rgz

readergirlz is a literacy and social media project for teens, awarded the National Book Foundation's Innovations in Reading Prize. The rgz blog serves as a depot for news and YA reviews from industry professionals and teens. As volunteers return full force to their own YA writing, the organization continues to hold one initiative a year to impact teen literacy. All are welcome to "like" us on Facebook!

Monday, March 9, 2009

March: Does the real you reside in your brain, heart, or gut?

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Where does the you of you reside in your body? This is a question I return to often and it came to mind reading The Adoration of Jenna Fox. When you think, "Me," do you point to your heart? Or do you think of yourself dwelling up in your brain? Other cultures might point to their gut. What about you?

Maybe this is a question about your soul, if you believe you have one. Do you?


readergirlz, rgz, Lorie Ann Grover

17 comments:

Marie said...

This is a hard question! I really, really hope that there is something like a soul.
It feels like there is one.
I think I usually refer to my "heart" when referring to my sense of self. The brain is too rational, the gut is too irrational, but the heart is where the gut/brain combine.
Hope that makes sense!

Anonymous said...

I point to my stomach. So my gut? I guess so since I trust my "gut feelings".

Justina Chen said...

Oh, the heart. Definitely the heart.

The brain governs your your thinking, your actions. The gut tells you instinctively what to do. But the heart? The heart feels what's right and wrong. The heart is love, hurt, anger, forgiveness. The heart beats, every pulsing emotion.

The heart, the heart, the heart.

Shelf Elf said...

I'm a big thinker. A lot of my self-esteem has always come from my ability to be a good thinker, to use my head. So, in a lot of ways, I feel like the real me lives in my brain. That makes me sound like a crazy-analytical, cold type of person, which is not true at all. I haven't always trusted my heart. In the past I've thought my brain held the "right answer" to any problem I've had to face. The older I get the more I've found proof that my heart can be wise too, if that makes sense. Now I'd have to say that I'm heading more in the heart direction.

Little Willow said...

My brain. That's where everything really is, technically. Though with what we've made of the heart, symbolically, I'm there, too.

Sara Latta said...

Metaphorically speaking, it would be the heart. But as one who is a scientist by training, it has to be the brain. Everything gets routed through the brain, so whether we're talking about emotion, reason, whatever, it's all the brain. The heart is an organ that pumps blood in response to directions from the brain. And I know that sounds all cold-blooded and geeky, but I really love the idea that our brain controls all of these different aspects of our beings: our emotions, soul, rational thought. So, yeah, brain.

Dia Calhoun said...

I feel like my soul hovers all around me, hugging me. So it's more like a sheath, a glove, an aura, than coming from my heart or brain.

Lorie Ann Grover said...

Such cool answers! I'm thinking maybe something close and near my collarbone. It was a total freak to get my thyroid cut out of my neck. I felt like they were very close to the home of my soul. Collarbone area? Or brain.

Erin said...

All of me. Everything is me. I don't think I could point to one thing.
But if we're talking figuratively...heart. With a little gut mixed in. (So where's my head? heh.)

Unknown said...

Hey readergirlz! You guys won something:

http://tvandbookaddict.blogspot.com/2009/03/wow-wow-wow-i-won-award-d.html

Melissa Walker said...

Oh, heart for sure! The way it soars when something great happens, and feels real pain when something inside is breaking.

Anonymous said...

I love reading all these answers.

I think my thoughts are very similar to Dia's--sort of an energy that surrounds me, like an aura. Heart, brain--it all comes together as an expression of our soul.

Silvia said...

I point at my heart. I once thought about it when I read an article about Japan. Japanese people think their sould is at their stomach and at their nose so they point either of them to refer to themselves!

Alex said...

My brain. I think of my heart as just a pump. I've build a model of it and I don't see where it can hold my soul. My brain holds my personality, my memories and all the things that make me...well me.
It makes me think of a person who is brain-dead. Even if their body functions but their brain is dead, they will be taken off of life support if thats what the person's family chooses. My heart doesn't beat faster when I'm nervous because it feels like it. IT does it because my brain is telling my heart that my body needs more blood circulated so it can get more oxygen

Molz614 said...

I feel like there is a soul, and most of me resides in there. I think my mind and who I am is in my brain though, so it's a tough call...

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.