When and how to "trust your instincts".

[scagrotto]

I should have used the phrase "trust your intuition"

That would be more accurate, but both the link you included and the original article in Alert Diver used that phrasing. Before posting I considered that I was nitpicking, but I figured that given the nature of the article (and of course I've got no issues with the underlying message) it's worth being precise about the process. It's probably easier and/or more reliable to trust your gut/intuition/nagging voice in your head if you understand something about the process that results in it.

FWIW, whether it's instinct, immediate reaction, or intuition, even when time is critical it's often a good idea to slow down and take a moment for a little more thought about the best course of action. It's probably always safe to listen to intuition or a gut feeling to not do something when that something isn't intended as a remedy. Not doing a dive is extremely unlikely to hurt you. OTOH, a very quick decision about how to solve a problem may not be the best solution, or may even make it worse.

 

[Nasser]

I'm wondering if most people actually understand what instinct means. An instinct is an innate response that's more or less the mental equivalent of reflexively blinking your eyes if somebody pokes at them. It's not a learned behavior, and it's different than intuition or a gut feeling, which are things you probably should trust (assuming you're not an idiot or a redneck). Experience and learning can help you avoid yielding to an instinct, but they won't make the instinct go away. That's one of the reasons that panic kills even the experienced.


It goes both ways. Disregarding their instincts is why some people aren't already dead. Instinct is what makes divers bolt for the surface or want to spit out their regulator if they vomit or have a choking fit. There are plenty of times in other aspects of life where following our instincts can get us into trouble.

One things that instinct has almost nothing to do with is getting bent (or staying unbent). There's no instinctive response to stay within NDL, or to cut your dive short. The only reason I said "almost" is that a fear of going deeper may be instinctive (since we didn't evolve to breathe water) and bolting to the surface may result in getting bent.

There are definitely times that we should resist our instincts, but I'm not sure we can ever listen to them. If you take the time to decide whether or not to listen you're giving it real thought, and whatever you end up doing becomes the result of a conscious decision rather than instinct

Yes good point indeed. I believe the OP was probably referring more to intuition rather than a built in evolutionary response as in instinct. That's also what I would like to clarify in my original response.

 

[NAM001]

I dont know to define gut feeling for me it is the combination of you collection of facts and experience for all your exposure to diving that is raising the red flag. The more training you have the more fact driven flag raisers you have. The more you dive the more experience you have doing it. The intuition comes to play when you cant put a source to why you are cautious about a situation. Although the caution may be misplaced it may be due to not enough of the aforementioned. Example. I was on a dive trip and i would not do a dive because of currents generated from low tide. The dive was planned to start 1-2 hours into the tide receeding. Something said it will take you to sea and not to shore. That, having to tow a dive flag, coupled with it was in an unfamailiar shipping channel made me call the dive. The dive went well for those that did it. They had no to little current where they were diving but i didnt know that predive. When we arrived the divers in the area were leaving the site because the tide had changed from in to out. The group did go quite a bit into the channel and turned to come back. I acted on the side of caution. My intuition told me that because I did not understand all the factors involved with the dive that I should sit it out. Many of those the did the dive thought the outgoing tide was the preferred tide to dive in. I hated to watch the group go on with the dive. They were surprised to learn how far they went towards the channel center (dive flag) with merchant ships underway. They heard the prop noise but could not determine distance. One thought they felt mild current fluctuation. That told me prop wash.

 

[dmaziuk]

Good point! I should have used the phrase "trust your intuition" rather than "trust your instincts". The message I was trying to convey is that of trusting your gut feeling, which I see is clearly trusting your intuition.

I may have to clarify and edit my original post to reflect "Trusting your intuition", which would be the right choice of words for my message.

Might consider adding a not, too: the guy's intuition was "it's chafing from new weight belt" and so he didn't get to the hospital until he started gong blind. Edit: I mean, his smarter half remembered signs of DCS from her training, that's not a "gut feeling", that's education.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I trust my training, my compass, and my equipment, because it is properly maintained. I trust my perceptions of conditions, and I trust marine weather reports. I trust my own perception of my healoth, and my doctor's objective evaluation of it. If I inventory these sources, words like "instinct" and intuition" rarely, if ever, come into play. Not in diving, or in winning poker.
DivemasterDennis

 

[NAM001]

Dennis

Like you,, my dive outcomes are as stacked as possible from the beginning. There are times that there is a nagging something in the back of your mind that says I dont know about this, not why but just dont do it. And unless you have a good reason not to listen to that voice you do as it tells you. Like your first entrance to a cavern or your first night dive for wreck entry. Any dive that may be new to you automatically generates all sorts of safety double checks mentally whether one is aware of it or not. Its kinda of like getting sweaty palms. Defensive or self preservation mechanism perhaps, but we all have it. Some deal with it better than others. Like you said,,, you trust your skills and equipment. Most anyone will say that till emotion takes over in some situation and the dive is controlling you and not the opposite.

My first dive at Lake Travis Near Auatin TX cought me off guard and made me freeze in my tracks when the earth started rumbling and shaking. Sounded like an underwater rock slide or being under a train tressle and amtrack passing overhead. As it turned out it was the dam spinning the generators with water release. The sound does not bother me now but earlier I had an offer to dive the dam wall face to the suctions. The voice said lack of info--- not a good idea and i passed. The suction area for generator spinning was not near the wall where we would have dove. How far apart were they. As far as i was concerned it was about 2". The distance on an operator panel from one flood control switch to another. I dpont , to this day, know if that decision was life saving one or not. I do know I am making this post.

I trust my training, my compass, and my equipment, because it is properly maintained. I trust my perceptions of conditions, and I trust marine weather reports. I trust my own perception of my healoth, and my doctor's objective evaluation of it. If I inventory these sources, words like "instinct" and intuition" rarely, if ever, come into play. Not in diving, or in winning poker.
DivemasterDennis

 

[TMHeimer]

I trust my training, my compass, and my equipment, because it is properly maintained. I trust my perceptions of conditions, and I trust marine weather reports. I trust my own perception of my healoth, and my doctor's objective evaluation of it. If I inventory these sources, words like "instinct" and intuition" rarely, if ever, come into play. Not in diving, or in winning poker.
DivemasterDennis

Pretty much the same here. Being retired I can almost always pick good weather for dives. Use the tide charts for current sensitive inlets. Play the percentages. That's why my wife wins 2/3 the time at Texas Hold'em.

 

[Steve_C]

I trust marine weather reports.

You must not live in North Carolina. Of course, one checks them but they frequently get it wrong both ways around here. We check them, and keep checking them, but do not trust them 100%, Need to keep an open mind and watch what is actually happening.

 

[Z Gear]

I dont know to define gut feeling for me it is the combination of you collection of facts and experience for all your exposure to diving that is raising the red flag.

I believe that is princely what I am referring to. It is actually having the ability to sense when something is not right (or raising a red flag). This is a heads up for you to take a second to evaluate the situation.

Your intuition is your sixth sense and it is something that is stronger in some than in others. IMO

Frank G
Z GEAR - Z Gear Dive Mounts

 

[nolatom]

I trust my instincts/intuition to the extent they agree with my instruments.

Compass rules, I drool. Ditto depth gauge. Ditto nitrogen ticks around the edge of my hockey puck.