How to Tell the Difference Between Fear and Intuition

How do I separate fear from intuition? Well, fear often comes from previous information. If you've never seen a snake, you won't respond to it as a snake — a child once came home and called a snake a "big noodle" because it was unfamiliar.

Fear can come from your own past experiences, from someone else's story, or from information you consumed. Intuition, by contrast, is a feeling about something you've never seen or heard before but that carries a sense or connotation — a sense that something isn't right.

For example, you might sense someone is an abuser without direct evidence; later you may learn they were a serial abuser. Fear is usually tied to information — there's always some piece of information that sponsors the fear — whereas intuition arises as an immediate, information-independent sense of safety or danger.