On the Validity of Premonitions

Recently I have been wondering about premonitions and if they are legitimate or not. I’ve experienced things throughout my life that are beyond explanation that one may consider being a premonition.

For example, my littlest sister, soon after she was born, almost died. Acid reflux almost drowned her in her sleep. My mother had laid her in her bed and went to sleep. She suddenly awoke feeling something was very wrong, that something was happening to the baby. She rushed in and managed to save her life (we then rushed her to the hospital). One may just call this a mother’s intuition, but beyond being able to tell if a child is guilty or not, when a mother does something as extrasensory as that, is that not a premonition?

I got on this line of thought after having a very vivid dream of someone I had not seen in over a decade, and it got me wondering if perhaps it was more? (More likely than not it was just a dream, but it did get me thinking and inspired me to make this post)

So my question to all you is this. Do you think premonitions are real? Have you had any (no need to share if you feel it too personal), or have you had any friends that have had one? What do you think it is, a nudge from the Force, or just the human mind piecing together something beyond or main senses? Also, do you think it possible to train yourself to be able to have premonitions more often or more vividly?

Hmm, a very interesting and controversial topic. I have always been and continue to be highly suspicious of those claiming to have any sort of extrasensory perceptions. Anecdotes abound, with the "mothers' intuition" being at the forefront of prominence, but this is faulty evidence for any sort of scientifically-based proof. The difficulty with this is the reliability and reproducibility of these senses. Nonetheless I have had a great deal of experience with premonitions. I cannot produce them at will, but seem to have more of them as I dream when I am spiritually and physically balanced. I had my greatest peak when I was focusing on dream states (lucid dreaming, etc.). My first was in third grade and it was very frightening and unsettling for me. As I got used to having them, though, they almost became expected. I've never had any premonitions of serious consequence, so I don't really know the value of mine. I also have difficulty, many times, discerning simple dream from premonition, so can't effectively write down possible ones for any proofs unless I took the effort to keep a detailed dream diary (which I have not done)...

Unlikely things happen all the time.

Gompertz Makeham Law of Mortality



Suppose there is a 1 in 10,000 chance of you thinking about any particular person on any particular day.
Suppose they are between 20 and 40 and the chances of them dying that day are around 1 in 1000.
The chances of you thinking about that person the day they die are 1 in 1000 multiplied by 1 in 10,000 = 1/10,000,000
There are at least 300,000,000 people living in America, we can estimate 1 in ten million of them will think of someone on the day they die.
300,000,000 x 1/10,000,000 = 30.

It seems quite reasonable to expect 30 people in America will think of someone on the day they die on any particular day. The number is higher when you consider things over the course of the year, or if you think about someone who is younger or older.

Unlikely events stick in our heads, because they disrupt the norm, the usual patterns which define our lives. We don't focus our attention on the things which go as we expect them to so we never notice how greatly they outnumber those things which are unusual.

Premonitions? Not really...I mean sure...its possible....but I wouldn't believe you if you told me you had it. Or anyone else....Id have to see it which as Jedi Druid mentioned...isn't something you just produce on command.


Intuition however, a low grade sense of knowing things - Yes. It is just that the "Low Grade" is not as low as people give it credit for. Much less give themselves credit for.

A mother knows things about their children both consciously and sub-consciously. We know our children so well that we can see the subtle physical hints like puzzle peaces and easily put them together to a relatively close idea of whats going on. "I know that damn smile, what did you do this time."

Same thing goes for alot of other things. Years back I would have to walk to work (no car/transportation) and every once in awhile I would get this feeling "You know...I bet so and so will drive by, stop and give me a ride." and ta dah!! They Do! But subconsciously I knew that the probability of it happening was realy high as it was the same road they had to drive on to get home

Or the time I predicted a deer crossing - It was late at night...My mother and I were on the way to the next town over for a late night water aerobics class (Therapy for my damaged arm) she was driving the speed limit like she always did every other night for the last several months....but this night....this night I was in a near panic and felt like the car was going 3 times faster than normal. I begged my mom to slow down. The very moment she put her foot on the break - a deer leaped out in front of us, just nicking its back hoof before it all stopped in a split half second. If my mother didn't step on that break when she did, we would have slammed right into it.

Again follow the sub conscious puzzle. It was late at night. Hunting season. Unlike other nights it was warm enough for hunters to be out and deer to travel. Deer had been known to cross that road and that location frequently.

I find that ones own intuition and ability to quickly see/peace together/conclude is very common and likely.

Premonitions however is far more outworldly and grander in regards to it's predictions and i feel thats a stretch for just your average joe

Premonitions are real. They happen. And usually for a reason. In my life I have had premonitions ranging from there is a dog in the street around the corner to knowing when a relative has passed on. Sometimes they seem to be nothing more than a passing thought to a deep emotional disturbance that you just know what has happened.

I have meditated extensively and studied and practiced a multitude of religions and practices trying to find a way to have these better serve me in my daily life. But, I have never found what it is that gives me any kind of control over them. What I have learned is that when you have one, it is for some reason… rather you realize it or not.

Another thing I have discovered is that most people will not believe you. And why should they. The premonition is for you and you are the one that has to know what to do with it.

I am more than willing to talk with you more about it. But for now, I feel this is all that needs be said.

I do admit that the "premonitions" I had outlined in my post were probably not premonitions. I can never hope to understand a mother's intuition (for obvious reasons. lol), and my dream of my old friend was probably just a dream. We used to be good friends, and I'm sure my mind subconsiously wanders and wonders of what happened to her.

@Akkarin: Yes, I'm sure much of supposed premonitions do come from chance and statisitcs. People hear someone has passed, and they think "Oh! I was just thinking of them!" Or other events, such as wondering how someone is doing and then hearing from them. But thank you for your graph. It does really put it all into perspective when put in such a medium.

I am thankful for all your insightful answers, and those to come.

Yea I'm skeptical but exploratory, and seem to have come to the same conclusion as Wescli.

A pathway seems to be cultivating a deep compassion (increases sensitivity in awareness of all feeling more broadly) while doing adjunct practices of working with the parts of the mind closer to dreaming, things like visualization and various supports to leverage progress once in those deeper states.

So while I'm satisfied they are possible, because I've had half a dozen 'too accurate to be chance' experiences and they themselves are distinct enough to be another order of experience or even modality (which promises perhaps it could be acquired reliably!), I am yet to generate any reliable method. It can get a bit frustrating and leaves one wondering if lack of method is integral, but that is probably just pessimism and disappointment, or the spirits not cooperating

But seriously, my approach is its my senses parsing out extra information out there.... in the Force, if you will. Though if its 'energy' then I'd imagine it should be able to be detected, unless of course perhaps if it can be detected already but what is missing is the protocol. Though some of my experiences do tend towards the other concepts of 'spirits' where information is shared for other reasons from an external source, rather then uncovered by own efforts - which takes it all in a different direction of more directions LOL.

I very much believe in the legitimacy of premonitions. I've had dreams which have played out word-for-word in following days, and I trust my intuition in most situations (it hasn't failed me yet). But I don't think it ever has been really reliable. It hasn't really made a difference, since I don't know whether it's something that's going to happen until it starts happening, and I usually don't recognize it as having occurred to me twice until afterwards.

i'm in the same camp as wes and dude...

i'll share why.

the day my brother was killed, i was running late to work. as i was getting ready i had a random thought of my younger brother. i pushed it out and focused on getting to work. that day i decided to take a route i normally never took. i was stopped at a light and looked over at the gas station across the street and was hit with the idea to pull in for gas...i looked at my watch and pushed the idea out since i had enough gas to get to work and there was a gas station in the same parking lot as my job...all day at work my brother's face kept popping up in my mind. that evening on my way home from work i was sitting in traffic because a pedestrian had been hit by a vehicle. by the time i got up to the scene the body was laying in the median covered with a sheet, as i looked over at it i was hit with the image of my brother again and a sinking feeling in my stomach...9pm that night the police showed up at our door with a photo of my brother asking us to identify his body. he had been hit by a sleeping driver at 1015am just outside of the gas station parking lot i had considered stopping at that morning...exactly 15 minutes after i had gone by...he had just left the store after buying a drink...had i stopped to get gas i would have run into him inside the store as i was paying for my gas...that isn't the only time something like that has happened...for me it's a regular occurrence as is deja vu....often enough that i don't dismiss them...

i used to keep a dream journal because so many of them would come to pass...when i was in the navy, i had a vividly detailed dream about going to a fair/carnival...i wrote down all the details including the people i was with....3 years later i was at a carnival and as i was walking past the gates i looked ahead and was immediately hit with the memories of the dream. my friend mentioned finding a ticket booth for the rides and without hesitation i lead us straight to it. then i pointed out where everything was...my friends all looked at me and asked how i knew where everything was if i had never been there before so i told them, and they didn't believe me until i showed them the diary...i made enough "predictions" around them that came true that they began to get creeped out about it and eventually stopped inviting me out, then simply stopped being friends all together...afterwards i kept my premonitions and other unusual abilities to myself until finding totjo....

Funny you post this today...

I just watched this this morning:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBl0cwyn5GY

I also downloaded his ESP Trainer app.

Enjoy