For today, let’s talk about following your gut. Have you ever had a gut feeling about something? It is a feeling... a calling.
In an article I read recently, it talked about how we first have a sensation, then an emotion to the sensation, and then we make up a story about it. But, what if we just follow the sensation of the gut without having to know the story why?
I recently had the experience of having a gut sensation that I followed through on. My gut feeling was very strong and never strayed from the calling... until I made up a story to my emotion. When I got to the end of where I wanted to go, an outcome that happened wasn’t one of pure celebration. Part of the outcome was someone causing drama that took me back to childhood. Still, I knew my gut had been right and life has continued to move on past that person’s drama.
The hardest part for me was for me to pay attention to making up stories about this. In trauma, we tend to make up a story about why something happened so that we don’t repeat it. As I move along in life, I still go back to that place of trauma that needed a story. When this happens, sometimes I get trapped in it until I come back to acknowledging it, caring for myself, and reminding myself that I know my gut was right for me.
Sadly, we’ve been taught that everything must be gloriously perfect for our gut to be right. But, it doesn’t... even though we want it to be. What’s right for my gut may not always be what is right for someone else. When we know what we want for our lives, it seems that (at least for me currently) what’s right in my gut doesn’t always match up with what another person may want for me in the their life. That’s tough and I’ve been doing some grieving while exploring how peculiar it is to follow your gut, know that it’s right, but that the outcome isn’t always immediately glorious.
When we trust ourselves and know what we want for our life, we can follow our gut without needing to know the story of why or what another outcome may be. It’s difficult when someone else doesn’t celebrate with us for the choice we’ve made, and that needs to be grieved, but it doesn’t mean our gut was wrong. In fact, I still know my gut was right... it’s never swayed from what it was telling me.
What about you? Have you had an experience of following your gut and knew that it was right even if it didn’t please others?
Lisa Pratt, February 2021
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