Instincts are useful when you listen to them

I am so grateful to have an instinct that lets me know when I have lost something. This icky feeling settles in my stomach, whether I have lost an important object or an opportunity. When I've managed to forget something when leaving the apartment (like my key - that's the worst one, since I can't step back inside to get it, of course), or when I've made a bad decision.

It's easy to listen to the feeling when it's there.

It's harder to listen to its absence when it isn't there - but I've gotten better at it.

This evening, for example, I couldn't find my wallet. I knew when I saw it last - in a store - but it wasn't in the tote bag I had used for my shopping. So it was either in the store, or somewhere in my apartment. But my gut wasn't freaking out at me, and so I figured it must be somewhere in my apartment.

I didn't know how long it would take me to find it, but I was confident that it would turn up eventually - and it did.
(Don't ask me why, but I stuck it back in my backpack for some odd reason - not something I normally do until I am ready to head off for my next workday.)

I could have panicked, but I trusted the lack of ickiness in my gut. The lack of gut feeling, I guess.

And my gut was right, and I found my wallet.

And that just increased my confidence in my gut's ability to know things that my brain doesn't know or has forgotten. It's useful.