How do you make choices and which brain do you use?

“The latest scientific research shows that you have three brains! You have the complex, adaptive and fully functional neural networks or ‘brains’ in your heart, your gut and your head.”

According to the promotional text for the book “mBraining” by Grant Soolsalu and Marvi Oka.

So what do we mean by this? We all know that feeling of the heart telling us one thing and the brain telling us another: “Yes, I need to be with this person forever” vs “My parents don’t approve of the person I love and I don’t want to upset them.”  What do we do?  Also, our ‘guts’ tell us when something is wrong or right – all we have to do is listen to our body! Something we intrinsically know and which is ancient wisdom reflected in our language (“My gut tells me….”, “I need to follow my heart….”, “My gut reaction is…”, “She’s got guts!…”) has now been proved scientifically.

We now call the heart the cardiac brain and the gut the enteric brain.  What we habitually call ‘the brain’ is the cephalic brain.  “Each is a complex, adaptive neural network, each has neural transmitters, each is able to process information and store memory, has neural plasticity; each is a thinking, learning organism” say the authors of the book in a video on the topic.

In her book “Gut”, Julia Enders points out that “The gut not only possesses an unimaginable number of nerves, but those nerves are also unimaginably different from those of the rest of the body. The gut commands an entire fleet of signalling substances, nerve-insulation materials and ways of connecting.”

So, get in touch with your other brains in order to make balanced decisions that are really perfect for you. Personally, my best outcomes have been when I get a feeling as if my gut and heart connect and I know, just know, so powerfully, that this is the right thing to do, even if everyone is telling me not to!  Then I bring in the cephalic brain to sort out the logical stuff, so drawing on all three brains as I move forwards.

Learn to listen to what your gut and heart are telling you.  During lockdown, so many of us have had the chance and the time to sit still, walk in nature and listen to their inner selves; let’s not dismiss the wisdom we have accessed but find a way of changing our lives in order to be true to our needs.  What others/ society think/s we ‘should’ do is immaterial. Living our lives against our nature damages our minds and souls; being true to ourselves allows us to flourish and to live in joy.

How can we help you?

Taking time out, walking in nature, meditating, writing down all your options and acknowledging what feels right for you, even if you cannot see how to implement it, are all ways of accessing your gut/ heart brains and inner wisdom.  Therapeutic work, especially after times of stress, is another approach that can help us get back in touch with ourselves.  Visit our website or get in touch to discuss how we can help you.