A gentle invitation to ask with more than just your head

In last week’s post, we explored what lies beneath conflict and how curiosity might be the key to connection. This week, we ask what happens when we turn that same curiosity inward.

Who are we, really?
Not our job titles. Not our roles. Not our productivity.
Just… us.

This isn’t just a philosophical question. It’s a neurological one.

 

A Question Worth Returning To

Neuroscientists estimate that only a tiny fraction, around 0.000005%, of the data our brains are processing ever reaches our conscious awareness. That’s a staggering thought.

It means most of who we are is operating beneath the surface.

Not hidden because it’s absent, but hidden because we haven’t been taught how to listen.
This blog is an invitation to try something different — to ask the question “Who Am I?” not just with our thinking mind, but with our whole nervous system.

 

When and Why to Ask

This practice isn’t designed for the middle of a busy day.
It works best when:

  • You’re just waking up, before the mind fully kicks in
  • You’re in a deeply relaxed state, such as after meditation

In these moments, the dominant chatter of the head brain softens, allowing signals from other parts of your body to emerge with greater clarity.

 

A Practice for Deeper Self-Awareness

This gentle practice invites you to ask the same question — Who Am I? — three times, from three different centres of awareness: your head, gut, and heart. Each time you ask the question, you go deeper.

There are no right answers. You might receive a word, a phrase, an image, or a feeling. All are welcome.

 

Step 1: Head Brain (Forehead)

  • Rub your hands together to generate warmth
  • Gently place one hand on your forehead
  • Feel the warmth, and take a slow breath
  • Ask: “Who am I?”
  • Pause and notice what comes
  • Repeat twice more, receiving each deeper response with openness

 

Step 2: Gut Brain (Belly Button)

  • Warm your hands again
  • Place one hand over your belly button
  • Focus on any sensations — warmth, tension, gurgling, stillness
  • Ask calmly: “Who am I?”
  • Pause and notice what arises
  • Repeat two more times

 

Step 3: Heart Brain (Centre of Chest)

  • Rub your hands again
  • Gently rest one hand over your heart
  • Really, really focus on your heart
  • Feel your heartbeat,  slow, steady, alive
  • Wait until you feel a sense of appreciation or warmth
  • Then ask: “Who am I?”
  • Pause, and ask twice more, receiving deeper responses each time you ask.

 

Why This Works

Each of these areas, head, gut, and heart, contains its own network of neurons and distinct forms of intelligence. Science refers to this as the enteric and cardiac nervous systems, working in relationship with the brain in your head. Each holds distinct forms of intelligence, perception, and memory.

When you ask your whole self a question, not just your mind, you access a broader spectrum of insight and wisdom.

 

Not Just a Question — A Journey

You may be surprised by what emerges. You may feel nothing at all. That’s okay.

The point is not to find a final answer. It’s to gently begin a relationship with the deeper layers of you, the parts that often go unnoticed beneath roles, routines, and expectations.

Because…

We are not just what we do.
We are not just what others see.
And we are not just the voice in our head.

There’s far more to us than we’ve been taught to recognise.

 

A Gentle Suggestion

If you’re reading this during the day, perfect. Simply take in the idea for now, and be curious.

Then, next time you wake up or feel calm and grounded, try the practice. Our head brain may be clever, but it’s not the only place where truth lives.

 

And So Begins the Infinite Road Within…

This is the beginning of a deeper kind of knowing, one not tied to titles, achievements, or certainty. Just us.

A living system of memory, intelligence, instinct, and presence.

And this journey inward?

It has no final destination… But it may just reveal a self we never knew we were missing.