Gut Feelings Vs. Feelings
It's Friday morning. I've been busy with a project and have let my morning exercise ritual fall away long enough that the habit has weakened and I am faced with a raw, pure decision. To exercise or not? I don't feel like exercising. At least not entirely. A part of me does. But like I said, the habit is weakened.
The part of me that does feel like it is excited to move again. I always feel better afterwards. Endorphins have been released. My blood is pumping. My body has done what it is suppose to do. Move. Breather harder. Exert itself for a while. Muscles have been used. I know this will be good for me. It sets me up for increased energy all day.
The debate keeps going inside of me. There are two feelings over it. One says just go on with the day. The other says to exercise, it is healthy and I will feel energized and more alive. Even my mind likes it better when I regularly exercise.
I am experiencing two different kinds of feelings. One is what we typically think of as feelings. It is an emotion. The other one is more intuitive or a gut feeling. I have this deep sense I should exercise. Yet I don't really FEEL like it.
Do you get the difference? I feel both. One is an expression. I understand if I follow it regularly, I am not doing so for any good reason that will benefit my life. In actuality, following it daily will hurt my life. The other is a deeper sense of truth, offering me direction. Intellectually, I know following my gut sense will help me. It is offering me wisdom that will move me in a beneficial direction.
On another day, my gut sense may say, "Today it is better for me to rest, so don't exercise, because I need to rest more than I need to exercise." On that day, I am wise to listen. On that day, I might still feel like I exercising, but something deeper, is saying it is better to rest that day.
So, when people are saying, "Don't be guided by your feelings." Put it in the first category, where it is an expression, but it is not offering you wise counsel. And when you hear people say, "Be guided by your feelings," understand this is your "gut sense" of things. It is your intuition speaking. It is wisdom speaking, giving you the sense to following something.
Karen Cook Counselling & Therapeutic Life Coaching
Eating Disorders and Women's Issues Specialist
This is your season to learn, grow, and develop a full and deeply satisfying life.