How strong is your gut muscle, the trusting your gut muscle, your intuition?
A few years ago I had an experience that really had me move into a powerful stance of using my intuition and trusting my gut, literally … the trust part, and the gut part!
If you have heard the longer more personal story of my life, you know there was a time when I was a part owner of a pub.
Stressful times for someone who is generally not too prone to stress.
Any how, I was having pains in my stomach on a daily basis that were getting worse and worse and put it down to the burgeoning amount of stress that I was feeling. I tried everything I could think of from natural remedies, to over the counter pharmaceuticals (that’s how you know it was paining me!) until finally, I decided I needed to see a doctor. I tend to think that if I have to consult a doctor, it’s a last resort. I tell them they are my last resort too.
So by now, the pains were having me double up at times, usually after eating, and I was also having to lay down and take a nap because I was feeling wiped out. Not like me at all. I don’t do daytime laydowns and never feel tired before bedtime. The pain was worrying me more, right across the front of my stomach.
The doctor, who I had never seen before said,
“Well, I think it’s your gallbladder. How old are you? … oh yes, you’re at the prime age for gallbladder issues in women, have you heard the expression Fair, Forty and Fat?”
My instant reaction was, “No it’s not that!” I don’t know where I got the idea to be so outspoken with a Dr’s opinion but I KNEW it was not my gallbladder. My guess is that he thought that I didn’t like the idea of being called fat when I most definitely was not fat or overweight at all.
What he did not know is that I have been a lifelong healthy eater and did not have the lifestyle of someone who would have gallbladder issues. I didn’t have the symptoms in the classical form either, so I was not convinced he was right and said so. He did some poking and prodding and said if I got any worse over the weekend then I should call an ambulance and be admitted as an emergency so they could remove my gallbladder and in the meantime gave me a prescription for some antibiotics and booked me in for an ultrasound sometime in the next two weeks.
Later that day I was doubled up in pain and being sick. My family got the antibiotics and were alarmed when I said I wasn’t going to take them. “It’s not my gallbladder I kept saying. Don’t take me to hospital, I am not having my gallbladder removed.”
Luckily the next day a cancelled appointment at the hospital allowed me to have an ultrasound. “Remind me, why are you here, for fibroids? – looks like you have three here”.
“No, move over it’s my gallbladder.”
“Ah, well there are no gallstones there that I can see although it is a bit enlarged that shows it is inflamed but not how it should look if you are having it removed.“
Luckily I have good friends! One is a natural health expert and I had been consulting her about what it could be. She came round that evening with all the stuff to make a poultice of castor oil. By that time, I couldn’t stand and was being sick regularly.
Gradually feeling worse and worse, another friend sent her boyfriend round who was a doctor in the ER of a busy London hospital. What a blessing that was. He recognized the symptoms straight away and said that he thought I had all the symptoms of Hepatitis A. Although I was feeling grim, it would pass after the crisis point and after several weeks the virus would die down and I would be fine again with no long-term symptoms, unlike other forms of Hepatitis, so all would be well, but the only way to confirm this was a blood test.
Slipping in and out of sleep for 2 more days, finally, I was able to phone the doctors and ask for a blood test. After a little white lie about how I ‘knew it was hep A’, they did the blood test.
You can guess the result! Most unusual for someone like me, who had not been traveling to exotic climes, to contract Hep A. It was a mystery how I got it, but at least now I knew what it was.
The point, after my long-winded tale is this. I knew from some knowing beyond my intellect that I was right. I had never defied an ‘experts’ view before. I am naturally obedient and conservative, but I cannot express how forcefully my intuition told me I was right. Even when my family were practically begging me to take the antibiotics I had been given and go to the hospital, my self-trust so was strong.
It was a wonderful lesson to me about intuition and trusting my gut!
My poor sick gut still knew.
So how do we trust our gut, our intuition more? How can we have our intuition guide us?
For me, it has been a gradual process. I remember the times in my past when I did not trust my gut and my gut had been right. The more you can compare these times and capture the physical, mental and emotional reactions you have when your gut talks to you, the more likely you are to be able to trust it.
The thing that often gets in the way of this process is FEAR. In the past, the fear of me being wrong about my instincts, the fear of what would happen if I was wrong, prevented me from sticking to my guns over a choice I felt should be taken. That and of trying to explain myself when I wasn’t able to articulate why I was trusting my gut when I didn’t have anything else to go one.
You can override fear if you find the right technique or phrase to take yourself through – a pattern interrupter.
I began to understand how to quash my fears with the help of Byron Katie. Her technique is simple to learn and is known as The work. The key to it is to ask yourself 4 questions, the most powerful being, “ Is that true?”
(That was a stupidly brief explanation, but look her up or find her books on Amazon to find out more.)
Along with some pranayama, (breath work), it’s possible to tame the fear and listen to your intuition.
If it was now, I would use Oracle cards to help me trust my intuition. The longer I have worked with them the more they guide me.
It’s like getting to know a friend!
What do you think? Have you ever had a powerful experience of Trusting your gut?
Let me know.
I love hearing from you!
