My Gut

First, an explanation of why I've decided to write a blog. I work with high school students and I'm always stressing the power of one; the idea that one person can make a difference. On my way home tonight, I thought, "I have so many thoughts that I think make a lot of sense. Maybe I can make a difference by sharing these thoughts with the world." There you go.

So, the title of my blog is "My Gut" because I think my gut is always trying to get me to do the right thing. I think my gut challenges me to be a better person. I think my gut helps navigate me through personal relationships by making me aware of other's feelings. I also think my gut is growing!!! Ughhh!!!

Anyway, the good news is, I believe most people have a connection to their gut. The question is, whether we trust our gut or not. The first time I really became aware of my gut was one New Year's Day on the 1 train in Manhattan (that's a subway line for those of you outside New York City). As I sat reading my book, a man entered the subway car and started talking loudly to everyone. I didn't understand what he was saying, but my gut said, "Move to the next car or get off the train." Here was my response, "Gut, I don't feel comfortable getting off of the train or moving cars because then everyone on the train will think I'm racist." (He was a black man and I am a white man...I feel racist even explaining that. More on that later). So, I stayed. At this point, other people were leaving the car. He then said to those people, "Oh, you don't have to go anywhere. I'm not going to bother you. I'm only here to bother the white people." He actually said that, at which point he came up to me, the only white person in this car come to find out, and told me to give him my wallet. I didn't have anything to give him and he ended up running out of the train at the next stop, but that doesn't matter. The point is, my gut told me I wasn't safe and I told it to f*ck off.

I think that's a problem many people have; knowing when to trust their gut. I saw a therapist many years ago who asked me at my first session, "Why are you here." I said (and this was not rehearsed) "I can't tell the difference between my insecurities and my intuition." Pretty brilliant, huh! She thought so, too!

The truth is, my fears and insecurities have always gotten in the way of my gut (or intuition) and I have to believe that I am not the only one that experiences that. The good news is, I trust my gut more today than I did on that New Year's Day and I will continue to trust my gut more each day as I learn to listen to that voice inside that says, "Get off the train!" or "I think they're upset with you." or "You look hot today." (that's the hardest one to hear, but I'm working on it!)

And that, ultimately, is what I will dedicate this blog to....trusting our guts. Sometimes it will be political; sometimes it will be personal; sometimes it will be funny; sometimes it will be sad. What it will never be is judgemental, and what I hope it will always be is inspiring.

So many people tell us what we SHOULD feel. I want to focus on what we ACTUALLY feel. Will trusting our gut be easy? Probably not (at first, anyway). Will trusting our gut have an impact on our lives? I think so. Will trusting our gut impact our society? Let's find out.