Knowing & Not Paying Attention

Some time ago I wrote an article for my monthly newsletter Introducing Our Second and Third Brains: We Do Think With Our Heart and Instinct (and it is also available in Spanish as Presentando Nuestro Segundo y Tercer Cerebro), in which I explained that research has now proven that we have neurons (the type of cell we have in our brain), not only in the brain, but also in the gut (the intestine) and the heart (the actual organ in your chest).

At the end of the article I suggest that we should henceforth, knowing that this is so, make use of all three of these "brains" in a balanced way, when it comes to making decisions, instead of mainly allowing our rational brain to be the decisive force. I point out, that with brain scanning equipment, it has been possible to determine that sometimes the information reaches one of the other brains first, and only then, is fed to the brain inside our skull, from that other brain.

And that, of course, tells us, that what we know instinctively, is coming to us through the neurons in the gut, and so our gut feelings are giving us knowledge that we generally ignore.

So we know something and we don't pay attention. We would not do that with our rational brains. Or at least, we would not do that with such ease, with such carelessness. We would consider carefully whether we could afford to ignore such information as that which our rational brain - the neurons in the brain inside our skull - is feeding us.

But when the information is instinctual or emotional, we pay scant attention.

I know many articles have been written about intuition. I don't really want to go to the place that helps you identify how to be more intuitive. I merely want you to recognize that what we have known so long metaphysically ... that intuition (or gut feelings) are of value, we now know scientifically.

Don't ignore your own inner knowing ... pay attention to what your other brains are giving you.

And if you don't recognize their language very well, because you have rarely paid attention to them, begin the process of familiarizing yourself with them. Imagine having an old VW from the 60's in your garage, which works quite well, and you are in fact, quite happy with it, and then discovering you also have a Porsche ... wouldn't you want to use it too? Even if you now had to learn how to handle it ... so very different from the VW?

Photo: Arch with Pilastar. Libya