Bodies and guts

So the sayings goes, "Trust your gut," and, "Listen to your body." In theory, these sound like good ideas. Go with your feelings. Trust how you feel. Simple, right? 

Sorta. 

I am a firm believer in trusting ones gut. It has been my experience that if my gut tells me something is off, it's for good reason. What does this look like? This is most easily evidenced in my love life. For instance, early in 2011, I was dating a man who also happened to be my neighbor. Mistake. Big one. 

All was right until I went out of town for spring break. I came back to a man with darting eyes and nervous words. Highly suspect. My gut kicked in even while I was gone, telling me something seemed off with him and the way we were communicating. When we broke up, he told me he thought we were moving too fast. 

Eight weeks later, he got married. 

THAT is trusting your gut -- KNOWING that something is off and TRUSTING it. This has happened to me on numerous occasions with small things. Going one way instead of another... choosing one thing over another... saying nothing instead of something or something instead of nothing. 

For the past several months, my gut has been silent. At first, I was worried I'd lost my knack for knowing. Does it go away after awhile, this ability to trust your core? 

But, I started thinking about it today, and realized that maybe it's just that I'm right where I'm supposed to be... and that maybe I should do a little less overanalyzing and a little more listening to my body. 

With running, I have to know when it's time to take a break and listen to my body. Sometimes that means speeding up. Other times, that means slowing down. The past two weeks have been lighter running weeks for me, and boy did I need it heading in to the holidays. I feel like I'm ready to kick it back up a notch, which is good, because 2012 is looming ever closer. 

As for trusting my gut in life, I am. Stay tuned. :)