“Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.”
- Dr Joyce Brothers

For a very long time now, I have used what I call, “the belly test.” Its really quite simple. When faced with a decision where no one option stands out as being better than another you use “the belly test.” Essentially, you just ignore all the facts and focus on which option or alternative “feels” right.

I have made many decisions this way and have very seldom gone wrong. My success has nothing to do with luck, skill, knowledge, or intelligence. It has everything to do with trusting my hunches, my intuition, my instincts, or whatever term you want to use.

I use this on a regular basis and have become very comfortable with making decisions this way. I don’t intend to sound flippant, or that information and facts don’t matter. What I am trying to communicate is that in some instances the facts and information themselves don’t always present a clear choice. In those instances, I have become comfortable with trusting my hunches as opposed to flipping a coin. In those instances I trust those small, apparently insignificant facts that never made it to my conscious thought processes.

A while back I stumbled across something in my reading that, to me, validated the whole concept and use of my “belly test.” The author simply stated that when we talk to God its called ‘prayer’ and when God talks to us it is often called ‘intuition.’

Of course, the drawback of having accumulated this little piece of wisdom is that I find I don’t always trust people who don’t trust their own ‘intuition.’ I guess its because at times we all have to make a decision based on little more than faith – be it faith in your instincts, intuition, or God himself. Bottom line: I don’t trust people who don’t have faith!

Interestingly, one of the fastest growing “religions” (and I use that term loosely!) is that of Jedi – you know believing in ‘The Force’.

For what its worth, I find this interesting for two reasons. First, I find it interesting that people are willing to believe in something from a science fiction movie. Second, I find it interesting because maybe what we have is an entire movement of people who are simply trusting their intuition.