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Our Ancient Reptile Brain

  • Evolution of homo sapiens has been taking place overs millions (1,000,000+) of years, yet the circumstances of our modern life have only been in place for 100+ years.
  • Although our living and environment conditions have significantly changed in recent years, a large portion of our brain is still operating on ancient priorities:
    • Keep me alive and safe (from wild animals)
    • Hunt and gather essentials for survival (food and water)
    • Form tribes (for protection and survival)
  • Primal parts of our brains did not quite get the memo that we don’t need to be on high alert for tigers or starvation through the drought season. We live each day with vast comforts that our ancient brain is completely unaware of.
  • Modern life threats have also evolved, do exist, and can have real consequences. (ex. Being regularly late for work can hold our career back).  In modern times, although we are very rarely in actual life/death or danger situations, our ‘threat detection mechanisms are constantly on high alert. We get ourselves into trouble if we are constantly responding to modern life threats with the same vigor required to fight for our lives. 

So What?

  • Unwarranted escalations hurt us. There are times in modern life that are legitimately dangerous and where our escalated response is still warranted and helpful (ex. driving on icy roads, encountering a bear while camping, etc.). BUT more often than not, many aspects of our modern life trigger a life-or-death level of response when it is absolutely not necessary (ex. Going to a big social event, making an important presentation at work, being late for a meeting).
  • Primitive responses can be misaligned with modern life. Allowing our primitive brain to govern our reactions to modern life ‘threats’ that do not risk our physical safety can lead to negative consequences on our wellbeing, undesired actions that don’t serve our modern life and ultimately are a huge waste of our energy.
  • We need to work to recalibrate our brain for our modern life. We need to develop a skill to recognize when we are facing perceived dangers and choose a deliberate response better suited for the situation at hand.