Meaning, Resilience and Emotions

Making sense of it, taking ownership, owning the meaning

December really is the season for some deep down reflection. It is dark, full of shadows, and has the requisite amount of stillness (if you allow it) to be able to sit and ponder for a while.

The limbic system is not my favourite part of the brain to be honest. It is an example of a system that works really well if the environment is healthy, supportive and nurturing.

If the environment has been full of stress, trauma, fear and anxiety inducing stimuli then the reaction of the limbic system is going to reflect this.

A Lot.

The limbic system is also involved in feelings of pleasure that are related to our survival, such as those experienced from eating and sex. The limbic system influences both the peripheral nervous system and the endocrine system .

Two structures within the limbic system - the amygdala and the hippocampus - play a huge part in how we store memories.The amygdala is responsible for determining which memories are stored and where the memories are stored in the brain.It is thought that this decision is based on how large an emotional response an event invokes. The hippocampus sends memories out to the appropriate part of the cerebral hemisphere for long-term storage and retrieves them when necessary.

So, you can see it is so important to ensure that any memories you have stored are imprinted with the emotion and meaning that you want to have. Not those that are either given to you by social influences or by a version of you that perhaps was not equipped to know the truth of what was actually happening.

The reason why reflection is so important is that we can use the prefrontal cortex, the wisest part of our brain to be able to make sense of the emotional memories that we have stored within our limbic system.

We can also decide to recode the memory with a more suitable emotion rather than the default one the amygdala has given to it.

This is such an important process to do. Do you really want to have memories stored that have been highjacked by others? Do you want to react rather than respond when you encounter trigger events?

An important part of creating a better (and kinder) world is supporting all who have a brain to be able to understand their own reactions and responses. Then they can make decisions about how is owning their emotional world.

If you still want to completely over-react and be dysregulated once you have done this piece of work that is ok.

But.

This comes with a caveat.

Whatever you do, OWN it.

Make decisions on how you want to act that are unequivocally yours and yours alone.

You can download your worksheet HERE

Please take some time this December to reflect on 2022. What memories need reprogramming? What memories do you need to reclaim? Which ones are really important? Which deserve a fanfare and which deserve a heave ho?

You can decide.

That is the beauty of ownership.

You can create your better (and kinder) world, one brain (process) at a time.

“I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”