Understanding How your Brain can Trip you up - a Shocking Perspective that will Change the Way you Engage with your Unwanted Thoughts in Key Moments
Understanding how our brains have evolved can help us develop an awareness of how uninvited thoughts, memories and feelings can distract us in key moments. Developing self-compassion can help individuals notice the impact of these, when we notice these thoughts, we can train our minds to not just react, but choose to do something that is more productive for our performance and wellbeing.
Compassion is defined as sensitivity to suffering (and its causes) and commitment to alleviate it. Which basically means turning towards challenges and trying to do something productive to work through adversity. It is made up of three main components:
Self-kindness - Talking to yourself like how you would talk to a loved one going through the same situation
Common humanity - recognition that everyone experiences difficult times, that we are not alone in our experience of suffering and that our brains have evolved in ways that can exacerbate pain!
Mindfulness - Taking an open and non-judgemental stance to one’s own experience, so that difficult emotions are neither avoided nor exaggerated
We've all experienced those negative thoughts or memories that seem to take over our minds and distract us from what we're doing. Whether it's replaying a conversation in our head or dwelling on past mistakes, or imagining yourself missing the penalty, making a double fault… These thoughts can make us feel anxious, angry, or sad. But why do our brains have so much power over us in these key moments?
Let's start by trying to understand what is going on in our brains. To illustrate this idea, let’s look at an example from nature, like the difference between how a zebra and a human would react to getting chased by a lion. A zebra, when confronted with a lion, would probably feel a burst of adrenaline and try to escape, but once the danger has passed, it would go back to grazing on the savannah. On the other hand, a human, when confronted with a lion on the street, would probably feel a similar burst of adrenaline, but the fear and anxiety would linger, potentially distracting them from whatever they were supposed to be doing!
The human brain can be re-triggered and anxious feelings will persist, even when there is no threat.
Our old and new brain
Our brains, like the zebra’s, are wired by evolution for survival and reproduction. All animals have evolved systems that motivate them to stay safe, look for food, have sex, look after young - these functions are driven by our core emotions like - anxiety, sadness, anger and even joy. These emotions drive certain behaviours that ensure our survival, like fighting against threats or running away, freezing, courting, and caring. So when we sense a threat, these old parts of the brain trigger a response that makes us feel anxious or stressed and drives us into action and safety.
But our human brains have also evolved to be more sophisticated. About 2 million years ago, our distant primate ancestors started to develop the prefrontal cortex, which is sometimes called the "new brain." This part of the brain gives us the ability to imagine things, consider the future, think about our thinking, and reflect on the past. With imagination, planning, rumination, worry and self-awareness - these skills have enabled us to do some amazing things… advances in technology, medicine, art, literature, and space exploration, but also some pretty destructive things…
This is great in many ways, but it also means that our brains can get stuck in tricky loops. For example, an athlete, who is getting ready to compete in a big event, might start to think about all the times they have failed in the past. When they start to think about their past failures, this triggers anxious feelings (the old brain comes online). The new brain is impacted by anxiety, which can take over our cognition - our attention, our memory and our thoughts. The new brain with self-awareness / self-monitoring may start to think about why they feel so anxious and may become critical, and that makes them feel even more anxious. And so on, and so on.
The tricky loops can be re-triggered by negative thoughts, memories, self-doubts, and external pressures. These loops can be distracting and disruptive, especially for individuals trying to perform under intense pressure.
This is why it's so important to develop an awareness of our tricky loops. By noticing when these thoughts and emotions come up, and by learning to step back and observe them, we can start to gain control over our minds. We might not be able to stop the negative thoughts from coming up, but we can learn to manage them in a more constructive way.
Think of it like a river running down a mountain, without awareness of it, it's like we are floating on the river getting swept away with the current, potentially feeling overwhelmed, going under, bashing into rocks, etc. By developing awareness of your tricky loops, you can learn to put your feet down and observe the river, instead of being swept away.
So, how do we do this? Here are a few tips:
Notice and pay attention to your tricky loops. Make a note of when they occur, and how they impact you.
Acknowledge the situation without exaggerating or being judgemental
Remind yourself that all humans are imperfect, we all will fail, make mistakes and have serious life challenges. We all have brains that will exacerbate these situations.
Intentionally take action to do something that will make you feel more relaxed/confident
Reflect on your development - what can you learn from this situation? How can you continue to develop and improve your functioning?
Don't let your tricky loops take over. Remember that you have the power to control your reactions and responses to your thoughts and emotions. Like a muscle, you exercise you can train your brain to accept and tolerate difficult thoughts and feelings, and choose a more productive response in any situation.
