This Week at The After Party: Trusting Your Intuition

 🥂 Opening Toast 

“To the gut feelings that saved us when nothing else made sense.”

We’ve all had that moment, when logic screamed one thing, but our body whispered another. When everyone around us said stay, yet something deep inside said go.

That voice? It’s not woo-woo. It’s wisdom.
It’s your body collecting data faster than your brain can process it.

Neuroscientists have found that up to 95% of our decisions are made by the subconscious mind before we’re even aware of them. Your “gut feeling” is actually your brain’s pattern-recognition system firing in milliseconds, pulling from years of lived experience.

In other words: intuition isn’t mysterious, it’s memory encoded as instinct.

And the more life you’ve lived, the richer your data set becomes. That’s why women over 40 often describe intuition as louder, clearer, and harder to ignore. It’s not age, it’s calibration.

A 2016 study by the University of Iowa found that participants who trusted their intuitive impressions made better and faster decisions than those who relied solely on analysis. And according to Harvard Business Review, executives who balanced intuition with logic outperformed those who didn’t, by as much as 25%.

But here’s the catch: we’ve been conditioned to distrust ourselves.
We’ve been told to gather more data, get more opinions, and wait for certainty. Especially as women, we’ve been socialized to defer, dilute, or doubt that quiet inner knowing.

Yet intuition has been saving women for centuries, protecting us, guiding us, and quietly steering our biggest reinventions.

So today, we raise a glass:

To the gut feelings that told you to leave that job before it drained your spirit.
To the whisper that said, “this relationship isn’t right.”
To the nudge that told you to take the leap when everything seemed uncertain.

Because when you stop apologizing for your intuition, life starts aligning with precision.

It’s not magic. It’s you, fully tuned in.

💣 Truth Bomb

We talk about “trusting our gut” like it’s an act of faith.
But intuition isn’t mystical, it’s a biological intelligence system that integrates emotion, experience, and instinct faster than rational thought ever could.

Your intuition is your body’s first-response team.
It notices micro-shifts in tone, facial expression, and energy before your conscious mind can label them.

That’s why you “just knew” before you knew.

Intuition is the invisible language between your body and your truth.
And yet, we’ve been taught to silence it.
We second-guess, over-explain, and seek validation from others, even when our entire nervous system is flashing no.

But here’s the shift: intuition isn’t the opposite of logic, it’s the completion of it.
It’s the emotional analytics layer that gives your decisions color, texture, and meaning.
The best leaders, founders, and creators all have one thing in common: they’ve learned to trust that subtle, steady voice inside.

So before you open another spreadsheet, phone a friend, or crowdsource your next move, pause. The answer might already be sitting in your chest.

🔍 Ask Yourself

• When was the last time I knew something before I could prove it?

• How often do I override my gut in favor of what’s “practical”?

• What physical signals tell me when something is right, or wrong?

✍️ Challenge of The Week

This week, practice one small act of intuitive confidence.

• Decline the invitation that doesn’t feel aligned.

• Send the email you’ve been hesitating to write.

• Say yes, or no, based purely on instinct, not obligation.

Then, note what happens. You might be surprised at how often life rewards your inner yes.

📚 Want To Go Deeper?

Here are a couple of thought-provoking reads that reinforce this week’s theme:

• “Gut Feeling: 4 Ways to Enhance Intuitive Intelligence in the Machine Age,” by The Institute of Management Development

• “Intuitive Intelligence and 8 Common Blocks That Impact It,” by Forbes

🪞 Mirror Talk

“You already know. Trust that knowing.”

You don’t need another poll, another opinion, another spreadsheet.
You need stillness. When you quiet the noise long enough, you’ll hear what your intuition has been trying to tell you all along: You’ve always known. You’ve just been waiting to give yourself permission to believe it.

👑 The Guest List

Oprah Winfrey — Media Mogul. Mentor. Master of Inner Knowing.

If intuition had a poster child, she’d be Oprah Winfrey.

Born into poverty in rural Mississippi in 1954, Oprah’s life is a masterclass in listening to that inner voice, even when every external voice said no.

She launched The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986, a daytime powerhouse that spanned 25 years, transforming television into a space for soul-searching, confession, healing, and truth.

But more than that: she built a media empire on the foundation of authenticity, reflection, and resonance.

Oprah often talks about the “voice of intuition” as her guiding force. She’s said, “Doubt means don’t. When you don’t know what to do, do nothing until you do know what to do. Because the doubt is your inner voice… It is your instinct trying to tell you something is off.” 

That’s not mystical. That’s radical permission to pause and listen.

Rather than chasing trends, Oprah leaned into what felt true to her. She created her own production company (Harpo Productions) and later launched the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).

She made editorial and business decisions by naming her alignment with deeper values, often ahead of market validation.

Oprah’s impact is sometimes called “The Oprah Effect”—how her endorsements, book club picks, or personal stories sparked cultural shifts.

She made public confession and inner authenticity both potent and respected, teaching us that the stories we dare tell ourselves (and others) are powerful.

Over decades, Oprah intentionally made space for spiritual, emotional, and intuitive content, moving beyond celebrity interviews to conversations about healing, purpose, and inner discovery.

She evolved as she matured, and encouraged her audience to evolve, too.

Let her be the reminder that intuition isn’t a soft tool, it’s your fiercest asset when you dare to listen.

After 40, your inner voice has earned a front-row seat.

🔍 Want to Learn More About Oprah? 

📚 “The Seat of the Soul,” by Gary Zukav. Oprah frequently cites Gary Zukav’s book and it’s clear why. It’s one of the books that most deeply influenced her life, especially around the practice of intention and intuitive living.

🎧 Oprah on life lessons, the road to happiness, and a new book she co-authored, with Norah O’Donnell on CBS Evening News’ Person to Person.

🎥 Oprah Reveals All: Life-Changing Lessons on Weight, Shame, and Worthiness with Jamie Kern Lima

 🎁 Party Favors

This week’s favors are all about tapping into your intuition.

📚 Use it! Intuition: A Day & Night Reflection Journal by Lemon & Lavender. This journal is a conscious took to help you engage and grow your sixth sense so that you can make the best decisions based on what your “gut” is telling you.

 👚 Buy it! Intuition Reed Diffuser from Wolfe & Badger: Created by perfumer Julie Masse for Terre De Mars, this home fragrance reed diffuser will reveal an olfactory treasure.

🧘‍♀️ Wear It! Amazonite Gemstone Statement Bracelet by Presently: More than a bracelet—a tool to quiet anxiety and reclaim the present.

📣 Last Call…

Before we turn the lights up...

What if this next chapter isn’t your second act, but your real debut? Hit reply and share what your messy middle is teaching you.

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Until next week,