Ever follow a gut feeling? Or wish you had?
Successful business owners have admitted to using their “gut” to make important decisions in their business. But how often do we trust it? And will we seem less professional if we admit using it?
Fear not! Truth is, the gut is, well, usually truthful. And now science is letting us know why!
For years we treated the brain as the only place where thought originated and the body just took care of the menial stuff, like, oh, maybe breathing. Turns out we now understand that there are neurons throughout the body that help us to regulate emotion and make decisions. In fact, there are 40000 neurons in your heart! The majority or serotonin is found in our intestines ( we are now talking literally, our “gut”!)
These neurons serve as our second mind, or “bodymind” as some researchers call it. The more in tune we are with our body, the more we are able to react to what these neurons are showing us. In other words, we can “feel” our gut.
HeartMath Institute ( www.Heartmath.org) refers to this as Coherence. The higher score we get on the coherence scale, the easier it is to listen to our inner signals.
What can get in the way? One major factor is overwhelm. A schedule that drives a person to exhaustion and beyond will limit the ability to create this physiological coherence.
Solutions? (These are tough): Sleep. Say “no” to obligations that may drain your energy buckets to nil, and holy heck, go do something enjoyable and preferably physical (relax, massage can count). Listen to your body and treat it with kindness.
We talk proudly of “pushing through the limits” with our mind, but regular overriding of our body’s messages can leave us weakened in our ability to use our ever-valuable “gut.”
Watch Sandra’s video on this topic!
Sandra Dee Robinson is the creator of Charismatic Cowgirl™ retreats, designed for Success-minded women to help them re-connect with themselves and nature, using horses.
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