Listen to your heart, trust your gut, and use your head – you’ve likely heard these three aphorisms before. But did you ever consider why they’re always said in relation to each other?
While we’ve always suspected that there was more than one way to intuit the truth, science is now telling us that we can access the feelings of our heart and the intuition of our gut as we do the wisdom of our head.
This is because we’re all blessed with three brains – the head, the heart, and the gut.
While each has its own purpose, their interconnectedness provides us with a trustworthy instinct in times of uncertainty and tools to confront and resolve difficult life situations.
We can use all of our brains to make better decisions and find the best path forward.
Let me show you exactly how it works.
My Gut Is Telling Me Something Is Wrong
“There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.”
Rumi
Have you ever experienced butterflies in your tummy when trying to make a decision? Or, maybe you had a gut-wrenching feeling when faced with an intense situation?
That’s not just a physiological response – that’s your gut speaking to you.
Gut feelings can arise as a soft whisper or an internal scream. They can show up in the form of physical sensations or an intense sense of knowing. However they manifest, gut feelings always serve your best interests.
Researchers at the University of Iowa associate gut feelings with intuition. Research also shows that a gut feeling can affect you physically – think sweaty palms or goosebumps – and emotionally.
Your gut gives you a heads-up as to how you should respond in alignment with your truth. That’s why you often hear the advice of “trust your gut!”
Think of it as your safety blanket. When you feel like you’re overwhelmed and can’t think clearly, your gut instinct nudges you to wake up to your truth.
But why is it called a gut feeling? Why do we feel emotions deep within our stomachs? The answer lies in the gut-brain connection.
The gut-brain connections allow emotional experiences to manifest as gastrointestinal distress. When you feel anxiety, fear, or uncertainty, you might experience stomach cramps or nausea – that’s why it’s called a gut feeling.
Science tells us we have 500 million neurons surrounding our gut, which is why the gut is often referred to as the “second brain.”
The gut-brain axis, the communication system connecting your brain and your gut, acts as an internal discussion and sends signals up and down through your vagus nerve.
This means that your brain and gut are inextricably linked. And so when your gut tells you that something is wrong, you should use your brain to figure out what it’s trying to say.
How to Know if Your Gut Feeling Is Right
“Trust your gut. Listen to your heart. This world wasn’t built by people with small visions and minor thoughts. It was built by the misfits, eccentrics, and oddballs who had the courage to passionately follow the voice of their dreams.”
Robin Sharma
Scientists classify the head, heart, and gut as three functional brains with complex neural networks. The combined knowledge of your “three brains” has incredible applications for life, and can help you avoid potentially dangerous situations and cultivate stronger relationships.
When you understand the voice speaking from the head, heart, and gut, you’ll feel a sense of guidance from within.
Listening to that inner voice can help you respond in certain situations with a solid yes or no answer.
On top of that, it allows you to take control when you feel in limbo about making a decision.
When you tune out external influences and take guidance from your head, heart, and gut, you reach your truth.
You become completely aligned with your inner guidance system, and that’s when your best and truest decisions are made.
This isn’t just conjecture – science backs it up.
Heart Brain
In the 1990s, research by Dr.J Andrew Armour found that we have 40,000 sensory neurons in our hearts, performing brain-like functions.
It turns out that the heart is much more than just a blood pump – it’s a spiritual compass that will let you know when you’re making correct decisions.
You’ve likely felt this yourself when you’ve arrived at a difficult choice and said, “I know in my heart of hearts this is the right decision.”
Head Brain
With 86 billion neurons, the sophisticated messages that the head brain sends are much different than the impressions, intimations, and value-based sense of the heart.
As the highest-evolved brain, the head brain detects threats and stores a history of emotional experiences. It’s also responsible for logical reasoning, allowing us to analyze situations and learn from experiences rather than being ruled by emotions and reactivity.
For this reason, it’s an excellent tool for solving problems and managing emotions.
Gut Brain
And then there’s the gut, which has the core competence of “inner wisdom,” “motivation to take action or not,” and a “deep sense of self.”
Our gut brain contains close to 500 million neurons, with 400 times more messages going to our heads than going to our hearts.
When we speak openly on self-preservation and courage, we activate the gut-brain – and this is when your gut instinct kicks in.
Can Your Gut Feeling Be Wrong?
While there is true power in trusting your gut, times may come when your gut feeling can betray you.
For example:
- When a similar incident has occurred in the past.
There’s a possibility that your gut feeling is simply déjà vu. In this case, the gut feeling you’re experiencing is your fear of replaying the same situation repeatedly with a similar outcome.
- When you feel the urge to act from desire.
Is it your gut instinct, or are you using it to justify an action you’ve resisted for so long?
To clarify whether or not our gut is correct, we can check against our other forms of wisdom. Ask yourself – is the situation really the same, or do you have the resources to manage it differently this time? Is your gut telling you to do something momentarily gratifying — but ultimately against what you believe in?
Trusting your gut comes with experience. When you take a risk and receive a positive outcome, you’ll begin trusting your gut instinct and allow this to influence your decisions positively.
The Connection Between Your Brain and Gut
When should you trust your gut instinct over your other internal intelligence?
A good test is to ask yourself a question and witness how your head, heart, and gut respond. You’re likely to have received three different answers. Let’s take a closer look into why.
Using Your Logic
Taking a logical approach certainly has benefits, especially when making big life decisions or navigating challenges.
The brain is a powerful organ that stores memories and processes your surroundings. It can process information to make good decisions in really difficult situations and come up with solutions to complex problems.
But relying on logic all the time means that we can often get in our own way.
You’ve probably heard the phrase “stuck in your own head.”
This happens when we overthink or overanalyze a situation or behavior. We get stuck in perfectionism and make fear-based decisions that stem from what we believe to be logical at that time. We lose sight of our inner voice and guiding intuition.
Of course, it’s good to use your head when it comes to decision-making, but be willing to give attention to your other brains. Tune into the physical sensations of your heart and gut, and know that sometimes trusting your gut is favorable over logic.
Your Values
When you experience an unsettling gut feeling, this can often mean that a decision doesn’t align with your core values.
Such a situation might arise because you made choices because of external pressure from family or society rather than following your true desires.
When we stray from our true purpose, we tend to feel a deep sense of uneasiness, especially in our gut. When this happens, it’s important to listen to that feeling and reassess where you stand.
Use your logic – do your daily actions align with what matters to you?
Get clear on your values. Analyze your day-to-day actions and see if they truly reflect what matters the most to you.
These questions can reveal your next steps and help you get back on track.
Your Emotions
When faced with a difficult decision, your body will trigger an emotional response to try and guide you in the right direction.
This is when your fight-or-flight response kicks in.
Sometimes, your body may close up and become silent, but your gut screams internally to go against your emotions and stand up for yourself even if it makes you feel highly uncomfortable.
So how do you know when to act on what you feel is right versus what you know is right?
Combine the insights of your head brain, the intimation of your heart brain, and the instincts of your gut-brain to reach your truth.
With your three brains in mind, ask yourself these three questions to navigate uncertainty:
- What does my heart truly want?
- What path would my gut have me follow?
- In my mind’s eye, what can I imagine for my future?
Apply this information to the situation you’re attempting to resolve and allow these insights to guide you. Sometimes deciding which brain to trust is a case of trial and error, so apply this process to as many difficult decisions as possible.
If you need support along the way, I’d be honored to help. As you walk towards your truth, I can provide the tools to help you understand the wisdom of the three brains.
My upcoming book is full of tools to help you create a purpose-filled life, guided by your internal wisdom. Get on the list to find out when it’s ready!
