Cold Reading Summary (C5): Intuition

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We all have a preconscious processor. 

With the massive amounts of information flooding our senses at every waking moment, it’s the preconscious processor that decides what we actually pay attention to or not.

Things that indicate danger automatically take precedence. These things are hardwired and in most cases can never be changed, even if we wanted to. 

Other things are learned but can be recalibrated. For example, if you move from the USA to Australia you quickly learn that cars drive on the opposite side of the road that you’re used to.

One type of intuition is when your brain searches for a vague answer to a vague question. For example, if you are bored and decide to go for a walk. The vague question is “where should I go and what should I do” even though you don’t have a definite plan. 

The vague answer is to just wander the street and go into shops or to the park depending on what your ‘gut’ tells you to do.

Another type of intuition is the non-verbal, below conscious awareness, person to person communication. For example, when you have the ‘feeling’ that someone is lying to you.

Here is a simple exercise you can do to improve your intuition. 

Ask yourself a question when entering an area and letting your intuition guide you. 

For example, walk into a supermarket and ask yourself where a specific item is. Now defocus your eyes and walk around while seeing things through your peripheral vision. By doing this, you are allowing your subconscious mind to process your environment and hopefully it will lead you to what you’re looking for. 

The more you practice, the better you will be able to use your intuition to find things that your conscious mind would otherwise miss.

After you have a conversation, use freenoting to data dump all the information. 

All you have to do is write as quickly as you can. Don’t  think about what you are writing. Just write while staying focused on various aspects of the conversation. 

First focus on all the things you think the person is worried about. It may seem like it is coming from you. Don’t worry about that. Just write it down and you will find that it will be quite accurate.

Next, start writing about some of the things they want or would like to happen.

After you have done that, combine them. They want “x” but they are afraid of “y” and “z”.

Finally, shift into predicting their ideal future. Imagine they get over all their fears and obstacles. What is their ideal way of achieving greatness? Describe how they will achieve it in detail.

Doing this exercise may seem like a lot of effort, but it will quickly hone your ability to empathize with others, which is key for cold reading. Soon you will start to see common themes, and eventually, after building a little rapport, you will be able to speak to strangers and accurately describe their fears, desires, and ideal future.

Read the next chapter here.

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