Though our discussions are to promote emotional well-being, it is important to note that all our systems are interconnected. The brain sits in this enclosed space of our skull all day and all night. In the center of our brain is our emotional or limbic system. It is the center of all our emotional responses. The group of structures that contribute to the function of the emotional brain are the hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus each with their contributions. Scientists and researchers agree that this group of structures are responsible for our emotions, behavior, memories, memories and olfaction which is your sense of smell. Due to the brain being bombarded with sensory information every second, it sometimes takes short cuts. Our brain is believed to be filtering over 1 billions of sensory information or messages every seconds. These sensory information are coming from our five senses hearing, vision, touch, smell and taste. Each stimulus has its own meaning and association. The brain’s main function is to preserve our survival every second. It does that by trying to process and interpret all the sensations, sensory information and stimulus coming from our internal organs and the external environment. Due to the faster rate our total system and senses are sending information for the brain to interpret and make sense of what is a threat or not. Our brain is often busy and sometimes takes shortcuts and also exaggerate a lot. Have you ever tried to makes sense of something as quickly as possible by assuming and assuming wrong? For example, someone said something to you one time and you assumed the meaning and then jumped into conclusions? Sometimes your assumptions might work, but oftentimes you could get all upset or angry and later found out it was nothing. Yes, that was your emotional part of your brain kicking in. If that becomes habit, it means we are reacting to things and situation instead of responding. Certain experiences and histories can make you chronically using your emotional brain and it will get you drained and exhausted leading to potential serious problems such chronic decreased immune system, chronic fatigue syndrome, emotional addiction etc. The problem is when we are using our emotional brain often, we are using intense emotions that can cause us to reach burn out. Our brain does great at its work, but don’t take your brain seriously sometimes.
When we act or react in defense, we are often in our emotional brain.
When we are less reactive, we have more energy and easy to manage the stresses of life. When you get an external stimulus or a trigger delay your response. This gives you time to process and choose your response instead of acting on impulse to react.
Can you think of a time when you heard or something and delayed your response, and chose a calmer response?
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