Insight hears from guests who've made fateful decisions — for better or worse. Watch our episode Fateful Decisions, which originally aired in 2024, on Tuesday 7 April at 8.30pm or live on SBS On Demand.
Samia Goudie says she hasn't always been in tune with her intuition, and has made spontaneous decisions that have taken her in unconventional and sometimes dangerous directions.
As a teenager on Queensland's Sunshine Coast in the 1970s, she decided to hitch a ride home one day and ended up riding with a stranger all the way to Cairns.
"It was very in the moment, following what sort of came along," she told Insight.
Samia had a yearning to escape the "small, strict environment" she'd grown up in and see more of the world.
"Queensland seemed like a nice tropical place to be at … It was just an adventure, really."
The journey was just starting. While staying at a youth hotel in Cairns, she met a man who was looking for a crew for his boat.
"We jumped on and we sailed from Cairns to Darwin," Samia said.
In Darwin, she met a French Algerian man called Jean who had a 9.7 metre catamaran. Neither of them knew how to sail, nor could they speak the same language, but Samia decided to sail with him and a small crew to India.
Samia admits her spontaneous decision was "probably a bit stupid", but at the age of 19, didn't have a sense of danger.
"It was more the environment was dangerous, like winds and currents. I didn't feel, at the beginning, any threat from the people around me."
The trip was smooth sailing for a while, with the pair falling in love.
But then, things started to change. The crew hit a cyclone, the boat got damaged, then Samia's gut began to tell her there was more to Jean than met the eye.
"I started having some doubts about who I was with and if I actually was safe."
When Samia started to uncover more about Jean, she discovered he'd been in a number of wars, had hijacked a plane and was a fugitive on the run.
"I started to really feel quite confused. There was a sense of danger starting to kind of emerge."
But unfortunately for Samia, she was stuck with him on a boat in the middle of the ocean.
'I turn inward and rely on my intuition'
Celine Eigner says she makes decisions in a very considered way.
She was raised Sikh and says her upbringing opened her mind to seeking advice from those in her community, including around decision-making.
But she's aware that advice from loved ones can be biased. So when her life is at a crossroads, she relies heavily on her intuition.
"It can be hard and a bit daunting to make decisions. I tend to turn a lot inward and rely on my intuition or whatever feels right," Celine told Insight.
After being offered an exciting career opportunity, Celine was faced with making a life-altering decision — take a new job, or focus on writing her book.
"My first reaction was, this sounds exciting ... it's a promotion ... there's more money involved," Celine said.
"I felt like taking that opportunity. however, it could detract from what I was trying to do at the time, which was to finish my book."
She said her gut was telling her to turn the job down, but she wanted to know for sure. So she consulted a psychic, whom she hoped could give her advice without bias.
He said the spirit wanted her to take the job and write her book.
So she did — and the outcome was ultimately positive. She accepted the role and also completed her book ahead of schedule.
"When you do get that advice, if it resonates with you … and it's backing up what you already felt, then I've always followed that," she said.
Are we really in control of the decisions we make?
Cognitive neuroscientist Joel Pearson has researched the decision-making process. He says that while most of us like to think that we have control over our decisions, his research suggests otherwise.
"Our decisions might be more automatic and unconscious than we think," he said.
"But when we take ownership over our decisions, it can lead to greater satisfaction.
"Research … suggests that when we voluntarily choose certain things like exercise, the health benefits are far greater compared to being forced to do the same amount of exercise."
He said externalising our decisions can offer greater insight; as humans are social beings, talking to people before making a life-altering decision can give different and new perspectives.
But he added that those placed in a position to give advice, such as psychics, should not treat that role lightly.
"If people are going to take anything you say very strongly, then there is a responsibility there that's worth thinking about."
Trusting our gut
Pilot Gerry Geltch relied on his unconscious to make a fast decision that would save his life.
He was in the passenger seat of a twin-engine plane when both engines conked out.
"The airplane stalled and began falling out of the sky at 250 feet," Gerry said.
He froze, but as a pilot with 34 years of flying experience, he was able to tap into his knowledge to instantly take control of the plane.
"I just took over and grabbed the controls and did everything I could to minimise impact."
The plane crash-landed and Gerry suffered serious facial and spinal injuries. The pilot was also badly injured.
But it could have been far worse.
"If I hadn't made that decision, we’d both be dead," Gerry said.
Gerry has now been in three plane crashes, two racing car accidents, motorbike crashes and been attacked by a shark — and says he's relied on his intuition each time.
"I just go into this bloody survival mode and this fight mode. And to date, I've been lucky to make the right decisions in the most extreme situations to keep me alive to where I'm today."
For Gerry, owning his decisions is key.
"I just believe in myself. If I've made the right decision, I pat myself in the back. If I made the wrong decision, I belt myself. But it's my decision, my decision only."
Samia removed herself from danger later on when she was on land, leaving Jean and returning to Australia.
It took her a while to process the choices she'd made at the age of 19. While she has never regretted them, the experience taught her that she couldn't take people at face value, and that she should listen carefully to her intuition from that moment on before making a decision.
"I really needed to observe and think and listen carefully before I made judgements about the kind of person that I was talking to," she said.
"[I realised that] we do have that choice and that we are connected to everyone and everything. We just sometimes don't see that connection."
She said her experiences have taught her to draw on what's inside her.
"That gives you the answer to something that you're going to do next."
An earlier version of this story was published in March 2024.
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