Hi guys!, welcome to Episode 571n of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast. Welcome if you’re new, I’m Heidi and I’m glad you’re here and welcome back to all my long time friends, always good to share the day with you. My big sister was visiting me last week, I talked about it in the last episode but while she was here we were talking about a member of our family who in the past was SUPER self righteous and pretty judgmental and recently as it always does the chickens came home to roost. Now Im not gonna say it’s not a little satisfying when someone who has maybe judged you in the past has a little taste of their own medicine, I would be lying if I said that. I try to correct myself when I feel that way, but I’m human. But that discussion made me think of the song “Babylon” one my all time favorite songs by David Gray
I love the song, but what really makes it stick out is it has one of the best lines I’ve ever heard in a song. In the song he sings “I’m in collision with every stone I ever threw.”
That line speaks so much wisdom. It’s so accurate for life in general. Until we understand that the energy we put out is the energy we get back, we just walk around thinking “life is hard”. Or “people are unfair” or we ask questions like “why does this keep happening to me”.
When I realized my gut wasn’t just me being paranoid I started paying much closer attention to it. My gut feeling about people. My gut feeling about design. My gut feeling about pretty much everything.
This last week I had a design install, it wasn’t huge so I set up my installers for 2 hours. My gut kept telling me that’s not going to be enough. I had bought this piece of furniture that I had seen on instagram on one of those reels where they show budget pieces that look just like the expensive ones but are a fraction of the price. So it’s this beautiful arched black display cabinet. I’ve used the expensive version a few times but it’s thousands of dollars. This project didn’t have that kind of budget for one piece so when I saw that reel I thought “that’s it!” So I buy this piece off Amazon which I would normally not do but the reviews and the images were really good. In my mind I wondered how they were shipping it for such a reasonable cost because it was pretty big. First red flag. Naively I think they’re going to ship it like they do the expensive version. I could not have been any more wrong. In fact when I saw the boxes it was shipped in “I thought wow, are we missing pieces because those are small boxes for a big cabinet”. Second red flag. But now I’m realizing we are going to have to put this thing together. So my gut kept saying “ this install isn’t going to be done in 2 hours”. To the point where I finally just called up one of my other installers to see if he could send me 2 guys for an hour to put this thing together and we would do the rest on install day in the 2 hour window. So the guys show up and start taking everything out of the boxes, and I kid you not, it came in about 500 pieces including the screws and hinges and dowels. An hour and a half later and these are professionals, an hour and a half later I’m looking at them on the floor with pieces and directions everywhere and I just laughed to myself, I guess my gut was right….Again. Well. They finally finished up and the cabinet is beautiful and looks just as good as the expensive one but man I learned a valuable lesson again. Number one there’s a reason when a cabinet that pretty is $600 and always always always listen to your gut in every scenario. It knows things you don’t.
Okay, so that story had me rolling my eyes at myself, but it’s such a classic example of how ignoring those little nudges can turn a simple day into a comedy of errors. And speaking of gut feelings, I came across this little gem recently. There was a study that I think was kind of weird and a little gross, but it was a study to see if we can actually smell fear or not. They took a group of people put them in sweatsuits and had them run on treadmills until they were really sweating and then had another set of people in the same kind of sweat suit who parachuted out of an airplane for the first time. You can imagine they were sweating too. When it was all said and done they took the jumpsuits from these two groups of people and had people smell the treadmill jumpsuit and then the parachuter jumpsuit, while smelling them they were attached to a brain scan. Every single one that smelled the parachute sweat actually had an internal fear response but none of them had that from the treadmill sweat. So yeah we can actually smell fear.
It’s crazy to me. Like, our bodies are picking up on these invisible signals all the time—pheromones, vibes, whatever you want to call it. And that’s exactly what your gut is tapping into. It’s not paranoia; it’s evolution’s way of saying, “Hey, you might wanna pay attention!” Think about it: how many times have you walked into a room and just known something was off? Or met someone new and felt that instant “nope” in your stomach? That’s your built-in radar, sniffing out the energy—literally.
Several years ago I was in Real Estate when Real Estate was BOOMING and my mentor and I were selling homes left and right, I loved it. At one point early on in my career, I was still kind of green, I had this client who I was working with to get on contract for a new construction house. He was sending up red flags everywhere. Difficult from the get go. And with New construction, you’re with those people for 4 months or so while the home is being built. I spoke to my mentor about some of the things that were happening that were giving me red flags and he said, listen to me, I know thats a big house and I know it’s a lot of money, but this is one you should walk away from. It will be more hassle than it’s worth, if you even ever do get it to closing. I kind of shrugged it off thinking I’m personable and can handle difficult people so I didn’t listen to him or my gut and I went ahead and signed the contract with him. About midway into the contract, it got so bad that my mentor/boss had to actually take over the client and bring through to closing, which he was able to but it was a big pain for both of us. I went for the paycheck over my peace and sanity. Collision with a stone I threw? Absolutely—I ignored my intuition and caused not only me frustration but my mentor too.
So, lesson learned the hard way, again. But here’s the flip side: when you start trusting that gut, magic happens. I had a client that we stepped out a little with a gorgeous soft blue paint color for her bathroom, we painted everything the walls, ceiling, trim this blue. In my mind it was going to be fabulous because I saw the finished product in my head, my client not so much. She kind of freaked out a bit, which in a way gets me second guessing myself. But my gut said if you change it, you’ll regret it. Convince her to carry it through to completion and judge it once it’s done. Which is what we did. To this day, it’s still one of my favorite bathrooms Ive ever done and she LOVES it so much and is so glad I stuck to my gut.
Our gut is there guiding us all the time, we just have to tune into it.
Easy to say but if you’re like me, you are asking yourself, how do I tune into this gut thing more?”Biggest thing for me is always to quiet the noise. We’re bombarded with opinions—social media, friends, that inner critic. Sometimes we just have to take a beat: meditate, journal, or just sit with your thoughts. Ask yourself, “What does my body feel like right now?” Tight chest? Butterflies? That’s all data.
Second, test it on small stuff. Next time you’re shopping or choosing a restaurant, go with the first instinct. See what happens. Build that muscle.
Third, remember the energy loop. That song line—“I’m in collision with every stone I ever threw”—it’s karma 101. Put out negativity, doubt, or shortcuts, and it’ll smack you back. But throw positivity, trust, and authenticity? Watch the universe conspire in your favor.
Oh, and tying back to that fear-smelling study—next time you’re in a high-stakes situation, like a job interview or negotiation, pay attention to the vibes in the room. If something smells off (pun intended), honor it. Your gut might just save you from a collision.
You know, I’ve realized life isn’t about avoiding the stones—it’s about owning the ones you’ve thrown and learning to throw better ones. Stop asking “Why me?” and start asking “What am I putting out there?” Trust me, when you align with that inner wisdom, everything shifts. Your designs pop, your relationships thrive, and your lifestyle? Wildly successful.
If this episode resonated, hit me up on social—share your gut-story wins or fails. I love hearing from you. And if you’re loving the pod, drop a 5 star review, maybe say why you’re loving it and don’t forget to subscribe, all that good stuff. It helps spread the vibe that we’re trying to put out. .
Next week, we’re talking about turning “no” into rocket fuel—how rejection is just redirection. You won’t want to miss it.
[14:00 – Outro]
Until then, keep throwing those positive stones, that’s the only energy we want to be colliding with! I love you guys! I’ll talk to you in a few days! T
