How many times have you ignored a gut feeling that you later realized you should have trusted? Probably more than once or twice. It’s a hard battle, choosing between the emotional heart, the rational brain and that pesky gut feeling that comes around every once in a blue moon. When deciding whether to go with your heart or your head, it usually boils down to what the logical decision is and what the emotional decision is. There’s no way to know what is right or wrong, so you may just flip a coin and call it a night.
However, there is evidence on why we should trust our gut feeling whenever we have it.
Why Do We Have a Gut Instinct?
That anxiety filled, nauseous feeling we get in our stomachs when we make decisions happens because of our subconscious mind. Our subconscious is constantly processing information and past experiences and sometimes that information is unbeknownst to our conscious mind. When our subconscious and conscious connect, it usually means that a past experience is connecting with a current one, thus triggering a gut instinct.
Why Should We Trust It?
Our gut is basically a second brain. While research is still being done to confirm the connection between the gut and our actual brain, there is some evidence to back it up. The enteric nervous system (ENS) that lines our gut contains over 100 million neurons, and the vagus nerve connects the brain and the abdomen. Your gut feeling combines logic and feeling, what you would normally be choosing between with your heart and head as options.
The Difference Between Gut Instinct and Anxiety
Anxiety and gut instinct generally present themselves with similar symptoms: fight or flight feelings, nausea, butterflies, etc. But, there is a way to tell the difference between the two. Symptoms of anxiety will generally be present over an extended period of time, whereas gut feelings come and go in an immediate fashion.
Should You Have a Balance Between Head, Heart and Gut?
The answer is yes, 100%. It will always depend on the situation you are in, though. You won’t always get a gut instinct, but when you do it’s something you should trust. Choosing to follow your heart can be seen as impulsive, but may also lead to happiness. Someone who follows their heart would make the argument that you should choose a career that you love without focusing on money, and vice versa for someone who follows their head. Following your head will probably always give you a safe and logical option, but may not always lead to gratification.
In the end, it’s up to you. Always up to you — may that bring you peace.
So, the next time you are faced with a tough decision and don’t know what to do, go with your gut.
Tweet us, @VALLEYmag, and tell us a time when you decided to go with your gut!
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