trust your gut [video]

For example, my relationship with my significant other is okay, but it's not great.

Should we break up?

Well, our relationship could get better if we worked on it, but also it might never be

better and maybe there's someone else out there.

Or should I take this job?

It's not my dream job, but maybe I'll end up loving it.

But maybe if I take this job, then my dream job won't come my way or won't be presented

to me.

Hmm.

I don't know if I should take this job.

Or there are two schools that I can't decide between.

I have to choose one.

I can't go to both schools at once.

So what should I do?

Well, this school has a really great nursing program, but this school has a really great

veterinarian program.

Oh, what should I do?

You get the idea.

We get presented constantly with questions and problems that don't have concrete answers.

And there are two ways that we can solve these problems.

We can go with our gut instinct, which is our brain and body just automatically choosing

the answer without thinking consciously, without looking at data, without heavily analyzing.

It's just gut instinct.

That's one way that we come to a conclusion.

We can also come to a conclusion by really consciously analyzing the problem or question

at hand.

Like, what's the success rate of going with this solution?

What are the pros and cons of taking each action, etc.?

You know, really digging deep and analyzing what is the best way to proceed through a

problem or a question that is unanswerable.

I'm personally someone who tends to trust their gut.

I tend to go with my intuition when it comes to problems or questions that don't have

concrete answers.

And I don't know why I am that way.

I just always have been.

I mean, I've made some really big life decisions based on gut instinct.

For example, I decided not to go to college based on gut instinct, despite the fact that

I actually really wanted to go to college in a lot of ways.

I did and I didn't.

But I was really obsessed with the idea of going to college for years and years and years

of my life.

And it was my only option in my eyes.

I was like, I have to go to college.

I have to go to college.

There's no other option.

And then I ended up not going based on gut instinct.

When it comes to dating, a lot of my dating strategy is going with my gut.

Like even if I hear bad things about a certain guy, like, oh, this guy's a cheater, oh, this

guy isn't very nice or whatever.

If I get a good gut feeling, I'll proceed anyway.

Has that bit me in the ass before?

Yes.

But it's taught me invaluable lessons and I'm glad that I went with my gut instinct.

A lot of the business decisions that I make are based on gut instinct, even really big

ones.

Like I will make a big business decision based on a gut instinct.

I've always been known as someone who trusts their intuition.

And again, I don't know why I am that way, but I just simply am that way.

That's not to say that I don't ever come to a conclusion based on heavy analysis because

I definitely do.

I've also been known to less frequently make pros and cons list, analyze data, heavily

discuss a decision because at times that's what makes the most sense.

But I would say four times out of five, I'm trusting my instinct.

I'm trusting my intuition.

I think there are many people out there that believe that trusting your gut and trusting

your intuition is a bad idea.

The reason for that being, what is the conclusion based on?

I mean, trusting your gut is literally you getting an understanding of something without

considering other people's opinions about it, without thinking it over.

Trusting your gut is literally just trusting your inner feeling about something.

But the thing about it that makes it feel so mystical and almost like a fairy tale is

that you're coming to a conclusion just based on your brain and body's reaction to a possible

solution.

Do you see what I'm saying?

It's not based on any fact.

It's all abstract within your mind in a way.

There's no data to support your decision.

There's no statistics to support your decision.

There's no information supporting your decision.

It's simply just a gut feeling.

Because it's such a mysterious way to problem solve, I think a lot of people see it as irresponsible.

I found a really interesting study online that I wanted to share with you.

A Stanford psychologist basically conducted a test between rational decision-making strategies,

which involves taking logical steps, analyzing multiple sources, analyzing credible data,

reading up on facts, etc., to come to the best possible solution, versus going with

your gut and just deciding what to do based on what you feel like doing, what your body

and mind is telling you to do.

What's really interesting about this study is that intuition led to the best choice 68%

of the time.

Rational decision-making led to the best choice 26% of the time.

Now obviously this applies to dilemmas that don't have a concrete answer.

When it comes to doing a math problem, obviously you need to take a rational approach in order

to find the correct solution.

You can't just start guessing when you're doing math.

This study in the conversation today is about these questions that don't have answers.

It's so fascinating to me because I've been choosing this method of decision-making

for pretty much my whole life.

Reading about this study was really interesting to me because it was completely the opposite

of what I would have expected.

I always felt like I was just lucky that the way that I go about decision-making is just

lucky.

I'm lucky that for whatever reason my intuition guides me in the right direction, but this

study tells me that I'm not the only one, that this is actually a valuable way to come

to conclusions.

It goes against everything that you would expect because as I mentioned earlier, in

theory it makes more sense to use our rational mind to solve a problem, to use data, to use

stats.

That just makes more sense and I think a lot of people think that that's the only way

to solve problems, but what I'm here to talk about today is the value of your intuition.

Our gut instincts are there for a reason and my personal experience and this study that

I just mentioned are proof that there is value in trusting your gut when it comes to solving

certain types of problems in life.

I mean, it is interesting though because it's not like there are just two ways to solve

a problem, right?

You can use rational thinking, you can use your gut instinct, but you can also use a

trillion different ratios of rational thinking to gut instinct to also solve a problem.

You know, when I reflect on the way that I follow my gut instinct, I would say almost

every time I'm combining it with at least a little bit of rational thinking.

So I think you're always striking some sort of balance.

It's rare to just do only one or only the other, but when I refer to following your

gut instinct, I'm talking about mainly relying on that and maybe, you know, using a little

bit of rational thinking, but that's maybe only 20 to 30% of the problem solving process.

Majority is trusting your gut.

You see what I mean?

Listen, here's what I want to do.

I want to talk about trusting your gut.

I want to talk about why it's such a great tool and we're going to discuss what a gut

feeling is, what it feels like, how to use your gut instinct to your advantage, and the

potential challenges that come with listening to your gut because it's not completely foolproof.

Okay?

You can go wrong.

You can absolutely go wrong.

So let's really, let's really zoom in and dive deep into our gut instinct slash intuition.

I'm going to be using the terms gut instinct, gut feeling, intuition interchangeably.

So just be patient with me.

So what is a gut feeling?

What is a gut instinct?

What is intuition?

Well, despite what some may think that this is some made up bullshit, it actually is backed

by science.

Now, I didn't know this.

I thought this was some sort of magical human power that has no explanation up until researching

for this episode.

It is absolutely backed by science.

Here's the thing, okay?

We're constantly having experiences and as we have these experiences, we're storing all

of that data about the experiences that we're having in our head and a lot of that data

is going into our subconscious.

It's not even necessarily reaching our conscious mind.

We can only store so much in our conscious mind.

A lot of things just end up living in our subconscious mind, but it is not just sitting

in our unconscious mind collecting dust because it is to be used later to help us make intuitive

decisions.

Your mind continually receives and processes information without you even knowing that

it's happening.

So online, I found a neuroendocrinologist named Dr. Chopra and he says, when we get

a strong gut feeling, it's actually every cell in our body remembering, thinking, and

deciding on the matter at hand.

If you say, I have a gut feeling about such and such, you're not speaking metaphorically,

you're speaking literally.

Your gut makes the same chemicals that your brain makes when it thinks.

The nervous system in your gut doesn't have the ability to doubt itself like your central

nervous system does.

I also found a neuropsychologist named Nawal Mustafa who said around 95% of your body's

serotonin is produced in the gut, which influences emotions and mood.

Gut signals are then transmitted to the brain through the release of serotonin.

So basically when some problem, dilemma, question comes up that has no distinct answer, your

body will start producing chemicals.

Those chemicals then travel to your brain and give you a gut feeling.

Do you see what I'm saying?

I'm trying to explain it in a way that makes sense to me, but the moral of the story is

your body knows more than you think it does.

Your gut instinct, your gut feeling, it's not just you coming to a conclusion based

on nothing.

There actually is, there's actually something going on there.

And it's interesting because it's almost like your gut instinct is your body and brain's

memory being used to the best of its ability.

Because your gut instinct is kind of pulling from your memories, even the ones that you

don't consciously remember.

Whereas your conscious mind is playing in a much smaller sandbox.

There's much less to work with.

Your subconscious has a lot more to work with.

That is a big sandbox.

That's like a playground.

Your conscious mind can only comprehend so much at once.

You see what I'm saying?

I don't know.

Maybe I don't understand this very well.

I should bring somebody on the show who understands this really well and really dig in.

So that's what a gut feeling is.

That's what intuition is.

But what does it feel like?

I had my own ideas about what gut instinct feels like, but I wanted to do some research

and figure out what the universal experience is.

And it actually helped me understand what I'm feeling when I have a gut instinct even

more.

So according to various reports on the internet and my personal experience, a gut feeling

just feels right.

It just feels true.

And you can't necessarily explain why, but it's an almost immediate like, yeah, that's

it.

And I know that that sounds so simple and obvious, but that's sort of what makes it

so special is the fact that it comes to you and it just sort of arrives in your brain

and body.

A lot of times you can also feel your gut instinct.

Like you can physically feel your instinct.

Like for example, let's say you're trying to decide whether or not you should move across

the country.

And you can't decide because there are pros and cons to moving versus not moving.

Well, if you're getting a feeling of lightness, openness, energy, when you think about moving,

that's your intuition telling you, okay, I should move.

If your body feels tight, heavy, or slow when you think about moving, then that's your intuition

telling you that's not what we want to do.

When I think about times that I've made decisions based on intuition, this has applied so strongly.

For example, going to college for me always felt sort of mandatory.

I never even analyzed how I felt about it because it just felt so mandatory.

And then when my path in life sort of shifted and I was able to ask myself for the first time,

do you want to go to college?

I realized not going made me feel light and open and energized, even though at the time

that was a really risky decision, actually, because I didn't have a large savings of money.

I'm not in the type of family situation where I could live off of my parents' money.

And so I would have been totally fine if I decided to go to college later and my career

didn't end up working out.

I would have been fine.

I could have figured it out, but it was still risky, right?

But I went with the route that felt light and energized and excited, even though it was

scary.

And even though I was frightened, you know, it still felt like the right decision.

Now, that's not to say that you should only do things when they're accompanied by light

energy, you know.

Now, it's complicated because I don't want this to get misconstrued.

This mode of decision making only applies for situations that do not have a concrete answer.

When you're faced with a moral dilemma, you know what the right thing to do is,

and sometimes doing the right thing feels heavy, slow, uncomfortable,

scary, awful.

I feel like when there's a moral dilemma, there is a concrete answer.

It's doing what the right thing is to do.

And everyone knows what the right thing to do is deep down.

Not everyone, I guess.

But I don't know.

I think for the most part, when it comes to moral dilemmas, deep down, your moral compass

is telling you what the right thing to do is.

Sometimes we ignore that and we go and do the wrong thing.

But to me, moral dilemmas have usually a concrete answer.

There's a lot of nuance here, okay?

I'm getting exhausted from all of it.

But I think the moral of the story is a lot of times your gut feeling will take you in

a direction that feels the most smooth, that feels the most seamless, that gives you the

most energy.

Now, let's discuss how to use your gut feelings to your advantage.

To start, you have to know when to use it.

I just touched on that, but I'll touch on it again.

Not every problem should be solved using your gut instinct, okay?

I think we've covered that enough.

But I do have some examples of when it does make sense to listen to your gut.

Number one, in creative endeavors.

I mean, there's no better time to trust your intuition than when you're being creative.

Also, win-win situations, when no matter what direction you go in, you're going to win,

okay?

Also, lose-lose situations, where no matter what direction you go in, you might lose,

or you will lose, you know?

Decisions that aren't dangerous, okay?

If your gut is telling you to do something that's really dangerous, I don't know if I

can condone that, okay?

That's a bad sign, and you shouldn't follow your gut then.

Relationships.

I do think a lot of times our gut instinct can tell us a lot about another person that

we can't even pick up on in our conscious mind.

And, I don't know, I think gut instinct is a great tool in relationships.

Although trust issues can kind of get in the way of your gut instinct in a relationship,

because you can be like, uh, I'm always being cheated on.

But it's like, no, that's your trust issues from your past relationship.

So that can get a little complicated, but you have to know when it makes sense to trust

your gut.

I also think, in order for you to use your gut feelings to your advantage, you have to

give your body and mind the space to show you your intuition.

Like, if your brain is filled with the ideas of other people, the ideas of the media, lots

of noise and stimulation, your brain is going to have a hard time presenting to you your

intuition.

You're going to have so much distraction.

You're going to have so much stimulation.

You're not even going to be able to figure out what's your intuition versus what's the

idea of others versus what's just empty noise.

You know, like, it's very hard to be in touch with your intuition if your brain is too

overwhelmed.

You have to give your intuition room to shine because it's never going to scream at you.

Your gut instinct will never shout at you.

It'll never say, hey, over here, listen to me.

You have to give your gut instinct the space to present what it needs to present.

When I'm going through a tough time and there's a problem that I need to solve and I'm kind

of relying on my intuition to tell me what direction to go, I really try to practice

next level mindfulness and centeredness.

And I'll lean into things like meditating.

I'll lean into things like journaling because those things quiet the mind and really connect

everything in the mind and the body in a way that allows the intuition to shine.

And it's hard at times to let your intuition shine, which is why it's important to know

how to let it shine when you need it.

I mean, there are times when your intuition is just sitting right on your shoulder ready

to help you whenever you need it.

But there are also times when your intuition doesn't feel like it's right there on your

shoulder.

Maybe you left it at home or something.

That's what it feels like.

And that's just because you're not giving your intuition the space and the quietness

to say what it needs to say.

So that's my pitch on why you should consider trusting your gut.

When it comes to problem solving, you know, obviously there are some rules and regulations.

Okay, we've covered those enough.

But I think everyone should try to lean into their intuition and lean into their gut instinct

because there's a lot of value there that I think a lot of people are ignoring because

they feel like it's not a real legitimate way to problem solve.

But it is.

And I've been doing it even I've been doing it for way too long since before I even had

the evidence to back the fact that it actually is a legitimate way to problem solve.

I was like taking it to the extreme since day one, like saying, I'm not going to college

because I just don't feel like it.

My body says no.

My brain says no.

My gut says no.

Not going.

Oops.

Like that's a crazy decision to make based on your gut instinct.

But I did it.

And honestly, no regrets.

Not saying that that's going to work for everyone.

So don't.

We all have a different path in life.

Just saying.

Trusting your gut.

It's kind of kind of the move these days.

But excuse me, stop the presses.

Not done because there are some potential challenges that come with trusting your gut.

Okay, this shouldn't be your only mode of problem solving because it's not flawless.

It's not perfect.

I'll tell you why.

Number one, this is my greatest challenge.

With this mode of problem solving, okay?

Anxiety and fear and gut instinct can be hard to distinguish.

So you might decide to solve a problem in a certain way based on your anxiety and fear.

The feeling of anxiety and the feeling of fear can be so similar to a gut feeling.

And it's so hard to distinguish what's what.

You might take a certain path in life thinking that you're following your gut instinct when

in reality you're following your fear.

You're following your anxiety.

It takes a level of self-analysis to figure out am I feeling a gut instinct about a situation

or am I just feeling anxiety and fear about a situation?

Now, when I deal with this on a personal level,

oh my god, I mean, this will drive me nuts, okay?

Because I'm still learning how to distinguish between anxiety, fear, and intuition.

I don't have great advice for distinguishing between anxiety, fear, and gut feelings.

Because I personally am still trying to figure out how to distinguish one from the other

in the heat of the moment.

But I did look it up online and find some interesting things that I'm going to try

to integrate into my life.

For example, there are times when your intuition is going to be telling you what you need to do.

But what's confusing about it is that it goes against what you think you should be doing

completely, okay?

The anxious part of your brain is saying, well, you should be doing this.

You should be doing this.

You should be doing this.

Why aren't you doing this?

And the reason why your anxious brain is saying that is because your anxious brain is trying

to avoid conflict.

It's trying to sort of play it safe.

But your intuition is going to tell you, no, we need to go in this direction.

We need to go in this direction.

Even though it's against everything that you think you should be doing,

we need to go in this direction.

Now, what's key to keep in mind during these moments is that your intuitive thoughts focus

on the present and they tend to feel more neutral or calm.

And they tend to feel weirdly just right.

Whereas anxious thoughts tend to relate to the past and future.

And they carry a sense of dread and nervousness.

And they're based on conscious memories that are making you not want to trust your intuition

because you feel like, oh, this is going to cause problems.

So I think keeping in mind the fact that intuitive thoughts are focused on the present,

they feel more neutral and more calm.

And they just sort of feel right.

Versus anxious thoughts that are focused on the past and present.

And they're much more chaotic and dreadful and scary, etc.

I think keeping that in mind can be helpful.

But I also think if you're really drowned in anxiousness,

when you're trying to solve a problem, you can try to solve the anxiety first.

And then see if your intuition comes up and says something.

You can try to meditate on it.

You can try to journal about it.

You can try to talk to your friends and family about it.

You can try to come to terms with what you're so afraid of so that that anxiety can lessen.

And then at that point, your intuition might come up and say what it needs to say.

But it also might turn out that maybe your intuition was right.

And your intuition just happens to feel more anxious than usual.

The whole thing is so abstract that it's actually impossible to talk about.

And I can't believe I really tried to talk about this today.

It's so abstract.

And it's so based on what you're feeling inside of yourself.

And we can read advice all day.

And we can read about what it feels like and whatever.

But the truth is, you'll know it.

You know what that feeling is.

And that's the most valuable part about it.

I can try to describe it.

But you're the only one that knows what it feels like for you.

So obviously, fear and anxiety is one of the most overwhelming feelings of all time.

So it's very easy for those feelings to get in the way of you being in touch with your intuition.

And on top of that, you can also confuse intuition with bias.

Whether that's personal bias or the bias of people that you respect

or the bias of the media that you consume.

Ideas that have been fed to you can end up feeling like thoughts that are your own,

can end up feeling like gut feelings that are your own.

When in reality, you're not listening to your gut instinct at all.

You can think that you're following your intuition.

When in reality, you're just following a more conscious bias, right?

And that's another confusing piece of this.

Sometimes your own personal bias slash your exposure to other people's bias

slash your own personal experiences

slash other people's recounts of their experiences

can consciously convince you of something

to a point where you think you're following your intuition when you're not.

But on top of that, all of those sources that I just mentioned

can also feed into your subconscious, which is what your gut instinct pulls from

and can then alter your gut feelings from the inside out.

Does that make sense?

So it's really complicated because we're talking about something that's so

out of our control, but yet according to a reputable study is 68% effective

while rational decision-making is only 28% effective.

It's pretty unbelievable how out of our control this sense that we have is.

I think if we've learned anything today, it's that we basically have to use

our gut instinct to know when to follow our gut instinct.

Yeah, my brain hurts too.

Okay, here's what I think the conclusion of today's episode is.

We should not ignore our gut instincts because they're there for a reason.

And in a lot of scenarios, they're saying something valuable, okay?

My point is we shouldn't look at gut instincts as something that's just

dumb and mythical and conspiratorial.

It's a real thing.

It's a real thing.

It has science.

It has evidence.

What else could you ask for, seriously, in this day and age?

What else do you want, okay?

There's no specific manual that you can read about how to perfectly listen to your intuition.

It just doesn't exist, sorry.

But if you really want to, you'll figure it out.

I'm still on my journey figuring out how to use my gut instincts to the best of my ability.

I'll never reach a level where I'm doing it perfectly.

That doesn't exist.

And that's coming from someone, me, who has been trusting their gut instinct their entire life,

just by nature.

It's a really interesting feature that we humans have, and I'm glad I got to discuss it with you

today.

And I hope that this inspires you to trust your gut a little bit more, listen to your

intuition a little bit more, and to not feel stupid for doing so.

It's there for a reason.

That's all I have to say for today, okay?

I mean, that's it.

That's all I got.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you for hanging out.

As always, it's such a pleasure.

My brain was all over the place in this episode, because this is a really painful topic to

think about.

Like, this one's a little bit too complicated for my little teeny tiny pea brain, okay?

This one really took me for a spin.

This one really took me for a ride and hurt my brain.

But I hope that there was something valuable here, something interesting here, and that

you enjoyed it.

And if you did, you can tune in every Thursday and Sunday for a new episode of Anything Goes.

You can watch video exclusively on Spotify.

You can follow Anything Goes on Instagram at anythinggoes.

You can follow me on Instagram at emmachamberlain to see me doing whatever I'm doing, probably

just wearing clothes in front of a relatively interesting background.

That's all I have to offer.

You can check out my coffee company, chamberlaincoffee.com.

Today, I'm drinking—actually, I'm drinking our beverage in a can.

This is a cinnamon bun latte with almond and coconut milk.

It's really delicious.

So if you want to go try that, you can.

That's at Walmart.

You can use code AG15 for 15% off on the Chamberlain Coffee website.

That's all I have for today.

Thank you all for listening and hanging out.

It's always my pleasure.

I hope that my raspy voice made you feel calmer today.

I hope it made you feel comforted today, because it's particularly raspy.

And I don't want it to go to waste.

I love and appreciate you all.

And I can't wait to talk to you very, very soon.

Bye now.