Jimbo's Jots

Remember from last week, there are three parts to your brain:

• Brainstem = survival
• Limbic = emotions
• Cerebral hemispheres = thinking & creativity

As I said last week, all three, in theory, are supposed to work together when we encounter stress in our lives. Let me add that stress is not always negative. Stressors can include planning a wedding, preparing for a baby, or a job promotion. These are very positive life events, but do add stress.

I’m defining stress as any life event that does not typically happen on a daily basis. For example, coming to the church office today (Wednesday), I was driving on a road. Unfortunately, a truck was stalled in the middle of the road and blocking one lane of traffic. What happens then to our brain? First of all, the survival part of our brain assesses the danger we are in. At the same time, it sends a signal to the emotional part of our brain. In this case, no danger.

Now, if I were to be in an accident, my survival brain would trigger a potential danger signal. At the same time, it will alert the emotions AND trigger a physical response. So, it may change my breathing, my heartrate may increase. If I have injuries, the limbic brain will send signals to the body to alert it there are injuries. While this is all happening, the limbic will lock the event in to your cerebral brain. The thinking brain then also begins to work the solution as best as it can under the circumstances.

People with anxious brains feel they cannot get beyond the survival and emotional parts of their brain to deal with stress. It is also why in most cases, people who are anxious feel they are stuck. They also struggle with getting their brain to move beyond the stress in to the thinking and creative portion of their brain. More on this next week!

Be blessed and be a blessing!