She came into our session with a very specific problem.
“I know what my gut is telling me,” she said. “I just can’t trust it — because I can talk myself into the opposite just as easily.”
She wasn’t describing confusion. She was describing a brain doing exactly what brains are designed to do: generate compelling arguments for every possible option– keeping all doors open, and avoiding the discomfort of being vulnerable and committing to something that might not work out.
Sound familiar?
In healthcare, we’re particularly good at this. We’ve been trained to consider every angle, anticipate every complication, and think three steps ahead. That skill keeps patients safe. Applied to your own decisions — your career, your relationships, your life — it can keep you paralyzed.
The Real Problem Isn’t Indecision
When someone tells me they can’t trust their gut because they can justify both sides, I don’t hear an indecisive person. I hear someone looking for a guarantee.
The underlying belief is: there is one correct answer, and if I think hard enough or analyze it long enough, I’ll find it before I have to do anything.
It’s a comforting belief. But it also isn’t true.
There is no correct answer waiting to be discovered. There are only decisions, and the data those decisions create. You cannot think your way to knowing which path is right. You can only take steps and see what you learn.
The Noise Problem
Here’s what actually happens when you’re trying to discern your “gut voice” in a crowded mind:
You have a thought. Your brain immediately generates a counter-thought. Then someone else’s opinion shows up. Then a fear. Then a “but what if.” By the time you’re done, you’ve built such a thorough case for every option that the original signal — the whispering, first, instinctive one — is completely drowned out the noise.
The ‘gut voice’ isn’t louder than all the noise. It’s earlier. It speaks first, before the brain’s defense mechanisms kick in.
So the question isn’t which thought is right.
It’s which thought came first.
A Practice Worth Trying
I call this the Study of One. You run the experiment. You make a decision — not forever, just for now — and you observe what happens. Not just externally, but internally. How does it feel to have made that choice? What does your body do? What thoughts show up?
That information is data. And data is how you build trust with your own gut over time.
You don’t have to be certain before you act. You have to be willing to act and pay attention to what you find out.
The clients I work with who struggle most with discernment are waiting for a certainty that only taking action can provide.
Start there. The answer you’re looking for is on the other side of the first small step.
As a Logan Health employee, you have access to free coaching sessions with me — completely confidential. If you’re navigating a decision that keeps going in circles, let’s untangle it together. Book your free session here.
Not a Logan Health employee? I’d love to connect. Book a complimentary consultation at and let’s figure out what’s keeping you stuck.
