Is it Intuition or a Trauma Response?

If you are struggling to find clarity in your emotional responses to uncomfortable situations, here is a quick test to decipher whether your reaction is your intuition or a trauma response. This may help you learn to trust yourself more and separate the past from your gut responses.

1. Emotional Intensity Test

• When someone make an unpleasant comment about you, do you:

  A. Feel mildly uncomfortable, but could let it pass

  B. Feel a surge of heat, defensiveness, or shame that stuck with you?

Why it matters:

• A suggests intuition → noticing subtle disrespect and quietly clocking it.

• B suggests trauma → old wounds around appearance, being judged, or feeling “less than” are being poked.

2. Pattern Recognition

• Do you notice similar feelings around multiple people? Or is it just this person?

• Is there a recurring theme; people undermining, judging, or competing with you?

Why it matters:

• If this is a one-off, it’s likely intuition saying she’s not aligned with you.

• If it’s a recurring pattern, part of your past experiences with people may be amplifying your response.

3. Nervous System Check

How did your body feel?

• Drained, tight chest, racing thoughts → usually intuition saying “this is unsafe energetically.”

• Heavy sadness, old anger, or obsessive replaying → usually a trauma echo from past betrayals.

4. Curiosity vs. Collapse

Do you feel curious about giving this person another chance or completely shut down?

• If your intuition is speaking, you’ll feel clear — like, “Nope, they are not my person.”

• If trauma is speaking, you’ll feel charged — wanting to prove something, overanalyze, or spiral.

5. Self-Trust Snapshot

If you imagine politely keeping them at a distance, does your body:

• Relax and feel lighter → intuition confirmed.

• Feel guilty, fearful, or like you’ll “mess something up socially” → likely old people-pleasing patterns tied to trauma.

How to Use This

• If this is intuition, you can simply downgrade this person in your social circle. Keep things light, friendly, and surface-level. No guilt needed.

• If this is trauma, we’d want to do a somatic reset — something to calm your nervous system and separate then from now.