This Is Not the Time to Get Lost in Your Head: The Head Heart Gut Connection

You’ve heard all the things.

“Use your head.”

“Think it through.”

“Be rational.”

For centuries we’ve been taught that our logical mind is the best, and sometimes only, place to make decisions. But what if your head isn’t meant to do all the work?

Science is revealing something many of us have sensed all along: our greatest wisdom comes when we listen to more than just our thinking mind. When our head, heart, and gut work together, we gain greater clarity, confidence, creativity, and peace.

For more than two decades, I’ve helped leaders and purpose-driven people learn to access this deeper inner wisdom. One of the most powerful discoveries I’ve encountered is that we each possess remarkable intelligence beyond our analytical thinking.

What Is the Head Heart Gut Connection?

The head heart gut connection describes how three interconnected neural systems—the brain in your head, the neural network surrounding your heart, and the enteric nervous system in your gut—communicate with one another.

Rather than relying solely on logic, research suggests our best decisions often emerge when these three centers work together. Your head contributes analysis and perspective, your heart provides values and connection, and your gut offers instinct, courage, and self-preservation.

When all three are engaged, we become more balanced, innovative, and resilient.

When Were You Told to “Use Your Noggin?”

Back in the early 1600s, René Descartes may have unintentionally set us up to get stuck in our heads.

Dubbed the “Father of Western Philosophy,” he famously declared:

“Cogito, ergo sum.”
“I think, therefore I am.”

For hundreds of years, Western culture has largely viewed emotions, heart intelligence, and gut instincts as inferior to rational thought.

Today, science is challenging that belief.

Here are just a few examples:

“Emotions are not a luxury; they are essential to rational thinking.”
— Antonio R. Damasio, Descartes’ Error

“The enteric nervous system is an independent site of neural integration and processing. That is what makes it the second brain.”
— Michael D. Gershon, M.D., The Second Brain

“The heart sends signals to the brain that can influence perception, emotional experience and higher mental processes.”
— HeartMath Institute

What Science Knows Today About the Three Brains

We now know that we have functional neural intelligence in our head, heart, and gut.

Each contains complex neural networks that communicate constantly with one another. Together they support decision-making, problem-solving, emotional regulation, creativity, intuition, and leadership.

When we’re at our best, innovative, focused, calm, and fully present, all three are actively participating. If you’d like to dive deeper into the science, I share more in my TEDx Talk on the head, heart, and gut connection.

Why Your Head Shouldn’t Be the Boss

Your head is brilliant. But it doesn’t need to run the entire show. Instead of acting as CEO, imagine your head taking one seat on your internal Board of Directors.

Your heart has wisdom.

Your gut has wisdom.

Your head has wisdom.

The magic happens when all three contribute.

A Simple Exercise to Connect Your Head, Heart, and Gut

As I shared in my TEDx Talk, you can learn to intentionally consult all three brains using Multiple Brain Integration Techniques (mBIT).

Here’s a simple exercise to experience it for yourself.

Step 1: Prepare

• Grab a journal and something to write with.
• Choose a decision, challenge, or situation where you’d appreciate greater clarity.

Step 2: Become Still

• Spend about two minutes breathing slowly and quietly.
• Allow your nervous system to settle.
• When your body becomes calmer, it’s easier to access wisdom beyond constant mental chatter.

Step 3: Ask Your Heart

Choose one or two questions:

• What is important here?
• What is the relationship?
• How am I feeling?
• What do I value about this?

Notice whatever arises. Perhaps it’s an image. A feeling. A word. A phrase.

Write it down without judging it.

Step 4: Ask Your Head

Now engage your thinking mind.

Ask:

• What do I already know?
• What might happen in the future?
• What does this mean?
• How can I imagine this working out?

Record your answers.

Step 5: Return to Your Heart

Go back and ask another heart-centered question you haven’t explored yet.

Often the second visit reveals even deeper insight.

Step 6: Ask Your Gut

Now invite your gut intelligence into the conversation.

Ask:

• What is my motivation?
• What is stopping me?
• How secure do I feel?
• What is my gut sense about this?

Again, simply notice what comes.

Step 7: Bring It All Together

Finally, return once more to your heart.

Ask:

• How do these pieces of wisdom fit together?
• What message is emerging?
• What is the quiet inner voice trying to tell me?

Pause.

Listen.

Write whatever comes forward.

What This Exercise Reveals

If you found yourself receiving meaningful answers throughout this exercise, congratulations.

Your head, heart, and gut were all online and communicating.

The question becomes: How often do you actually listen?

And how often do you allow your head to overrule the wisdom of the other two?

This Is the Time to Trust Your Inner Wisdom

Today’s world is noisy. There are countless opinions competing for your attention. That’s exactly why this is not the time to become trapped inside your head. It’s the time to reconnect with your own inner wisdom.

We need good-hearted people who are willing to lead from clarity rather than fear. We need people who trust themselves enough to blaze new trails, imagine new possibilities, and create more harmony in the world. That journey begins by consulting your own inner Board of Directors: your head, your heart, and your gut.

You can do this.

You already possess the wisdom.

Your task is simply to learn how to hear it.

If you’d like additional support, I invite you to schedule a 30-minute mBIT session.

You can also explore more resources in How to be an Inspired Badass Guidepost #20: Why the World Needs Enlightened, Inspired Badasses Right Now

“There are times when it is profitable to listen to the voices of those who have gone before. This is a time when listening to our inner wisdom matters more.”

May today be the day you stop letting your head be the boss, and start allowing your whole self to lead.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do humans really have three brains?

While only the brain inside the skull is considered a brain in the traditional anatomical sense, both the heart and the gut contain extensive neural networks that communicate continuously with the brain. This ongoing communication is why researchers often refer to the heart and gut as having their own forms of intelligence.

What is Multiple Brain Integration Techniques (mBIT)?

mBIT is a coaching methodology designed to help people integrate the intelligence of the head, heart, and gut to improve decision-making, leadership, relationships, and personal wellbeing.

Why is the head, heart, gut connection important?

When all three centers work together, people often experience greater clarity, emotional balance, confidence, creativity, and alignment with their values instead of relying solely on analytical thinking.

How can I strengthen my intuition?

Practices such as breathwork, mindfulness, journaling, and guided mBIT exercises help quiet the mind and create space to notice the wisdom arising from your heart and gut.