Gut instinct can be called intuition. It can feel irrational, unrealistic or foolish. It is, as poet Rumi said, a “voice that doesn’t use words,” . It’s often your first point of reference i.e. the initial feeling, hunch or thought that comes to you. If you can’t always hear gut instinct or don’t notice it, don’t worry…
…gut instinct is also a muscle!
Photo credit: April Laugh via Unsplash
And we can choose to strengthen that muscle. Which is good because gut instinct, can be hard to act on, even if we do hear it. And we do want to hear it so we can use it. Because our gut instinct can save us from huge mistakes, pain and even danger.
The above is an excerpt from my workbook: Relationship Red Flags: The 10 Secrets You Need To Know*. I talk about gut instinct in an exercise related to Secret #3: Speed. Red flags - a relationship moving too fast, a partner withholding affection, relentless negativity - can come to us through gut instinct. It doesn’t seem quite right that our new boo wants to spend ALL our time together. Or that they are jealous of our relationship with our friends. Gut instinct can be that a niggling little feeling that we have. A feeling that can be hard to pay attention to when other pieces feel exciting.
I use gut instinct in small and big ways every day. I start mornings with Wordle and sometimes a word pops into my mind. If it does, I try it. That’s gut instinct. I try to listen for gut instinct when it comes to my writing: should I follow this thread even if it seems off topic? I use it when it comes to putting down a book. Or picking up a book? I use it with people. Steer clear of this guy. Talk to this woman. Ask her the question that pops into my head. I don’t have a great sense of direction but I try to listen to what gut instinct is telling me. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t but the more open we are to listening to gut instinct when it shows up, the more we can learn to trust its message.
How are you using gut instinct?
One last thing related to gut instinct - today, October 31, is also the last day to save 50% on Relationship Red Flags: The 10 Secrets You Need To Know. It’s a downloadable digital PDF workbook that you can go through at your own pace. RRF is the result of (at the time, 15+years working with abuse survivors so it’s the real deal). Here’s the link.
I have ruminated on this a bit in the past few years and tend to separate out instinct and intuition. I view instinct as more innate and protective, or fear based. For instance, when you see an alligator or snake, that sharp instinct to run or escape is protective. I view intuition as a whisper, guiding us towards our self and likely harder to hear. I think intuition is what can guide us away from group mentality which can feel scary (instinct) if we are wired for connection. However, it's not always bad to break away from the group and go in a direction that lights us up and might be the evolution we need. So, in long winded summary, for me instinct is loud and intuition is quiet. I have to really take a beat and listen to discern which it is for me and how I want to react to instinct. If it's intuition, it feels much harder for me to listen to but when I do, I usually find so much joy and fulfillment on the other side. Lots of practice for me! Thank you for the question!
I read this response yesterday, Holly, and have been thinking on it. It's interesting how you separate out intuition and gut instinct. They aren't different for me ...although perhaps that will change? And I can't see running from the alligator or snake as anything other than common sense...which means we'll have to chat on this more :-) I LOVE having these conversations with you.
It really is always so interesting to me these days that what I consider as common sense isn’t always so common, right? 😊 i.e. human rights seem to come to mind instantly or running from an alligator instead of stopping to take a selfie first 😇 can’t wait for more convos!
I have ruminated on this a bit in the past few years and tend to separate out instinct and intuition. I view instinct as more innate and protective, or fear based. For instance, when you see an alligator or snake, that sharp instinct to run or escape is protective. I view intuition as a whisper, guiding us towards our self and likely harder to hear. I think intuition is what can guide us away from group mentality which can feel scary (instinct) if we are wired for connection. However, it's not always bad to break away from the group and go in a direction that lights us up and might be the evolution we need. So, in long winded summary, for me instinct is loud and intuition is quiet. I have to really take a beat and listen to discern which it is for me and how I want to react to instinct. If it's intuition, it feels much harder for me to listen to but when I do, I usually find so much joy and fulfillment on the other side. Lots of practice for me! Thank you for the question!
I read this response yesterday, Holly, and have been thinking on it. It's interesting how you separate out intuition and gut instinct. They aren't different for me ...although perhaps that will change? And I can't see running from the alligator or snake as anything other than common sense...which means we'll have to chat on this more :-) I LOVE having these conversations with you.
It really is always so interesting to me these days that what I consider as common sense isn’t always so common, right? 😊 i.e. human rights seem to come to mind instantly or running from an alligator instead of stopping to take a selfie first 😇 can’t wait for more convos!
LOL! I totally forgot about those people who take selfies in the middle of impending disaster, hahaha!!!