Why we act like children when we get hurt

Posted on September 1, 2010 by admin

Have you ever noticed that when you feel threatened, you feel like a helpless, vulnerable child? It’s because of what’s happening in your brain.

Paul Hegstrom, Ph.D., author of Broken Children, Grown-Up Pain, explains it this way:

“A child who is under the age of puberty is lacking the chemicals in the brain to see the whole picture and make decisions. So the wounds that happen in childhood, a time during which the child does not have the capacity to understand, trigger the thalamus at the point of the wound to make its own decision to keep the child from being hurt again. A decision based on the thalamus is not based on the whole picture of the event that just happened, it is based on the adrenaline of the events and the relationship of the current event to previous events and trauma stored in the brain. Once a child is traumatized, the child will be more vulnerable to perceiving future events as trauma. …

“Every experience, every bit of input, including things that we are not even aware of, are all being interpreted by the thalamus as the input goes into the brain. If we were mature and could resolve our issues, we could, by our choice, receive the good, delete the bad, and choose the things that we want to think upon.

“However, in the wounded child’s brain, the thalamus makes the decisions.” Broken Children, Grown-Up Pain by Paul Hegstrom, Ph.D., page 16.

A brief examination of two stress hormones is in order here. Adrenaline, which Dr. Hegstrom refers to, works in the short term; it’s necessary for survival in crisis situations where a fight-or-flight response is required. Cortisol, on the other hand, works in the long term, increasing blood pressure and blood sugar and reducing immune response.

For the traumatized child, life becomes a long, drawn-out crisis. In a psychological phenomenon called hypervigilance, the traumatized child spends most of her time on the lookout for trouble, and as a result, will easily be triggered into fear, anxiety, and depression. Fear increases the level of cortisol, causing chronic tension and anxiety; it can become a frightening, out-of-control vicious cycle.

And it can continue into adulthood, unless we learn to recognize what’s happening in our brains and to take control of our thoughts.

For more information, see http://helpineedahug.com.

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A cross that literally holds us together

Posted on August 30, 2010 by admin

I heard about something called laminin, a protein that humans and all animals have. Having a background in biology, I found it intriguing.

According to Wikipedia, “Laminin is vital to making sure that your overall body structures hold together. If laminin isn’t produced correctly, your muscles may form improperly, giving you a form of muscular dystrophy. Or you may just fall apart in a way similar to aging, a condition called ‘progeria’.”

Wikipedia describes it as having four arms, but if you look at a picture of it, you see it looks like a cross. Colossians 1:17 says, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (New American Standard Bible.)

Laminin: a cross that literally holds us together so we don’t fall apart. Whether you believe in evolution or intelligent design, I’m just saying, that’s pretty amazing.

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The “reptilian brain” and you

Posted on August 25, 2010 by admin

This may or may not be a surprise to you: all humans have a reptilian brain.

Now, this sometimes causes (although it shouldn’t) a negative reaction in people with a certain worldview. While those in the “evolutionist” camp readily accept that humans evolved from lower animals, and that over “millions” of years our brains developed higher and higher functions, such as emotion, reasoning, and speech, those in the “creationist” camp have a problem with this thinking.

And understandably so. I don’t think humans “evolved” from lower creatures either. Yet there’s no real conflict, only a perceived one. You see, whether you think in terms of a random process or an intelligent Designer, the fact is, nature is efficient. So as you go up the “ladder” from lower to higher animals, additional structures are added onto our brains to give us more and higher functions.

The reptilian brain, also called the brainstem or autonomic brain, controls basic functions such as respiration, circulation, digestion, and the fight or flight mechanism. Its job is concerned with fundamental needs for the survival of the individual and of the species; it’s at the base of our skull, emerging from our spinal column.

Of course, certain animals have highly developed areas that are family-specific, such as canines having a strong sense of smell, birds of prey having famously good eyesight (but little sense of smell), and so on. But take a look at these examples of animals and what parts of the brain they have:

  • Jellyfish: no brainstem
  • Reptiles: brainstem (reptilian brain) only
  • Birds: brainstem and limbic system (emotional brain)
  • Mammals: brainstem, limbic system, and cerebral cortex (controls thought and consciousness)
  • Humans: brainstem, limbic system, cerebral cortex, and prefrontal cortex (orchestrates actions with long-terms goals)

We need the reptilian brain (which contains the reticular activating system that we’ve talked about before) because it makes instantaneous decisions for us and “frees up” our brains for more complex functions.

See? Nature is very efficient.

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Try this: stop asking why

Posted on August 23, 2010 by admin

Have you ever noticed how the same things keep happening to some people (maybe you)? Here’s why: it’s because they’re resisting whatever they’re supposed to learn from the experience.

Do you ever say any of these?

“Why me?”

“Why does this kind of thing keep happening?”

“I just can’t get a break.”

“It’s just one thing after another.”

“If only…(things were different somehow).”

Do you ever feel like, as soon as you get some money set aside, the car breaks down, or the roof springs a leak, or the washing machine dies, or your kid takes a trip to the emergency room?

Want to know why? It’s because you keep asking the question.

This is key: you don’t need to know why a thing happens. The universe has a plan and doesn’t need to check with you before carrying it out. If you keep resisting what God and the universe have in mind for you, it’s going to keep happening over and over again. It’s pretty much guaranteed.

Give this a sincere try: stop asking why.

Excerpted from Help! I Need a Hug by Lisa J. Lehr. www.helpineedahug.com.

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Encourage greatness in others

Posted on August 18, 2010 by admin

When we look at people who’ve accomplished great things, it’s natural to think of them as some kind of divinely gifted, super-human, special people. And perhaps they are.

But great people were ordinary people first. Before they accomplished their great thing, whatever it was, they mostly led ordinary lives surrounded by other ordinary people. Even if they became a standout early in life, there was a point in time before that. Some people, of course, manifest their greatness later in life.

The provocative thing about all this is that…we don’t know who among us may some day be great. Wouldn’t it be, well, great if someone you know, someone you talk to, someone you see in your regular life ended up being a person of great accomplishment?

Statistically, it’s entirely possible, if not overwhelmingly probable. But here’s the trick: you don’t know that person is. If you did know, wouldn’t you be proud to say, one day in the future, that you helped that person, that you contributed to his or her greatness?

So here’s something to think about: encourage greatness in everyone you meet. Be an encourager. Be a supporter. Be a positive force. Believe in other people’s dreams. Share their visions. Get excited along with them. Maybe they will become great, and maybe they won’t, but in any case they’ll be better than they would otherwise be.

And if they do become great? Someday, you can say you helped them get there.

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Words of wisdom from The Success Principles by Jack Canfield

Posted on August 17, 2010 by admin

“You can lose the material things, but you can never lose your mastery—what you learn and who you become in the process of achieving your goals.

“I believe that part of what we’re on Earth to do is become masters of many skills. Christ was a master who turned water into wine, who healed people, who walked on water, and who calmed storms. He said that you and I, too, could do all these things and more. We definitely have that potential.

“Even today, in a town square in Germany, stands a statue of Christ, its hands blown off during the intensive bombing of World War II. Though the townspeople could have restored the statue decades ago, they learned this more important lesson, instead placing a plaque underneath that reads “Christ hath no hands but yours.” God needs our hands to complete His tasks on Earth. But to become masters and do this great work, we all have to be willing to go through the considerations, fears, and roadblocks.”

–The Success Principles—How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, by Jack Canfield, page 60.

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Try this “brain trick”

Posted on August 11, 2010 by admin

So you know what you want and you’re telling your subconscious mind how to get it. Here’s how to take that a step further:

Ask your brain how you got it!

Like this:

“How did I get three new clients this week?”

“How did I surpass last month’s sales goals by $5000?”

“How did I lose that weight so fast?”

“How did I repair that relationship so well?”

“How did I get over that emotional low spot so quickly?”

What happens next is that your brain tries to supply an answer, and by doing so, it directs your actions to bring you what you want.

Try it! Then let us know if it worked.

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The Reticular Activating System and the Law of Attraction, part 3

Posted on August 4, 2010 by admin

So you know what you want. How do you make the RAS help you get it?

Once you’ve recognized what you want, be sure you’re expressing it in terms of what you want—not what you DON’T want.

Examples:

Don’t say, “I want to lose 50 pounds,” because that focuses on the weight that you have and don’t want. Say, “I want to weigh 120 pounds.”

Don’t say, “I want to get rid of this debt,” or similarly, “I don’t want to be poor anymore.” You know why—because it focuses on what you don’t want. Say, “I want to be totally free of financial worry and have more than I need to live comfortably.”

Don’t say, “I don’t want to be lonely anymore.” Say, “I want to have strong relationships and meet someone really special to share my life with.”

Next, surround yourself with images that reinforce your intentions. Buy yourself some clothes in the size you want to be. Carry cash and keep jars of coins around your home. Post pictures of smiling people surrounded by loved ones.

Some people create a vision board or a vision binder to collect images of what they want to attract into their lives.

Finally, turn all those “I wants” into present-tense statements. “I weigh 120 pounds.” “I’m financially secure.” “I have a wonderful guy/gal in my life.” Keep a diary, write a (pretend) letter to a friend, or act out phone calls in which you reinforce your desired reality.

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The reticular activating system and the Law of Attraction, part 2

Posted on July 29, 2010 by admin

The RAS works for us by alerting us to two categories of information: good and bad.

“Bad” information would include warnings of things that may harm us, while “good” information includes things we want to pay attention to.

Regardless of your worldview, evolution or Creationism, the RAS’s function makes perfect sense:

  • You can think of it in terms of humans having evolved from simpler creatures yet still retaining that “reptilian brain” within our larger, more complex brains; or
  • You can think of our brains as the brilliant design of an intelligent Creator Who knew we would need that “reptilian brain” among our more complex skills in order to survive as individuals and as a species.

In either case, humans have spent many millennia living much as animals do, with day-to-day survival our top priority. Predators, enemies, accidents and natural disasters (and no 911), poison plants and spoiled food, and many other dangers threatened our wellbeing. Although we face less daily danger in our modern world (and have more ways to deal with it), we still have situations that we need to respond to instantaneously in order to stay out of harm’s way.

We also benefit from the RAS’s ability to notice those things that we want without our having to pay constant, conscious attention to our surroundings.

How do we make the RAS work for us? It’s easy…but that’s not to say it’s simple! We just reprogram it to search for exactly what we want. How?

  • Be clear about your goals. What do you want—specifically?
  • Become emotionally attached to what you want. It’s a fact of our humanity that emotions are more powerful than rational thoughts. (It’s also the principle on which marketing works.)
  • Send this information to your brain with consistent and persistent action. The RAS searches your world to bring you the information relevant to your desires.

Next time we’ll talk more specifically about the how. And in a future post we’ll look at how the RAS’s vigilance can cause us problems by making us fear things that aren’t real threats.

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The Reticular Activating System and the Law of Attraction

Posted on July 20, 2010 by admin

The Law of Attraction has a large following these days. It also has a lot of detractors. The detractors usually fall into two camps:

1. Those who find it unscientific.

2. Those with spiritual or religious objections.

I find this quite amusing, since those two groups are often at odds with each other! Yet the “scientific” group labels the LoA “unproven,” while the “spiritual” group (usually people in the Judeo-Christian tradition) find it too…what, scary? Immoral? Dangerous?

“For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” That’s Proverbs 23:7. Buddha agreed: “All that we are is a result of what we have thought…what we think is what we become.”

Recent developments in scientific technology allow us to observe the brain, making speculation, guesswork, and opinion completely outmoded. The actual, physical thing in your brain that makes the LoA work is the reticular activating system, a structure about the size of your little finger that extends from the top of your spinal cord to the middle of your brain. It contains about two-thirds of your brain’s roughly 200 billion nerve cells, which suggests it has an important job for such a little thing.

The RAS acts as your brain’s filter (or gatekeeper, bouncer, or secretary), deciding which, among the billions of bits of information seeking your attention every moment, you will actually notice. On the basis of what we’ve already decided is important, it warns us of things we consider threatening and calls our attention to things we like or want. Sometimes it leads to a fear response to things that are not really dangerous. That’s because for most of human history, humans have been surrounded by far more immediate threats than in our modern world, and now the RAS doesn’t have enough to do.

My next post will explain how you can retrain your RAS to work for you instead of against you.

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