Critical Thinking, Gut, Intuition and your Heart

Critical Thinking, Gut, Intuition and your Heart

At the risk of being controversial, let’s clear the table here ... your Gut digests food, your Heart pumps blood, neither thinks, and there’s really no such thing as?“Intuition”.?OMG !?

BUT wait a minute.?We often make decisions, some really good ones, on our?“gut feeling”, or as Luke Skywalker and Hans Solo would say,?“I’ve got a bad feeling about this”.??I’ve heard many times,?“follow your gut”?or?“what does your heart tell you”??

So where does critical thinking come in, as one might argue these other decision mechanisms don’t involve a lot of conscious thought … and that’s the key.?Conscious thought.?

When your?“Gut”?or?“Intuition”?is guiding you, behind the scenes, i.e. in your brain, are experiences from the past, ideas about what you’re currently experiencing, reading, listening to, and facts, and from these your brain is making certain assumptions about what might be or what might happen.?These assumptions your brain is making, unbeknownst to your conscious self, IS your?“Gut”?and?“Intuition”.??

When does your?“Heart”?come in to play????“My heart tells me …”?is often driven by one of your core values.?For example, maybe an analysis leads you to a decision about reducing your staffing levels, but your heart might be telling you otherwise.?In this case, maybe your?“Heart”?is about your core values of doing the best you can for your employees.?

When your Gut and Intuition is talking to you, it might be worthwhile to dig a little deeper by asking one question:?“What experiences have I had, and what is the current situation that is driving my assumptions about what is or what will be and what are those assumptions?”.??This will bring some critical thinking into the process and give you the confidence that your?“Gut”?is on the right track, or give you reason to pause.?

The Takeaway:?When you have a Gut feeling, or your Intuition or Heart is speaking, don’t ignore them, but do take a moment to raise your thinking to a more conscious level by asking about the assumptions you might be making.?This will provide confidence in your?“Gut”?or an understanding that you might need to check on a few things before you move forward

Mike Kallet; CEO Headscratchers

#criticalthinking #problemsolving #decisionmaking

For information about our on-site and Virtual Critical Thinking Workshops, visit?www.headscratchers.com

Mike Kallet, CEO and Principal - Headscratchers LLC Author of Think Smarter - Critical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills.?

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