Many of us believe that decisions are strictly made with our brains. However, there are those decisions we make in which we trust our gut. Or there are those decisions that we make with our hearts.
I like to believe that we have three different brains: gut-brain, heart-brain, and brain-brain.
The Gut-Brain is responsible for those decisions that are made when we trust our gut. These are often the decisions that come instinctively to us. Knee-jerk reactions, if you will. The kinds of decisions that we feel are best made when we follow what our body is telling us, “Yes, this is the way to go!” Or “No, it feels like we may have followed the wrong path.”
The Heart-Brain is responsible for the decisions that are made when we follow our hearts. We can sometimes feel our heart-strings being tugged (which may feel physical), however these decisions are made primarily with our emotions being involved (which also sounds psychological). This emotional connection to a decision can be experienced through a feeling of longing, of love, of extreme passion about a particular situation.
The Brain-Brain, or simply just our brain, is responsible for decisions when reason and logic are involved. These decisions require that rational thinking is working as the driving force in how we ultimately make our decision.
So how do we know which “brain” to listen to?
The short answer, we don’t. Because with each decision, we are utilizing one of our brains, or a combination of our brains, or all of our brains. Sometimes our brains sync up and are thoroughly aligned when making a decision. Other times, there is complete dysfunction and the brains are all at odds with one another. Maybe that day your heart is speaking Japanese and your brain can only comprehend German.
All of these scenarios are completely and totally okay. There is no right or wrong answer when making decisions, because ultimately, in the moment, it was what felt most right. That being said, when there is conflict between our brains, we may then regret our decisions. We might wish that we could take it back because all of a sudden the brain-brain is realizing what decision the gut-brain has made, and there might be a moment of “OH SH*T! I’m about to make a mistake.” But it is already too late. And you know what? That’s also okay. Because we are humans and we make mistakes.
HOWEVER, there are decisions that are made utilizing one, some, all or even NONE of these brains, and everything turns out okay. In the end, it truly doesn’t matter which brain you listen to most when making decisions. However, I do believe that it is important to recognize when your gut-brain, heart-brain and brain-brain are telling you something - it just might be something worth hearing.
