Many times in my life I’ve listened to my heart instead of my gut in making important decisions. Gut versus heart is a battle of wills. Intuition versus emotion. It is easy to ignore those gnawing feelings in the pit of your stomach warning you to make a decision based on logic when your heart is encouraging you to choose the thing that makes you the happiest. That’s not to say we should always make the gut choice. Sometimes, our responsibilities and commitments to others prevent us from listening to our hearts.
In my upcoming release, Sweet Tea Tuesdays, Midge, one of my three protagonists, has fallen in love for the first time since she divorced her husband twenty years ago. Midge has agreed to marry Bennett after a whirlwind two-month relationship. Not only does she love him, he has much to offer for her future. Midge sees a different side of Bennett than most. Until now, she’s been able to ignore the mistakes he’s made in the past. But when her good friend Georgia plants a seed of doubt in her mind about Bennett, Midge begins to question his integrity and his motivations. And she begins to listen to her gut.
In this scene, Midge is having a heart-to-heart talk with her brother who offers her some sound advice about love.
Midge dug her toes in the sand. “I want to believe him, but something’s holding me back. I don’t know if it’s my past or his past or a little bit of both.” She wished she could travel back two months to when they’d first started seeing one another. She was so in love with him, she’d believed everything he’d told her. Had there been any warning signs? Or had she ignored them? Could she have fallen out of love that quickly? Midge didn’t think so.
“You haven’t opened yourself up to anyone in a long time,” Keith said. “It’s normal for you to feel vulnerable. Listen closely to your heart and your gut. If both are telling you the same thing, you have your answer. But if your emotions are at odds, you need to continue searching for your answer.”
Midge sipped her margarita as she thought about her brother’s advice. Her heart loved Bennett, but her gut warned her to be wary of him. She would proceed with caution until one of her emotions prevailed.
Grab your copy of Sweet Tea Tuesdays to find out whether Midge’s heart won out over her gut. 😉
Are you a heart or gut person?
Don’t forget to mark your calendars . . .
