Gut feeling

Originally posted 24 Sep 2019…

Intuition is a powerful thing. 

Whenever I am working in the hospital, you will typically find me at the head of the newborn resuscitation table, awaiting the arrival of a new baby. Often, I can tell immediately if a baby will do just fine or if they will need some support now (or even a bit later), even if the baby immediately looks pink and started to cry. I can feel it in my gut. It is difficult to explain where this comes from, except that maybe over the past 13 years of caring for newborns, I’ve learned how to tell when something just isn’t quite right. And maybe God is whispering to me when to pay more attention. No matter why it happens, I am so grateful for that gut feeling. It has helped me provide quick and effective interventions for many babies over the years.

But where does the phrase “gut feeling” come from? While sometimes I actually have a weird sensation in my abdomen, it isn’t there every single time the hunch occurs. It turns out that the idea that emotions originate in the gut is an ancient one. And it is becoming even more accepted today. Science has shown that there are nerve cells in our gut that play a part in our emotion and intuition. In fact, we now know that the gut can release serotonin and other hormones at a rapid-fire pace. This is likely why our gut literally promotes our brains to react so quickly, leading to intuition or the gut feeling. I LOVE SCIENCE!!!!!

So I guess this idiom is in fact literal as well. Go figure.