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As is obvious to anyone
who knows me, my brain often resides in the wrong part of my anatomy. Instead of
being in the head where it belongs, it migrates to my stomach and firmly
ensconces itself there. I know this to be true. Why else would I eat chocolate
and ice cream and all those other goodies my brain-in-my-head would tell me are
not good for my physical well-being and that I must avoid? The devil made me do
it? I only wish I could blame someone else and not the fact that my brain
moved. If there is any
consolation, and there is little, especially when the pants get tighter around
the waist, it is the knowledge that no one is immune from such thinking. When we
think from the stomach, the gut, we really do not think. We react to stimuli,
pleasant or otherwise. If the food looks good, smells wonderful, appeals to me,
I will eat it. My gut thinking takes over. If someone tells me to eat what is
placed before me because it is good for me, my gut thinking immediately kicks
in. The gut knows the food will taste awful. On the other hand, if my brain
resided in my head, I would eat the food no matter how horrible it looked or
tasted simply because it would be good for my health. Gut thinking goes beyond
the physical. If it only remained there, we might have a world of fat people but
not a world of fatheaded people, for that is what gut thinking creates. In fact
gut thinking is an oxymoron. We do not think with our gut; we react. Gut
thinking produces prejudice: if it looks horrible, it must be horrible; if it
doesn’t feel good to me, it must be bad; if I do not understand it, it must be
wrong. We think with our brain
and react with our gut. Yet, all too often, we allow gut reactions to control
our actions, our words and, even worse, our thoughts. If this tastes good, looks
good, it must be good for me; it must be good. If it tastes bad, looks bad, it
must be bad for me; it must be bad. Again, we allow our gut reaction to
pre-judge the truth to make what is not true into the truth. History is replete
with examples of whole societies prejudging others because they did not like
what the other looked like, acted like, or spoke like. It was only when they
were able to allow their brains to take over and allow themselves to truly get
to know the other that they discovered the truth. It is very difficult to admit the truth when we think,
or rather react, with our gut. It is even more difficult to admit that our
actions and reactions are the result of gut thinking, which, again, is not
thinking. What brain thinkers and gut reactors both all too often forget about
is that part of the body in between: the heart. The heart tempers both the gut
and the brain. More on that next time. WJP
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