enteric nervous system

Quotius #9 Circular Vs Reciprocal

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Each week I intend to dispatch my pent-up creativity by creating a new version of something I call a “quotius”. (Learn about the genesis of it here.)

Circular Thinking: Works on fear – Makes you gutless
Reciprocal Thinking: Works on guts – Makes you fearless

This quotius is not actually a quote like most of the others I do here. That’s because it’s not a quote from somebody else. This time it’s my own idea which I made up in an attempt to vividly illustrate the striking differences between two distinct types of thinking: circular and reciprocal.

If you’ve seen more than one of my Quotius videos you may have noticed that I have little regard for the circular type of thinking pattern. I personally believe that thinking that has a pattern like this has been the sole cause of the stuckiness that many people experience in their own lives.

I don’t like it in myself and I don’t like it in others.

That’s why in each one of these little productions I end up destroying the circular band that represents circular thinking. This often happens in a rather extreme way. It’s intentionally violent and final. Like a deadly virus I don’t want it ever coming back.

Circular thinking causes you to make decisions that are hard to reach. They are long coming (if they get made at all) and they are usually the result of over-analyzing things. They are what I refer to as head-based decision making. All you do is go around and around and around burning up time and energy to finally reaching a flimsy compromised path.

If you tend toward this type of thinking it’s probably because it seems like the safe thing to do. But it’s not. It’s just time-wasting. Real opportunities aren’t often found in the safe area of life. They are found in the deep end of the pool and it takes some guts to swim out there to claim them for yourself.

Reciprocal thinking, on the other hand, is thinking that works in partnership with the two sets of independent brain systems found in all humans. The head brain and the gut brain.

You’re no doubt aware of the head brain and what it does.  But for some the knowing about the gut brain is still be a bit of a mystery. So let me give you a brief rundown of what I think was one of the top biological discoveries of the last fifty years.

The gut brain, known technically as the “enteric nervous system”, was a discovery that was first made public in North America in an article in the New York Times in 1996. The subject of the article was an announcement by cell biologist Dr. Michael Gershon. His area of interest had been the digestive system and that is how he literally tripped over the evidence of this (abdominal) brain.

He conducted tests and found some startling facts such as:
• The gut brain can, and does, act alone without instructions from topside
• The area of the gut brain is rich in “feel good” chemicals
• The gut brain is very sensitive to touch employing the same neurons found in the head

The brain in the gut was not entirely unknown however. A British doctor by the name of Langley had written about it about 100 years prior to Dr. Gershon’s work, but it had been overshadowed by the discovery of neuro-transmitters (chemicals said to help transmit nerve signals between each neuron).

Now that we know we have two distinct brains in the body why not use both of them in concert when considering critical choices? You can have the thought considerations from the head brain while being made more aware of invaluable signals about good or bad from the gut brain. Base your finial decision on that.

It is said that two brains are better than one. But what’s even better is when both reside in the same body and can agree on the same direction to go in.

More power to you.

David's signature in look-like handwriting

 

 

Music Credit:Creative Commons License The Annual New England Xylophone Symposium by DoKashiteru is licensed under a Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)

Deep Self-Belief Test

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Mobius Monday Minute – May 30 , 2011

Mobius Monday Minute logo

As you may know I’m very into examining the mechanisms behind our self-belief (or lack thereof). In my work I often find corresponding mirror-like operators in each of the two natures we humans have – the physical and the ethereal.

This duality thing is quite fascinating because it informs us of so many unique qualities that underscore the miracle of what it means to be human.

Case in point is the importance of the strength of our individual self-belief (ethereal body) and the level of glucose in our blood (physical body). Both seem to be indicators of the wellness of the systems that they are such a vital part of.

You probably know already that tests for blood glucose levels can be done by yourself at home using a glucose meter but what about a test for our own strength of self-belief?

I suppose a meter would be a cool thing to have for this too but that might be a bit of a tough thing to come up with since self-belief exists only in the domain of the ethereal.

Fortunately there is a reliable less outwardly mechanical way that helps give us an indication of the level of our deep self-belief and each of us already have it in our possession.

It’s the little known brain in the gut called the ‘enteric nervous system’.

Now, not everyone has heard that humans have another brain in their body besides the one in the head. Can’t say I’m surprised at that. I didn’t learn of it myself until 1996 and that was just by chance. A friend of mine had told me that there was an article on it in the New York Times science section.

It blew me away when I read it.

I had for years been trying to tell people that I thought there existed something like a base of operations for a motivational source that seemed to emanate from the gut area of the body. At the time there was a label in wide use back then calling this area the “solar plexus”. This seemed a descriptive term for it because it was recognized that there were a large mass of nerve fibers in this area that seemed to radiate out from a central area like the sun’s rays.

This description, although fancifully romantic, wasn’t very accurate medically. It was really just a boxing term for all the nerves identified in that area. It was Dr. Michael Gershon, it’s modern-day discoverer, who actually coined the more scientific term “enteric nervous system” for this unusual brain.  ( In his book Gershon admits that he wasn’t the first one to actually discover this extra brain.  He explains that the initial discovery was made 100 years earlier by two young British physiologists at London University – William Bayliss and Ernest Starling.)

So what’s the one thing that distinguishes this brain from the one in the head? Well, besides the obvious location differences it has one overriding feature: it’s a feeling brain not a thinking brain. It’s so good at feeling it can even sense things that would defy any scientific inquiry. It apparently can feel the presence of  something in the ethereal (non-physical) plane.

Just to take the edge off that let’s just use the common vernacular and call it a “hunch”.

So, to test your personal self-belief all you need to do is tune in to and ‘see’ what your gut feels about your next big decision. Then, if you feel you can trust the direction it’s pointing you in (is it good or bad?) you should at least have some idea of which way to go.

Be warned though. Where it takes you to may not at first seem like a good thing. But remember, successful conclusions often come with long timelines. Of course, that’s why you need a sense of deep self-belief in the first place.

More power to you my friends.

David's signature in look-like handwriting

 

PS: How would you like to develop a deep belief in yourself in 24 hours or less? Check this out