Feelings are always first.

Something universal but not universally acknowledged is that we all are led by feelings first. We are all humans. In nearly any situation that arises, a human being will have an emotional response before they have a thought process. Feelings are faster than any other response mechanism. Different people may express or process feelings differently, and not everyone will have the same feeling in response to the same stimulus, but we all have feelings nonetheless.

Just as we all have feelings, we all have capabilities. Some of those capabilities are honed and some are undiscovered. The nuance of this in general terms depends on how we choose to manage our internal challenges. In my experience, those who disparage their feelings or believe their feelings are holding them back have simply not honed their ability to work with (instead of against) their feelings.

There is nothing wrong with having feelings despite what many people have been led to believe. What differentiates people who are able to make reliably sound decisions is that they know their feelings are the first response and they trust themselves to both push past the first response to the second wave of thought process and acknowledge and listen to those feelings where and when appropriate. I believe that finding a synthesis between these two is what is commonly referred to as intuition. It is my assessment that anyone and everyone can improve their decision-making and response capacity by simply acknowledging and accepting that they are led by feelings first and structuring their words and actions accordingly.

Have you ever told someone else that their feelings are problematic simply because it does not align with what you yourself feel is correct?