by Rick Baker
On Mar 9, 2017
Gut Feel: that's when you have a very strong feeling that isn't backed by logic...like an instinct...a special gift arriving as an insight or intuition
There's lots of advice about gut feel...
- it's the true key to success
- the gift of the creative and the entrepreneurial
- an overrated and flawed phenomenon
- something that's likely to get you into trouble
So, what should you do? Should you follow your gut feel? Should you be wary of it? Should you pick and choose when to follow and when to ignore your gut feel? If that's best then how do you go about doing that?
Some time ago, we spent time defining emotions.
Emotions, the way we define them, provide a clue on how to deal with gut feel.
In summary, emotions are natural protective mechanisms - built-in genetic mechanisms. They are warning signals. They happen quickly and unconsciously. After they arrive, thoughts follow...either negative thoughts or positive thoughts...stronger rather than weaker thoughts.
If a gut feel is flavoured with emotion then we need to step back and think about why this is happening before we follow the gut feel. Intuition and insight do not have to be flavoured by emotion. Intuition and insight can happen without emotion. So, when we have a special insight or intuition we need to consider whether or not it is coupled with emotion.
If the gut feel is coupled with emotion then it could be:
- A Hunger - simply put, it might only be something you crave. If your special insight or intuition is crave-based then you are likely to ignore facts, refuse intelligent input, and make decision errors.
- A Bad Habit - ask yourself if this gut feel is aligned with your long-term goals. If it is not then it is wrapped up in bad habit.
- A Gift of Insight and Intuition - however, that will be a rarity.
On the other hand, if your gut feel is coupled with feeling rather than emotion then give it some quality attention. It may be true intuition or true insight. Then you will want to heed it and let it add to your life.