FEAR joy scale here
Many of us are totally unaware of the deeper fears that are driving us. The amygdala is part of the limbic system of the brain - our oldest brain. The part that kept us alive through it's survival instincts. When we were more primitive beings, this was very handy as we needed to have that fear to escape sabre toothed tigers etc!
Sadly although many of us appear very sophisticated, our primitive parts are still alive and well! And interfering with many of our behaviors each day. Daniel Goleman who wrote Emotional Intelligence talks about the 'amygdala hijack' - where the amygdala take us - in an instant - into a place of terror and sabotages many of our opportunities.
Most anger, frustration, insecurity, shyness, ego, arrogance and just about any other resistence type behavior stems from fear. Fear of not being good enough, not being lovable, being rejected, being ridiculed, not fitting in, failure, being hurt..the list is endless!
The scale above is a wonderful representation of what happens when we travel from living in a cocoon of fear....through to emerging but still focusing and looking at fear to turning around and facing joy and finally emerging from any remnants of our fear coccoon. This is the journey we hope you will travel with us!
First, work out where you are on that scale! You can't plan a journey if you don't know where you are to start with!
Join our joy tribes community and lets all help each other eradicate the fear and focus on the joy that already exists within us - we just have to look for it and AT it!
QUESTION/discussion: Tell us one thing that happened today where fear intefered with your decisions.
- wake up to YOUR LIZARD BRAIN
This is how Seth Godin refers to the amygdala! (Remember from last time, the amygdala is part of the limbic system of the brain - the oldest part of our brains - the part that kept us alive in primitive times.)
In his book Linchpin, he says it is "hungry, scared, angry and horny."! And he says it is the 'source of resistence'.
In other words, it will resist change of any kind - it will cause you to find excuses, be defensive and focus on problems and risks rather than opportunities.
It will fight with your creative genius if you remain unaware of it's presence and influence.
It will tell you 'you are too stupid' or 'not creative enough or not talented, skillful, resourceful, capable enough' to do what you want to do. It will keep you in bad relationships and workplaces because it will tell you that jobs are scarce, partners hard to find, the economy is too bad, the situation too risky - it is a genius at creating seemingly valid reasons for you to stay where you are...miserable and frightened! It can create illnesses, diseases, make you procrastinate and do all sorts of self destructive things!
I love Seth's book and how succintly he puts it - "The lizard brain is here to keep you alive; the rest of your brain merely makes you a happy, successful, connected member of society....When put on the alert, the lizard brain wins, every time, unless you establish new habits and better patterns - patterns that keep the lizard at bay."
So your first step is to listen to what you say to yourself - especially when you in any circumstance that you PERCEIVE as stressful! Your amygdala is gearing up and preparing to take over your whole being in those circumstances...and it will be filling your head with its supposedly self preservation focus. Listen to what conversations are played in your head and catch the ones based on fear. Be conscious! If you are conscious of what is going on, then you can evaluate the true nature of the fear - is it legitimate or is it the lizard taking over?
Fight your lizard. If you are not in a truly life threatening situation, there is no need to be manipulated like a puppet by fear.
Recognizing it is your VERY first step.
QUESTION/DISCUSSION: How do you fight your lizard brain's efforts to stifle your growth?
