by Jeannie Pitt

Created on: January 13, 2009

The term "mind-reading" can be, and is interpreted in so many different ways. Many people immediately get an image or thought of a fortune-teller at the local state fair, complete with fancy flowing curtains, crystal ball, and fifty dollar price tag. It seems these roadside palm-readers and gypsies of days gone by have given a bad reputation to a phenomenon that is, in fact, very real.

The term itself suggests that mind-reading is a process whereby a particular person can read anyone's thoughts at any given moment. This is not the case. We've all heard of ESP, though the term seems to have lost some of its popular flair over the last decade or two. Despite the hype created around the term, ESP merely stands for an extrasensory perception, which is an ability to utilize a sense not yet defined by science. We've all used an extrasensory perception at one point or another, whether we'd like to admit it or not. People can and do have skills of many types that would fall into the category of mind-reading. Here is an explanation of a couple of these skills.

Intuition

This term is used loosely and widely by people who claim to have no association with anything paranormal. Intuition is a "gut feeling" about something, someone, or somewhere that may even be powerful enough to save a life. When a person has a strong feeling before boarding a plane, takes action based on that feeling, and then discovers hours later that he or she has avoided death by making a split decision not to board the plane, this is a clear indication of intuition at work. Intuition can also play a strong role in conversation. When someone can sense another person's mood without seeing any facial expressions, or hearing that person speak, this interpretation could also be defined as intuition. You can see, in this context, that intuition can be described as reading your own mind, reading someone else's mind, or reading the minds of others. When you recognize intuition, you are merely connecting with signals in the energy around you to make a decision based on a phenomenon yet to be documented by science.

Telepathy

The concept of Mental Telepathy may be more easily assimilated to mind-reading. Telepathy is the act of transferring thoughts or information from one person to another. There are many types of telepathy and extensive research has been performed both to prove and disprove this theory. Proponents of this theory have described events in which people with time or distance barriers have received and sent messages between them. Skeptics argue that telepathy is mere coincidence, among other things. Either way, if you have ever brought home dinner as a surprise to your spouse, and found out when you arrived home that this was the very thought on your spouse's mind all day, then you might have experienced Mental Telepathy.

On a less technical note, very often mothers can tell when their children are happy, sad or lying. Friends can very often tell when someone close is feeling down or is in need of a special treat. A twin can very often tell when his or her sibling has been injured three states away. The reason "mind-reading" is often waved away with a laugh is due to the lack of significant scientific proof. People, in general, find it difficult to believe something that hasn't been matter-of-factly stated by someone with satisfactory credentials.

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