Re-tooling Your Limbic System
Summary
TLDRThis script delves into the human limbic system, a key part of the brain that triggers fight, flight, freeze, and other instinctual responses. It explains how emotional identification with certain values or beliefs can activate this system even without physical danger, causing internal reactions similar to a life-threatening event. The speaker advises recognizing these triggers and learning to let go of non-essential identifications to achieve a more authentic self. Techniques for managing the limbic system's impact during stress, such as deep breathing and understanding the role of the vagus nerve, are also discussed to maintain executive functions and open communication.
Takeaways
- 🧠 The limbic system is a part of the brain that activates during certain emotional responses, including fight, flight, feeding, and mating behaviors.
- 🔥 When there's no physical danger but you feel a strong emotional reaction, it indicates an emotional identification with something that is being challenged.
- 🚗 Cognition can be extended into tools and objects, such as a car or a hammer, which we perceive as an extension of ourselves.
- 🧐 The concept of '4E cognition' suggests that our cognition can be embodied, extended, enactive, and distributed, including into ideologies and collective intelligence.
- 🆚 Emotional identification with ideas or beliefs can trigger the same internal reactions as physical threats, causing the body to respond as if in danger.
- 💡 Recognizing when your body is reacting to non-physical threats can be a sign to let go of emotional attachments that are not truly part of your identity.
- 🤔 The limbic system is also involved in decision-making and can be triggered into fight, flight, freeze, fawn, or feeding modes in response to perceived threats.
- 🧘♂️ Techniques such as deep breathing and humming through the nose can help regulate the vagus nerve and calm the limbic system's response.
- 🧠 The prefrontal cortex, responsible for higher-level thought and executive functions, can be impaired during times of high emotional arousal due to the limbic system's activation.
- 🔁 Repeated training is essential for combat and other high-stress situations to turn necessary responses into muscle memory, ensuring effective action when executive functions are diminished.
- 💔 The vagus nerve is connected to the limbic system and can cause physical sensations of distress, such as heartache or butterflies in the stomach, during emotional upheaval.
Q & A
What is the limbic system and why is it significant in our emotional responses?
-The limbic system is a set of brain structures involved in emotions, survival instincts, and memory. It is significant in emotional responses because it triggers reactions like fight, flight, and freeze in response to perceived threats, even if those threats are not physically present.
How does the limbic system relate to the concept of 'fight or flight' mode?
-The limbic system initiates 'fight or flight' mode when it perceives a threat, preparing the body to either confront or escape danger. This response can be triggered even in the absence of physical danger if an individual feels emotionally threatened.
What is meant by '4E cognition' in the context of the script?
-'4E cognition' refers to embodied, extended, enacted, and embedded cognition. It suggests that our cognition is not just in our brains but can extend into tools, environments, and social interactions, influencing how we perceive and react to the world.
How can our identification with certain ideas or beliefs trigger a limbic system response?
-When we emotionally identify with certain ideas or beliefs, any perceived attack on those can trigger a limbic system response as if we are under personal threat. This can lead to strong emotional reactions even when there is no physical danger.
What is the role of the limbic system in non-threatening situations like flirting or mating?
-In non-threatening situations, the limbic system is involved in regulating emotions and behaviors related to social bonding and reproduction, such as flirting and mating.
How does the speaker suggest identifying what we emotionally identify with during moments of anxiety?
-The speaker suggests that during moments of anxiety, one should reflect on what they value and are emotionally identified with that is being challenged, as this can indicate what needs to be let go to achieve personal growth.
What does the speaker mean by 'ego deaths' and why are they necessary for personal growth?
-'Ego deaths' refer to the process of letting go of aspects of one's identity or beliefs that are no longer serving them. They are necessary for personal growth because they allow for the shedding of outdated or limiting identities to become one's true self.
How can repeated training help in managing the limbic system's response during high-stress situations?
-Repeated training can help turn responses into muscle memory, allowing individuals to act effectively during high-stress situations without relying on the executive functions of the brain, which can shut down during intense activation of the limbic system.
What is the connection between the limbic system and the vagus nerve, and why is it important?
-The vagus nerve is connected to the limbic system and plays a role in the body's response to stress and social bonding. Understanding this connection can help individuals regulate their responses to stress and maintain openness during social interactions.
What techniques can help calm the vagus nerve and prevent entering fight or flight mode during social interactions?
-Techniques such as deep breathing through the nose and humming can help calm the vagus nerve and prevent the onset of fight or flight mode, allowing for more open and rational communication during social interactions.
Why is it important to maintain calmness on the inside during challenging situations according to the script?
-Maintaining calmness on the inside is important because it ensures that the higher-level executive functions of the prefrontal cortex remain available, allowing for better decision-making and logical thinking during challenging situations.
Outlines
🧠 Emotional Identification and the Limbic System
The first paragraph discusses the role of the limbic system in human emotions and reactions. It explains how certain emotional triggers can activate the limbic system, leading to fight or flight responses even in the absence of physical danger. The speaker uses the example of identifying with being a Baptist and how derogatory comments about it can trigger a strong emotional response. The concept of 4E cognition—extended, embodied, enactive, and collective—is introduced, emphasizing how our cognition can be extended into tools, objects, and even ideologies. The paragraph also touches on the idea of 'ego death' and the importance of letting go of emotional attachments that are not essential to one's identity.
🛡️ Combat Training and Emotional Regulation
The second paragraph delves into the importance of emotional regulation, especially in high-stress situations like combat. It describes how the limbic system can be triggered in such scenarios, causing the higher-level executive functions of the brain to be temporarily impaired. The speaker highlights the necessity of training to develop muscle memory and instinctive responses to handle these situations effectively. The paragraph also mentions the role of the vagus nerve in emotional responses and introduces polyvagal theory, suggesting that understanding and regulating the vagus nerve can help maintain openness and calmness during challenging conversations or debates.
🌟 Techniques for Emotional and Vagus Nerve Regulation
The third paragraph focuses on practical techniques for managing the emotional responses triggered by the limbic system and the activation of the vagus nerve. It discusses the physical sensations associated with the vagus nerve, such as 'butterflies in the stomach' during nervousness or heartache after a breakup. The speaker provides tips on how to calm the vagus nerve activation, such as deep nasal breathing and humming, which can help to regain an open mindset and maintain executive thought functions during tense situations. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of being able to switch between fight or flight mode and an open, calm state to effectively handle various social and professional interactions.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Limbic System
💡Fight or Flight
💡Emotional Identification
💡Extended Cognition
💡Collective Intelligence
💡Ego Death
💡Freezing
💡Fawning
💡Polyvagal Theory
💡Prefrontal Cortex
💡Muscle Memory
Highlights
The limbic system, highlighted in green, is a crucial part of the brain involved in emotional responses and is triggered during fight or flight situations.
Emotional identification with certain beliefs or ideas can cause the body to react as if under physical threat when those beliefs are challenged.
Cognition can be extended into tools and objects, influencing how we perceive and interact with our environment.
Distributed cognition and collective intelligence are concepts where cognition is not solely within the brain but can be shared and extended.
The concept of embodied cognition suggests that our physical state and environment can influence our thoughts and reactions.
When emotionally triggered, the body may react as if facing a physical danger, even when there is none present.
The limbic system is also responsible for feeding, flirting, mating, and other behaviors, not just fight or flight.
Identifying what you emotionally value during a trigger can help in understanding what needs to be let go for personal growth.
Ego deaths, or the process of shedding old identities, are necessary for personal growth and can be self-imposed through self-examination.
Freezing and fawning are responses to fear, where individuals either become paralyzed or try to appease the source of danger.
Combat training often involves muscle memory development to ensure executive functions are maintained during high-stress situations.
The prefrontal cortex, responsible for higher-level thought and problem-solving, can be impaired during times of high anxiety or stress.
Internal calmness is essential to maintain access to the executive functions of the brain during challenging situations.
The vagus nerve is connected to the limbic system and plays a role in emotional responses, including the sensation of 'butterflies' in the stomach.
Polyvagal theory offers insights into how the vagus nerve affects our emotional state and provides techniques for regulation.
Breathing techniques and humming through the nose can help calm the vagus nerve and prevent entering fight or flight mode.
The ability to remain open and not enter fight or flight mode is crucial for maintaining effective communication and problem-solving.
Transcripts
we've previously talked about things
like the lyic
system okay and this limic system is
this little part of your brain I have it
highlighted in green on this slide over
here it's that part of your brain right
there basically and things certain
things happen when you are triggered in
a certain way and there are certain
times when they should
happen if you're walking outside and you
suddenly encounter a wild
animal yeah you're probably going to go
into fight or flight mode
okay but when you feel yourself going
into fight ORF flight mode when there's
no physical danger around what that
indicates is that something is being
challenged which you emotionally
identify with so if I emotionally
identify with being a
Baptist and then somebody is competently
denigrating what it means to be a
Baptist
my body starts reacting as if part of me
is dying as if part of me is being
threatened like somebody's going to cut
off a limb or something because I have
extended your your cognition 4E
cognition can be extended into different
tools when you hit somebody with your
car you say I hit them well your car hit
them but you see it as an extension of
yourself when you're holding a hammer
you see it as an extension of yourself
it actually acts like an extension of
your arm a car you kind of get used to
exactly where the corners and bumpers
are and and how close you can cut it
before you're going to hit something
else when you're turning tight corners
and that sort of thing because your your
cognition is extended and your cognition
can be extended into distributed
cognition and into collective
intelligence and your cognition can be
distributed into ideology into fake
things like ideology okay Co can be
extended into here your embodied sense
of embodied cognition so when somebody
comes along to cut this off and talk
about how dumb and stupid Wayne gudum is
your body because you identify with that
and you have extended your embodied
cognition into that set of ideas your
body starts to undergo the same internal
reactions as if perhaps you were
actually going to lose a limb from a
shark
bite okay your body doesn't know the
difference between real Mortal danger
and uh identity danger in some cases
so when you feel your body acting up
when you're not in any physical danger
that is a sign to you that you are
emotionally identified with something
that is in fact not you and that is
something that you would need to learn
to realize that is not you and let go of
it and no longer identify with it stop
identifying with things that aren't you
learn what they are learn all the things
that are not you what are the things
that are not me nothing is you so the
limic system when it's challenged it'll
put us in Fireflight mode or that's also
it's responsible for feeding feeling
flirting and
mating put flirting in there sometimes
there some other FWS that are
substituted in there depending on what
list you look at but you get the idea
freezing
fawning uh and
so fight fighting is obvious you want to
take your stand it's time to fight
flight or flee is to run away right your
lyic system triggers this or feeding
when you're hungry and you want to eat
your lyic system is involved with that
when you're feeling emotions anger
sadness
Joy your lyic system is involved with
some of those when you
are when you have impulses for flirting
or mating your lyic system is involved
with those as
well freezing is when somebody is so so
scared that they just don't know what to
do and they just
freeze John says if you're triggered
identify identify the thing that is
valued and that's that's a really good
tip it's a really good homework thing is
when you start to feel that triggering
happen you start to feel that that
anxiety rise inside you think about what
it is that you are emotionally
identified with that you value that is
being called into question and that is
an indic indicator of what needs to be
let go for you to become who you really
are because you have to have a series of
ego deaths to become who you really are
and it's a lot easier trust me it's a
lot easier to have ego deaths that you
self-impose by by careful
self-examination examine yourself to see
whether you be in the faith see how that
verse means something so much different
now Faith is a
verb it's a really good tip it's a lot
easier to have an death this way then
for circumstances the universe God or
whatever you want to attribute it to to
forcefully force you into an ego death
by removing something not of your
choosing or
realization and then you're fighting
resentment at the same time you're
having to realize what you need to let
go of just makes it more difficult
freezing is when uh people are afraid
and they go into paralysis mode or
fawning when you sense you're in some
kind of danger and you just Fawn all
over the source of the danger in hopes
that they will like
you people with histrionic personality
disorder do this a lot actually saw an
example of this on TV my wife and I
watch some she calls it her junk TV some
of these reality dating shows and you
see different couples when there's a cha
tough and challenging situation instead
of dealing with the problem some some
people instead of dealing with the
problem they start attacking each other
some people instead of dealing with the
problem they automatically start trying
to appeal to each other like either
sexually or some other way something
like that to try to to try to tame the
beast but still without actually
addressing the issue that's at hand the
reason people have to go through so much
combat training is because once you get
trigger once you get triggered you're
basically a talking monkey you really
you are you're you're basically in your
animal
space of your
brain and you're basically a talking
monkey so all the executive functions
notice that little red blockout area I
have
that over the prefrontal cortex which
controls the higher level thought
problem solving and the executive
functions of the brain that goes out the
window as soon as you're triggered so it
could be triggered in combat like that's
a legitimate time to be triggered
because it's really life for death is
really physical danger there all right
so it's probably not a sign that you're
carnal if you're in a firefight if
you're a police officer and uh you're in
a firefight and your adrenaline's
pumping your anxiety is high uh that's
perfectly natural it's exactly what that
system in your body is for okay but the
problem is decisions really matter okay
so when people are training for combat
or training to possibly be in firefights
they have to train train train train
train to turn a lot of these things into
muscle memories because once the real
bullets start flying in a real scenario
all those executive functions of the of
the brain shut down they're no longer
there all the reasoning that you have
all the rules of engagement all that
stuff goes out the window and you can't
think like that anymore so you have to
have it trained into you by repetition
so it gets down into that the part of
your brain that's going to be active
during that time your lyic system
that's why they try they train when I
was in training in the army they would
have us low crawling across Fields going
in the mud and through barbwire and all
this while they have live rounds going
off around us to so you could see what
it feels like so you could as much as
it's possible while still being safe
feel the danger being close to you while
you're still having to perform and
operate so that's what happens and the
same thing happens
a coule may get into a heated
argument and the same thing happens the
the parts of their brain that they need
as soon as you get triggered the parts
of your brain and that's that's one of
the reasons you really want to work on
this internal thing so you might be
controlling yourself
externally but
internally the degree to which your
anxiety has risen through all those
systems in your body is the degree to
which your prefrontal cortex is no
longer available to you so you might be
able to look calm on the outside but
you're just stupid as a monkey because
it's still your lyic system that's like
really pumping away in there and not
your prefrontal cortex so you're not
going to be able to make as much good
sense employ logic as well you see those
kinds of things you're going to be
basically impaired in some of those
areas even if you're able to remain calm
on the outside so you want to bring you
want to really embody that calmness on
the inside to make to make it a reality
on the inside so that the higher level
executive functions of the prefrontal
cortex are still available to you when
you're in a challenging situation this
happens all the time in theological
debates too so something that's
connected to the limic system is also
the vagus nerve and I I highly recommend
that you look up poly vagal Theory some
people think oh it's Theory it doesn't
mean it's a hard science no it's a hard
science and you can actually learn to
regulate when you feel your vagus nerve
acting up you see how far down this vus
nerve goes see this yellow this sets of
yellow nerves that go down into the
chest and they go down all the way into
the stomach when you get butterflies in
your stomach when you're nervous that's
the Vegas nerve that's how far down it
goes it's connected to your limpic
system when your heart hurts after you
broke up with somebody that's the Vegas
nerve it's connected to your Olympic
system when somebody dies and you just
feel like physical pain in your chest
that's the Vagas nerve acting up it's
connected to your lmic system so
understanding how the Vegas nerve works
you can actually regulate it you can
actually breathe on the spot and oh my
Vegas so as soon as you go into fight or
flight mode you cannot remain open and
if you're in a situation where you need
to remain open is like say you're trying
to have a calm collected conversation
with somebody like a like a church
member or a spouse or a kid or whatever
or you're in court okay when you feel
that Vegas nerve acting up it helps to
know that oh I know this is my Vegas
nerve acting up I know that it's
prompting me to go into fight ORF flight
mode
I also know that I'm going to be no
better than a talking ape once that
happens and my executive thought
functions are not going to be available
to me which is not a good thing to
happen in those situations and so I need
to calm back down and get back to open
and there are certain things little
little techniques people have learned
like taking deep breaths while you know
this especially breathing out the nose
in in and out the nose it's helpful and
they actually say and I would not try
this in public like if I'm actually
sitting in a courtroom I would not try
this but if you're by yourself if you
hum through your
nose so you feel it vibrate in your nose
that actually helps calm down vegus
nerve activation more rapidly okay just
little little tips and tricks about how
your body works and how you can help get
yourself back into an open mindset so
you can have a discussion without being
because you can't be open and in fight
ORF flight mode you can be one or the
other it's like a trigger it's a switch
that goes one way or the other cannot be
and both
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