A theory about that gut feeling

My friend and I, we take long walks after Sunday church so that we avoid having to cook and do chores at home after service. During one of these walks, we talked about what ‘gut feeling’ is.

I know we have all had it at some point. You consciously get to a conclusion about something but something just doesn’t ‘feel’ right. And because it’s ‘feeling’ based, many people tend to dismiss it because of social constructs that feelings are unimportant. But we rationalised it in another way.

Our Theory On Gut Feelings

We are consciously prone to deceiving ourselves. We disregard things consciously things when they don’t fit the model of what we want things to be. I might know that I don’t have a lot of money for fuel while deciding to buy a car but will gladly disregard that when I see a Benz in my price range. (Obviously the engine is missing and it has banana peels for brakes if it is that cheap.)

Therefore

If we are so prone to lying to ourselves, what if the gut feeling is the conclusion that your subconscious mind has gotten to without lying to itself?

Your subconscious mind is probably the truest you and acts as a repository of your values and principles. So it doesn’t seem unlikely, to me at least, that the subconscious mind will make the best decision for you (without you being aware of it - that’s the subconscious mind) but just present it as a ‘gut feeling’. This probably happens while you are still trying to rationalise consciously you eating that cake in the fridge at 11pm.

And another funny thing too. Your ‘gut’ is always right. This is from anecdotal evidence of course, but I am sure some of you might relate to this.

Whatever your gut was feeling iffy about, in the future, you probably realise it was trying to tell you something and it was right.

Why is it a ‘gut feeling’?

Scientists have attempted to explain why you feel it in your gut or stomach. Along the whole lining of your digestive tract, there is a complex system of nerves called the ‘Enteric Nervous System’. Now, there is no conclusive evidence that there is a link between this nervous system and ‘feeling it in your gut’ (maybe you just ate a lot).

Conclusion

It’s just a theory but a theory that makes sense to me. It helps so that I don’t dismiss the feelings I have about something. It’s probably right and I am the one lying to myself.