Everyone has a small quiet voice that speaks up to say, "hey, you might want to stop and think about this". It keeps us out of harms way or leads us to a safer existence. It's been called women's intuition but men have it too. They call it a gut feeling.

I have this little voice. It's helped me find my way in life. I listen to it and have a certain amount of comfort knowing it's there. Yesterday I left my truck only briefly to go into a service station mini mart and the little voice said, "lock the doors", so I did. While at the counter I turned to see a scruffy looking woman trying my truck door. My purse was sitting on the seat afterall. Finding the door locked she skulked off and disappeared around a corner. I realized she had ill intent and I was glad I had listened to that voice.

Many times in my pursuit to solve a problem, I've been hell bent on finding a solution. If there had been a feeling that I should stop and reconsider what I was about to do I obviously didn't pay attention. Yesterday was another one of those times. I cut the wire to the furnace thermostat rendering the furnace inoperative. This was no accident. I was determined to clean up wires dangling from the basement ceiling.

The same thing happened after I removed the antennae on the roof. I wanted all the unnecessary (and messy) wires off the side of the house only to have clipped the wireless internet antennae also. I could have sworn no voice warned me that I was about to create a problem for myself but I'm sure it was there saying, "whoa, slow down".

I've done this several times in my life. A pot of boiling water in the toilet to free a plugged pipe only to shatter the cold porcelain. I had read that advice in reference to unplugging kitchen sinks. Taking a thermos and smashing it against a coconut thinking it might crack it open only to shatter the fragile thermos. Holding out treats to monkeys in the wilds of Indonesia. They only saw me as a stepping stone to food. Pulling old wire out a wall before attaching a tether to the end so I could get a new one pulled into place. The list goes on.

That said (with some embarrassment) I think it's important to learn to listen to the little voice. Identify it and pay attention. If one of the steps in a project is to first turn off the electricity on a circuit and to test it to verify that it's off, do it, I know what I'm talking about.

For fun, listen to others' mishaps by checking out This American Life episode 306, It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time. Or my favorite episode 115, Squirrel Cop.