Why you shouldn’t dismiss emotions when trying to tap into your intuition

Last year I came across an article published on 6th November 2021 in The Times Magazine titled "Crystals and conspiracy theories: My crash course in the new spirituality" by journalist and writer James Bloodworth.

I really enjoyed reading this article and the author's attempt to bring us back down with a grounding rationale. Right up my street!

However, there was one little sentence that got me triggered: “The notion that we already possess all the knowledge we could ever need- if only we tap into our emotions- just sounds instinctively wrong”.

At first read, just skimming over the surface without any context, I can see how the reader would also scoff or chuckle at the idea.

But is it wrong? Absolutely not!

That's why, in this article, I will reframe this idea and be explaining the science behind how different types of emotions affect your nervous system, and how to tap into your intuition.

The impact of emotions on your nervous system

It felt "instinctively wrong" to James because of the very emotions he felt at that point. Because of the very state his nervous system was in, and the influence of his unconscious biases and beliefs.

Let me explain.

Your brain is organised into 3 parts- primitive, emotional, and rational.

The primitive brain is a part of the human central nervous system that takes care of activities that are vital to sustaining life. This includes functions like body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. It's also called the instinctual brain as it is the seat of instincts.

The emotional brain is responsible for your moods and emotions, as well as the stress response. It contains the amygdala, which is the "threat" centre of the brain. It also includes the hippocampus which plays an important role in memory.

The rational brain is the most recent addition to our brains and is responsible for rational thinking, decision making, planning, and problem-solving.

These 3 parts function together harmoniously when all is well and you feel safe. But, it's also important to note that your emotional brain has the ability to take over and influence the way your cognitive functions, the rational brain, work.

We often hear about the mind-body connection, but I always prefer to refer to it as the body-mind connection.

We often attribute the role of the emperor to the mind, the "know it all", the supreme sovereign. It couldn't be further from the truth.

The body communicates to the mind way more than the other way round.

Emotions are not thoughts. They don't pertain to the mind. They can be triggered by a thought, yes, but they are felt in the body.

And the way your body feels is picked up by your heart.

Did you know your heart has a cluster of around 60 000 neurons, sometimes referred to as the heart brain?

The signals from your emotions affect the rhythm of your heart, creating in response, heartbeat patterns that become neurological signals sent to your brain.

When you feel “negative” emotions, through the signals of the heart via the vagus nerve pathway, your brain is triggered into the stress response- the emotional bias is strong then. Your emotional brain is on and cognitive functions are off.

When you feel “positive” emotions, however, through the same heart-brain pathway via the vagus nerve, your brain is triggered into the relaxation response- emotional brain and cognitive functions are back in balance.

The power of your emotions lies in their ability to trigger your body into fight/flight (stress response) or rest/digest (relaxation) responses.

It doesn’t matter what the negative emotion is. If you are feeling stressed, anxious or depressed. If you feel angry, frustrated or challenged by a thought that is in conflict with your deeply rooted beliefs and values; the emotion is triggering a stress response.

For whatever reason, James was triggered into this response. Maybe what he heard conflicted with his beliefs, his education, or his cultural background. Emotions were triggered and so his emotional and instinctual brains took over...hence why it felt, exactly as he worded it, "instinctively wrong"!

And the opposite is true when you are feeling calm, happy or relaxed; excited, grateful, and proud: the emotion is triggering the relaxation response and you're back in an optimum state of being and functioning.

You regain full function of your rational brain and access to your implicit intuition.

What's the implicit intuition?

Implicit intuition is the ability to sense the answer to a question, problem, or situation without having to consciously figure it out. It’s a feeling of knowing, not knowing how you know, just that you do.

It's the ability to sense danger and opportunity before they arise. It's the ability to sense when someone is telling you the truth or not, and it’s also the ability to be authentic in your interactions with others.

It's your sixth sense—the gut feeling we all have in our bodies when something doesn't feel right.

The gut feeling is aptly named. Earlier I mentioned the heart-brain vagus nerve neuro pathway, but before the vagus reaches the heart it picks up information from its tens of thousands of nerve endings in...the gut!

This information is then shuttled back up through the heart and many other organs back to the brain.

Your implicit intuition is also the sum of all your beliefs, experience, and memories. It’s the process by which your brain accesses stored information unconsciously that influences your decisions, perceptions, and behaviours.

When you are emotionally balanced and centered, feeling positive emotions, your nervous system and brain are in the relaxation response. The 3 parts of your brain work together harmoniously.

You are primed to access the memory centre and your highest cognitive functions.

You are primed to access your implicit intuition, sensing what you need to know when you need to know it.

When you can't access the information you need consciously, implicit intuition will give you a hunch or a gut feeling about what's going on.

Sure, we can't say this intuition is "all the knowledge" as if it was all the knowledge in the world, but it surely is all of YOUR knowledge that you have at your disposition.

Things you have forgotten about, experiences, cause and effects situations, things you've learned about, that you've been told since you were born, all stored in your subconscious.

All this knowledge is available to you when you are in a balanced nervous system state thanks to positive emotions.

 Conclusion

We've seen that positive emotions are the key to your ability to tap into your intuition.

The more positive emotions you feel, the easier it is to access your subconscious knowledge.

So does "tapping into emotions to access all the knowledge" feel wrong to you?

It only depends on the type of emotions, and what we define as knowledge 🙏

▶ Would you like to be able to make a conscious emotional choice to foster a positive emotional environment to be in touch with your implicit intuition?

This is part of my Resilience Express and Absolute Resilience coaching programs. DM me to find out more!

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