How to take control of the situation

Continuing from the last blog post about fear -An American-Portuguese Neuroscientist named Antonio Damasio found out that our bodies react to fear and stress before our minds do, the empirical study was carried out in 1997. Having said that it is critical to pay attention to our body awareness, and read the signals in our body in order to take control. The secret to mind control is to realise the manifestation of fear in our bodies.

⁃ Biologically, our bodies react by releasing a stress hormone (cortisol). Dr Jill Bolte, a neuroanatomist in her book; My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Sceintist’s Personal Journey (Jill Bolte Taylor).

⁃ she states that

⁃ “When a person has a reaction to something in their environment, there’s a 90 second chemical process that happens in the body; after that, any remaining emotional response is just the person choosing to stay in that emotional loop”.

⁃ Something happens in the external world and chemicals are flushed through your body which puts it on full alert. For those chemicals to totally flush out of the body it takes less than 90 seconds.

⁃ This means that for 90 seconds you can watch the process happening, you can feel it happening, and then you can watch it go away.

⁃ After that, if you continue to feel fear, anger, and so on, you need to look at the thoughts that you’re thinking that are re-stimulating the circuitry that is resulting in you having this physiological response over and over again.”

⁃

⁃ I myself I know I’m in fear when my hair stands on it’s end, at times shortening of breath and losing balance when standing. Different people react to fear differently it has been reported that some experience tightening of chest, tightening of throat, rush on your throat, excessive sebum (white staff which comes out of the pores everytime you squeeze your nose or chin, gross right?…unfounded I just made that up).

⁃ Within the 90 second window learn how to calm yourself down. Here is what to do to address the moment of fear 1) simply breath slowly and count to 90 2) breath slowly and get up and walk around. 3) hug someone you know for 90 secs