Your gut, your intuition, your sixth sense, whatever you’d like to call it, is such a valuable tool. It’s one that can really help you when making decisions. Like any muscle in your body, it needs exercise. You have to practice listening to your gut and learning how to trust what it’s telling you.
But how do you begin?
I can only speak to how it works for me, but know that it might be different for you.
When I’m questioning something (and I’m not referring to every single solitary thing I question like what I’m going to have for dinner), I’ll hear what the first thing is that comes to me. Typically, whatever that answer is, whatever that response is, is typically the right one, at least the right one for me in that moment. I think it’s good to let it be for a bit, and then go back to it and see if that same answer is what comes to you again.
If I get a different response that time, then it tells me I might need to just hang tight regarding that decision. However, I don’t ignore it; I just put it to the side for a bit, and then I come back in time, and see how I feel about it and decide what’s best. If I get the same response the second time, then that’s my answer, that’s how I really feel.
In all honesty, I do believe that the first thing that comes to mind is the way to go. That’s what your gut is telling you, but sometimes I’m just not ready to hear the answer yet or I’m not ready to act on it. And so I don’t.
It can be challenging to listen to your gut for a few reasons.
For starters, you might not like what it’s telling you. It’s not that you don’t agree with it, but it might be telling you something you’re just not quite ready to deal with. And that’s ok. You’ll be ready when you’re ready. You can find peace, though, in knowing.
Secondly, while your intuition is telling you something, there’s another part of your brain telling you something else. And that something else is typically the opposing voice, and the one that gets you to start questioning everything. Even, if in your bones, you know that gut instinct is what should be and what is, that pesky voice is getting you to reconsider, to worry, to stress.
While I’m no expert, and I’ll never claim to be one, I’ve been working on trusting my gut. It can be hard. It can be scary. However, it can also be liberating and empowering. Just in the knowing that your gut will always be there for you and will guide you if you let it, if you want it, THAT is a comforting feeling. Try it out; you might be surprised.
Photo by Kyle Weber