Book Freak 123: Tame an Overactive Limbic System
In this issue: four pieces of advice from Mindsight by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.
Name it to tame it
“If we face an overwhelming situation in which we cannot adequately cope, cortisol levels may become chronically elevated. Traumatic experiences, in particular, can sensitize limbic reactivity, so that even minor stresses can cause cortisol to spike, making daily life more challenging for the traumatized person… Finding a way to soothe excessively reactive limbic firing is crucial to rebalancing emotions and diminishing the harmful effects of chronic stress… Naming an affect soothes limbic firing. Sometimes we need to ‘name it to tame it.’ We can use the left language centers to calm the excessively firing right emotional areas.”
Write down your challenging experience
“Writing in a journal activates the narrator function of our minds. Studies have suggested that simply writing down our account of a challenging experience can lower physiological reactivity and increase our sense of well-being, even if we never show what we’ve written to anyone else.”
Say “I feel…” instead of “I am…”
“Consider the difference between saying ‘I am sad’ and ‘I feel sad.’ Similar as those two statements may seem, there is actually a profound difference between them. ‘I am sad’ is a kind of self-definition, and a very limiting one. ‘I feel sad’ suggests the ability to recognize and acknowledge a feeling, without being consumed by it. The focusing skills that are part of mindsight make it possible to see what is inside, to accept it, and in the accepting to let it go, and, finally, to transform it.”
Don’t fight your feelings
Trying to change how we actually feel by ordering ourselves to do so is a strategy that goes nowhere, fast. Open awareness is about accepting what is and not being swept up by those judging activities.
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