Yep. It’s exactly what you think it is.
“Always trust your gut. Your brain can be fooled, and your heart is an idiot (sometimes), but your gut doesn’t know how to lie.”
The Modern Break Up
I knew the moment I met you that you weren’t right for me, but your sweet words and attention made me second guess myself, fast forward a year and you proved me right. Not only were you not right for me, but you were also so very wrong for me. There are few times in life I’ve been wrong about a person, but the times I have are when I’ve ignored what my gut was telling me… you know, that niggling feeling in the pit of your stomach that you can’t quite identify, so you choose to ignore it.
Like many I’ve let the desires of my heart take over, and we all know when you start letting your heart loose the waters get murky. So often we’re told “Just trust your gut” but most of us wouldn’t even know where to start. What exactly does it mean to trust your gut instinct? And is there a difference between a ‘gut reaction’ and ‘intuition’? It’s a fine line but I believe there is.
Most mornings when I glance at the clock, I notice the numbers are 11.11. At first, I found it strange and then I started to investigate it further. There have been other times I’ve been thinking about a friend, and they’ve called or messaged. Do I think this is a coincidence? No, I don’t, I see it as an intuition. I believe it signifies that I’m in tune with something greater than me, my wants, and my desires, and I truly believe we should open our minds to listen more often.
My Intuition – 11.11
Here’s what they say. A spiritual significance that often appears as a sign of a deeper message from the angels or the universe for those who have the ability to see it. When you see 11:11 pay attention! Take it as a signal to increase your awareness and open your heart and mind to tune in and listen out for a message. Ok my eyes are a well and truly open. What was that? Oh, I’m going to be a millionaire? Great 🙂
Gut Instinct
On the other hand, is something very different. Why? Because it’s immediate. Something that you just know, a feeling or reaction that is so strong and personal to you that you just can’t shake it. When you start trusting your gut no one else can tell you what to do or that you’re wrong, because you alone make that call. It’s the ultimate act of trusting yourself.
Listening to our intuition helps us avoid unhealthy relationships and situations. Throughout your life, many people will have ideas about what’s best for you, some steeped with good intentions and some coming from a place of deceit and selfishness. It’s not always easy to tell them apart. but if we put aside all those external opinions and listen instead to the advice of our own intuition, it will guide us to what is truly best for us.
However, it’s easier said than done. Trusting your gut is not as simple as it sounds, especially when our habits and circumstances pull us in other directions. Luckily, our intuition is so deeply instinctual that even if we’ve been out of touch with it our entire lives, it’s still there inside of us, waiting for us to summon it.
What we sometimes forget is our instincts always have our best intentions at heart, but life throws many obstacles in our path which can often derail us. What we need to do is learn to catch ourselves when we’re headed in the wrong direction for the wrong reasons so we can take the right action to realign and find our way back. However, we can only do that if we realise what has made us lose our way.
Overthinking
The need to overthink can often lead us away from listening to our gut. Very often when we’re overthinking all we’re really doing is justifying something we’ve already made our mind up about. But all we’re doing is overwhelming and confusing ourselves, ultimately leading us to a place, far far away from our gut instinct.
Allowing others to guide you
Often, the person who has the greatest power to cloud our gut instinct is a loved one or a person who we respect, whose love or approval we wish to win over, for example, a parent, significant other, sibling, boss, or teacher. Whereas it’s important to be respectful of their opinion, you must learn to trust in yourself more.
Our need for acceptance
As humans we all have a strange need to be liked and accepted, some more than others – that’s when doubt creeps in. We often ask ourselves will someone else like me if I do this? But every time we do this, our thinking is clouded by a lens coloured by the expectations someone else has set rather than allowing our own thoughts and needs to guide us. And all this succeeds in doing is distancing you from your intuition. Surely it’s more important to ask yourself ‘how would I feel about myself if I did this?’
A deep thirst or hunger
When we desperately want something, whether it be love, acceptance, children, social status or money, our strong desire to fill that need can cause us to overlook or ignore the red flags. Our tunnel vision deems the need worthy at almost any cost, which leaves little opportunity to acknowledge or follow our intuition, especially if our gut instinct is at odds with our hunger.
Having said that it’s not that difficult to gain clarity and cultivate your intuition, after all it’s something we all possess, it’s just waiting on your acknowledgment and understanding. Here’s a few simple steps to gaining more clarity and relying on your judgement.
Slow down and clear the clutter
We’re all so busy, rushing here and there, mentally and physically, we miss key information and signs. Allowing ourselves to slow down helps us process the information we receive. Slowing down allows you to make room for your intuition and to shift your perspective so that you can see what truly matters. But it’s difficult if we can’t declutter. What does this look like in reality? Spending some time apart from the one you love to determine whether you are right for one another; Pushing back a deadline to remove the urgency to reach a decision or simply taking some time out to free your mind & gain clarity.
Feel the sensations coursing through your body
Our intuition is grounded within the sensations inside our body, so learning to recognise what’s going on is the key to tapping into our intuition. Ask yourself why your stomach is in knots when you’re walking through a certain area? Why do you feel anxious when your boss calls you into his office? Why do you have butterflies when you meet someone special?
These feelings and sensations are there to guide and help protect us, we just need to learn to listen. Here’s an easy way to do this, start concentrating on how certain emotions make you feel i.e. anger may make you feel hot and tingly and the physical manifestation of it might be a tightening of the jaw or your shoulders tensing up. Tapping into this helps us stay out of our head where we risk getting carried away by our thoughts instead of tuning into our body’s natural instincts.
Focus on you
Ask yourself what do I really need? What’s important to me?” Most of us don’t give ourselves permission to put ourselves first, we think it’s a selfish act, but in fact it’s more about understanding what’s important and why. No one is going to do that for you, so you must do it for yourself.
The second you find your focus shifting to what others need, reel yourself back in and focus on your own needs and wants because that is where you will find your intuition. You may find you have to clear the clutter around your intuition first. Maybe try making a list of the common culprits and identify the external factors influencing you. Only once we acknowledge this can we see, think and feel clearly.
Take baby steps
You don’t suddenly wake up one morning and become the most intuitive person on this planet. True intuition is like the waves of the sea, navigating you towards your true purpose in life, and helping you steer clear of the things that cause you harm. But it can’t and won’t happen overnight. Taking baby steps can actually help you build trust with your intuitive self. At first, use it for the smaller decisions in life, then start tapping into it for the larger things.
One thing’s for sure once you start listening to your gut there will be no turning back and it will never guide you to the wrong path. Enjoy the journey.
Where most of us go wrong in life. We always think we know best, but when we don’t listen to our gut, life always goes wrong.