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Reader question: Please explain “gut reaction” in this sentence: “My gut reaction was that I shouldn’t trust this man with anything.” My comments: In other words, the speaker was following his gut – speaking from the heart instead of the head. The heart represents one’s feelings and emotions. The head represents reason and rationalization. In our case the speaker was speaking out of his gut feeling (which is the more popular expression). Gut feeling? Yes, the gut, or stomach has feelings as Western scientists have increasingly found out. The Orientals have always known this, from the gut, of course, i.e. instinct and intuition. When we lose someone dear, for example, we feel the pain deep inside, in the stomach and the bowels. And as medical doctors now confirm, people who suffer from depression often also have chronic stomach ailments, and vice versa. Back to our example, perhaps the speaker took a look at the man and disliked him immediately – call it hate at the first sight. It happens. There must be something in this man’s appearance or mannerism that prompted immediate distrust from the speaker. The response, also called gut response, was so quick and spontaneous that there is no way he could say that it came from the head. In other words, it must not have come after careful thought. And basically that’s it. Our gut reaction is something out of our rational control. And often than not, it’s reliable. After all, it’s an inner mechanism that’s developed over the whole course of evolution. | 
