Follow your gut feeling or what other people say?

Luck plays a great role, i believe

I don't particularly agree on the "luck" part. If it were just luck then whatever you chose would have resulted in the same thing, right?

I think you are right! I do agree with you! Although one has to reason things out before taking any decision, as we said, we wont know the results and then luck has to take place.

Aren't there situations when we are not able to take decisions on our own, when we will need other peoples help.

That seems like a very good point. You're right, I wouldn't want to end up blaming others for what THEY thought was right for me when I could have simply followed my self! Thanks!

@surajben - I believe those are also the times when we don't even have a gut feeling to guide our decisions :) It's different from having two options: between our gut feeling and other people's advise.

What I mean by facts is to investigate on the matter and not just base it on personal experience.

Then what if my "facts" are based on personal experience? Based on how I believe the other person would react? :P I know it's a vague question because you don't know the exact context, but what do you think about my situation?

I totally agree with you.

@hotsummer I guess it's because I rarely have gut feelings and I particularly rely on my personal reasoning when making a decision. Except that this specific case doesn't have that personal reasoning benefits because of certain givens :P Which one do you often follow, based on your experience?

"other people's past experience" was a good input... I don't think they have ever been in my situation. They're simply imagining the scene as I describe it - so it's not the "real" situation. I guess if any one of them was ever in the same situation, that might have altered my gut feeling because proof that it will turn out bad is present. Something like "That happened to me before and I followed my gut feeling and I ended up in deep sh!t" would have turned the scales.

Well if that's the case, I don't see anything wrong about following your own intuition even if you're up against a thousand people saying "no". I have also been so curious about this feeling, a whisper - questioning the validity of a certain decision... I always go with it coz I don't like the feeling of not being in control of my own decisions; I "only" get influenced with outside input if in cases, like you said, there's already an evidence that could sway me... coz I would be hard-headed not to listen to it. I know you're familiar with the story of the moth that got burned for not listening to its mother... the mother obviously has no prior experience of getting burned but she know for sure what will happen... there's no evidence there but the logic is pretty strong... its exactly my point on how outside input could convince me to listen... When in doubt, I follow the voice inside me coz whatever outcome it may be I'm sure that I can handle it and there's no reason for me to blame others and what's left is really to stand for it...

I think that's what's bothering me at the moment. I have this gut feeling...and then I have a whole day to think whether I go with that gut feeling or with what other people say about it.

I think it always depends on the situation, we cannot prejudge things.

I think you're missing out on the whole "gut feeling" part :) If you're confident on yourself that means that you have reasons to back up your decision. Gut feeling doesn't have that.

I guess that's what's difficult with the gut feeling - you never have a pros and cons list that will supplement your decision :P I guess that's why it's different from "reason" or "logic" although it might bear subconscious logic that we just couldn't figure out consciously :)

I'm kinda scared of getting in trouble LOL on this specific situation, it's either someone would be outright mad at me and I'd end up in deep sh!t or I can just attempt to get away with it and admit the truth when cornered (LOL) - don't get me wrong, I didn't do anything awful. It just LOOKS awful haha

Good guess work, what is to happen will happen.

That certainly is crazy! I have never felt that before...your instincts against danger are pretty good! Do you also have that same feeling towards your friends' safety?

I think I too would rather make MY mistake than other people's mistakes by following what THEY thought was right for me :) Thank you.

Soliciting ideas help us see other people's point of view - I guess that's when we hope that whatever they say may help us see something we missed. Sometimes we realize that our gut feelings are a bit altered because of some new knowledge but unless something trumps a subconscious logic, we still end up having a strong gut feeling :)

But how would you know which one is right?

You're right, it's perfectly my choice :) I particularly liked what you said about asking myself if I'm simply being stubborn and I *just* want to do that certain thing even though it's unreasonable. Fortunately, that's not the case :P I simply think that I can't explain the situation enough for them to understand my actual stance.

Basically need to figure out which choice will make you happier. Or which choice is the lesser of the two evils.. If you can not live with the choice you are about to make then its not the right one.. Maybe that will help..

I guess it shows how much we know ourselves even we don't "know" it :)

But there are certain times when we don't have the opportunity to weigh the pros and cons or to prove or disprove the facts. What do you do then?

That was a wonderful input! I only have to satisfy myself with the reasons I have and as long as I honestly believe on the validity of those reasons, then it will all turn out well :)