Hijacked by Your Brain

Author:Dr. Julian Ford
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2013-03-16T21:00:00+00:00

Stated simply, we don’t think we need to reflect or measure when our brains function optimally. That all changes, however, when we’re stressed because our brains realize something is wrong. He then offers the most important statement about why SOS matters to every human mind.

Demand for the solution [of a problem] is the steadying and guiding factor in the entire process of reflection.

We can’t live in alarm world happily. Our alarms demand a solution to any fork in the road. But we can’t find the solution unless we pause and think about our circumstances, what they mean, and the options we have.

If your alarm fills your body with too much adrenaline, you can’t think. You can’t deal with simple choices—like what to eat for dinner that will be healthy and delicious—or the larger challenges—like how you want to live your life. If your alarm sounds too often and too loud, you can’t focus on what matters. The alarm is the bell rung in the brain to tell us that we need to reflect. SOS is the first step in opening the learning brain to the process of reflection.

But SOS is not just a crisis intervention or de-escalation technique, although it can be used for that purpose. We don’t want you to wait to use it until you’re in crisis. To be of the greatest value, SOS is a life skill first, and a call for help only when you need it. In fact, we strongly recommend that you don’t use SOS in a crisis or even in a moment of non-critical high stress until you’ve practiced and applied it extensively in low-or-no-stress moments.

Why? The answer is the same as for any life skill. We learn how to drive in a quiet neighborhood before we go on the highway at seventy miles per hour. SOS is no different.

Think of SOS as a mental vitamin. Regular daily doses are the best way to get the fullest benefit. SOS sharpens the mind and increases your awareness of—and therefore your ability to do healthy things for—your body. Being able to think clearly about what’s most important in your life is more valuable on a day-to-day basis than in the occasional emergency because it prevents not only many crises but also the worst possible danger other than death: missing the opportunities to create a life full of happiness and meaning.

Yet sometimes we get so stressed, we just can’t focus by doing an SOS. That’s when we need to recognize our triggers.

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