Heart

Listening to your heart is important. Scientists have discovered that your heart contains its own sophisticated neural network with more than 40,000 neurons. This intrinsic cardiac nervous system not only controls your heartbeat but also processes information, makes decisions, and communicates directly with your brain. Even more surprising, your heart sends more signals to your brain than your brain sends to your heart. The vagus nerve carries about 80 percent heart-to-brain communication and only 20 percent brain-to-heart.

Your heart is literally influencing your thoughts, emotions, and decisions more than you might realize. This is why it's important in my idea of Embodied Sensemaking. When you get a gut feeling about someone or feel that something is right in your heart, that is not just a figure of speech. It is your heart’s neural network processing complex information faster than your conscious mind can analyze it.

The field of neurocardiology is showing that your heart is not simply a pump. It is an intelligent organ that has been guiding human decision-making for millions of years. Perhaps it is time to start paying closer attention to what your heart has been trying to tell you.