Stop Overthinking And Trust Your Gut

Sep 07, 2022

Gut feelings come in many shapes and sizes. Essentially, a gut feeling is an initial realization of something without knowing how or why. This "gut feeling" is often dismissed or overlooked because it lacks facts or evidence.

Even though it's true that your gut feeling isn't always accurate, there is evidence that these feelings matched with reason and deeper thinking can provide you with added confidence in your decision-making ability, especially when there might be more than one "right answer." 

Deeper Examination of the Gut Feeling

Did you know that your stomach includes neurons? As amazing as that sounds, the stomach has more neurons than your spine, and this could be a reason for your gut feeling. The brain and gut tend to work together and access everything you've ever known and experienced in an instant. The end result of the analysis is the feeling you get deep in your stomach. We tend to experience and use this on a daily basis whenever we "go with our gut." 

Using the Gut Feeling Responsibly

Some people have a stronger gut feeling than others, but because of our data-driven world, this intuition is frequently dismissed. People that are highly sensitive have a stronger gut feeling than others, but this intuition can be strengthened and improved by everyone. There are multiple ways to go about improving the intuitive abilities found deep within yourself such as: 

  • Start small like speaking when you have an initial reaction instead of staying quiet. 
  • Recognize the pull toward a decision vs. panic or fear. (Fear is all about avoidance)
  • Think through your gut reactions and play out each scenario. Determine if your gut reaction was the right one. 
  • Make a quick decision, writing down your initial reaction. Then reexamine later to see how you still feel. 

Examine Your Core Values

By determining what you most value at your core, you will be able to determine if gut reactions are conflicting with those values. Think about and determine what you value more than anything else. Pick a few of them and use them to guide your decision-making. This can help understand why you feel as you do, and clear the clutter in your mind about the decision. 

Using Your Gut Responsibly

Just remember that using your gut reaction is not the only factor to use when making decisions. It is a tool that can help provide clarity and focus when there is a task at hand. The bottom line is that most people are probably not utilizing their gut to its full potential, or are suppressing the feeling completely. Remember that there is wisdom in the gut when used in the proper context. 

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