The gift of fear.

I've come to realise that every stupid thing I've ever done in my life occurred because I completely ignored my instincts. Okay, not completely ignored; I did in fact consider them, but I definitely did not listen to them at all. And I am fortunate that all these things were simple, which only got me a detention or something of similar penalty, and nothing life-threateningly dangerous.

I don't think people consider deeply enough the "I have a bad feeling about this" feeling. Did you know that humans are the ONLY  living creature that will sense danger and walk right into it? I'm paraphrasing expert Gavin de Becker here and it's so scarily true.

Consider any time in your life where something did not feel right, did you hesitate to listen to your instincts because you were afraid what someone else may think? Last week I changed train carriages because a man smiled at me and it literally scared me. I thought twice about offending him, but my intuition told me to remove myself from the situation.

Also, if you fear there is something wrong with your health, you have to figure it out. Like after the ops I've had this year I felt silly going to see the doctor about a new issue as I thought he may think I'm just turning into a hypochondriac. But fear cannot be ignored.

Fear is a gift, and we don't know where it comes from or how it's produced within us, but we have to listen to it as it can literally save our lives. I'm not talking about paranoia; paranoia takes it that step further, it's almost obsessive, if you like. But it's much more important to be safe and offend or hurt someone's feelings or feel a little silly, than to be sorry and harmed. We act upon all other emotions - happiness, anger, melancholy - so why not fear? Why do we push it aside sometimes?

If you'd like to read additional and probably more helpful information on this, this post was half inspired by personal experience, and half inspired by an Oprah interview with Gavin de Becker I watched a few years back, so you check that out. There are some chilling stories that really have you thinking twice about your intuition and "the gift of fear" (which is also the name of de Becker's book.)

I urge you all to consider your intuition and fear if you find yourself in any kind of situation that just does not feel quite right. You're all so wonderful; I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you!

.