…but above all, the gut says, "Listen to me FOREMOST."

This is advice that my dear friend Iva told me one day, when I called her in confusion about a relationship that was causing me trouble. I said, "I can't figure out if I should listen to my head or to my heart in this situation."

She said, "Neither. Your head is too full of craziness right now, and your heart is too soft and squishy and vulnerable to make smart decisions at the moment. Listen instead to your lower intestine. What does your gut have to say? Because it's never, never wrong."

So that's what I've learned to do. I will literally put my hand on my belly, just below my naval and ask, "What's the right move here?"

When situations or people make me feel even the tiniest bit sick in my guts, I back off. Right away. And when the Golden Gut says ONWARD, then onward we go.

More primitive than the heart, older than the conscious mind, deeper and more mysterious and wiser than any other navigating system we possess, the gut knows where it's at.

Think with your mind, love with your heart, and definitely smile in your liver…but always, always, always listen to your guts.

ONWARD,
LG

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall