How we get hooked in – by Yours Truly (who is not a scientist, not even close):
Note: This excerpt is a continuation of my last post: “Fear Fall: It’s a Mind Field Out There.”
This piece sheds light on what happens bio-chemically when our fight or flight buttons get activated, and suggests why we might want to be mindful not to “go there” – not fall into the rabbit hole of fear and panic – to the degree that we are able.
And aware.
The Neural Link
“So what exactly was that explosion that I felt in my gut? Why did it feel so visceral? How could it be so incapacitating? Why did it affect me for so very long after the event had already passed?
Inspired by the work of Dr. Candace Pert, author of Molecules of Emotion, here’s how I might explain what’s going on, as best as I understand it. If you were to take the human body while it processes the bio-chemical surges of a panic attack [for example] and look at it dispassionately through a microscope, the chain reaction might look something like this:
A growing wave of fear triggers a series of electrical impulses in the brain, which in turn sends out signals to different centers in the body to produce amino acids associated with a particular emotion—in this case, dread and panic. Once fired, the stress chemicals flood the body, seeking out their corresponding receptor sites—which I imagine as little wide-mouth Pac Man figures designed to feast on these chemical goodies.
The cells of the body, sensing the avalanche of amino acids, continue to “receive” them as long as they are being produced. And because of this bumper crop of Pac Mans specializing in dread and panic, this human has increased her chances of attracting a similar chain reaction the next time the school calls, or the evening news features a story about a missing child, or a black pick-up truck with darkened windows passes by on the street.
A pre-existing groove of reactivity has just grown even deeper.
The cascading reaction is how our bodies become hard-wired and addicted to all kinds of emotional weather patterns. Because of our constant identification with certain thoughts and beliefs, our bodies develop certain chemical predilections. The brain, unable to find an appropriate response to a given external stimuli, instead goes into an involuntary reaction every time there is a trigger.
There is a saying that states that neurons that fire together wire together. Even the slightest fear thought or memory, sound, or taste, can trigger the chain of events, which sets up the neural link. And once those chemicals are fired in the system it’s already too late. Until we break the cycle through self-awareness, self-restraint, and feeling without personalizing, we will forever fall victim to our emotions. This is where reminding ourselves to repeat, “It’s not mine” or “Don’t go there”—a little bit every day—is a good start which can pay huge dividends over time.
–Excerpted from Your Spacious Self: Clear Your Clutter and Discover Who You Are, by Stephanie Bennett Vogt; Chapter 2: “Clutter as Perception”
Photo: Google Images
