The sixth sense

We all know about the five senses and basically understand how they work but what about the sixth sense?  What causes those hairs to stand up on the back of your neck?  Why is it that whenever you ignore that "feeling" you end wishing that you had not?

The sixth sense is not truly a sixth it is an overload of the other five.  Your five senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell) all work in harmony to deliver information to the brain for processing.  When there is a bit of information that comes in and is important your brain shifts the focus to that sense.  Sometimes the information is important but the brain overloads and does not know how to transfer this information to your conscious mind.  When this happens it slams on the brakes and cycles through all the five senses until it can sort out the information.  If it cannot (which it usually can't) you carry on and ignore it.

You will find that those that live in high stress environments or risk their lives on a daily basis learn to trust this sixth sense and when that feeling hits them, they buckle down and focus intently on the environment around them.  This is what keeps them alive, I have experienced it many times and I know it to be a simple truth.  The next time that the little hairs on your neck raise up, pay attention, you just might have avoided a personal disaster.

Norseman