Have you ever been in a situation where someone tells you – go with your gut! – but you have NO FREAKING CLUE what that means?
I know that I’ve wondered on many an occasion if I was doing something because my soul called for it or if my ego was sabotaging me.
It’s one of the most common questions I’ve had for the coaches I’ve worked with: How can you tell the difference?
Soul calling vs. ego talking
Intuition vs. procrastination
Well, the real key in figuring out the difference between intuition and bullshit is this:
Listen to yourself talking about it. Literally, listen to the words that you’re saying.
Here’s a somewhat common example:
Scenario 1: “I thought that he was really weird when I met him because he wouldn’t look me in the eye. So, I didn’t return his phone calls, but then I got to know him better and I found out how awesome he really is, and that really he is just super shy.”
VERSUS
Scenario 2: “I felt really creeped out when I met him. I’m totally not surprised he turned out to be a super weirdo, I just knew it! Why didn’t I listen to myself?”
Do you see the very obvious difference?
In Scenario 1, the key factor was a THOUGHT. It had “rationale” explanations, even. He did this, this, and this, and therefore I thought this. How many times have you misjudged people because you thought they were a certain way based on first appearances?
The difference in Scenario 2 was that this judgment was based on a FEELING. It had no “rationale” explanation because it came from pure gut intuition. When something feels creepy, everyone knows what you mean. But oftentimes, when we have no “thoughtful” explanation to back up our feelings, we use our minds to override them. We give people second chances. And then we smack ourselves when they turn out exactly like we knew, deep down, that they would.
Basically, it comes down to whether or not you feel the need or even the ability to rationally explain something.
If you need to give a million reasons why it was okay that you ate that fudge brownie, chances are it wasn’t exactly a soul calling.
If everyone thinks you’re slightly insane for picking up and moving to another town (umm..like Portland, Maine?), but you just felt CALLED to it for reasons unknown… well, chances are it’s your intuition speaking to you.
[bctt tweet=”If it looks crazy to the rest of the world, that means you’re probably doing it right.”]
It will make sense to them down the line, but you’ll already be two steps ahead, doing the next crazy thing your intuition is telling you to and reaping the benefits 🙂
Now, I’d love to hear in the comments…
Have you ever done something that people thought was nuts at the time, but you felt called to do it? (Or not do it… perhaps you backed out of something that seemed really big but didn’t feel good)
How did it turn out? Was the meaning of your soul calling revealed later on?
Do you know someone struggling with figuring out the difference between their intuition and their bullshit? Perhaps they’re struggling to make a big decision in their lives and are thinking way too rationally about it. Send them this article! <3
