#3 Take a Leap of Faith!

Conventional business teachings tell you to follow logic all the time and if you try to base your business decisions on emotions or “feelings”, then you will fail as a business decision maker. While you absolutely SHOULD follow logic when it comes to business, I disagree with the “always” part. If you have a strong gut feeling to do something outside of logic and you are confused as to why it doesn’t make sense, even in business matters, investigate that other option for a bit. Don’t toss it out the window just because it doesn’t make sense at the moment!

For years I struggled to make any decisions based on my gut and instead went only with logic because my gut didn’t make any sense at all. Every single time I can recall, things didn’t turn out so well in the end. Little by little, and yes it was VERY hard at first, I started to trust my gut more and more and Took My Leap of Faith. I remember the first time I went against all logic and trusted my gut 100%.

I got caught in one of those flash photo speeding tickets. I couldn’t just pay the ticket because there was no price to pay on there and it required me to make a court appearance. I didn’t know about all these added fees’s until I was IN the courtroom. I thought about getting a lawyer, but I kept procrastinating. Before I knew it, it was time for my fate.

Of course I thought the ticket would be only about $100 or so, pay that, take traffic school, and be done with it. The ticket itself wasn’t too horrible, like I though, about $100 or so, but what made it worse, was it was in a construction zone, AND on the highway!! That added on the additional fees for safety of construction workers and what-not. Well, just imagine my shock when the judge explained all the fees and charges against the whole court room (since we all got tickets from the same photo enforcer) that came out to $535!!!! WTF?!?!?!?!

I was most delusional at that point because all I can think about was, “I am NOT paying that! I don’t care, but I am NOT paying that!” Then the judge proceeded to explain our choices: 1) we can pay the fine and have supervision for a few months, 2) contest it, and have the CHANCE of it being dismissed, however, if STILL found guilty, would have to pay the $535 PLUS court fees of about $200 additional, then have even LONGER supervision!

Three people brought a lawyer, some people got off completely free because they moved their heads right as the photo was taken so the photo did not clearly show their face, and one other person without a lawyer contested to the ticket. Judge called my name, asked if I felt I was guilty or not guilty. All I could think of was, “I am NOT paying this….” and I don’t know why I said it, but I just said, “Not guilty.” I know, what the hell was I thinking??!!?? Right??

I didn’t have a lawyer, my face was clearly showing on the ticket, bottom line—I’m screwed! But, my gut told me to say I wasn’t guilty and I took that Leap of Faith, however, no logic was there at the time to back up my inner instincts. My heart was racing while everyone else went and paid their ticket and the rest of us who contested had to wait until the end. Finally, the three people who had a lawyer got up to argue their case. “WTF could they argue??” was all that was going through my mind.

Every point the lawyer made, the cop running the photo booth had a valid response, or so it seemed to me. After about 5 mins of that, that guy got dismissed of all charges. Second guy with his lawyer went up, he got dismissed and left. Third and final person with their lawyer got up and dismissed, and then it was only the other guy and I without a lawyer. He looked at me and we both gave each other that glance as if to say, “Yes, we are screwed!”

Well, believe it or not, whatever the prior three lawyers argued and got their clients dismissed, applied to us as well! I have NO IDEA what it was exactly, some sort of technicality, I didn’t care, all I heard was, “You two are dismissed and free to go.” Nothing went on my driving record, no supervision and no fees! WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!

Since then, little by little, I have learned to trust my instincts more and more to the point that I quite often cannot distinguish the difference between logic and my intuition. Whatever I feel, if it “just feels right”, I just go with it. If a major decision has to be made, I pray for my instincts to kick into high gear, and let me tell you, there is NO IGNORING THEM THEN!!!

Sometimes, you just have to take that Leap of Faith when you can’t find any logic or sense to validate your instincts. After all, what’s the point of having natural instincts if you choose not to follow them??

I have much more to say on this subject but I’ll stop there before I end up writing a book! I’ll save it for another blog. ;)

And just for giggles, just as I was proofreading this blog, I remembered a dream I had last night. I dreamt I was leaping really high in the air. I looked up the meaning to my dream on www.dreammoods.com, and funny enough, look what I found as the definition:

Leaping
To dream that you are leaping over an object indicates that you will eventually achieve your desires and goals after some effort and struggle. Alternatively, the dream may be a metaphor for "taking a leap" or taking a chance on a new relationship or situation. Try to step outside your comfort zone. Consider also the phrase "leap of faith".

HAHA! This just proves that the title of this blog was meant to be!

Please share your “Leap of Faith” stories (whether good or bad) in the comment section below. I would love to read about them!!

(: Tina Marie :)

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