An excerpt from the book “Gypsy Soul” by David Hughes

Develop trust in yourself  by having confidence in your own wisdom and instincts. Let me share the story of the Three Samurai. This story has been told many times with many different variations, for our purpose here I will use the version with the three Samurai.

One day a young Samurai was quietly eating his lunch in a tavern of ill repute. This young Samurai was very good with his sword, and decided to ‘clean up the place’. He arose, drew his sword and began cutting down the thieves and murderers who frequented this tavern and led to its reputation. He battled valiantly, but was overcome by the sheer numbers of the riffraff.

An older and more experienced Samurai was sitting quietly in the corner, and had sensed that something was about to happen. By the time the thieves and murderers turned their attention to him, he was ready with sword drawn. He too executed many of the villians, but was also overpowered by the numbers.

A third Samurai, walking by on the road, had sensed that this tavern gave off a bad energy. Sensing this, he carried on down the road, choosing not to enter the tavern in the first place.

The third Samurai trusted his gut.

There is one other story I would like to share with you that further illustrates the benefits of trusting your gut instincts.

A  sword instructor who was nearing retirement wanted to pass along the most sacred  teachings of his school to a worthy successor. Unable to decide who should inherit this knowledge and lineage constructed a test for his disciples. He suspended a bag of rice over the door to his barn that would drop as anyone entered. One by one he called his most senior and trusted students in.

Each student would enter and upon the bag of rice falling on them, would draw their sword and cut the bag to shreds. Student after student would enter and destroy the bags of rice with their swords.

It came time for his youngest student to enter. The youngest student, sensing that danger was lying in wait for him, refused to enter.

The sword instructor now knew who he would pass the most sacred teachings of his system to.

This is trusting your gut. Do not allow logic or convention to override what your gut is trying to tell you. The more you trust yourself, the easier it becomes to understand what your gut, or natural intuition, is trying to tell you. In Buddhism it is said that ‘all the secrets and mysteries of the universe are contained within’. This means your gut and your intuition can unlock all the seemingly unknown mysteries and wonders of this world. Why do we try so hard to find the answers outside of ourselves when the truth resides within?

You know what you need to do, you have the answers you seek. Trust in yourself.

Study your present situation thoroughly.

Go over in your imagination the various courses of action possible to you.
Visualize the consequences which can follow from each course.
Pick out the course which gives you the most promise and go ahead.

When you think ahead of any approaching action
you’ll always have the advantage.