6 Gut Instincts You Shouldn’t Ignore...

“Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.” 

“Trust your gut,” said a friend before you took up a new project, and your gut feeling was that it would work out, and eventually it did. Gut instinct is that instant hunch, the all-knowing feeling that tells you when something is right or wrong in your life.

Whether it’s buying a new house or taking up a new job or getting into a relationship etc., if you are aware about it, there is always this tingling sensation in the deepest part of our gut that tells you whether it will work out or not.

We know about the brain-gut connection (link), in which your mental state has a direct effect on the functioning of your actual gut. Given that your gut can interact directly with your brain, this fact may explain why it is known as the gut instinct.

Following our instincts helps us in our lives to make better decisions, it might not be accurate all the time, especially if you mix it up with fear-based anxiety. While fear and anxiety is a build up in anticipation of a future event. your thoughts are frantically racing, you feel scattered trying to come up with solutions to the negative scenarios. Your heart rate increases, and hands get clammy etc.

How do we know that you are getting a gut feeling?

“Just like it is so important to understand the difference in thinking and feeling to increase our Emotional Intelligence, it is important to take the time to understand the difference in emotional feelings and gut feelings to further increase our intelligence and facility of intuition that we call Intuitional Intelligence.” ~ Martha Char Love

Increasing Intuitional Intelligence: How the Awareness of Instinctual Gut Feelings Fosters Human Learning, Intuition, and Longevity

As the name suggests, it mostly involves the ‘Gut’ like butterflies in your stomach, a deep sensation in the stomach, sweaty palms or feet, tightness in the body, goosebumps and so on.

Gut instincts are spontaneous, an instant flash of insight when you are confronted with something. You feel very strongly for a decision or an action.

Pay attention to your mind and you will be able to differentiate whether it’s your gut talking or is it coming from a place of fear.

Here are 6 gut instincts you should pay attention to and never ignore ~

“Sometimes you just have to trust your instincts; it may be all you have to trust.” 

You can sense danger

When you and your child go for a walk to the hill and you’re walking through rough terrain covered with dry grass, making it difficult to see the ground. Suddenly you sense that there is a ditch in the front and you pull your child aside.

When you go to check, you realise there was a big hole under the sheet of dry grass, that’s your gut telling you about potential danger. This kind of extrasensory perception is helpful to protect yourself and the ones you care about. If you ignore these signs you also tend to get a feeling that something isn’t aligned.

You sense something fishy

Have you experienced an occasion when you enter a known space and sense that something is fishy, something doesn’t feel right? Pay attention to it, maybe someone has set you up for something bad to happen, or maybe a loved one is lying to you about not cheating on you. If you get a strong and clear feeling, pay heed to it.

You feel this isn’t the right choice

Over the last several years, when we have gone house hunting to live on rent, we generally rely on our gut. How did it feel when we entered the new space? How is the energy in the room? Does it feel right to live here?

The choice has always been accurate. The first time we went to see an apartment and it instantly felt right to live there.

You feel something is not right with your health

If you are tuned in and aware about your body, you will also be able to sense when something is wrong with it. You feel that something is off with your body or that you are going to fall sick. If your gut is telling you that something is wrong, do something about it. Take time off and figure out what’s wrong.

You are at the right place

It’s not always about negative feelings or potential danger that one experiences, the gut also tells you when things are falling in place. You sense an aura of good vibes and energy in the air and you feel like you belong here, “this is it”!

I felt like that when we took admission for our eldest son in a Waldorf school which was 55 kms away from home. The moment I met the founder and the other parents, it gave me an instant feeling of home and that I knew them from a previous life. Those are your gut instincts telling you that you have made the right choice.

You should take the plunge

When I took up blogging in 2008, it was a big step, as I had to quit my job and settle for something lesser than what I was making at that time. Deep within there was a feeling, a mix of gut instincts and intuition that guided me to take the plunge. It felt right to make the shift.

There have been ups and downs, but it has worked out, nevertheless. It has been a profound learning experience to initiate transformation on the personal front and strive to become a better person.

“The only real valuable thing is intuition.” 

Tune in to your bodily cues and your inner wisdom!

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