Attention: For a better life don’t ignore your gut feelings.

Why oh why did I ignore my gut?

I have been wrestling with this question for a number of days now and I still don’t have a good answer.

Well, to be truthful I do have a perfectly good answer but as I am still in denial and I am not yet willing to accept it. Perhaps things will have changed by the time I get to the end of this article.

I catch myself saying things like You idiot! Why did you ignore that friggin huge red flag? Your gut tried to tell you it was there!

In fact, let’s be a little more accurate here and say why the hell did you ignore the monstrous red flags!!!

It wasn’t just one flag that started the long low gut grumble that signaled the release of my beloved intuition. At first, it prodded at me. I could feel its long bony finger as it pushed at the lining of my gut sending a little wave of anxiety through my body.

Swiftly, I brushed it aside and laughed in its face.

“You’re being ridiculous”, I countered. “Of course this airline Voyage air Bulgaria isn’t a scam! Just because it’s small and is Bulgarian doesn’t mean it’s run by the mafia or part of a money-laundering scheme you know!”

Outsmarted, my intuition retreated to figure out a better line of attack. Slowly and not so subtly it began to send little niggling doubts to my brain that wormed their way into my thoughts.

Warning! Scam alert proceed with caution!

Alright, alright. I hear you, I messaged back. I’ll talk it over with my friend. Stop panicking!

“Don’t worry!” said my friend — it looks all clear.

But my intuition was really not happy with the answer and it hated being ignored. It prodded and poked at me and growled in a ‘don’t you dare ignore me’ sort of way. “You know what Bulgaria is like,” it said. “You know about the corruption and the mafia!”

I pushed back the anxiety and stuffed my face with chocolate and ice cream to placate the angry beast within. But intuition was not calmed and would not give up.

The final moment came to pay for my flight tickets. A warning flashed up on my screen asking me if I knew the person I was sending the money to. I gulped hard and reminded myself that this was a precautionary warning not meant for “alleged” airlines.

Once again my intuition rode into battle. First, there was a low grumble and a small wave of anxiety. It quickly garnered speed and ferocity until a tsunami of gut-churning vomit-worthy anxiety had been released. But it was too late, my finger was on the screen and in the blink of an eye I pressed the button and in an instant, the money had disappeared from my account and into the hands of the scammers.

A few days later when my “alleged” flight was canceled and Voyage air Bulgaria had ceased to communicate and their office turned out to be a sham, and there was no one to blame for my loss of funds apart from me, my intuition reared its head once more.

It was annoying, to say the least. I apologized profusely for failing to listen. I was humbled and angry and feeling sorry for myself all at the same time. We chatted for a while and I was forced to concede I had been wrong and to promise to change my ways.

We both agreed that if life was going to improve for me then I had to listen to my gut. Fortunately, intuition is pretty forgiving and is happy to keep doing its best to protect me and send me messages through my gut. In return, I have promised to stop and listen and try to work out what the signals mean. So we at least have a plan to move forward.

So there you have it. If you want a better life to listen to your gut. After all, your intuition is there for a reason and it is pretty bloody obvious that if you want a better life you had better start listening!