RECLAIM (WEEK 3)
DAY 20: SELF REFLECTION
On Day 20 of your workbook took a look at your mindset to see if you lean towards thinking of yourself as a victim or a survivor?
DAY 20 MICRO-SCIENCE
Amygdala
I want to say that the amygdala is the villain of the brain, but in reality it’s probably the hero. The main focus of the amygdala is to keep you alive and that’s a pretty cool thing. However, in trying to do just that it can make your life a living hell. The trick with the amygdala is to not let it rule your world but to see it for what it is, a smoke detector. When the little bugger goes off, remember to peek around the corner and see if there are really any fires. The amygdala runs off the motto “it’s better safe than sorry,” so if your smoke detector of your life is always going off even after a bit of burnt popcorn smell in the air, that’s a problem. Obviously, when your alarm goes off it’s important to look at the evidence to see if the problem is real. Oftentimes, however, our internal smoke detectors are going off to false alarms and we should take care not to let these mistaken beliefs consume our internal lives.
- FACT: Two thirds of the neurons in the amygdala (emotion center) of your brain are primed to see negative stimuli
- TAKEAWAY: If there is a snake or a berry bush in front of you, evolution wants you to pay attention to the snake first. This is bad news for all of us in the modern world as the brain tends to always see the worst case scenario first. Optimism is not the amygdala’s forte.
DAY 20 MEDITATION
Poor Man’s EMDR
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It is found to be very helpful if you have any unfinished business from your past that needs to be taken care of. The basic concept is that when you activated both sides of your body, whether through eye movements, running, or tactile stimulation both sides of your brain are activated as well. This is good news for you worry warts out there because when this happens the right side of your brain (emotional center) gets a chance to talk to the left side of your brain (rational center). Then your worrying tends to disappear. This would be analogous of a very worked up friend (right brain) getting a chance to get a second opinion from a calmer more logical friend (left brain). The reason activating both sides of your body simultaneously gets your brain going is because when the right side of your body is activated the left brain lights up and when the left side of your body is activated the right side of your brain lights up. This is called cross communication from the body to the brain.
- FACT: EMDR therapy is the most recommended trauma therapy today, dramatically reducing the emotional content of an incident, so you still remember the trauma but it just doesn’t feel as heavy
- TAKEAWAY: The brain has a tremendous ability to heal itself, EMDR gives you the tools to be your own therapist by activating the calmer version of yourself.
DAY 20 MEDITATION
For today’s meditation its gonna be pretty simple. Just find a ball or any object for that matter and toss it back and forth from one hand to another for three minutes, set the timer. This simple exercise may be the best thing you do for your mental health all day.
DAY 20 MOVEMENT
Talking to the Emotional Brain
I use to love and hate donuts. Mainly, I loved them before I ate them. Then my stomach and mind hated them after the huge hit of sugar crushed me. So I decided to talk myself out of eating them, but whatever I tried didn’t work. My rational mind just couldn’t beat out the emotional mind that said… eat them… eat them now! So I tried a little trick, which is actually kind of disgusting, but it worked. I decided I was talking to the wrong part of my brain, I knew rationally that I would regret my decision but my emotional mind wasn’t convinced. So I tried talking to my emotional brain instead of my rational brain.
To do that, I bought a donut from the store and then went into a public restroom and wiped the edge of the donut on the toilet seat,,,over and over again. I then put the donut down on a plate in front of me and stared at it. I immediately felt disgusted and disturbed, I can still feel it now as I write about it. My throat closed up and I felt nauseous, but guess what it worked and I haven’t had a donut in over three years. I see one now and it automatically invokes the disgust response in my emotional mind.. Hooray for nausea… that’s all it took for “self-control” to kick in!!!
I tell you this story, because today’s topic is dealing with trauma. No donut consumption doesn’t have anything to do with trauma, but talking to the right part of the brain has everything to do with trauma. People who have gone through a traumatic experience are prone to think almost entirely with their emotional brain in order to protect themselves from future harm. This makes sense, but when someone tells them “rationally” that they have nothing to be afraid of, that line of reasoning is going to be ineffective. Make sure you’re talking to the correct part of the brain. If a person has been traumatized, working on calming their emotional brain down first, by providing a safe environment for them to talk, and making sure you’re being non-judgmental is paramount. If you come in “guns blazing” with all your rational thinking, their emotional brain will just tune you out faster.
- FACT: The limbic system (emotional center of brain) was formed millions of years before your neocortex (thinking center) and therefore is the louder of the two voices in your brain.
- TAKEAWAY: Emotions are stronger than rationality, but logical thought can win out in the long run if you practice with perseverance.
DAY 20 MOVEMENT
For today’s action task take a food that you want to stop eating but are having a hard time controlling yourself around. Maybe pick your third favorite food that is really quite bad for your but your willing to give up, pick pop-tarts but not ice cream. We don’t want to ruin ice cream for you. Once you find that third favorite crappy food, spit on it or rub it on the toilet (players choice) and then look at it for a bit and see if this works to kill your cravings.