Tips to Improve Trusting Your Instincts
We all have a instinctive side to us, and this is part of our physiological makeup. However, our modern life has caused many of us to ignore, subdue and distrust what our gut instincts tell us. Our instincts are there for a reason: To help us survive, avoid danger and prevent making foolish choices. Let’s take a look at a few ways to hone your instincts and learn to use them to your advantage.
Trust Yourself
The easiest and most effective way to get dialed into your instinctive side is to learn to trust yourself. This is also the most difficult because we’ve been conditioned to do the exact opposite by our schools, jobs, what we are fed in the media and told by the government. Society tries to mold us into individuals who will join the herd, perform predictable tasks and avoid making waves. However, the process also kills our individuality, sense of self-reliance and overall independence.
The biggest reason that we don’t follow our instincts is that we don’t know whether or not we can trust them. We tend to pursue courses of action that produce known results. So, this predictability, and perceived comfort that we get from it may actually be doing us more harm than good. Remember that the path of least resistance is not always the best one, and many struggles that we face are the direct result of not trusting our instincts because they go against the grain of what we’re conditioned to think of as normal.
Be Still and Know
For the most part, instinctive impulses do not scream in our minds. They are more subtle, constant guideposts that are always working in the background. The noise of our lives and the world around us, coupled with all of the distractions that demand our attention and focus keep us from being quiet and listening to ourselves. This may sound like a lot of psycho babble or new age-ism’s, but this is a very real and very true part of our human makeup.
There are also times when our instincts scream at us, especially when our radar detects that we’re heading into danger. This is the time to act and deal with the consequences later. That’s not to say that if you have a sudden urge to jump off of a cliff, you should do so. Rather, it is to say that you should follow your gut, and if you’re wrong, than you can chalk it up to experience and try better next time. Remember, that you know yourself more than anyone else, so it’s important to listen and start to trust in what your mind is telling you.
Practice Makes Perfect
Since many people have no clue how to listen to themselves and trust in their own instincts, it takes time to develop this innate skill. It also takes a lot of practice in order to develop the confidence and trust that comes with knowing when your mind is leading you in the right direction or when you’re just making an emotional response. Be prepared to make wrong choices and to confuse instincts and intuition with your feelings, concerns or desire to embark in some wishful thinking.
Over time, you will learn when your instincts are true and when your impulses are brought on by circumstances or feelings. However, you won’t know the difference until you’ve spent a good deal of time practicing and taking chances. Just remember, it’s far better to develop these skills and make mistakes now, with things that don’t have life or death consequences, as opposed to testing your instincts in the field during a crisis.
Our instincts are one of the best tools that we have to guide our lives and keep us safe. Consequently, developing them and learning how to use them to your advantage should be a top priority. Start today so you will be in a much better position tomorrow to make the right choices and take greater control over your destiny.
