Trust

Do you trust your instincts?

I do.

If instincts and intuition are the same thing, then yes. If they are not, still yes and here’s why. I have spent a lifetime learning to listen to myself. I may have learned this lesson by not listening or not believing, but there were always those moments when I did. Every moment that I did what my heart or gut or instinct or intuition suggested, I learned something about who I was.

Was I always right? Yes and no. Ultimately I’m going to say yes.

Animals are equipped with instinct with no logic to talk them out of listening to it. They still get eaten. They can’t help migrating when the time is right, but lose herd members along the way. Fish do that circling thing, but their big swirling numbers attract big hungry predators.

My instincts and intuition have given me me. I have navigated twists and turns in ways that work the best for me. Has it always been comfortable? No. I used to spend time trying to figure out where I went wrong. This was an activity that did not serve me. The where-did -I -go-wrong game led me into avenues of thought that weren’t optimal. Having some good gut feelings kept me alive and moving and gave me an ally.

I like to think that that is why I have them. Everyone gets their own private navigational systems and uses their systems very independently and personally. As we pick our way along the paths of our life, we have these internal hunches and prompts. We get to decide when or if to follow, at least I think we do. It’s all us for us.

My instinct and intuition help me decide. If I only had logic and reason to help me, I would never have gone to Africa. I wouldn’t have had children and I absolutely would not have become an artist. My heart, my me ness gets to interject, when I follow, I get a life more of and for me.

I have learned to trust myself along the way. I have also learned to trust myself in hindsight. Is self trust instinct? Is it intuition? Or are these the tools for knowing or remembering ourself?