Do you know that you can shut your brain off? Your brain automatically comes with 2 different modes – Protective and Learning Modes. Learning mode allows you to pay attention to what is actually happening and to logically think and deduce solutions to problems, and store that information for future use. Protective mode is an autopilot reaction that occurs when you are afraid.
Protective mode, or survival mode makes me think about what happens when your computer crashes and you restart it. A black screen asks you if you want to run your computer on a limited mode, or have it function fully with all normal processes. The big difference in humans is that your mind doesn’t ask you which option you want when you encounter something highly stressful; it makes the decision for you.
Your subconscious mind takes complete control when it thinks that you cannot handle your fears, and activates your body’s sympathetic nervous system. It accelerates your heart rate, widens bronchial passages, constricts (or in a few cases dilates) blood vessels, causes good bumps, sweating and raises blood pressure. It shuts down the communication to the higher functioning part of your brain, and redirects all of its energies toward basic self-protective mechanisms.
The way your mind knows that you can’t handle your fears are from the messages your thoughts and beliefs are broadcasting. Toxic self-talk causes unnecessarily high levels of anxious thoughts, which are basically the mind believing that there is an imminent severe threat or danger to you. The truth about most worrying is that there is absolutely no danger right then and there. We are freaking out about something that is not happening, and most likely will not ever happen.
However, you entertain visions in your head of it happening, and your body cannot tell the difference between images that are currently being viewed through your eyeballs, or images from memories of the past, or even images created by your imagination of something that never existed. These images transmit threatening messages to the subconscious brain and it puts your body on high alert.
The only way of regaining control is to put yourself back into Learning Mode so you can think logically and feel accordingly. You can use repeated slow breathing, as in our RESET method, as well as visualizing a safe, happy place to accomplish this. You will then be able to restore your logic and emotions to their normal state so they can work with each other instead of being pitted against each other. Your body will react to whatever you feed it through your thoughts.
Toxic thoughts don’t have to be about traumatic event events we fear. We can fear a lot of things, and not even realize it. I spent years being afraid of experiencing emotions, so I repressed them. I remembered the pain of some of my most agonizing emotions while in the depths of my depression, and told myself they would kill me. It’s not any wonder that my body acted as though my mortal enemy had just appeared when these things triggered me.
Any time I felt threatened that I might experience strong emotions, especially sad ones, I would panic. This would include watching Hallmark Channel or inspirational Christian movies (where bad things happen to good people and then overcome them), or listening to country music (focused on lost loves, or people experiencing the love I figured I would never experience, or men talking about how they wanted beautiful women and glorified their bedonkadonks which fortified my belief that no man would ever want me because I wasn’t beautiful).
So every time I felt threatened by a movie or song (I know it sounds stupid, but it didn’t feel very stupid while experiencing it), my fear would make me want to run away from the painful emotions I knew these things would evoke in me. All that mattered was not feeling pain, and my body would help me avoid or numb them. Of course, this never helped me deal with the underlying issues – it only got rid of the temporary feelings of stress, not the source. Unfortunately, the world is full of triggers for us, so unless we want to go through life like unthinking automatons, we will have to stop feeding ourselves thoughts that shut down our brains.
RESET ASSIGNMENT:
- What specific people, places, things and events turn your brain off? Make a specific list.
- Now add to the list why those things make you afraid.