How To Trust Your Gut

We live in a complicated and fast-paced world. Every day, we have to face a plethora of choices and decisions, knowing that the right choice may make life a bit easier – and a bad decision could complicate our already complex lives. What’s the best thing to do when facing uncertainty? You’ve heard it before… learn to trust your instincts! But we all know it’s easier said than done.

From a psychic’s perspective, here’s the best way to do it:

What are instincts, really?
Instincts are natural behavior patterns instilled in all living things, meant to assist and increase the chance of survival. Not every instinct is a matter of life or death, though. Just watch any baby find their thumb for the first time. Some instincts are geared toward our emotional needs, such as feeling comforted. At birth, before we are taught differently, before we have any experience, it is our instincts that guide us. As we grow and develop, we learn to think and rationalize. Intellect has a way of subduing instinct, but our instinctive abilities still manage to survive. And if we pay close attention, we can hear them loud and clear.

Trust your gut
Most people have had that sensation in the pit of their stomach that is commonly referred to as a “gut” feeling. For some, it may feel like butterflies. Others may experience a knot, a tingling, or something equivalent to heartburn. Everyone of us has most likely been in a situation where we immediately felt nauseas, just knowing that something is amiss. Sometimes, the physical indication has absolutely nothing to do with the abdomen. The hair on the back of our neck may stand on end, or we may feel suddenly chilled on a warm, sunshiny day. Maybe there is a little voice in the back of our head, whispering… or screaming. Whatever the sensation, the body is communicating that we need to pay extra attention, because our instincts are kicking in.

Come on, just do it!
These days, there is a guru for everything. But, when it comes to trusting yourself, you are your own best teacher. Only you know how you really feel. After all, you are the one who lives your life, and the one who has to live with the choices you make.

The first step to learning to trust your instincts is to recognize that you are having an instinctive reaction. Pay attention to how you feel, and any physical indication that your instincts are kicking in. It is pretty safe to assume that good sensations mean you are on the right track, but unpleasant sensations, or fear, are nature’s idiot lights – warning that you may need to think things through.

5-step plan

1. No student can become their own master overnight, so start small. So start out by letting your gut guide you in making little decisions such as what to wear each day, or what route to take to work. These may seem like insignificant choices, but you may instinctively know what you logically don’t. The weather forecast could be wrong, or there may be heavy traffic in an unusual spot. Log your progress in a journal to review at the end of the week. You may be surprised!

2. When facing decisions, both major and minor, observe your instinctive reaction, and compare it to your thinking, or logical, reaction. Are both conclusions in agreement? If not, explore why your mind would be at odds with your instincts.

3. When your gut is talking to you, how much influence are you really letting it have? Keep in mind, your instincts are built-in, designed toward having the best outcome for you. What is right for you as an individual may not always win the popular vote from friends, relatives or peers. Evaluate if your decisions are geared toward the approval of others, or your own happiness and well-being. Always make decisions based on what best serves you. This ultimately will serve everyone invloved.

4. Keep a more detailed record of your progress as you go along, paying particular attention to any situations or circumstances that if you could do them over, what would you have done differently? In those situations, make note of whether you followed your head or your gut.

5. Learn to let go of doubt. When you doubt your instincts, you are inadvertently saying that you don’t trust yourself. If you can’t trust yourself, exactly who can you trust?

Keep practicing this 5-step plan and sooner rather than later, it will simply be instinctual for you to follow your gut. Learning to trust your instincts is a process, but with practice, it will become more of a natural reaction. When you trust your instincts, you are less likely to make mistakes.
 
Sometimes, the proof isn’t in what has happened because of that choice, sometimes the proof is in what hasn’t happened. All that stuff that didn’t blow up in your face… well, that’s what instincts are all about. Good luck!