We are wired to spot the negative.
As much as you may not want to hear that on this today, it’s true.
It comes from cave man days. The part of our brain, the amygdala, is there to spot danger, to protect us.Back in those days, it was far more important that we were able to spot the woolly mammoth or sabre tooth tiger than see the beautiful sunset. Back then it was literally a matter of life or death. The vast majority of times these days we are not in a life or death situation, however, that part of our brain, the amygdala, still perceives that we are.
What we read as negative, it reads as danger. When someone looks at us in a strange way, an off comment, a post that doesn’t get likes, a text that isn’t replied to in a timely manner.Our amygdala will read some of the smallest bits of evidence as threats and will get our body going in to that fight, flight, freeze mode.When I am coaching I talk about the red zone when we are struggling and the green zone when life is easier. Our amygdala will be constantly scanning for signs that we are not safe.
So if I was to ask a group how many red items they see in the room we are in, there will be different numbers. Some will include the orangey-red items, the purpley-red items the pinky-red items, some will just choose the bright scarlet type red. Our amygdala is constantly checking the environment and what is going on around us for those red signals, and will include an array of different types of red.
As mentioned in the last blog a little plus a little becomes a lot. So yes, the more of the red zone evidence we are collecting, often subconsciously, the more that is going to keep that amygdala triggered and more evidence for our red zone story reel of unhelpful and often unkind beliefs.What we want to be doing is calming the nervous system and training the brain to spot some more of the green items, the green evidence, that we are safe.
Yes, this can be through a gratitude practice (it has scientifically been proven to rewire the brain), but also being open to spot the good stuff, and being proactive in gathering the green evidence to support kinder, more wholesome thoughts. As well as helping to calm our nervous system, it can really help us to connect with ourselves, see what we have going on around us, and help us have a kinder, more encouraging, compassionate relationship with ourselves and how we see ourselves within the world. Take a look around you now, what green evidence can you see, there will be some, however small. The small bits of evidence are great, as we can be collecting more and more of these in our every day.