I’ve been to a lot of weddings.  Weddings are beautiful things, couples full of promise, looking towards the future, certain of their love for one another.  However, no matter how beautiful the wedding, there always seemed to be one tell-tale sign that told me this wasn’t the right thing.  At some point during the wedding I would watch either the bride or the groom shake with nervousness.  Not excitement, but fear.  I think deep down they knew it wasn’t right, but if they just went through the process it would all work out.

Not me baby.  I couldn’t wait to walk down that aisle.  Our wedding was pretty bare bones as we were the first of our group to get married and we didn’t have a clue as to what we were doing.  It lasted all of 15-20 minutes and voila, we were married.  It was a ball, and while no marriage is perfect and we’ve worked hard over the years, it was right and we knew it.  It’s a gut feeling, nothing that really makes sense.  All the research pointed at what should have been failure.  We were so young.  But when it’s right, it’s right.

Even something as simple as shopping.  If it’s not screaming at me it’s not right.  When it’s right, I’ll know it.  I may have an idea of what I want but honestly I’ll know it when I see it and that little voice will let me know.  Following that gut feeling has saved me a lot of money.

There are so many life events and life changes where your gut tells you whether it’s right or not, but so many times we don’t listen.  If we’ve taken all the right steps, jumped through all the hoops, it should all work out, right?  That’s not always true.  For instance, several times in my life I’ve jumped through the hoops for a new job thinking it was the practical thing to do but it just didn’t feel right.  I walked out of one interview knowing it wasn’t going to be good and took it anyway because I thought I needed it.  A year later I quit because it was so awful.  I should have listened to the voice.

Why don’t we listen to that little voice?  Follow our intuition?  Because it’s not logical.  If we do all the things we should and the move we’re about to make seems to make sense, we’re afraid others will think we’re crazy for changing our mind about what seems to be a great opportunity or relationship.  Over the years I’ve learned to listen even to the smallest voice about the smallest things.  It pops up to tell me to get things or stop things or to remember things.  If I don’t do it right then or make a note it comes back to haunt me.

So lately I’ve been feeling that what I’m doing and where I am is wrong.  It’s not that I can’t do it or make it work, but when the feeling is that strong, it’s time to look at something else.  Yes, I need to be practical, but that little voice is sending me in some possible new directions and I’m excited.  Not afraid, not nervous, and I find myself grinning or laughing as I think about it.  I haven’t done that about work for some time now.

When was the last time you heard that little voice and listened to it?  Did you go in a completely different direction or did it reassure you that you were doing the right thing? I believe we have intuition for a reason and if you follow it, you’ll know when it’s right.