We all have gut feelings. Some of us just seem to recognize their presence more often than others do. Some even go a step further and actually learn to trust their gut feelings, using them as an internal personal assistant which helps in decision making. Having had many conversations with clients who come to me for mental training, I have been pleasantly surprised to find that most women and men admit to recognizing they have gut feelings. You can call it preconceived ideas, but I have been most surprised to hear so many of my male clients admit to having gut feelings. Because, basically, admitting to having gut feelings is like admitting to having intuition.

Defining Your Gut Feelings

Wiktionary.org defines gut feelings as “an instinct or intuition; an immediate or basic feeling or reaction without a logical rationale.” Wikipedia.org immediately redirects the reader to intuition, then defines it as “the apparent ability to acquire knowledge without inference or the use of reason.” It continues to say, “Typically, intuition is regarded as a conscient commonality between earthly knowledge and the higher spiritual knowledge and appears as flashes of insight.” So, when I hear a person admit to being aware of gut feelings, to me, he is admitting to recognizing he has intuition.

Who admits to using gut feelings?

-Police officers can have a gut feeling that a suspect is holding a weapon or narcotic substances.
-A woman dating can have gut feelings regarding her safety when around a man she is meeting.
-A business man meeting a prospective partner can get a sense of that person’s intentions.

What a person is aware of is the fact that there is an internal feeling, be it positive or negative in nature, which signals to a person that what one is thinking, doing, or about to do is either conducive or not conducive to who one is or what one’s intentions are. This beacon reacts instantaneously and automatically, it is a signal emitted from a part of you which is incredibly wise and acutely aware of who you are, where you are (your present), where you have been (all your past experiences and what you have learned), and where you want to go (your desires for your future). It also has the impressive ability to immediately adapt when circumstances change, whether they are in thought, actions or one’s environment. Even though many recognize the presence of gut feelings, it is hard for a person to recognize the full extent of their power, as most have yet to trust them, let alone use them to assist one through life. We are born with and possess an intricate, highly efficient internal guidance system.

No man-made contraption comes close in its functioning or capabilities to that of a human internal guidance system. But, let us look at one invention which is similar… a missile guidance system. There are many different kinds of missile guidance systems, but, basically, the technology guides a missile to an intended target. That target can be moving or fixed. When the intention is to hit a target which is moving, the guidance system has three components: a target tracker, a missile tracker, and a guidance computer. One tracker must find and follow a target no matter where it goes. Another tracker must assess the where-abouts of the missile itself and the trajectory of its flight path. Then, a guidance computer, which has been programmed with the mission, must continually gather data and make necessary adjustments to the missile’s course.

To reach the target efficiently and effectively, the following information is vital:

What is the target?

Where is it at?

Is the target fixed or moving? Where is the missile compared to the target?

What path would be most efficient in getting the missile to the target?

Let us relate this to our human guidance system. What is your target… your current desires, goals, and intentions for your life (these are based on the uniqueness of who you are, your preferences)? The target is moving because as you evolve and, as your life unfolds, you will find that your desires, goals, and intentions for your life evolve as well. At the present moment, where are you in life compared to your current desires, goals, and intentions? What path and choices are most appropriate for you to accomplish your current desires, goals, and intentions; to live your ideal life, to live a life filled with joy? Your personal and unique guidance system offers you positive feelings when you are on the right path for your present-day intentions, desires, and goals; and offers you negative feelings when you are off the path which is most suitable to your current intentions, desires, and goals.

Are you ready to make use of your highly qualified, efficient, dependable internal personal assistant? The first step is to define your target. Get to know yourself. Outline your current intentions, desires, and goals. Then, you can practice being awake and aware of your gut feelings. Start to trust them and make some decisions based on their guidance. Commit to the process, as it does take time and effort.

Once you understand and begin to practice these skills, pass the knowledge onto your children. Teaching them from a young age how powerful they are, how to be awake to their uniqueness and preferences, how to have goals and direction, how to look inward for their answers, and how to trust themselves and their natural, instinctual gut feelings which are always there to guide them through life.