thing because they justknow that somebody's gonna jump
out at any moment.
And so they go through thehaunted house reacting through
their fear response.
And then there's the other kindof people that show up to these
where they do actually know thatsomebody is going to be jumping
out around any corner.
So when somebody does jump out,they're actually super chill

(07:53):
about it.
They might even wave and belike, oh, hey, how's it going?
And it almost diminishes theexperience because we're wanting
to go in and be scared.
So it can be very interesting tosee the difference between
someone who knows they're gonnajump out, so they're constantly
in fear, versus someone whoactually does know that
somebody's going to jump out,and so they're able to just
respond accordingly rather thanreact emotionally.

(08:17):
And acting versus reacting isthe difference between a fear
response and a clear response.
In fact, that can be one way toreally think about this is, am I
reacting through fear or am Ifeeling clear?
They're very, very different.
One of the main reasons whypeople have a hard time tuning
into their intuition is becauseof past pain.

(08:37):
For example, maybe theyexperience hurt or pain in a
relationship.
So now then their brainessentially wants to say, you
should listen to me instead ofto your heart.
Your heart got hurt because youweren't listening to me.
So stop listening to yourinstincts.
Stop listening to your intuitionand listen to me instead, and
then you'll never experiencepain again.

(08:58):
Now, I wanna make it clear thatjust because you have
experienced pain, it doesn'tmean that you don't have access
to your own inner knowing.
Things can change, people canchange.
Life happens.
It's part of the humanexperience.
So when you have experiencedpain, don't make it mean that
something's wrong with you.
This is part of the humanexperience and we're all
learning and evolving together,and sometimes having those

(09:21):
experiences where we have beenhurt, it can actually increase
our intuition and our personalawareness.
I get it.
That pain can be loud, so loudat times that it can be really
hard to really hear that quietknowing, but it doesn't mean
that you should no longer trustyourself.
So if you're hurting and ifyou're unsure how to trust

(09:41):
yourself, again, working with acoach can really help.
So come and work with me and letme remind you how powerful you
truly are.
We can look at those specificexamples of the events that have
occurred in your life and resetyour nervous system around them,
because oftentimes that feardoes keep us stuck in the past,
and then you can move forwardwith more clarity.
Getting one-on-one support ishonestly the most ideal.

(10:04):
But until then, I wanna justkind of share a few practical
things that you can do right nowto help you to distinguish
between your fear and yourintuition.
So the first tool I wanna offeryou is the ten second body
check.
Just take a little minute tocheck into your body, see how
your body feels and what'scoming up for you.
Remember that fear tightens andintuition expands.

(10:27):
Practice taking the time toidentify how both fear and
intuition feel in your body.
It's different for everybody, sotake some time to dedicate to
that.
In fact, you might even wannatake some time in your
meditation to just sit with whatdoes fear feel like for me, and
what does intuition feel likefor me?
And note the differences.

(10:49):
Tool number two is the timetest.
Fear tends to get louder andmore chaotic and more frantic
the more you sit with it.
Fear wants to scream at you andshow you all of the ways and all
of the reasons that you are notsafe right now.
It can serve a purpose whenyou're in actual danger.
Fear can help us to getourselves to safety, but today

(11:09):
we're talking about when we'renot in actual danger, but we're
just experiencing a perceiveddanger, and that perception of
there being danger or apotential danger is keeping us
stuck.
So fear over time gets louderand more intense the more you
sit with it.
Intuition, on the other hand, itstays steady, and it may even

(11:29):
become even clearer over time.
So if you're worried that afriend doesn't like you anymore
and your fear is coming in,intuition may resolve that fear
over time by reminding you ofall the ways that you and your
friend have connected in recentmonths.
It quiets the fear over time andit brings peace and a deep inner
knowing that everything is goingto be okay because you're

(11:51):
choosing to act rather thanreact emotionally.
So if after 24 to 48 hours, justkind of notice, okay, do I feel
more frantic around this?
Am I experiencing a fearresponse or am I feeling more
clear and more sure?
That may be your intuitionstepping in, right?
Tip number three is the bestfriend question.

(12:12):
Take some time to really imaginethat your best friend is facing
the exact same situation.
What would you tell them?
Sometimes having somebodyoutside of us, like a friend or
a coach, can help us to see oursituation more clearly when we
have become hyper-focused on thesingular mole hill that we have
managed to turn into our ownpersonal mountain.
So love yourself enough to stepback and look at the whole

(12:33):
picture.
Asking the question, what wouldI tell a friend in the same
situation helps us to step outof that fight, flight, or freeze
response or that fear response,and step into a clear response.
Remember, ask yourself, am Iexperiencing a fear response or
a clear response?
Fear clouds, judgment andintuition is clear.

(12:53):
So if you find yourself feelingmore confused instead of less
confused over time, you may beexperiencing that fear response.
All right.
Tip number four is journaling.
Journal to connect in with yourintuition.
So right at the top of yourpage, what does my intuition
have to say about this?
And then take a deep breath andthen write freely without any
judgment.
You might be very surprised whatcomes up for you.

(13:15):
And then also kind of notice aremy thoughts as I'm journaling on
this, are they calm andgrounded?
If so, that's probably yourintuition speaking, or are they
frantic and catastrophic?
Then that's your fear speaking.
So just kind of notice andobserve what shows up for you in
your journaling.
And to be honest, sometimes inthat fear does cloud our
intuition.
So sometimes it can be helpfulto just journal on the fear and

(13:39):
what it is you're so afraid of.
Then take a break and come backand look at it and see if you
can see things a little bit moreclearly.
It can be very, very helpful tojust set a timer, write out all
the frantic thoughts.
And then once your mind isclear, ask your intuition to
speak.
So you can actually look at yourjournaling that you did before
through the fear, and then comeback through the lens of

(13:59):
intuition and kind of argue withyour fear, right?
Reassure yourself that, okay,well that's not the whole
picture.
I can see that there's somethings coming up here.
You can poke holes in the storythat your fear wants to write
for you Now in closing, I justwanna share a few journal
prompts that can help you todeepen your intuition.
So the first prompt is, whatdoes intuition feel like in my

(14:21):
body?
Am I clear on this or am Ifeeling fear around this?
What lesson is the fear here toteach me?
Do I need to get myself tosafety, or is this just my
nervous system wanting me tobelieve that I'm in danger when
I'm not?
One thing that can be reallyhelpful around this is asking
yourself two questions.
Ask yourself, am I safe?

(14:43):
And then ask yourself, do I feelsafe?
If you're not safe, take action.
Get yourself to safety.
But sometimes you are safe.
Nobody's barging in.
You're completely safe.
Nobody's trying to attack you inthis moment, but your nervous
system doesn't feel safe.
Addressing the actual fearversus the nervous system
reaction to a imaginary fear isgonna be approached very, very

(15:06):
differently.
So acknowledging that the fearis unwarranted can really help
to bring the prefrontal cortexback online so that you can act
rather than react through thatunwarranted fear.
A few additional questions thatyou can journal on is, if I
weren't afraid, what would I donext?
Or if you are clearing out thatfear, then just ask yourself,
okay, well, if I were no longerafraid, What would I do next?

(15:29):
And again, this activates yourclear response.
It brings the prefrontal cortexback online.
It can help you to step intoyour heart space, which is where
that intuitive knowing is.
Another question is, okay, well,where in my life am I currently
feeling an intuitive nudge?
Am I fighting my intuition or amI working in alignment with my
intuition?

(15:50):
What action do I want to takeright now that is in alignment
with my intuition and who I am?
It's reminding you what's inyour value system and what's
most important to you, so listento those voices.
Just to recap, fear is urgent,anxious, and constricting.
Intuition is calm, steady, andexpansive.

(16:13):
Fear is in the head space withall those busy thoughts, whereas
intuition lives in the heartspace.
And doing those little things,like dedicating time to
meditation, can really help youto settle into that heart space
and gain more clarity.
Okay?
That's one of the best thingsthat you can do for your
intuition is take time tomeditate even if it's just for
five minutes a day, and then toslowly increase it over time.

(16:35):
Meditation can be huge forincreasing your own personal
intuition.
So your challenge for this weekis to just pick one tip from
this episode and apply it.
Maybe you want to journal on itand just kind of see what it is
that you notice and what'scoming up for you.
I would absolutely love to hearwhat's coming up for you.
I would love to hear what thingsyou have noticed around your

(16:55):
fear and your intuition.
So send me a message, find me onsocial media, whatever, and
share more of your personalexperience.
I would love to hear it.
All right, well, I hope that youhave a wonderful week and let's
talk soon.
Bye now.
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