Gut Instincts, friend or foe?

Do you always trust your instincts? Some of the most stressed and anxious clients I've worked with have had one major thing in common. They ignore their gut instincts. Some can't even hear their instincts anymore they have turned up the dial on the chatter in their head so high it drowns them out. They create a life full of distractions, so there is never a moments silence for the instincts to get through with their message. Others hear their instincts loud and clear, but are afraid to trust themselves. The theory is that 'gut instinct' is the intelligence of the unconcious mind.

Stress is created when the gut says 'no' and the head says 'yes', or when the gut says 'yes' and the head says 'no'. This battle creates an inner conflict which causes you disharmony.

Trusting my gut instincts has actually saved my life. I had already had one malignant tumour removed, and my gut was telling me that the tiny freckle appearing on my left side wasn't right. Two consultants looked at it thoroughly, and said it was fine. My instincts were literally screaming at me 'this is not fine'. This gave me the confidence to go back again unhappy about their opinion. After a biopsy it was confirmed, it was indeed another potentially deadly tumour. Because it was caught early, I had an excellent prognosis. This just proved to me that even listening to my gut over expert opinion is important.

Of course it isn't always quite so straight forward. A friend was recently telling me that she felt her boyfriend was lying to her about working away for some of the weekend and not coming back until Saturday evening. (he often worked away in the week) 'something just doesn't feel right' she said. This led her to become very upset at the conclusion that he was cheating on her. It turned out that her instincts were indeed right, he did lie to her about working away for the weekend. After tears and MI6 style questioning he finally admitted that he had wanted to play golf with his colleagues on the Saturday, instead of the planned family day, and felt it would be easier to just say he was working. Her instincts had acurrately detected a lie, but she had convinced herself that he was cheating, when in fact he just lacked balls. (forgive the pun!)

How do you start trusting your instincts?
1) Like any good relationship, spend time alone listening
2) If it argues with you it is not your gut instinct it's your head
3) Develop trust by going with your intuition more and more
4) Be confident in following your instincts, even if the rest of the world is going the opposite way

FOLLOWING YOUR INSTINCTS + BALLS = A GREAT LIFE