Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today I'm going to be talking about instinct and intuition. So the thinking mind is obviously really an important part of how we navigate daily life. The ability to use the rational logical part of ourselves is absolutely essential in many situations. But very often the thinking mind can become so busy and scattered that it ends up creating confusion instead of clarity.

The challenge is, is that if we become totally caught up in their thinking mind, then we don't have much awareness left to listen to other parts of ourselves, specifically our gut instincts and our intuitions. But the reality is that sometimes it's only when we step out of the thinking mind that we can find the answers we're looking for. Sometimes of course, we do need to think things over rationally and logically. We need to think through the options and pathways and possibilities and solutions. But our ability to listen to our intuition and our instincts is just as important.

Perhaps, even more so. Especially when it comes to finding our way through some of life's big decision points. One practice that's incredibly powerful for making mindful decisions is called the head-heart-gut check-in. This three step practice allows you to tune into your thinking mind and its most valuable information, but also helps you tune into your intuition and your instincts too. Then you gather all of that information from all three and utilize it to help you move forward.

So I'm going to guide you through the head-heart-gut check-in in today's meditation. But as well in daily life, just remembering that when you're making a decision or thinking about a problem, it's really important that we don't just rely on the thinking mind, that we also train ourselves to listen to our intuition and instinct too. So to do that, sometimes you just need to trust that you can let go of over thinking, go for a walk in nature, or sit in stillness or watch a sunset and just be attentive to what your instincts and your inner knowing and inner hunches might be telling you. In this way you build greater self-awareness, wisdom, and clarity of mind. So let's settle in for today's meditation now.

And as always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us.