Our three brains

Photo by Dimitri Houtteman

We’ve all used the expressions “follow your heart” and “gut instinct” but we tend to assume that all our thinking happens in the brain. But it turns out that is not correct. Neuroscience has exposed to us that we, in fact,  have two other powerful brains that guide us:

1. The Cephalic Brain (head) is definitely the most powerful, with 86 billion neurons. Its where we hold language and consciousness and creativity and it is driven by logic. It can also be over-analytical and end up leaving us feeling isolated and anxious.
2. The Enteric Brain (gut), with its 100 million neurons (as many as a cat would have) is in charge of our survival thinking, keeping us safe and mobilising us into action and is where our sense of self lives. It can be very impulsive and help us to leap before we’ve had a good look, but it is also the source of tenacity and courage
3. The Cardiac Brain (heart) has 40,000 neurons and it deals with emotions and feelings and looks for love and belonging. But it can let us get mired in hopes and dreams and never really achieve much if given too much power.

And these brains have memories: there was a case of someone receiving a heart transplant who was then inundated with memories that were so detailed they were able to help the police catch the killer of the 10 year old organ donor.

We need our brains to be working in unison. In fact, when you find that you aren’t acting in what you think is your best interests, its worth checking that your head, heart and gut are fully aligned. Given that the gut is responsible for action, procrastination’s often a sign of the brains not all being in agreement.

One way to correct this is to examine a situation you feel misaligned on from each of these perspectives:

• How do you feel about it?
• What do you think is best?
• What is your heart telling you to do?

At the end of this activity, you will know which brain is telling you what. And ten you can decide what you want to do about it.

When I first started coaching, I wanted to do it part time and get another part time job. So far, so sensible. But my heart and gut had their own plans. Every time I spoke to a recruiter about finding work in my old career, I would hear myself saying “all I really want to do is coach” and of course, that would scupper all my chances of getting work. I eventually gave up fighting it and threw myself 100% in to coaching, which I have never regretted!

When was the last time your brains were not aligned? Was you heart not in it? Did your gut tell you no? How did it go?