THE HEART VS. THE GUT

In life, we often face situations where we have to decide what‘s good for us or what we want for the future. Easy questions pop up, but also questions which depend on a serious and well-thought answer. You might have heard the phrase that you should trust your stomach‘s feeling/ gut or you should simply listen to your heart. We seem to understand these sayings, even though we do not really learn what‘s behind this saying. Is it just a phrase or is this something to invest deeper? Well, let‘s dig a little deeper and understand a saying that captures a lot of truth.

What does it mean to trust the gut or listen to the vibes your stomach

processes? The gut can basically be understood as our intuition—it is sensory and comes from the unconscious. It sends us messages in all forms, telling us that something is right or wrong. Gut feelings and vibrations are spontaneous and come from the gut area or third chakra. It‘s a beautiful and natural alarm clock to danger, but also a great invite to feel warmth and affection. It might not make a lot of sense sometimes, but it is important to not ignore this voice coming from your stomach area. It‘s either a bittersweet lesson, or a rewarding step into a right direction.

When the gut is such a good care taker, does it even matter to listen to the heart then? Of course. The heart is always equated with love, being the emotional counterpart to the gut. It is a very present feeling which can pull us out of our comfort zones, which is important when it comes to achieving dreams and goals. It can very easily be translated with „I want,“ „I wish“ - an emotional supported attitude which can always change due to circumstances.

When we listen to our hearts, we learn what feels good to us or what might feel good to us, daring a new path, to reach a goal. Whereas, the gut is our little surprising alarm clock when we need to test ourselves, if we trust a certain situation which may bring happiness or sadness. Both mechanisms bring lessons along, since they are powerful and important in our lives– sooner or later we will get to know and feel them.

To make this a smoother experience, we can think about how to listen to both supportive tools. All we need is a little dedication, focus, and practice, of course. Let‘s pretend that

there is a situation coming up which is new to you and you don‘t know how to move on and decide. What can you do now?

1. Find a quiet spot to focus and be by yourself for a little bit. When focusing and making decisions, it is important to be in a surrounding where you feel comfortable and free to sort your thoughts. Any noise or interruption brings discomfort which we want to dismiss as quickly as possible. 2. Stop time for some moments. This means simply interrupt what you are doing and gather all of your energy and consciousness for making a right decision. Make sure to clear your head, not only the physical thing which you were doing some seconds ago. Cut everything off for a minute and gather yourself. No distractions, full focus. 3. Focus through breathing. To find the easiest way to ourselves, it is important to leave all the ballast behind and take a deep breath. Inhale and exhale to find piece and calm. 4. Bring all your focus and awareness to your head. Think about the decision or question whic h brought you to this circumstance. Don‘t be emotional here—the head is not the emotional part, the heart is. Think about facts and think rationally about the outcome of your decision. Go through solutions and ideas. 5. Bring all your focus and awareness to your hear t. The facts are clear, but what does the heart say to this? How does your chest feel when thinking about the question or decision? Sort through your feelings and try to understand your heart. 6. Bring awareness to your gut now. Connect your thoughts and listen to what your intuition has to say to this. Debate what the heart‘s decision together with the head‘s thoughts might feel for you. Going through everything from seperate perspectives, we are now bringing everything together. How does your gut area feel? 7. Do a final body scan. Sometimes, when facing difficult scenarios, we might feel a little tension throughout the body. Close your eyes and focus on what message your whole body is trying to tell you. Do you feel tense? Is there any part in your body aching? Focus on this area and try to understand what this part of your body is trying to tell you. Headache? Jaw tension? This might be a sign that you should reconsider or think about some facts again.

Your body is a beautiful messenger, telling you what is right or wrong for you in a weird way of communication, but so important and life saving sometimes. Connect closer to your messengers and learn their language to make better decisions in life.