You Are Not Your Brain

Phillip Harrington | Aug 2025

TL;DR: You are you. Your brain is just another organ, like your stomach. Let it do its job.

Let me suggest something: You are not your brain.

Your brain is like your stomach

Your brain, the organ that thinks, remembers, and solves problems, is just that: an organ. Like your stomach.

You’re not your stomach, obviously. It does its job, more or less, without you having to do it. I know stomachs don’t always “just work” for everyone, but stay with me. Your stomach just "stomachs". Your brain "brains".

You live in your brain, not as your brain

It’s easy to get confused because you experience the world from inside your brain. But you also live in your heart, your gut, and your body as a whole. Most of your feelings come from your body. You inhabit the whole thing. You're just hanging out in your brain like it’s the control room.

Who you actually are

I like to think you is hard to pin down. Maybe it’s your soul, your essence, your being, your anima - or the part of you that sticks into the physical plane while most of you stays somewhere else. There are lots of names for it. Whatever you call it, do you see what I mean? That’s what I think is “you.”

Upshot: You don’t have to do all the thinking! Your brain will just do its job without you having to worry about it. It has done this your whole life.

When ideas sneak up on you

Your brain is always talking. Sometimes helpfully, sometimes it's scary, sometimes it's just... background noise. But more often than not, it’s working quietly behind the scenes, figuring things out whether you asked it to or not.

People say things like this all the time: 'I took a walk and had a great idea!' Or, 'I was in the shower when the solution came to me.' Or, 'It came to me when I was touching grass! Wow, man...'. Sometimes it even happens after a nap. You wake up, and Shazam! ⚡️ There it is.

How to boss your brain around

Remember when I said “whether you asked it to or not”? Well, you can intentionally ask your brain to work on something. Just tell it what you need. That problem you’ve been stuck on? That idea you’ve been waiting for? Assign it to your brain.

Step one: Say to yourself, “Brain, I need you to figure this out for me. Thanks in advance.”
Step two: Wait. Hand it off and go do something else. Your brain will circle back when it’s ready.

When your brain needs a cast

Deciding that you and your brain are separate can be especially powerful when your brain doesn’t "brain right", which is true for many people, myself included.

There’s a lot of outdated stigma here. People assume if their brain isn’t working right, they’re not working right. But if you decide you're not your brain, then it's just another thing that needs managing.

I've often heard, "If you fell out of a tree and broke your arm, you'd get a cast." You wouldn't think that you were broken on some fundamental level. If it’s your brain that’s struggling (not 'you') then it’s no different. You'd get a cast. That is, you'd get help, take care of it, and manage.

Try it out

That's the idea. Next time you’re struggling with something, tell your brain to go work on it. You can even say it out loud if you want. “Brain, I need you to figure this out for me.”

The first time I really tried this, it was because I noticed how often ideas would sneak up on me. I figured: what if I stop trying to consciously think of things myself? What if I just treat my brain like an organ that knows what it’s doing? So I let go of the reins.

I gave it something to work on, then went about my day. And sure enough, it worked! The idea showed up! It wasn’t always immediate. Sometimes it took hours. Or a couple of days. But every time I handed something off to my brain, it eventually came back with something useful.

Try it. You might be surprised at what happens next.