• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

David McElroy

making sense of a dysfunctional culture

  • About
  • DavidMcElroy.TV

What if a key to knowing what to do is built into everybody’s gut?

By David McElroy · March 15, 2019

I saw a woman at dinner tonight who I haven’t seen in a couple of years — and I felt the same electricity from her that I experienced six years ago when she first walked into my office.

I vividly remember that day. I was working at a college and she needed my help with something. I have no idea what we talked about, but I remember the day clearly because I knew — from the moment I saw her face — that she was one of those women.

I’ve never tried to explain this to anyone, because it’s been such a gut-level thing that I wasn’t conscious of it for a long time. All I know is that there were a very tiny number of women who come into my life who are “one of those women.” They are some very small group in which my gut recognizes something and says to me, “This is one of those women who might be a right partner for you.”

It’s completely from the gut. If my gut tells me that, I need to pay attention to the woman. If my gut doesn’t tell me that, I’m never going to fall for her, no matter how great she is otherwise.

I’ve spent years trying to figure out how our hearts and minds decide who to fall in love with. It’s always seemed like a mysterious process to me. I’ve known people who tried to approach it very rationally, but that approach doesn’t work for me.

Here’s what I’ve come to understand — at least for me.

Let’s say that one out of every thousand women has some mysterious internal thing — a gene or psychic aura or blood type or whatever the heck it is. Let’s say that it’s some rare undefined substance that means she’s a Type Q. (Or X or Y or whatever. It’s just a hypothetical “something.”)

Something in me recognizes a Type Q — and something in me knows that I will only fall in love with a Type Q. That doesn’t mean I’m going to fall in love with every Type Q. It doesn’t mean that any particular theoretical Type Q is going to fall for me. It doesn’t even mean that every Type Q is a match for me. It just means that something in me knows that the one I’m looking for will necessarily be among that tiny group which I recognize as a Type Q — or “one of those women.”

Every time I have ever fallen in love with a woman, it’s been someone who I recognized as “one of those” from the beginning. Even before I had consciously realized what was going on, I can look back and see that I felt some sense of identification — some sense of knowing — those women from the first moment I came across them.

I’m thinking about this tonight, of course, because of the woman I saw at dinner. She was one of those. She’s one of my theoretical Type Q women. I subsequently learned enough about her to know we weren’t a good match for other reasons. Our values are different. Our goals are different. We have too many fundamental differences to ever make us a good romantic match.

But something about her made her among that small group of possibilities.

I could tell you a similar story about every woman I’ve ever fallen in love with. From the moment I encountered her for the very first time, I knew she was “one of those” — which I’m calling Type Q here. And in other situations, there have been women who seemed like amazing potential partners — even some who have wanted me — who I never could make myself fall for, simply because my gut didn’t tell me that they were “one of those.”

The more I understand the way my mind works, the more I suspect that our gut already knows far more than we give it credit for.

I like to think of myself as a rational person, but the times I’ve gotten into trouble in my life have been the times I’ve disregarded what my gut knew — and tried to be overly analytical instead.

I can’t say for sure whether this is true for other people or not. I suspect it is, but I suspect most people are badly out of touch with what their gut is trying to tell them. Even after all these years of trying to understand, I’m still struggling to be able to hear it.

There aren’t many women who my gut recognizes as being Type Q. I haven’t run across one in a long time. They don’t share any particular looks or other outward characteristics. It’s just something my mind recognizes.

Just because a woman is a Type Q — and just because I fall in love with her, which sometimes happens — that doesn’t mean we will end up together. I might make stupid decisions that lead us apart. She might make stupid decisions that lead us apart. Lots of things can happen.

But I know that when I find the woman who wants to be my partner — who’s willing to choose me and I’m willing to choose her — my gut will have known from the beginning that she was “one of those women.”

I need to meet another one of those very soon. My gut will tell me when it happens.

Share on Social Networks

Related Posts

  • We’re neither friends nor enemies, just strangers who share the past
  • ‘This path leads to somewhere I think I can finally say, I’m home’
  • When love finally dies, it’s like a fever breaks and the pain is gone

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: love, psychology, romance, trickster

Primary Sidebar

My Instagram

I have always accepted as obvious the fact that yo I have always accepted as obvious the fact that you couldn’t take a halfway decent photo of the moon with a smartphone. (I don’t count the cheat that Samsung uses in some models to artificially create bits that don’t exist in the optical image.) But a friend shot a picture of the moon with her new iPhone 17 night or two ago, I so snapped one frame as I got out of the car just now. The resolution and detail aren’t great, but this is better than I expected. #nature #naturephotography #sky #moon #birmingham #alabama #iphone17pro
I hope this rainbow over I-459 on my way home is a I hope this rainbow over I-459 on my way home is a good omen for the weekend. 😃
I’m very happy to report that my promotion to st I’m very happy to report that my promotion to starship captain has finally come through, so I’ll be leaving Earth and heading to the stars very soon — just as soon as Starfleet has some uniforms in stock that fit chubby guys like me. Anybody else want to sign up and leave the planet with me. 🖖🏻#startrek
Here’s the sunset that caught my attention on my Here’s the sunset that caught my attention on my drive home just a few minutes ago. #nature #naturephotography #sky #colorful #clouds #sunset #birmingham #alabama
I go back and forth between being fascinated and b I go back and forth between being fascinated and being horrified by what AI software can do now. When image generators were awful, it was easy to laugh at them, but what I’m seeing lately blurs the line between reality and total fabrication. I just asked ChatGPT to show me a family portrait for me — with a wife and two children — based on what it predicts as looking right for me. If I just saw this photo that it created, I would think these were real people. I might even think I have amnesia and don’t remember them. But three of them don’t even exist. It’s harder and harder to know what’s real online. At least I’m telling you directly that this is fake. I’m not pretending this is my hidden family that I just haven’t told you about. #AI
This is the sky view that greeted me as I stepped This is the sky view that greeted me as I stepped out of Walmart a few minutes ago. I didn’t have my “real” camera with me, but my old iPhone 14 did a pretty decent job. #nature #naturephotography #sky #colorful #clouds #sunset #birmingham #alabama
It no longer seems to function, but this payphone It no longer seems to function, but this payphone is still sitting on the side of the road just a couple of miles from my house. I would love to know the last time somebody was able to put a coin into this thing and make a phone call.
When I was coming up with the art recently to illu When I was coming up with the art recently to illustrate an essay (for my website) about the benefits of seeing yourself as a fool, I developed two different versions and was torn about which to use. I ended up using the simpler art, but I liked some aspects of the other one, too. It was a fun concept to play with, so I thought I’d show you both versions. I used ChatGPT to generate these from specific concepts, so I was happy with them. A human artist would have done a slightly better job, but the work wouldn’t have been free and it wouldn’t have been quick. This is why artists face serious challenges in the coming years, especially insofar as cheap commercial art goes.
I didn’t have time to stop and I didn’t have m I didn’t have time to stop and I didn’t have my “real” camera with me anyway, but this is what my iPhone was able to get just a few minutes before sunset as I drove west on I-20 just east of Birmingham about an hour ago. #nature #naturephotography #sky #colorful #clouds #sunset #birmingham #alabama
Follow on Instagram

Critter Instagram

At midnight, Alex has been engaging in another rou At midnight, Alex has been engaging in another round of his vicious conflict with his favorite toy mouse. #cat #cats #catstagram #catsofinstagram #cute #cutecat #pets #petstagram #petsofinstagram #tabby #tabbycat #instacat #ilovecats #birmingham #alabama
Pretty much any time I lie down on the bed, Oliver Pretty much any time I lie down on the bed, Oliver is going to be right up against me or on top of me. I’m really lucky that this little fellow came to live with me. He’s a good companion. #cat #cats #catstagram #catsofinstagram #cute #cutecat #pets #petstagram #petsofinstagram #instacat #ilovecats #birmingham #alabama
I just got home and found Oliver still in the same I just got home and found Oliver still in the same window where he was when I left him early this afternoon. He’s happy to report that no insurrection has broken out on the street in light of the federal government “shutdown.” #cat #cats #catstagram #catsofinstagram #cute #cutecat #pets #petstagram #petsofinstagram #instacat #ilovecats #birmingham #alabama
When I told Alex that I’m heading out for the re When I told Alex that I’m heading out for the rest of the afternoon, he said he might take a nap for a change. I think he’s almost ready. #cat #cats #catstagram #catsofinstagram #cute #cutecat #pets #petstagram #petsofinstagram #tabby #tabbycat #instacat #ilovecats #birmingham #alabama
Oliver has taken his Neighborhood Watch activities Oliver has taken his Neighborhood Watch activities to an even higher level today, because he heard that the federal government is closed for awhile. From all the rhetoric he picked up from scrolling through the news online, he thought this must be a big deal and that bad people would be attacking our neighborhood without federal bureaucrats to protect us. So far, the ne’er-do-wells have stayed away from our street. #cat #cats #catstagram #catsofinstagram #cute #cutecat #pets #petstagram #petsofinstagram #instacat #ilovecats #birmingham #alabama
I tried to make some portraits with Alex in the st I tried to make some portraits with Alex in the studio late Tuesday night — after a failed attempt a night or two ago — and this one didn’t go any better than the previous one. Alex absolutely refused to look at the camera. Since he’s not normally allowed in the studio, he was excited and purred the whole time — but he wanted to look everywhere except the camera lens. After about 35 shots, I gave up. #cat #cats #catstagram #catsofinstagram #cute #cutecat #pets #petstagram #petsofinstagram #tabby #tabbycat #instacat #ilovecats #birmingham #alabama
When I came home Tuesday evening, Alex was relaxin When I came home Tuesday evening, Alex was relaxing on the fireplace mantle with the books he’d been reading earlier in the afternoon. He just needs a pair of reading glasses to make the scene complete. #cat #cats #catstagram #catsofinstagram #cute #cutecat #pets #petstagram #petsofinstagram #tabby #tabbycat #instacat #ilovecats #birmingham #alabama
Lucy has quietly been in training lately to work a Lucy has quietly been in training lately to work at McDonald’s. She first learned how to take orders at the front counter and is learning the drive-through window operation now. She’s hoping she can make assistant manager in another few months — and she thinks she would be a really good general manager with the right experience. It’s a good thing to have another one of the critters earning her keep. #dog #dogs #dogstagram #dogsofinstagram #cute #cutedog #pets #petstagram #petsofinstagram #instadog #ilovedogs #birmingham #alabama
For a long time, Sam rarely spent time in the bedr For a long time, Sam rarely spent time in the bedroom with me late at tonight, but he’s been doing that a lot more frequently, including tonight. All three of the cats are in the bedroom with me right now and Sam is at the head of the bed. #cat #cats #catstagram #catsofinstagram #cute #cutecat #blackcat #blackcats #pets #petstagram #petsofinstagram #instacat #ilovecats #birmingham #alabama
Follow on Instagram

Contact David

David likes email, but can’t reply to every message. I get a surprisingly large number of requests for relationship advice — seriously — but time doesn’t permit a response to all of them. (Sorry.)

Subscribe

Enter your address to receive notifications by email every time new articles are posted. Then click “Subscribe.”

Search

Donations

If you enjoy this site and want to help, click here. All donations are appreciated, no matter how large or small. (PayPal often doesn’t identify donors, so I might not be able to thank you directly.)




Archives

Secondary Sidebar

Briefly

When I first heard about this, I thought it must be satire. When I discovered it was real, I was appalled, but I still thought it must be a one-time thing from some nutty activist. But it turns out it’s the latest bit of pandering to a bunch of far-left activists who believe that a man can become a woman if he decides to claim he’s a woman. As everybody knows, men have prostate glands. Women do not. Period. End of story. Men can get prostate cancer. Women cannot. But political activists are so eager to pretend that a man claiming to be a “trans woman” is really a woman that they are insisting that “women” be included in public health messages about the issue. This is nothing but political virtue-signaling. If you’re a man, you know which parts you have. You know that you ought to be screened. Nobody is made any safer by dragging far-left gender ideology into simple medical reality.

Every time someone tries to tighten requirements around the use of absentee ballots, I hear screams from Democrats and others on the political left that such efforts are nothing but “suppression of black voters.” These protests have never made sense to me, especially because it’s never been a secret that absentee ballot fraud goes on all the time in certain areas. (Everybody knew it when I worked in politics.) The people who engage in such fraud are rarely caught — often because the local political establishment approves of the crime — but a Democrat who won a primary election in Clay County, Alabama, last year has pleaded guilty to this sort of cheating. Terry Andrew Heflin was running for a place on the Clay County Commission. He was caught ordering seven absentee ballots in the names of various voters and sending them to his post office box — after which he used the ballots to vote absentee for himself seven time. Did he have other people cast additional fraudulent ballots? We’ll never know. But in a primary in which he was able to win with only 141 votes, it wouldn’t take many fraudulent votes to change the election. The next time you hear “civil rights activists” claim that it’s just “voter suppression” to hurt blacks which is at the root of efforts to stop this fraud, remember Terry Heflin. If you care about fair and honest elections, ballot security and voter identity should matter to you.

A state legislator in Maine has been stripped of the ability to speak in the state Legislature — and her votes are not being counted on legislative issues — all because she made a truthful social media post. Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn, Maine) opposes allowing boys to compete against girls’ teams in school athletics and she’s become known for making an issue of it. On Feb. 17, she posted on Facebook about a recent example that she found outrageous. She posted side-by-side photos of a boy named John who competed last year in a state track event and won fifth place against other boys two years ago — and a photo of the same boy (now called Katie) who won first place in the same event this year against girls. Whether you find this outrageous or not, Libby is clearly being honest and truthful about the objective facts of an issue of public importance. But the state Legislature censured her. Democrats decreed that she could not speak in the House and that her votes would not count on legislation — until she apologized for the outrage of telling the truth. She refused and her constituents have been unrepresented in the state House since then. The people who promote this ideology are out of touch with reality and won’t rest until they force the rest of us to join them in this delusion. But even if you agree with “trans” ideology, you should be appalled at this heavy-handed attack on political speech.

The late Steve Jobs was at the center of our culture’s transition from analog to digital. He co-founded Apple Computer. He led the team that revolutionized personal computing with the first Macintosh. As CEO of Apple, he led the development of the iPhone and later the iPad. You would think the children of such a man would be surrounded by technology. But Jobs and his wife Laureen didn’t let their children use iPads. Their home had few screens of any kind. Even though Jobs spent most of his time developing and selling Macs and iPhones and iPads, he was home with his wife and children for dinner when he was in town. The family ate together at a simple wooden table in their kitchen — and there were no digital devices or focus on popular culture. Instead, he’s said to have guided his family toward deep discussions of art, philosophy and education — with no iPads to be found. If the man who guided the development of such products chose a different path for his own children, does that suggest that his digital experience taught him that children need human connection, not screens? And does it suggest the possibility that we might be better off if we made the same choice for our families?

For four years, Donald Trump’s supporters screamed that everything that went wrong was the fault of Joe Biden. They were sometimes right and they were sometimes delusional. (Anybody who knows me understands that I can’t stand Biden any more than I can stand Trump, just for different reasons.) But for two months, Trump has rampaged through U.S. political life — vandalizing pretty much everything in sight — and the vast majority of his supporters are silent at best. Many watch as he blows up the world economy and they make excuses for him. They’re in absolute denial, even about things that Trump is doing very intentionally. Anybody who understands economics and history knows that tariffs are a terrible idea from a pragmatic point of view. Anybody who values individual freedom knows that tariffs are massive taxes on individuals — and they’re a tool of political control over the ability of people to trade freely. Trump is the antithesis of everything which political conservatives stood for just a few years ago. It’s far past time for people who claim to be conservatives to reclaim the principles and values which they used to claim — and stop this mad man before he can accelerate the day when we experience economic and social collapse. Open your eyes to reality and reject this lying narcissist.

Read More

Crass Capitalism

Before you buy anything from Amazon, please click on this link. I’ll get a tiny commission, but it won’t cost you a nickel extra. The cats and Lucy will thank you. And so will I.

© 2011–2025 · All Rights Reserved
Built by: 1955 DESIGN