Do you ever feel like you’re on auto-pilot? Somehow the flight plan has been filed and it feels like you’re almost powerless to change your course? Actually, that may not be far from the truth . . . but it doesn’t have to stay that way.
There is a part deep within our brain called the limbic system that is in charge of our survival. Among other things, it is the command center that regulates our automatic body systems like pulse, blood pressure and breathing. It also controls both our emotions and our responses to emotional situations.
The limbic system stores life memories that help it screen every thought and experience that comes into our brain. It uses these memories to decide what’s safe and what’s not. If, because of our past experiences, it senses that something is dangerous–either physically or emotionally—it automatically reacts in a way that it has learned will keep us feeling safe. This reaction usually fits one of three categories—fight (anger), flight (running away) or freeze (hunkering down or numbing out until the danger passes). For may people addictions or compulsive behaviors become a way to numb out or freeze.
Because limbic protective responses are automatic, they actually circumvent our cognitive reasoning brain. When we are in true danger, there’s just not time for weighing and pondering the situation. We must react quickly to stay safe. To insure an instant response, the neo-cortex, where our decision making happens. actually shuts down when the limbic system jumps into action. The problem with that is that the neo-cortex is also where our logic and morals are stored. Without access to them, we may actually do things that may not seem to make sense or are in opposition to our basic moral values.
If we find ourselves continually doing things we have purposed not to do, it is quite likely that the limbic system is sensing danger and is overriding our cognitive thinking. Usually at these times a part of us is feeling fear or vulnerability. The undesired activity is our best attempt at diverting our thoughts and keeping ourselves from feeling weak or scared.
Although these responses are automatic, they do not need to be permanent. The criteria the brain uses to determine what is safe often comes from a flawed interpretation of our life experiences. The memories that our brain stored may not have meant what we thought they did.
As we allow ourselves to get in touch with the fears we are avoiding, we can bring them to God. He is the only one that can reveal and then rewrite the beliefs that have caused us to feel unsafe. Changed beliefs will alleviate some of our deepest fears which, in turn, will change our automatic responses.
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not, but what I hate I do.” —Romans 7:15 (NIV)
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