Musings | Understanding Your Amygdala
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another”
Choosing what to set our minds on is sometimes easy, but other times it can feel like a wrestling match with a bear. I have never wrestled a bear, but I have wrestled with unhelpful thoughts, I imagine there are similarities: Unforgiving, sudden, and impossible to get out of. The challenge with our thoughts is that our brains cannot tell the difference between the actual reality of where we are and what we are doing and the reality that we create in our minds. If we think about fear, our body senses fear, and we generate a fear response. If we think about being in danger, our body believes we are at risk, and our body responds as it would to a real threat. The flip side is also true; if we think about pleasant situations, our body believes we are safe and responds as it would to safety. Sounds simple enough, but as many of you already know, simple is not synonymous with easy.
Why so tough?
Our emotional responses are rooted in our Amygdala – a tiny almond-shaped structure situated deep inside the brain’s emotional part (the limbic system). When we were cave dwellers, we depended on this primitive part of our brain for survival (i.e., our ability to detect danger, run away from predators, and protect our food supply). However, life does not work that way anymore; generally, our primary food and safety needs are met, and we are not under threat. While we still need this automatic response system when we are genuinely in danger, we now require a “rational” or “higher” brain that enables us to pause, think, and be deliberate about responding to situations and thoughts. We have evolved to have two response systems, our immediate fight or flight response system controlled unconsciously by our Amygdala and our higher “rational” brain. The challenge for us is that our “rational” brain takes much longer to engage than our Amygdala. Therefore, when unrealistic or threatening thoughts trigger our Amygdala, we depend on our “rational” brain to signal that we are safe. Sometimes our circuitry in this area goes a bit wild, and we end up feeling anxious - but by bringing awareness to our thoughts and our responses to them, we can adapt and adjust. Check out the Amygdala facts below to learn more (adapted from Anxiety & The Amygdala)
Understanding that our “rational” brain can trick our Amygdala into believing we are in danger when we are not is essential because the thoughts that trigger our Amygdala result in feelings of anxiety and the fight or flight response. The good news is that we can train our “rational” brain to help us control unhelpful thoughts, calm our Amygdala, and negate anxiety. If we become aware of our thoughts and their impact, we can alter how we process ideas that are not helpful and change our response. The key to this is not stopping thoughts; the key is to acknowledge thoughts that are not helpful and let them go so our brains believe we are safe. Simple in concept. Challenging in practice but 100% possible. We don’t have enough room to unpack the brain’s retraining in this post but check out the resources below for more information or reach out to a mental health professional for assistance.