Listening to your gut could spare you considerable heartache

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift." Albert Einstein

What is a ‘gut feeling’? It can be anything from a funny tingle or odd feeling in your stomach to an inexplicable sense that something is off beam. Being able to decipher what these bodily sensations are telling us is something that most of us humans have been steadily ignoring over time. When meeting someone for the first time it is said that the initial gut feeling you get about them is an ancient biological wisdom. Being able to sense whether someone was likely to be an ally or enemy was extremely important to human survival.

Often we feel threatening situations in our stomachs and if we ignore this gut feeling it can make us less cautious and less likely to be fully aware of potential emotional or physical danger. Have you ever had the experience of feeling completely drained after spending time with certain people? This sensation can be your body giving you a message that something is harming your well-being; that perhaps you need to remove yourself from this situation.

A team of researchers at the University of London tested the visual perceptions of a group of people and found that those that took more time pondering over their decisions were more likely to get it wrong than those that went with their initial intuitive response. Dutch researchers shadowed shoppers at IKEA, observing their shopping behaviours and they discovered that the people that spent less time making their choices generally ended up more satisfied.

Sometimes your body’s warning signs can be subtle so learning to identify sensations that are unfamiliar may take some practice.

Many times I’ve heard people say that they ‘felt’ that something wasn’t right but perhaps not acted upon their feelings for fear of ridicule because they couldn’t substantiate their claim. In an uncertain environment listen to your gut; it’s your internal ‘radar’ readily available to guide you and it could spare you considerable heartache.