The Three Intelligences
Gateways to Inner Wisdom
The more complex life becomes, the harder it can be to make clear decisions, take action, or even know for certain what we think or how we feel. Sometimes we get stuck. In Transformational Presence, we work with Three Intelligences within us: the head, belly or gut, and heart. These inner intelligences can help us find clarity and alignment within ourselves so that we can move forward.
The earliest known teachings about these Three Intelligences came from the ancient mystery schools. Today, neuroscience tells us that neurons and neurotransmitters are not only found in the brain—they are also found around the heart and deep in the belly or the gut.
Each of the Three Intelligences represents a different voice of our innate understanding. The head intelligence is where we find what we think about something. In the belly or gut, we get in touch with what we feel. And in the heart we tap into what we know from a more expanded awareness or a sense of a bigger picture.
When we work with all three instead of listening to only one, we gain access to all the parts of our awareness and perception. The result is usually greater clarity about what is really going on, what is holding us back, and how to move forward. The Three Intelligences help us access the wisdom, knowledge, and awareness available through our bodies.
When we meet a challenge or opportunity and first check in with each of the three intelligences, we might find that their messages are aligned, making us more comfortable to move forward. However, sometimes they are sending mixed messages, creating confusion and uncertainty. As you read on, you will learn how to get the intelligences talking to each other, helping you better understand yourself within what is happening, and then take your next steps with more clarity and confidence.
Working with the Three Intelligences is a practice. Most of us have not been taught to tap into our inner wisdom in this way. Some people can access all three quite easily. For others, one or two may be easy while another is more elusive. We are all wired differently. With practice, it gets easier.
Let’s begin with a brief overview of the Three Intelligences, and then we’ll walk through a simple exercise for letting each “speak” and enter into dialogue with the others.
The Head Intelligence
The head intelligence analyzes, organizes, and strategizes. Its first job is to make sure that we are safe and secure. It scans our past for context to understand what is happening now based on previous knowledge or experience. And it scans the future to find and analyze possible outcomes. Therefore, the head lives in the past or the future much more than in the present.
To do its job, the head intelligence tends to separate everything and everyone into categories for quick and easy identification and analysis. When left on its own without the input of belly and heart, the head views the world as if everything is separate from everything else. It feels the safest when everything can fit perfectly into its own box—when everything is well organized and under control. The head prefers to leave nothing to chance.
The head intelligence tends to be the most highly developed and frequently rewarded in most Western cultures. And because its first concern is our physical and material well-being and safety, our natural tendency is to go there first when we feel threatened to figure out what to do. However, as you read on, you will discover that, on its own, it lacks the bandwidth to fully experience and process all that is happening within complex situations. For most of us, there is a limit to how much information we can gather and sort through at any one time, as well as a limit to our intellectual capacity for processing complex feelings and emotions. The belly and the heart are needed to take in all that is happening on multiple layers of awareness and reality.
The Belly or Gut Intelligence
While the head dwells primarily in the past and future, the belly or gut intelligence lives fully in this present moment. And while the head may have a lot of words and elaborate stories about what it thinks is happening, the belly often has very few words.
The belly is all about gut feelings and emotions—what’s going on inside us in response to what is happening right here, right now. The belly’s response tends to be more primal, while the head’s response is usually more analytical. Sometimes the feelings and emotions in the belly are clear, supportive, or self-empowering; at other times, they’re confusing and create doubt, fear, or anxiety. The belly is always communicating with us, yet we must be in touch with it to receive its messages.
When we drop beneath our gut feelings and emotions, we can dip into our fundamental intuitive understanding about what is really going on. We find our intuitive sense about what is real and what isn’t as well as what is possible right now and what is not.
Because the belly intelligence is more primal in nature, it has the greatest power to quickly shift our perspectives and awareness throughout our whole system, giving us more clarity and understanding about how to proceed in any situation. Therefore, when my head is overloaded or I feel lost and confused, I often go to the belly first to find steady ground.
The Heart Intelligence
The heart intelligence connects us to a bigger awareness, a larger truth, and a greater wisdom. A few days ago in “The Great Breaking Open,” I wrote about the HeartMath Institute’s groundbreaking research on heart and brain intelligences. Their studies show that the electromagnetic field of the heart is 60 times greater than the electromagnetic field of the brain or the intellect (head). This means that the heart intelligence has access to a field of information 60 times greater than the field accessible by the head alone. The heart intelligence is the center of the intuitive mind.
The heart intelligence is anchored in the center of the chest, not in the heart organ. Because it has access to a far greater field of information than the field that can be accessed by the head, the heart has enormous capacity to reach out into the energy field of what is happening to gather information. It can show us a much bigger picture and often a more multi-layered understanding of what is happening in the moment.
The head organizes and separates, the belly feels, the heart connects
In summary, the head separates, analyzes, organizes, and categorizes. The belly puts us in touch with our gut feelings and emotions. The heart reaches far out into the energy field of the situation, connects the dots, and helps us understand what is happening within a bigger context.
When the Three intelligences are working well together, the belly immediately responds to the information that the heart gathers with gut feelings and emotions. At the same time, the head begins to organize and categorize that information for easy recall as needed.
Exercise: Using the Three Intelligences for Insight and Answers
Choose an issue or situation in your life that is creating unease, confusion, or resistance. Then take 10 or 15 minutes for the following exercise, using the Three Intelligences to find more awareness and clarity about what is happening.
Let the exercise help you step beyond your current perspective and attitude to invite discovery. The first three steps are about gathering information. Then the last step brings the intelligences together into dialogue with one another. It could be that the exercise affirms what you already think, feel, or know. However, open to the possibility that you could discover something more.
Step 1—Head
With your topic in mind, breathe into your head as if that’s all there is to you—as if you don’t have a body; you are only a head. You might even put your hands on your head to help you focus there. Your head probably has a story or an opinion or advice about your issue or situation. What is the story your head is telling you?
Let whatever your head tells you simply be information without judgement. At this moment, there is no need to fix anything or change your head story. Just observe what is there.
Step 2—Belly or Gut
Relax your hands and arms and take a deep breath. And then another. Place your hands on your lower abdomen below your navel and bring your focus to deep in your belly. Breathe deep into your belly. If you have trouble breathing deeply, bend over as if you are going to touch your toes. And then breathe. You will notice that your breath goes down to your pelvic region and wide across the upper part of your buttocks. Take several deep and full breaths while bent over, and then slowly return to an upright position. Continue breathing into your belly.
Breathing into your belly or gut may feel different than breathing into your head. These two intelligences have different qualities. What do you notice right away?
Your belly has its own story about your topic. It may be in alignment with your head story; it may not. What feelings and emotions come up with this topic? What is your gut feeling? The information from your belly may come more as feelings or sensations or even pictures. There may be few, if any, words. Remember the belly intelligence is more primal in nature.
Again, don’t try to fix or change your emotions. Let them be what they are, pay attention, and observe. You’re gathering information.
Step 3—Heart
Once again, take a deep breath, and then another. Place your hands on your heart energy center (right in the middle of your chest) and gently massage your chest. Allow your heart to soften and open. What does your heart tell you about your topic? What does it want you to know? Your heart may show you a bigger picture of your topic or situation; it may help you see it in a clearer light.
The story or message from your heart may be aligned with your head and belly, or it may not. Each of your Three Intelligences will help you see another part of the picture. The next step is for them to talk with one another.
Step 4—Dialogue
Having gathered information from each of the Three Intelligences, you might have received the answers or clarity you were seeking. If so, breathe that in. What is your next step?
However, you may have just stirred up more confusion! It’s ok; it just means there is more to discover.
Let’s initiate a dialogue between these intelligences and get them talking to each other. Because every person’s experience will be unique at this point, my guidance in this step will be a little looser. Hopefully I will give you enough instruction that you can experiment. The key is to let the information you’ve already gathered show you a starting place. Then as more information emerges, be curious, stay open, and keep checking in with all three intelligences so that every “voice” is heard.
For example, if your head tells you that everything is fine, but your belly tells you something is very wrong, ask your belly what it wants you to know—what it wants you to pay attention to. Ask your belly what it is afraid of. From there, you might ask your belly what it needs from your head. What does your head say in response? And then what does the belly say back to the head? Allow the dialogue to continue for several rounds if it seems that there is more to discover.
Or perhaps your head is filled with resistance and doubt, yet your belly feels calm and sure. Go to your head and ask what is underneath its story. As your belly takes that in, how does it respond to your head?
In the meantime, what’s happening in your heart? What does it say to your belly? To your head?
Instead of having to figure anything out, your job is to facilitate the dialogue between head, belly, and heart. Be curious. Explore. Continue the dialogue until clearer answers or insights emerge.
The idea is not to manipulate or try to change the messages coming from the intelligences. Instead, through curiosity, discovery, and dialogue, allow the three intelligences to listen to each other and find their way forward together.
Take your time. When it seems that the dialogue is complete for now, take another moment to reflect on what has happened. What are you discovering through the Three Intelligences? What do you sense is your next step?
Remember it’s a practice
Remember that working with the Three Intelligences is a practice. The more you practice using them to explore issues and decisions, the easier it will get.