The brain developed as humankind evolved. First came the Reptilian Brain that controls our automatic functions like breathing and heartbeat as well as to control our fight, flight or freeze reactions to danger and threats. After this we developed the Limbic Brain where our memories, emotions, values and attitudes reside. Finally, we have the Neocortex, the thinking part of the brain.
Our danger response system in the Reptilian brain is constantly scanning our environment looking for threats, just like in ancient times when sabre-toothed tigers roamed the land. Today, that sabre-toothed tiger could be a critical email, an aggressive store clerk or a driver following you too closely. Any of these can immediately cause our stress response to kick in within fractions of a second. This reaction is known as an Amygdala Hijack causing our thinking brain to begin shutting down. The ability to reason, make decisions, handle conflict, and adapt to change is dramatically lessened.
Practicing emotional intelligence helps the emotional brain and the thinking brain to communicate with each other. This begins with identifying the situations that trigger us and pausing long enough to choose a different response so that we can get the desired results instead of regret and heartache.
This is especially important in times like these where we are experiencing a Pandemic of such great magnitude. Unlike IQ, how to practice EQ cannot be learned solely from a book, it takes practice. When we practice emotional intelligence over and over, it develops new neural pathways in our brain and our old habitual neural pathways are progressively replaced.
To find out more, join my community chat every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10am PST. Just send me an email at: http://geofffrostandassociates.ca/ with which day works best for you and I will send you an invite.
