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A New Look at Intuition and Gut Feelings
Another client of mine seems to have the cart running the horse. When he gets upset, he throws up; when he’s anxious, he gets diarrhea; when he’s mad, he gets constipated; and when his girl friend left him, he couldn’t eat.
Other emotional signals going back and forth from our brains to our stomachs (intestines or “guts”) are “butterflies” in your stomach before a speech, that feeling of lead in your belly when your lover breaks up with you, or that sinking feeling in your stomach when you sense you’re about to be fired.
An interesting episode occurred in my childhood that kind of mixed up the external and internal. My Mom was taking us 4 kids on a plane trip. I was 10, and my little sister was 6.
“Keep Annie from throwing up,” Mom said to me. “Talk to her. Distract her with something.” I did! A nervous little kid, she wasn’t able to calm herself yet, but I was able to do it externally, so she didn’t throw up, like she usually did.
Long considered somewhat suspect, the basis for messages from “gut feelings” or intuition, EQ competencies, is evidentally well-grounded in science.
Mr. Mafioso, one of my favorite writers on intuition (askmen.com). says “brains are there to remind you of people’s names, as well as the PIN number of your Swiss bank account, not as a decision-making tool…The brain [in our heads] is packed with lessons that other people tried to teach you, while your gut feeling is not something you can take a course in at your local junior college.
Our “guts” and the brain in our head actually originate from the same tissue which later separates into two nervous systems, which remain connected by the vagus nerve which runs from the primitive brain down to the intestines. Many of the same neurotransmitters exist in both systems, and the same hormones and chemicals. In fact the gut’s been called “the second brain,” and there’s a book out on the subject by Michael Geron, M.D.
The gut may actually be our body’s anxiety and pain reliever (as my first client seems to know). The gut produces benzodiazepines (Valium), and, according to Dr. Anthony Basile, neurochemist at the Neuroscience Laboratory, National Institutes of Health, if we’re in enough pain, our gut will pump it out, sometimes enough to render us unconscious.
Another uncanny similarity – Dr David Wingate, U of London, has found that there are similar cycles when these systems are idle. When we sleep, our head-brain produces 90-minute cycles of slow wave sleep punctuated by periods of REM sleep (when dreams occur). At night, when we’re deprived of food, the gut produces slow wave muscle contractions in 90-minute cycles, punctuated with rapid muscle movements. (Is ‘it’ then ‘dreaming’?)
Emotions and the medicines we use to modulate them seem to effect both systems at the same time; thus all the GI side-effects. Drugs that prevent serotonin uptake allow more of it to be available to the brain, but less is available to the GI tract.
The sick nerve cells we find in victims of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are mirrored in the intestine; constipation is one of the symptoms as well. And Paul Wade at the U. of Wyoming is studying the interaction that causes us to run from the stage to the bathroom before a big exam.
Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) react with more anger in lab experiments, and this is associated with an equally over-reactive response in the sigmoid colon. (Emeran Mayer, M.D., Center for Neurovisceral Sciences & Women’s Health)
Emotions are felt in the intestines and effect its biochemistry. According to Mary Kaye Sawyer-Morese, Ph.D., R.D., “emotions such as anger, stress, and fear can have a significant impact on the biochemistry and function of the gut. At an extreme, anger has been shown to kill off ‘friendly’ bacteria in the GI tract, thereby creating an ecological balance.”
This certainly gives new meaning to the term “psychosomatic.” In fact researcher such as Candace Pert maintain that our emotions are in every cell of our body.
When I have an EQ coaching client who states he doesn’t have feelings, or doesn’t know how he feels, I set him about observing his bodily messages. Sure enough, he notices tension in his stomach, rumbling, and pain. He may not be able to talk about it (needing the head-brain), but that’s how you get in touch with your feelings if you aren’t. They are all over your body, and not just in your gut. They’re in your sweating palms, your twitching eyelids, your pounding heart, the pain in your head, and yes, the pain in your heart when your heart’s been “broken,” but that’s for another article. If “you” aren’t in touch with your feelings, it’s not because they aren’t trying to reach you – in fact they’re all over. It’s just a matter of educating your head-brain how to verbalize about them.
It’s good to make this intellectual connection, because thinking and feeling are intertwined. We don’t have a feeling without a thought that goes with it, and managing feelings means changing thinking (and vice versa). It doesn’t matter where you start Tai chi, for instance works from another angle, and there’s a reason why Eastern deities always have those fat bellies, BTW. The Chinese consider the lower abdomen a reservoir of energy.
According to Kenneth Cohen, tai Chi teacher, “From the Chinese viewpoint, the belly is considered the dan tian or ‘field of the elixir’ where you plant the seeds of long life and wisdom.”
Our emotions gives us information we need. Listen to their messages, whether they’re coming from the head-brain or the gut-brain. Generally speaking, since they aren’t mediated by the neocortex and your thoughts (which you’ve been taught) when in doubt, go with your gut. As the inimitable Mr. Mafioso says, “If you are stuck on a decision, just follow your instincts and ignore the brain. Want to make an investment choice? Choose what you think is going to go up. You have a funny feeling about your finacee? Show her the door. There are some men that will argue that following your gut is what women do, except women call it following their feelings. [But you know your wife’s not always right.] These clowns say men are logical and must think things through. Right. While Wilbert stays in his room, figuring things out, money is being made and lost everyday. I'll join the real world, pal. “
Mr. M’s confirming what we know – your gut feeling is generally quicker and more sure. But first you have to get familiar with it. Intuition is an EQ competency and can be developed.
A client said to me the other day, “I think eating is the answer to everything. If I’m depressed, I eat. I eat to calm down – chocolate, milk. I’m even convinced if I’m nauseated, the cure is soda crackers and ginger ale.” This person, who is exceptionally stable, may have a better grip on the connection between brain and gut than most people, as she’s almost learned to self-medicate with food.
Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc , mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc. Coaching, Internet courses and ebooks around emotional intelligence for your personal and professional success. Coach Certification Program - fast, affordable, no-residency, training coaches worldwide. Email for free ezine.
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Keywords: instinct, emotional intelligence, EQ, gut feeting, intuition, general interest, women's issues
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