Listen to Your Gut

Don’t you hate those moments when all of the sudden you hear yourself saying, “Darn! I should have listened to my gut”? Have you ever asked yourself why you don’t listen?

The reason we don’t tend to pay attention to what our gut is trying to tell us is that, as kids, we take on beliefs that our parents, teachers, grandparents, and adults in general know better than us. Our parents, especially, think they know best. Because most parents live by a set of rules of how life “must be,” they tend to impress those rules on us. So we get conditioned early on to make others the authorities of our lives and, thus, disregard our intuition.

When my girls were younger, we were visiting with some friends. There was a bit of a chill outside, but by no means was it cold. My friend insisted that her kids bundle up to stay warm. However, their coats were quickly shed as they jumped on their trampoline. “Put your coats on!” the mom screamed at her kids.

Their response went something like this, “Mom! We’re burning up. It’s not cold out here!”

The sweat running down their cheeks said the rest. But the mom wouldn’t listen. “Put those coats on or else you are coming in!”

What the mom didn’t realize is that, in that moment, she sent her kids a message that said they couldn’t trust themselves and she knew best. And that is how it all begins.

Little situations like this throughout childhood and into your teens chip away at your connection to what is right for yourself. And as you lose that connection, you quit listening to your gut.

No one knows what’s best for you, except YOU! You have everything you need inside of you, if you’ll just listen.

To reconnect to your intuition, ask yourself, “What is right for me?” And if you find yourself questioning yourself, debating back and forth, ask, “What am I afraid will happen if I listen to myself?”

Are you afraid of making a mistake? Are you afraid you’ll lose someone’s love? What are you fearful will happen if you listen to your gut?

Whatever your fear is, the chances are that the answer will have to do with not trusting yourself to handle whatever comes along. Whether you’re concerned that your kids will get sick or you’ll lose someone’s love, when you don’t listen to yourself, it’s always due to a lack of trust. And the only way to get that back is to take tiny steps listening to your gut.