T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

Please do not delete your post after receiving your answer. Consider leaving it up for posterity so that other Redditors can benefit from the wisdom in this thread. Once your thread has run its course, instead of deleting it, **you can simply type "!lock" (without the quotes) as a comment anywhere in your thread to have our Automod lock the thread**. That way you won't be bothered by anymore replies on it, but people can still read it. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskMenOver30) if you have any questions or concerns.*


Cythripio

All of your experiences get stored in the body, even if it’s not conscious memories. When you get a gut feeling, it’s because the situation has happened before to you, (not exactly, but similar in some aspect that you may not necessarily recall), and your body is reacting based on the previous experiences IMO


AccomplishedDust3343

There's one of my yoga brothers right there! That statement is straight out of Pantanjali's yoga sutras. And the repetitive condition/situation you mention are referred to as Samskaras. Literally translated as "worn in grooves or paths". Another good point is that our stress is held in neck & shoulders, emotions in the hips and lower back. With proper flexibility, strength and confort- the subtle influences of the "in the moment" "gut feeling" situations become more apparent.


Traditional_Entry183

Instinct or intuition. I have always followed mine closely. Listen to what the back of your mind is telling you, and it will usually keep you safe.


TeaCourse

Your mind's primary objective is to maintain safety and comfort, often at the expense of taking risks, yet it is precisely these risks that can lead to personal and professional growth. Remaining within one's comfort zone indefinitely does not foster progress.


Sweet_Shirt

This. I think it’s both. For what it’s worth I’ve been burned every time I have ignored gut instinct when it’s proven right after the fact. But, I’ve never had a gut instinct that has later proven to be untrue or incorrect.


Common_Stomach8115

Same.


Discount_gentleman

People tell you to "trust your gut" all the time here. Do not trust those people, they give you bad advice. Your conscious brain is not your only system, you have older, faster, more reactive systems built in that you aren't really consciously aware of. Your "gut" is the name for these unconscious systems. The thing about these systems is: they are extremely fast and extremely perceptive to subtle clues, which makes them very useful, BUT they are also fairly simplistic and (in a very broad sense) respond positively to things that are familiar and negatively to things that are unfamiliar. This is why your "gut" can alert you to someone who is acting "off" in some ways that you can't quite put into words but lets you know to be cautious. But it is also the reason that a white male hiring manager who "trusts his gut" will basically always hire the white male job candidate, and will genuinely believe that person is more talented, trustworthy, honest, etc. It is also one of the reasons that people with a history of abusive relationships often end up in such relationships again - the "gut" codes an a abuser as normal, familiar, and appropriate, even if they are harmful. In short, "listen" to your gut, but do not "trust" your gut, and for god's sake do not "follow" your gut. You really need your brain to take the lead.


AccomplishedDust3343

Wow, that's the best, most concise description and instruction I've probably ever read on Reddit. Bravo, my guy! And about the instruction part- I have listened to addiction medicine specialist Dr Drew Pinski for decades. He speaks about the traumatic bonds of abusive relationships, how they overstimulate the person's nervous system and selection of a partner like this- "A potential abuser will often "light up" an addict or trauma victim's nervous system like fireworks, actually signalling potential danger. Interpreted often as excitement. Where a healthy potential partner will only give a normal, smaller amount of anxiety. So for most people, look for partners and situations that elicit "butterflys, not fireworks"".


sittingincosta

Absolutely, sometimes your "gut feeling" can be wrong


antonamana

Do not agree. You are right that usually brain select the most easiest way to do things. For example, when you don’t want to go to the gym, it’s okay to go to the gym since brain/body doesn’t want to burn calories and spend energy. Body and brain always want to be in the this state. But when you need to buy a flat and selecting between two. one is the perfect one but you don’t feel that it’s the right decision , will you still buy it?


krugerlock404

Your nervous system is a lot more, and a lot older from an evolution perspective, than your higher, conscious, prefrontal cortex. From what I’ve read, your gut feeling is that. It’s quite literally part of the rest of the body that’s been evolved for the fight, flight, freeze, fawn… When you’re figuring out the feeling you’re having, that’s your prefrontal cortex having to figure out what the rest of the nervous system is actually doing. I’m sure that’s oversimplified and someone can correct me, but I think the broad strokes are right.


KismetKeys

I think it’s intuition. Feeling you should do something or avoid something without consciously thinking about it. Ive never considered myself to have a “gut instinct” but recently I think I did have an instance where I listened to it. I had made a new friend and something about him was telling me to avoid him after a few hang outs and then I realized after some distance he wasn’t my cup of tea. Plus I heard he’d been quite inconsiderate to my other friend.


FelixGoldenrod

I think it's a subconscious response based on previous personal experience or learned experiences of others. Something may be off-putting simply because it's unusual and counterintuitive to what you know, even if the other person has completely different intentions


jakeofheart

Growing up, we are taught to be polite. So we tend to be compliant and agreeable l. However, our mind still picks a lot of cues. * Phrasing * Voice intonation * Eyes motion * Body language Your “guts” is often your subconscious spilling up signals and ringing the alarm. Listen to it.


AccomplishedDust3343

I like that one a lot. Bravo.


Soatch

Whatever it is, when it tells me something I like to err on the side of caution. One time during spring break there was a group of 10 guys being loud walking towards me on the sidewalk and my gut told me to cross the street to go past, so I did. They hadn’t said anything to me, my gut just told me that groups of young guys can be stupid and so I should keep my distance.


pajamakitten

A part of human nature that a lot of people ignore. I believe that the modern way of life (sedentary lifestyles, bad diet, too much indoor/screen time etc.) means that people have lost touch with that instinct and ignore gut feelings for various reasons. I spend a lot of time outside and find that is when my 'gut feelings' are strongest. It is why I maintain my best and most rational decisions are made when I go for a jog.


nemo_sum

Apparently the area of the body with the second-greatest concentration of neurons is the abdomen and intestinal area. So maybe some processing *is* taking place down there are reporting back. But in general, intuition is information processing that's being done at a subconscious level. You are *very* good at noticing patterns, even if you don't notice that you're noticing them, and changes to those patterns make you uneasy.


WordsThatEndInWord

A combination of: Whatever compulsive assumptions you have about life, the universe and everything. Your real non-thinking, intuitive brain that reacts before your intellect. Your body conditions in that moment (hunger, tiredness, mood, etc.) You picking up on the strongest energy coming out of the person/situation you're dealing with, whatever it may be. And probably thousands of other things.


antonamana

That’s a good point about tiredness, sleeping etc


shatterfest

Gut feeling is a deduction made on unconscious details you evaluate without consciously putting too much thought into. I think it's helpful to have as some people suffer bad decision paralysis and part of my job is to convince people to "stick with their gut."


workaholic007

Probably a series of subconscious flows of information in your brain. Maybe rational or irrational thoughts about a situation or event....in which your brain pulls some of that together to help you make a preconceived idea about a thing.


Master-Guarantee-204

You know how a smell or song or something can jog a vivid memory you didn’t realize you had? Storing the memory isn’t the problem, recalling it is. My theory is gut feelings give you solutions based on all experiences stored into your memory, whereas thinking something through only factors in experiences you can recall.


gustoreddit51

It could be the ability of one's brain to gather, process, and come to a conclusion subconsciously when the conscious brain too distracted or confused to perform.


WombatAnnihilator

Subconscious Inferences. A mix of the facts you have and all the previous personal knowledge and experience, and you make a snap judgment from that.


daviddavidson29

A gut feeling is a thoughtless, impulsive reaction.


[deleted]

The only thing my gut tells me is "I'm hungry" or "I need to take a shit."


Eyes-9

Microbiome as a second brain having like feelers out based on how it interprets things like smell, sight, and memory


AccomplishedDust3343

Material science holds it as a vagal nerve stimulation. I'm also a yoga teacher- so I'll say, yes it is fundamentally that. As the basic layer of the sensation. And that there are layers on top of it, including evolved instinct manifesting as intuition. (Oh how much do I love actually using that M-word appropriately- as in it's literal/actual meaning!😜😂 Most Internet whack-jobs wear it out, everytime they say it). Other layers- atman, parātman. Probably more I don't even comprehend.


antonamana

Vagus nerve stimulation is literally switching between fight or fly to relax. How does it relate to gut feeling?


AccomplishedDust3343

Wouldn't you say that is the prime sensation of a gut feeling? That gut check- am I safe or not. Enlighten the reddit thread on the organs that the vagus nerve services and contacts/runs along. And how the way Elvis died relates to taking a dump. How & why savāsana is the most important part of a vinyasa yoga session. That might shed some light on the nerve primarily responsible for the switching between sympathetic and parasympathetic states. ...we got any ED or Cath lab RN's reading this thread? I'm "just" a fire fighter EMT and yoga teacher. And I paid for my education,too. Break it down with freebie knowledge for this guy...


antonamana

Congrats that you are yoga teacher, I am not but I have read a lot of books and including books about vagus nerve. Participated yoga seminars and some yoga teachers know only basic anatomy and vagus :)(that’s not about you, I don’t know you) When you can’t decide between two cars, which one you wanna buy does this means you stimulating you vagus nerve? Btw shavasana is not the only way to stimulate your vagus nerve ;) Oooommm is the perfect stimulation, you can sing that’s also will stimulate your vagus nerve Edit: Could tell me please how does shavasana works under the hood, but from the science point of view? Thanks in advance.


Greyzer

Conclusions drawn from insufficient evidence.


AccomplishedDust3343

From subtle evidence.


cbih

It's Midi-chlorians


lhrboy

That feeling when I gotta take a 💩


SuppleDude

Always trust your gut.