For a tiny sac of neurons, it zaps an ordinary day into havoc - like lightning strikes an iron rod, long before you’re aware it hit.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the amygdala, or seen current research about its role in creating and storing emotional reactions to frightening situations. But have you checked out how to guide the amygdala to work more in your favor?
Located deep within your brain’s temporal lobes, this almond shaped mood bender, helps to shape reactions to unexpected shockers in your day. Will you shout or smile? Will you freeze in fear or risk with courage? The little neuron group pretty much decides for you. Sit through an upsetting meeting, and this tiny arousal center may well incite negative emotions i
n response. Have you seen it happen?
There’s more too. This agitated control center engages brain stem circuits that impact facial expressions and body language. It also triggers release of chemicals such as serotonin or cortisol into the blood, to trigger often unwanted emotional response. It’s even activated by nasty odors on occasion. So why does the human brain come with such a pesky part?
It’s quite straightforward. Without your amygdala, you’d have no response to screams, cries for help, shocking movies, or other horrific encounters.
Unfortunately though, it tends to toss you into turmoil without much notice. Can you see why people develop skills to tame dysfunctional thinking and modify behaviors that follow their amygdala triggers?
You’ve likely experienced how reactions impact and shape the human brain, in almost in knee-jerk responses. Unwanted panic reactions pop up when you encounter sudden or startling situations, for instance. It doesn’t need to be that way.
Your amygdala can be tweaked to transform panic reactions into calm in the face of fear, anxiety, stress, or frustration encounters. How does it happen?
Simply act deliberately in the opposite direction of any volatile, negative, or moody feelings. If feeling fearful or if you are embarrassed, for instance, try disagreeing more with the brain in mind. In this way, the very act of using a skill to disagree well, begins to rewire your brain for healthier responses in similar situations.
Simply put, you can learn to bypass your amygdala’s automatic default operations, in much the same way you choose to tap different buttons on a computer, to enter a different screen.
React in the default mode and your amygdala can heat up a situation by placing you in far too sensitive a mood, flooding your brain with cortisol chemicals, and causing you to overreact. Caught under attack you’ll respond accordingly, whether the attack is real or perceived, unless you intervene to help out your brain.
As you develop and use different strategies, and as you build emotional patterns for dealing with stressors, you begin to see their practical usefulness. Brain tactics help you to deal more calmly with life’s difficult situations, simply by doing what you’d like others to see in you.
Speaking of others - peers too can help tame an amygdala more than most people realize. In fearful situations, others can support the opposite of fearful reactions for instance. With another person’s encouragement, your amygdala’s typical fear response can suddenly fade or disappear - simply by support from a like minded individual.
Have emotional lightening strikes held you back?
on Sep 30th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
This has happened to me often, Ellen. But it’s nice to know that it doesn’t have to be that way if I make a deliberate effort to resist those automatic responses and think in other ways about the situations that trigger such negative responses in me.
Thanks for sharing those words of wisdom!
Jeanne
on Oct 1st, 2008 at 5:55 am
Thanks for stopping by Jeanne:-) The cool part about a human brain - is that it rewires each time we do any taming of that amygdala:-) Mine still needs taming fairly frequently, especially when the pressure’s on!
on Oct 1st, 2008 at 9:01 am
Just love that rewiring!
on Oct 1st, 2008 at 9:10 am
I’ve set it in motion here at the MITA Brain Based Center again today — all because I am challenged by thinkers like you Jeanne!
on Oct 3rd, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Glad to help challenge you, Ellen — just as you do me! I find our discussions quite intellectually stimulating!
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