I'm reading a book about psychic powers, and it seems to me that the author frequently blurs the distinction between psychic powers and intuition.  Actually, a lot of so-called psychic events can probably be explained by intuition.

"Intuition" in this sense is defined as "picking up on subliminal, but real, information."  One fascinating aspect of Gavin de Becker's seminal book The Gift of Fear is when he drills down through a victim's experience to pinpoint what they really picked up on.  

For example, I remember that a woman was sitting in her car when suddenly "something felt wrong."  When de Becker ran back through the incident with her carefully, she eventually remembered that she had spotted a flash of denim in the outside rear view mirror.  Just a flicker on her peripheral vision, of her attacker's clothing as he approached her car from the side.

The Gift of Fear isn't just the book that every woman should read.  Guys can get a lot out of it, too!  Gavin de Becker breaks down what fear is, and how you should always listen to that little voice inside you.  And it's all about developing your intuition, which is that subconscious ability to collect and collate flashes of information that might otherwise go unnoticed.

One example of a psychic power that seems more like intuition is the business of reading auras.  Auras can tell you if people are happy, or sad, or even nursing an unseen injury.  Do you really need to see a bright red haze around someone to know that they're angry?  

This is almost more of a metaphorical way of seeing and thinking.  Like, when we say "you seem blue," we don't REALLY mean that someone seems literally to have a bluish cast.  But for some people, maybe that metaphor is a little more real.

Pattern recognition can also account for a lot of psychic experiences.  We don't realize it, but our brains are pattern recognition machines.  This works at both a conscious and subconscious level.  When you expect something to happen, and then it does, there isn't necessarily anything magic about that.  Your mind has probably just internalized the relevant pattern.

One example I hear frequently is, "I thought about person X, and that very instant they called me!"  If you drill down on these stories, you can often find an underlying pattern.  Maybe person X always phones in the middle of the afternoon on rainy days late in the week.  Maybe you just heard a story on the news that touched on a joke you share with Person X, and they saw it too.  

The next time you have an experience like this, don't just stop at the level of "Wow, that's spooky!"  Don't be afraid to dig a little farther, and see what you can find!  Replay everything that lead up to that moment carefully.  What were you doing?  Watching television, washing the dishes, staring out the window?  Replay it in all five senses.  What did you smell?  What sounds could you hear?  

Look closely, and you might learn something interesting.  And never disrespect the power of intuition!

Photo credit: Flickr/ecstaticist