The Little Brain in the Middle of Your Chest

I am a thinker. I have an analytical mind and I love to figure everything out.

As a result, I have found myself listening to what my brain is telling me to do probably more than I should 🤷🏻‍♀️.

And as I’ve come to understand the power and underutilized intelligence of the heart, I’ve started to learn how to do a better job at listening to my heart instead of my mind. ❤️

Before I get to the research, let me clarify this a bit.

The mind is a pretty loud place.

You may have heard the term… monkey mind. It's because there’s a lot going on up there! A lot of which doesn’t make sense. And the thoughts that we have are being influenced by what we ate for breakfast, whether we had coffee, how much sleep we got, an argument we had, stress, happiness… there’s not much consistency amongst all those thoughts. AND we have to do A LOT to get it to quiet the hell down in there. 😣 So why do we take it's advice so often???

In my experience, the heart is a whole other story. 

When I put my attention on what’s going on in the center of my chest there is a sense of peace I feel almost automatically. Don’t ask me to explain how that happens but it does… try it. There’s something about the heart that feels synonymous with my soul.

And I find, that when I listen from that place instead of from the craziness that’s in my head, the answers I hear are clear. And I can quite literally, feel the love…

So it made me wonder if there was more evidence to this? 🤔

In our western society, the heart doesn’t get enough credit. Probably because the brain is in the spotlight most of the time. And yet, throughout history, the heart has been known in almost every culture as being the true source of wisdom, knowledge, and spiritual intuition 🔮.

_{(The following research was conducted by the HeartMath Institute - the leading institution on the science of the heart.)}

DID YOU KNOW...

• 🧠 The heart is as influential as the brain. The heart possesses its own intrinsic nervous system with over 40,000 neurons making it well-deserving of the nickname, “little brain.” This “little brain” gives the heart the ability to independently sense, process information, make decisions, and even to demonstrate a type of learning and memory.
• 😍 The heart literally produces love. The heart is a hormonal gland which drastically affects brain and body function. One of the hormones the heart produces is oxytocin—well known as the “love” or “bonding hormone.” Scientists now understand that the heart not only responds to emotion but that the signals generated by its rhythmic activity actually play a major part in determining the quality of our emotional experience from moment to moment.

So the question is, how can we do a better job listening to the heart for guidance and leverage the love that it’s manufacturing.

Well the solution is fairly simple.

Do whatever it takes to get more present to love.  And remember that love takes on many forms.

1. The first step is becoming aware of what you love.
2. The second step is expressing it in the best way you know how.

Become aware of the people you love and how much you love them 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 . Try to feel it in your heart and let it bring you to tears (of joy). Think about the memories you’ve shared, the little things they do that make you smile, and how lucky you feel that they’re in your life.

Become aware of the tiny nuances of life that we take for granted. Observe the daily miracles ✨ that exist - the way the clouds move, the fact that your body is functioning with little effort, the basic necessities you have access to that often get taken for granted.

Increase your awareness of all of it.

Then express it in your own unique style.

As touchy-feely as this post is, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not great at expressing love 😳. And I find it hard to tell my family exactly how much they mean to me.

So express the love in a way that fits who you are. It could be verbal or through writing. It could be in the form of a thoughtful gesture, or just giving your undivided attention. It could mean going out of your way to help a stranger, volunteering your time, or traveling a long way to visit a loved one.

To bring this all full circle, make sure you listen to that little brain in the middle of your chest.

Leverage the love that it’s got… especially during the holidays.

"Your heart knows the way. Run in that direction." - Rumi 🌟