It’s Dr. Kelly Wood, your Balanced Living Health and Wellness expert. My mission is to help women overcome their limitations to achieve total wellness and balanced living: mind,body and spirit. I do this through my blog, speaking and individualized group and VIP Balanced Living programs.

I love the Waze application! Over the past two years I’ve been working as a traveling doctor, assigned to different hospitals all over the country. I’ve therefore spent countless hours in airports as well as driving to and from airports.

This is where Waze comes in.

Waze not only gives me directions to and from the airport but it also alerts me if there’s an accident ahead, construction leading to a roadblock or if there’s police on my route. It tells me when I need to slow down!

Getting pulled over on the way to the airport would totally suck!

And just like Waze, we have an internal application which tells us when there’s a road block ahead, re-reroutes us when we are going on a journey which would delay us and  also tells us when we should slow the heck down. It’s called our instincts, our intuition aka our gut.

Intuition: natural ability or power that makes it possible to know something without any proof or evidence; a feeling that guides a person to act a certain way without fully understanding why.

As a Christian, I believe I also have the Holy Spirit guiding and directing me. But whatever your belief is, your instinct knows what’s up, most of the time.

I’ve learned to trust Waze.

Well, because the few times I ignored its suggestions and went the way I wanted, most often because it was the way I was accustomed to,  I ended up stuck in traffic.

I’m however still learning to trust my instincts. 

Especially when it comes to who I let into my life. I’ve been there! There in unhealthy relationships with people who weren’t good for me.  Did I see warning signs earlier?  Yes!  Slow down Kelly, danger ahead!  Accident ahead, change course!

But I ignored that niggling in my spirit and still went ahead. And ended up stuck. Stuck going nowhere fast. But thank God for His grace that reroutes us and still get us back on the path headed in the right direction to our destination.

Hindsight is 20-20.  If only I had listened to my gut! If only I had let my instincts guide me!

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Can we learn how to improve our intuition? We certainly can!  I’ve been implementing these strategies to boost my intuitive skills.

  1. I meditate 5-10 minutes daily. I take some time to be silent and listen. I practice listening.
  2. Journaling. This is a good way to for me to connect with what I’m really feeling.
  3. I take note of how I feel when I’m around someone. Do they drain me and deplete my energy? Or do I feel energized and uplifted when I’m around them?
  4. I try not to fight it.  I don’t rationalize and let my brain talk me out of what my gut is telling me. I’ve started to follow my intuition on smaller, low stake issues and when I’m ready I will do so with bigger decisions.
  5. I don’t confuse intuition with fear or wishful thinking. It’s best to combine intuition with solid data and good old common sense.

 

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Our instincts are a gift to us. If used properly they could help us make better choices for our lives. Choices which are consistent with our values and are in our best interests.

Why don’t you give it a try?  Let your instincts guide you.

To learn more about Balanced Living or our programs, please connect with me by visiting  https://www.facebook.com/DrKellyWoodMD/

Physician, Endocrinologist, Diabetes specialist, Health and Wellness expert, Blogger, Speaker! Kelly Wood, MD is board certified in Internal Medicine as well as Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. She has many years of experience working with patients to transform and improve their health. She is passionate about teaching others about the interconnections of mind, body, and spirit; and how they can achieve health in all three areas and lead a balanced life.