I find it fascinating how complex our brains are. On one hand, they have kept us save, which we means we have been able to continue to change and grow. On the other hand, in achieving this safety, our brains actually hinder our ability to become our best selves. The reason this happens is that there are different parts of our brains, and they are responsible for different things. To keep things as uncomplicated as possible, I am going to say there are two parts to our brain that are involved in living our every day lives - the primitive brain and the thinking brain.
The primitive brain is what it says, it is a much older part of our brains that are responsible for keeping us safe from danger. It is a surveillance system that is always on the lookout for danger. Once is finds something that is perceived as danger, it activates the fight, flight, or freeze system to help us get out of danger. It is a byproduct of earlier times in our development when we had to stay safe from marauders, lions, tigers, and bears. This is a largely unconscious system that operates on autopilot. We don't have to think about it, it just does it's job.
The problem is, we live in a very different kind of world than we did even a few hundred years ago. We probably don't need that surveillance system to be quite so active and aggressive. It would be useful if it was a little more effective at discriminating between an actual threat and a perceived threat. But our primitive brains don't do this. The problem with this is to the brain, all "threats" are potentially life threatening. Therefore, it triggers a response that is automatic, for our protection. It is an "act first think later" response. One of the problems with the "think later" component, the brain's ability to access the higher, cognitive "thinking brain" is impaired once that automatic stress response gets triggered by the primitive brain. The chemicals released into our brain and bloodstream are conducive to taking immediate decisive action, not pondering and debating whether action is needed or how much action is needed. Like I said, this part of the brain functions largely without input from the rest of our brain.
This isn't to say that we can't access the higher thinking brain, but it is more difficult to do so. This is because of those chemicals that are released, and the effect they have on our whole body. The brain allows time for thinking later, after the danger is over. But what happens if the danger is from anxiety, or the death of a loved one, or a fight with your significant other? These, and many other circumstances, will trigger just as much of a stress response as seeing a tiger. Once we feel this response, we try to fight, flight, or flee. Because the response is common to whatever the stressor, or perceived threat is, it is something that is readily recognizable. This means that IF we are paying attention, when we feel that stress response become active, we can actually train ourselves to stop and analyze those feelings and the circumstance that triggered it. The vast majority of the time, it is a perceived threat, and no immediate life saving action is needed.
Once we recognize this constellation of symptoms and feelings, we have an opportunity to override those things and consciously activate the higher, thinking brain. Now we can begin analyzing the occurrence by asking questions. What caused this? Is there any immediate danger? Do I need to take any immediate reaction? Once the higher brain determines there is not an imminent, life threatening danger, then it can go to the next phase of analyzing. Now we can ask questions like why did I react so strongly? Why did my brain perceive this as a threat? A very useful and important question is, how am I feeling right now? This is critical in deescalating the stress response. We all need to learn how to process how we are feeling. Too many of us don't know how to deal with the negative emotions that are coupled with a stress response, or just negative emotions in general. What we do know is that negative emotions are painful. Therefore, we suppress, ignore, and bury those emotions, when what we need to do is just experience those emotions. We don't need to wallow in those emotions, but just acknowledge they are present, and then be done with them. When we are aware of our thoughts, and thus our emotions, we can decide to choose to stay stuck in negativity, or to change our thoughts to something that leads us to show up as who we want to be, as a better version of ourselves.
We can train our brains to recognize when the primitive brain is in control and then consciously choose to have our higher brain take charge. There are not many things we can control in this life, but our thoughts are surely one of those things!
The primitive brain is what it says, it is a much older part of our brains that are responsible for keeping us safe from danger. It is a surveillance system that is always on the lookout for danger. Once is finds something that is perceived as danger, it activates the fight, flight, or freeze system to help us get out of danger. It is a byproduct of earlier times in our development when we had to stay safe from marauders, lions, tigers, and bears. This is a largely unconscious system that operates on autopilot. We don't have to think about it, it just does it's job.
The problem is, we live in a very different kind of world than we did even a few hundred years ago. We probably don't need that surveillance system to be quite so active and aggressive. It would be useful if it was a little more effective at discriminating between an actual threat and a perceived threat. But our primitive brains don't do this. The problem with this is to the brain, all "threats" are potentially life threatening. Therefore, it triggers a response that is automatic, for our protection. It is an "act first think later" response. One of the problems with the "think later" component, the brain's ability to access the higher, cognitive "thinking brain" is impaired once that automatic stress response gets triggered by the primitive brain. The chemicals released into our brain and bloodstream are conducive to taking immediate decisive action, not pondering and debating whether action is needed or how much action is needed. Like I said, this part of the brain functions largely without input from the rest of our brain.
This isn't to say that we can't access the higher thinking brain, but it is more difficult to do so. This is because of those chemicals that are released, and the effect they have on our whole body. The brain allows time for thinking later, after the danger is over. But what happens if the danger is from anxiety, or the death of a loved one, or a fight with your significant other? These, and many other circumstances, will trigger just as much of a stress response as seeing a tiger. Once we feel this response, we try to fight, flight, or flee. Because the response is common to whatever the stressor, or perceived threat is, it is something that is readily recognizable. This means that IF we are paying attention, when we feel that stress response become active, we can actually train ourselves to stop and analyze those feelings and the circumstance that triggered it. The vast majority of the time, it is a perceived threat, and no immediate life saving action is needed.
Once we recognize this constellation of symptoms and feelings, we have an opportunity to override those things and consciously activate the higher, thinking brain. Now we can begin analyzing the occurrence by asking questions. What caused this? Is there any immediate danger? Do I need to take any immediate reaction? Once the higher brain determines there is not an imminent, life threatening danger, then it can go to the next phase of analyzing. Now we can ask questions like why did I react so strongly? Why did my brain perceive this as a threat? A very useful and important question is, how am I feeling right now? This is critical in deescalating the stress response. We all need to learn how to process how we are feeling. Too many of us don't know how to deal with the negative emotions that are coupled with a stress response, or just negative emotions in general. What we do know is that negative emotions are painful. Therefore, we suppress, ignore, and bury those emotions, when what we need to do is just experience those emotions. We don't need to wallow in those emotions, but just acknowledge they are present, and then be done with them. When we are aware of our thoughts, and thus our emotions, we can decide to choose to stay stuck in negativity, or to change our thoughts to something that leads us to show up as who we want to be, as a better version of ourselves.
We can train our brains to recognize when the primitive brain is in control and then consciously choose to have our higher brain take charge. There are not many things we can control in this life, but our thoughts are surely one of those things!
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