There is a reason why we are told to “trust our gut.” When our heads clouds our judgment, going against everything we know if our hearts to be right and true. When our instinct matters more than anything else. 
Who hasn’t walked into a room or turned a corner, only to hear this sudden hush of silence overwhelm everyone around and wondered what people were just talking about? Maybe you couldn’t put your finger on it, but you knew something was “off.”
We spend years in school — learning arithmetic, grammar, and science — and that will only get us so far. None of those subjects will teach us how to react in situations when our natural-born kicks in.
And we know when it does.
In some situations, our “fight or flight” instinct will kick in depending on the situation and whether we feel strong enough to fight through it or if it is something really not worth the effort.
Too often, we let our head guide us.
That works for a while, but it can be wrong in the end.
For several years, I had allowed my head guide me through life. It was the headlamp that guided me through picking a major in college and towards a career I never even think I wanted. I felt no passion or drive to becoming an attorney. It just made sense. It was logical. It seemed practical. It was expected.
I didn’t need to understand why.
I didn’t feel an attachment to practicing law.
It didn’t run in our family.
So, did what every other person does…I took the first job I could find. It didn’t matter if it meant processing claims for a large insurance carrier — it was just a job. It brought money into our household. I wasn’t supposed to “love” my job. I was just supposed to do it.
But we “know,” don’t we? We know what matters and what doesn’t. We feel it in our gut — whether that is excitement or butterflies. Sometimes, trusting our gut and knowing that it knows what is best for us is the hardest part. It means putting logic and reason aside. It means allowing a feeling or emotion to come to the surface and even if we can’t explain it that we put our faith into it.
Most of the time, with no questions asked.
Who hasn’t has an experience where we either ran from a situation or stayed in it a bit longer? Never really committed one way or the other, but something “tipped us off” to head in one direction and not the other?
Sometimes, it is easier to prove why something doesn’t make sense than to believe in why it does, without explanation.
To set aside a belief because it cannot be understood in a way that most would follow.
But when it all comes down to it, there are always going to be moments in our lives when we don’t know “why” — when no amount of logic will ever answer every question imagined — when the best answer we can come up with is, “I just have this feeling” and let that be the end of it.
Our instincts are there for a reason. To remind us to “check in” with our hearts now and again. To convince us that no matter how much our mind can hold with information and date, that it still falls short when it comes to the level of intuition we need.
No matter who we are, as life-long learners, we never have a more valuable resource than our own impulse of doing what feels right.
We must give it a chance to be right, without evidence or example.
We must allow what feels natural to us and follow its guidance, no matter how crazy it may seem to others.
We must believe in the messages it sends us and interpret them as we see fit.
We must surrender to its navigation, even if it feels like we are headed towards unfamiliar territory.
We must trust in why our instinct was given a voice to begin with and hear it.
We must resign that knowledge only gets us so far and that only our intuition can pick up where knowledge leaves off.
There are going to be times when it just doesn’t “feel right.” And that’s okay. Your instinct will always tell you if you should “stay” or “go” — no matter what your head tries to tell you. Trust it always.
Michelle A. Homme 2016 ©
