Why You Should Trust Your Gut
You’ve probably heard the term ‘trust your gut’ multiple times in the past. It sounds like one of those old wives’ tales that sound great to say out loud but doesn’t hold any merit.
But there might actually be some truth in these three words.
If you’ve ever had a sneaky suspicion about something or you ‘felt it in your bones’ (another common phrase used by many), this is known as your intuition. It is based on the first thoughts and feelings we have about a certain situation or person and it’s often right!
Take a look at many successful people in the world, and it’s likely that many of their successful decisions were made without systematic thought in just a few seconds. They trusted their gut instinct and rolled with it.
Sensing intuition is an ability that everybody has, yet so many people dismiss it as being irrational and don’t follow it through with the decision that their gut is telling them to take.
Your ‘gut feeling’ can manifest in a number of ways. Commonly, you will experience physical sensations when you’re in the middle of a tough decision, such as
- Tightness throughout the whole body
- Butterflies in your stomach or nausea
- A sinking sensation in your stomach
- Excess sweating on the forehead, palms, and feet
- Increased heart rate and breathing rate
For those of you who find it hard to trust your gut, this article might convince you otherwise!
Here are some key reasons why you should learn to trust your gut and go with what your intuition is telling you.
Your Intuition is Based On Past Experiences
The more experience you have in a certain scenario, the more accurate your intuition will be when you encounter a similar situation. Therefore, the more likely it is that your ‘gut feeling’ is right!
Your past experiences guide your future decisions, and when you learn to trust what your heart, head, and gut are telling you, it can lead to the best decisions.
Of course, this is the case 100% of the time and it can be good to ask those around you for advice if they have been in a very similar situation in the past.
Your Gut and Your Brain Are Physically Connected
Did you know that your brain and your colon are physically connected?
The vagus nerve is a long string of nervous tissue that connects your head to your gut and this explains perfectly why there is such a thing as a ‘gut feeling’. It’s why you experience nausea or butterflies or a sinking feeling when you have a tough decision to make.
This connection is known as the gut-brain axis and it is a bidirectional communication system between the central nervous system and the enteric nervous system. More specifically, this communication occurs between the intestines (your gut) with the cognitive and emotional centers in your brain.
So, when your brain is processing information using these areas of the brain, the gut is influencing its decisions via the vagus nerve.
The gut has actually been referred to as the second brain because of this strong connection. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that has confirmed the legitimacy of ‘gut feelings’.
It Can Help You to Avoid Unhealthy Relationships
Your intuition may be based on your past experiences or previous advice you have been given by those around you. It could also be influenced by society.
For example, if you feel that your partner is being emotionally abusive, you know that is abnormal and inexcusable because you have grown up in a society that emphasizes these views.
Trusting your instincts might not always be so easy when it comes to relationships. We might think that there’s no way the people in our lives could wish harm upon us. Our subconscious often misleads us into staying in unhealthy relationships with lovers or friends.
However, when you learn to trust your gut feelings about them, you can leave the relationship as quickly as possible to avoid getting hurt.
Often, your intuition can be right when you have doubts about a partner or friendship. It’s almost unavoidable to meet people who don’t have your best interests at heart, whether they are selfish, deceitful, or abusive.
Even if you have been in multiple bad relationships in the past, it doesn’t mean that your intuition is skewed or ‘faulty’. Your deep intuition remains with you throughout your whole life, but it sometimes needs a little nudge and some self-confidence!
