second-guess: definition:
Second guess is defined as to question a decision or action that has already been completed. (verb)
An example of second guess is when you make a decision and then you start to think about it a little more and decide another decision might have been better.
~ Websters New World College Dictionary
We’ve all done it. We make a decision, feel good about it, and then at the last minute change our minds. Sometimes we panic, or maybe we become filled with self doubt. Sometimes we are swayed from our original decision by the opinions and advice of others. Inevitably the decision we go with second has nowhere near as good an outcome as if we’d stuck with our first choice.
All of us are intuitive. We are guided daily by our own internal wisdom, and perhaps something more… Some people call it following your heart, some call it listening to your inner wisdom, some just call it intuition – but whatever we call it, it amounts to the same thing: an ability to make sound decisions that lead us to positive outcomes.
I know you’re already an expert at second guessing yourself – don’t feel bad, we all do it! The more pressure we are under, and the greater our level of uncertainty and insecurity, the more prone we are to second guessing. The problem with that is when we are already in a place of weakness – and then we make a decision that doesn’t go our way – we further erode our confidence in ourselves.
So how do we turn things around?
Firstly, it’s important not to put yourself under pressure by expecting yourself to tune in to your intuition with high stakes decisions. You need to rebuild confidence in yourself, so it’s best to start small. Intuition is like a muscle – the more we use it, the stronger it becomes.
Secondly, you need to actually honour your intuition or gut feeling when you’re guided to make a decision that might be different to what you might ordinarily do.
So the next time you are driving to work, and you suddenly get an urge to go a different route, act on that urge. You know that all the times you second guessed yourself and DIDN’T follow your intuition you ended up stuck in a traffic jam…
Trust yourself when you get a small idea about what to cook for dinner, or that you should get milk and bread on the way home even though you only shopped yesterday and should have plenty. Chances are you’ll get home and someone will have drunk all the milk, and eaten all the bread!
The more we learn to trust ourselves on the little stuff, the easier it gets to apply our intuition and heart guidance to the big stuff.
Your heart is a wonderful guidance system. Even after you make that second (worse) decision, it will keep feeding you information in the form of feelings and physical sensations to let you know you’re headed the wrong way.
How many times have you changed your mind and done the thing you didn’t want to do, and then felt physically sick, or had a nagging feeling of dread the entire time? Later on you say to yourself I knew I shouldn’t have done that! That’s the wisdom of hindsight, which is only ever useful after the fact. Intuition will keep you running true before you even need to make that decision and act upon it.
A life guided by your heart is a journey that allows your true gifts and purpose to shine through, so that you live your best life for you, instead of always living to please (or not upset!) other people.
Starting today, tune in and listen to your heart. Do it with the simple things, like what to have for breakfast, or whether you should go to the party tonight. Practice, practice, practice – make it fun!
Before you know it, tuning in and using your intuition will become a natural part of your life – just like it used to be before you stopped trusting it.
If you’d like to explore your intuitive abilities further, I recommend my series of activities on strengthening your intuition. Just click on the link below. Bless ❤ xx
Yes, wonderful Nicole you have done it again. : )
Much love to you and lots of well wishes to boot. Vicki xx
I have literally had to stop and listen to my heart…..since having Dengue Fever my heart has become a little dodgy…..so when it goes funny I stop….tune into it….and ask it what is going on. Instead of using my logic and thinking what is wrong….I asked it what was wrong. Two totally different things with two totally different answers. Xx
It’s as if you wrote this directly to me today. I’ve been really good lately about not second guessing my heart, my soul, my intuition, my inner voice, but the last few days I found myself getting “off track” and while meditating this morning, asked for guidance about a certain question/issue. And then I opened my mail and found THIS!! Perfect! thanks!
much love light and JOY 🙂 xoxoxo
This is sooooo true. Particularly here in Saudi, My gut/intuition has served me well. I am able to have experiences here others dare not have, because of their fear. They try to instil fear into me, but I won’t live my life that way. Now they are beginning to see it is safe here.
yes yes…learning to go gently makes for a totally different life experience. XX
“Make your decision and stick with it, don’t second guess yourself. There are no mistakes, you would have learnt something along the way or another door opens”. These were the words of a very successful, wealthy businessman, that often come back to me. I’ve often thought he was using his intiution, even if he didn’t know it!
Fantastic! I am going to read the link and other links more in depth.thank you xx
Thank you, I followed my heart here to your blog. It is a Lessing. Love Lyn xx