In my last post, I talked about the three ‘centres’ – the head, the heart and the gut – and the tendency each of us has to prefer “thinking” from one of these centres over the others. I also touched on the idea that achieving real clarity in our thinking only occurs when we achieve a balance of all three of these centres.

You’ll be familiar with this clarity – though perhaps not at work.  We often experience it in moments where we are sitting in the sun, walking through a forest or on a beach, playing with our children or literally ‘smelling the roses’.

It’s thinking with absolute clarity, thinking which cuts through the fog of day-to-day clutter and sees what is in front of us with a whole new perspective.

It’s thinking that, somewhat counterintuitively, doesn’t feel like thinking at all. Sportspeople sometimes call this thinking being ‘in the zone’. Others call it ‘presence’, or ‘flow’.

In our view, this sort of thinking occurs when you are able to reconnect with the centre or centres least used. In other words, it’s ‘whole body thinking’ which balances the head (rational), heart (feelings) and gut (instinct).

There are some simple things you can do to help reconnect to your other centres and begin to create more clarity and flow, even in the hustle of your working day.

To balance the heart centre, thus connecting more with the feelings and dynamics of a situation, try placing your palm over your chest – your ‘hand over your heart’. You can do this in a meeting, a heated discussion or when weighing a heavy decision on your own.

To reconnect with your gut centre (when, for example, you feel you need your instincts to guide you) get out of your seat and go for a walk. A walk around the office will do, though getting outside is better. (Near water is better still, and best of all is sand between your toes, though this may not be practical!) A smaller scale, meeting-friendly version of this tip is simply to put both feet firmly on the floor and your hands on your knees for a short amount of time.

And to touch base with the head centre (if, for instance, you are having trouble applying rationality to a decision you have to make, or if your staff are complaining that you are being overly black-and-white in your thinking), share your ideas or thoughts on paper using a variety of coloured pens and creating pictures or diagrams rather than writing words. Another idea is to look at some random colourful photographs, in a travel book for instance. This will stimulate other parts of your brain and help you balance your thinking.

Note that in each of these cases the suggested action works both ways: whether the centre in question is being neglected or is being given too much attention. The goal here is not to drive your thinking preferences towards one centre over another, but to strike a balance between all three centres.

When you do achieve that balance, you’ll no longer be thinking with your head, heart or gut: you will be more ‘in the moment’, ‘present’, ‘in the flow’, ‘in the zone’ – and will be much more effective as a result.