Animals follow their instinct without question while humans do not trust theirs. Albert Einstein said, “It is much better to trust your instincts and test them later than to dismiss them out of hand.” Your instincts guide you all day sending signals to act or stay still. You think about and evaluate all the options with focus on how you feel about your instinct instead of what it is encouraging you to do. What instincts have you ignored? Should you have started or quit a career, business, client, partner relationship sooner? Do you want to set specific goals that your gut is saying “Do it.” but your feelings are getting in the way keeping you stuck?
Most people think their intellect along with hard work is the key to success. However, major CEOs responded that their ‘gut instinct’ was the critical component to their success. Too often people are taught to ignore their instinct and go with only their five senses. When your instinct is harnessed, refined, and heeded, it will provide you with the key to unlocking your most productive, most satisfying, and most joy filled life. The stronger your antenna the greater is your decision making. When not attuned it results in poor decisions, bad habits, being easily deceived, and an unwillingness to learn from mistakes.
Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level – Dr. Joyce Brothers
Your gut instinct is a culmination of your DNA, heart, situational, and mental intelligence. They culminate in an instant sending you impulses to stop, move, or act. Your instincts are a guide hardwired in your body. The term “fight or flight” is an instinct that describes the automatic reaction your body has when in legitimate danger. That is why you reach for something to stabilize yourself as you start to fall. You do not stop to consider how you feel about falling. Science has proven that instincts are real, and humans can feel something before it happens. You must teach yourself to follow your instinct which will help you achieve and exceed your goals. University of Alberta’s research determined, “when there is something near you that will help you with both short- and long-term goals, your brain views it favorably and alerts you with an impulse.” Pick a goal (career change) and notice your impulses and feelings around it. Once you set a goal, your brain aligns with your intuition, signaling you with an impulse when your goal is within reach. It is your responsibility to act on those impulses.
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Your instinct is within your subconscious mind and is always available for you to leverage. But it can become cloudy if you are depressed, anxious, or not feeling your best. Without your instinct to guide you, you often remain stuck analyzing when asked to make a choice. When you do decide, you fail to see the risks in what you are doing. You may invest all your money in poor business opportunities while others would have had a strong instinct of distrust. You ignore your instinct at your own peril. However, your instincts must not replace analytical thought. Be aware that your gut instinct could also be swayed by any unconscious bias (racism, ageism, or sexism). The strength and accuracy of your gut instinct also relies on the extent of your experiences, not overthinking and taking a pause as needed. Your Emotional Intelligence (EI) must also be used to identify the emotions expressed in others’ faces and predicting the changes in someone’s mood.
Always trust your instincts. They are messages from your soul
Your mind is interconnected with your brain and body with intuitive feelings frequently accompanied by physical reactions. You may sometimes get an unusual feeling in the stomach, throat, and skin. You will notice prodding from your gut when in unhealthy situations and relationships that something is just not right! Learning to trust yourself will help you:
à Make effective decisions in unfamiliar, changing, and complex situations.
à Quickly judge someone’s character under duress.
à Make better moral judgments.
à Identify when something feels right improving creativity.
à Align your decisions with your purpose and core values.
à Utilize your higher intelligence and deeper wisdom.
Your gut instinct occurs when you make a substantial match or mismatch between past and current experiences. Patterns noticed through these experiences are stored into your long-term memory, and then retrieved when you see these patterns again in your everyday experience. To use and trust your gut, you need practice. You need to have had sufficient experience noticing and changing patterns in order to have built up a memory that is accurate and extensive. This will enable you to trust yourself and succeed.
