Learning to listen to our gut…

Whether we understood it or not, from an early age we’ve been listening to the voice in our head versus following our gut instinct.

This voice was shaped by our parents who helped us learn not to touch hot things or be careful of stairs or hundreds of other things to watch out for or be afraid of.

It was a voice of perceived protection.

For the most part we’ve all been conditioned to listen to the voices in our head, and during our formative years ignore our intuition and do as we were told.

Even today, we often we listen out of habit and act upon it even though your intuition maybe telling you something completely different…

Sound familiar?

How many times have you had a wrong, or made a short-sighted decision based on the voice in your head versus listening to your intuition or gut?

I left home at 17 to go to university.  I did so without the support of my parents as they didn’t want me to go to university, nor were they in a position to help me out financially.

So, I did it alone.

Deep down I knew that the only way to get out of the cycle of poverty that had haunted my family was to get an education and figure it out after that.

This was my intuition talking, and I had to ignore all of the other voices both in my head and from my parents to make it happen.

In retrospect this was my first real decision that I had made without the oversight of my parents.

I don’t know where this thought came from, but it proved to be 100% accurate.

Unfortunately, during my university years I lacked a lot of confidence and so still tended to listen to the voice in my head way too much.

Nothing makes you learn faster than personal experience, am I right?

Learning to listen to your gut instinct or intuition while endeavouring to block out the voice in your head that’s telling you a host of things can be difficult.

However, as my confidence improved so did my ability to follow my intuition.

Learning to listen to my gut has taken a lifetime to come to terms with.

For me the big benefits of learning to listen to my gut have been the ability to make faster decisions.

Clearly, you have to balance fast decision making with rational thinking, but being able to quickly weigh up the options and move forward has helped me both in my personal life and career.

When I was learning to follow my intuition, I tended to take too long to make a decision, this form of procrastination can be as harmful as making the wrong decision.

It helped me focus my mind and make a fast, but balanced decision.  Although not always right, I found myself making the right decisions in the majority of situations.

Our gut instincts are also linked to our emotional intelligence in that it can help us quickly understand personal situations and navigate complex social setting thus enabling us to stay focused and calm.

As an ambivert (an introverted, extrovert) this is especially useful when in these social settings.

Some people may call our gut instinct our “Spidey senses”, but you definitely can feel when something doesn’t quite feel right.

Whether this is a situation you find yourself in, or a person you meet for the first time.   You can feel and recognize a dangerous situation as well as someone who is untrustworthy.

You know deep down…

Our intuition is also a safety mechanism, but we have to believe in our instincts and be courageous enough to act on them, when necessary, which can be sometimes difficult to do.

At moments like this it is imperative to make decisions fast as your personal safety may be at risk.  There is no time to linger!

The other important aspect of listening to your gut is that over the course of our lives we are building up an enormous expanse of experience and knowledge.

This unstructured data set enables us to subconsciously see patterns that perhaps our conscious mind may overlook.

When something doesn’t quite fit with the expected pattern this sticks in our mind and triggers our intuition to remember past experiences and how we dealt with them.

Making informed decisions based on our instincts also highlights our authenticity.

We are no longer following the company line or an expected pattern but are following our intuition.

We are being true to ourselves which no matter which way you perceive it is who we really are and based entirely on what our values and beliefs are.

Sometimes our decisions in situations like this may seem illogical or too emotional to others, but they underline the stark reality of who you really are deep down.

You believe in your gut instincts or intuition and act accordingly.

Not everyone has the courage to do this unwaveringly, or in a situation where it may not favour you or your advancement.

However, what it does is gives you is personal satisfaction in knowing that you trust yourself to make the right decisions based on what is before you – each and every time.

Following your values and beliefs may seem old fashioned, but to me is the measure of the person.

Until next week

Ciao!