Why ignoring your gut feeling can be dangerous.

Many of us are often told to follow our heart. To go with the flow. Somehow our heart seems to know what's good for us. Logically that doesn't make sense. Those who are in love would understand this. A woman may meet a man who somehow doesn't quite fit her 'list'. It could just be her first meeting and somehow she feels 'butterflies' in her stomach. Butterflies in the stomach? Obviously not literally! She may also go on a date with a man who completely 'fits' her list of criteria but who doesn't give her the 'butterflies in the stomach' effect. (not to be confused with the butterfly effect!) So who should she choose? On what should she base her decision?

I was musing over this idea recently after a certain incident that happened to me in India. I was rushing to the domestic terminal in Delhi to take a flight to Hyderabad. Rushing because I had woken up slightly late! My cousin dropped me off at what we had been told was the correct terminal. As I was heading to go in the building the guard at the door told me I was at the wrong terminal. He gave me some instructions on how to get to my terminal, which after thinking through I ignored because it would have taken too long. Instead I called my cousin who thankfully wasn't too far away. He returned and took me back to my terminal which I realized wasn't quite as near as I had thought.

Then as I was going in, the guard at the main door stopped me because i didn't have a print-out of my ticket. I tried uselessly arguing with him in my broken Hindi, and then a passenger behind me told me I could get a print out at the office just a few doors down. So I ran there and got my print out, ignoring the comment of the guy who was printing it out. He told me not to bother since I was going to miss my flight anyway. I had to bite my tongue on the very impolite remark I felt like hurling at him! I rushed back and headed to my counter and pleaded with the staff to let me on the flight, which after much reluctance they did. I was almost near the gate leading directly to the plane when I realized they hadn't returned my passport. I had this feeling that I was missing something as I hurried away from the check-in counter. It's a good thing I listened to that feeling, otherwise I could have left my passport behind which would have caused a lot of complications!

We all have this 'gut feeling'; like some kind of internal instinct. It's like our mind and our body somehow know what we need to do in every situation. Its inexplicable and it certainly doesn't follow the 'wisdom' of the majority. Just like how our stomach growls when we're hungry. All we need to do is listen to those feelings and simply trust. And follow.