In counseling work, when providing psychoeducation, one of the key fundamentals of emotional literacy is understanding the difference between an “intuition” and an “emotion.”
They are both feelings, but knowing the difference may help us better understand our feelings — and in turn, better regulate them.
For those who are less feeling-oriented and more logic/thinking-oriented, I often use the analogy of “facts” versus “opinions or judgments about those facts.”
In the feeling language, intuition is like a fact, whereas emotion is like an opinion or judgment about that intuition.
So, a fact (or intuition) tends to be more steady and reliable as information — it offers greater clarity.
An opinion or judgment about the fact (or intuition) is often less steady, more changeable, more subjected to biases, and creates an urge or compulsion to act. It is less reliable as information, but much better for driving action.
Therefore, whenever you feel an urge to act, that’s usually an opinion, judgment, or emotion — something more emotive. The stronger the urge to act, the stronger the opinion, judgment, or emotion.
In Acceptance Commitment Therapy ACT, we may refer to this as Fusion. To lessen Fusion, we can learn the skill of Defusion.
When the feeling is steady, with no strong urge to act but rather a mindful awareness, that may be more factual or intuitive. It is less emotive.
In ACT, we may refer to this as Defusion or Mindfulness.
I wonder if you can relate to these concepts and ideas.
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