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XXIX - Gut Instinct

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Good evening Reader,

I've always been fascinated by the cosmos, and soon a solar eclipse will be here. If you're lucky, you'll be able to see it from where you are in the world. Sadly, I think I have zero visibility for the full event.

Despite the small tangent, I'll jump in to todays edition.

As promised in the last email, today I'll speak about gut instinct; which is the greatest piece of kit you have in your entire arsenal.

In the arena for the game of life, the rules are ever-changing meaning the outcomes are uncertain.

Fortunately for us, we have an intrinsic guide, which many of us like to call our "sixth sense".

Throughout human evolution it has been an essential navigation tool. Think of what our ancestors faced every day. The only rhyme or reason they had for whether they should sleep in this cave or that cave, chase the prey, or run away from the predator, was their gut instinct.
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Where rational analysis may crack under the pressure of incomplete information and the complexities of human emotions, gut instinct emerges as your greatest ally.

In a game of chess today, my gut was telling me to sack a knight. I could see no reason on why to sack the knight. Perhaps it damaged his structure a little and opened up some space for a kingside attack. But there was no reason... except my gut instinct was telling me otherwise.
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So I went for it and even the computer said ?! telling me I should have played bd5:

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But after recapturing my knight with their queen on f5, do you see it?

The opponent needed to fully retreat his queen to g8 according to the computer because after bh3, their queen is trapped and I am completely winning. There is no way my 1100 ELO self could have calculated this, but my gut did.

So this is why gut instinct so important. It acts as a rapid-response mechanism, offering immediate guidance when time is not on our side. Unlike the deliberate pace of reasoned thought, our instinctual responses are swift, combined by the subconscious calibration of our past experiences, emotions, and pattern behaviour.
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When immediate decisions are necessary, trust your gut.

But this doesn't just apply to snap shot decisions. You'll have had it in the past where your stomach is in a thousand knots because of a decision to be made. That's right, you guessed it, I bet you already knew didn't you? Your gut had the answer all along.

And in the anomaly you can't separate the anxiety and gut instinct feedback, flip a coin. When it's in the air, you'll know which side you want it to land.

In addition, gut instinct is connected to our emotional intelligence enabling us to read people and situations. It helps us guide complex social situations, relationships, and unspoken cues. You will notice how your gut encourages you to act in alignment with your integrity.

And perhaps the most advantageous of trusting your gut is that it encourages you to trust in our own capacity to make decisions, even in the absence of clear consensus.

This self-reliance is vital trait, encouraging a proactive approach to the game of life's challenges and building resilience. By valuing the internal compass inside us, we take on more adventure and open ourselves up to new scenarios where logic may close off (within reason, of course). You all know I am an ex gaming addict, and let me tell you, when I didn't have self-reliance, I wasn't a person others wanted to be around.

In a world that increasingly values data over intuition, utilising your innate instincts puts you one... no, several steps ahead.

By balancing reasoned thought with the whispers of our gut, we play the game of life with a fuller sense of our human capabilities, making decisions that are not only smart, but deeply resonate with who we are, levelling up our character.
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I don't care what your areas of expertise are, it doesn't matter.

From whether you walk the dog in the morning or the afternoon to booking a one way ticket to the other side of the role.

Your gut will know what to pick.