That GUT FEELING is no mere figure of speech!

​The gut actually has its own self-contained nervous system, known as the enteric nervous system. It can operate in the complete absence of input from the brain or even the spinal cord. It is vast, with more than one-hundred million nerve cells in the small intestine alone. Add to that the nerve cells of the esophagus, stomach, and large intestine…the result is that the gut contains more nerve cells than does the spinal cord.

Making it effectively your "second brain."

Within this "second brain" is a vast chemical factory. It produces every type of neurotransmitter that can be found in the brain. Neurotransmitters are like the "words" that nerve cells use to communicate.

The stream of messages in the gut is so continuous, in fact, that scientists have even come up with a name for it—the brain-gut axis.

So the term "gut feeling" is no mere figure of speech. Those feelings that bother you as a trader, but that you just can't put your finger on, are well worth your time to decipher—and embrace.

Other everyday terms about the body are also much more than metaphors. Consider the following:

"My heart is full."

"That's a heart-warming story."

"What he did was cold-hearted."

"My heart's just not in it."

"In my heart, I know it's true."

Not only can the brain communicate instantaneously with the heart via receptors in the heart for neuropeptides (the brain's words), but the heart's atrium area produces a hormone that affects several parts of the brain as well as the pituitary and pineal glands.

What's more, remarkably, the heart registers by far the strongest electrical and magnetic activity of any organ in the body, including the brain. Indeed, the heart's projected energy can continue to fill a room long after the people occupying it have left.

You need to be in touch with your feelings, and that is exactly why you should record the feelings that go with winning trades.Another item that will help you get in touch with who you are is the Life Index for Traders. It comes with the Equity Evaluator. When I began using LIFT and the Equity Evaluator, I took a giant step forward as a trader.