When a painful, traumatic, hurtful, or unpleasant memory is triggered we leave the neo-cortex, bypass the Limbic or mammal brain, and head straight to the reptilian brain. As Dr. Peter Levine states in his seminal work, Waking the Tiger, “For the reptile, conscious choice is not an option.” He goes further to say, “The neo-cortex is not powerful enough to override the instinctual defense response to threat and danger.”
The other option is to run away from the perceived threat to somewhere safe, like a cave or the cave of our own minds and hide until we are out of danger. If we can’t do either we go into freeze or suspended animation for the duration of the bad marriage or less than desired work situation. In other words, choices that can be seen by others regarding our particular regressive situation cannot be seen by us until we return to the neo-cortex.
Question: Have you been able to see choices for others when they could see none for themselves?
For more information go to johnleebooks.com and read The Anger Solution: The Proven Method for Attaining Calm and Developing Healthy, Long-Lasting Relationships, Facing the Fire: Experiencing and Expressing Anger Appropriately, The Missing Peace--all available on Amazon.com.
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