Trust Your Instincts.

Instinct, intuition, your inner voice….no matter what you want to call it, we all have it.  It’s that nagging feeling when something just isn’t right; it’s that still, small voice that people refer to when they have come out of a tragedy and lived to share their experience.  Once again, no matter what you call it, we all have it, and we all need to listen to it more often.

This post is not just for all of you readers—It’s also for me.  I really need to work on listening to that little voice, in all aspects of my life.  No matter how big, or how small, the decisions are that I’m making every day, I need to trust my voice within and follow it accordingly.  So often, we make the decision to go with our heart, or to go with what the world thinks is right or good, when all we really need to do is go with our gut.  That first instinct we get when the decision is placed in front of us…that is the way to go.  So, why do we choose to go against it?  I recently read this little story in Oprah magazine, and it made me think about this topic.  Oprah writes:

“A while back, Bob Greene and I were walking with my dogs around the pond at my home in California.  The weather was damp and misty, and I was concerned that it was too cold for the dogs to go in the water.  But Bob said, ‘Don’t worry—they’re dogs.  They’re not going to stay in the water if it’s too cold.  Animals don’t deliberately cause themselves discomfort the way people do.’  How many times have you gone against your gut, only to find yourself at odds with the natural flow of things?  We all get caught up in the business of doing, and sometimes lose our place in the flow.  But the more we can tune in to our intuition, the better off we are. I believe it’s how God speaks to us.”   (The Oprah Magazine, August 2011).

This idea, that humans are the only ones who deliberately cause themselves harm, really fascinated me.  And it is so true.  Think about your life, and the people in it. How often do you, or the people you love and care about, make the wrong decisions?  We are constantly making choices that make our lives, or the lives of others, so much harder.  But why?! Unfortunately that is not a question we can answer.  The only thing we can do is try to change the way we respond to our inner voice.

And so, the next time you start to think about a  decision in your life, try to remember that still, small voice.  Try to go to a quiet room and truly reflect on how you feel about the situation—without worrying what anyone else thinks.  If you get a job offer, don’t just accept it.  If a friend asks you to do something that you’d rather not do, don’t just say yes.  If your spouse says that he or she wants to move, don’t jump to make the decision for him or her.  Sit with yourself, think it through, and consciously make these decisions. Will this change be better for you?  How will it affect your life, and your family’s life?

This doesn’t just apply to ourselves, either.  This applies to everything in our lives—when a co-worker tells you some gossip about the boss and puts you in a sticky situation, or when someone you know is being hurt or abused, or even when you see a stranger in need, trust that voice within you, telling you the right thing to do.  Oprah goes on to say, “…I often tell friends:  When you don’t know what to do, do nothing.  Get quiet so you can hear the still, small voice—your inner GPS guiding you to true North”.

I pray that we can all do better in this area in our lives.  After all, how can we “look for the good in life” if we aren’t even following our truth in life?

 

Have you ever had a situation where you chose not to listen to this still, small voice within you?  What was the outcome?  How about a time when you did choose to listen?