From Calm to Chaos – When Thinking Takes a backseat
The Sidewalk Showdown
Have you ever been minding your own business, idly walking somewhere, lost in thought, calmly attempting to solve the problems of the world in the deep recesses of your mind?
This picturesque image summed up the first part of my morning. Taking a break from probing the Artificial Intelligence Act for some upcoming work and needing some cold water, I ambled on down to the Peripteros (kiosk in the local lingo with historical roots) to grab a bottle or two of cold water.
The scene was set as this mild-mannered man, that would be me, meandered in a meditative and muse-induced state, while marveling at the majestic Old Town in the Paphos multicultural market. I found my Peripteros, in the midst of modest old multilevel houses, some with frames of marble and meticulously trimmed planters with herbs and mint, others with moldy door frames alongside modern municipal buildings, standing morbid and motionless as people milled about.
It was at this time that I was suddenly snapped out of my meditative trance. An object, illegally mounted the pavement and began hurtling towards me down the cobbled sidewalk, like a Trump supporter at a protest rally, filled with reckless determination and an unyielding sense of purpose. This human on what could only be a delivery bike from the sounds, was fixated on an outcome, the timely delivery of whatever was in that little black box on the back of his delivery bike.
In that split second, my brain switched from a relaxed state to a heightened fight-or-flight response, reminiscent of the same Trump supporter when presented with the notion that someone was planning to take away his right to bear arms.
In both cases the brain shuts down, logic and reason, like broccoli in a toddlers mouth, vacates the immediate vicinity and are replaced in equal measure by panic and anger.
If we slow this scene down, frame by frame, it would look something like this…
Frame 1: My wide staring eyes locking onto the hidden orbs behind the sunglasses of the rider on the motorbike.
Frame 2: The Gremlin in my brain, switching gears and engaging “Hulk Smash” mode while grinning at the man on the bike in a subliminal fashion, instantly conveying the near-future state that was likely to become and somehow, somewhere mixed together with this, were flashes of Dexter mumbling something about invoking my “Dark Passenger”.
Frame 3: The dictionary in my brain, filled with wonderful words like Discombobulated, Mellifluous and Schadenfreude was suddenly inaccessible to me. The only words that were available at the time were; “You”, “Not”, “Here”, “Allowed”, “On-the”, “Pavement-ride” and “Motorbike”, the last one which sounded more like “Morro-baaik” and came out pretty much in the same fashion and order with grunts and bits of spittle in-between.
Frame 4: The whole scene slowed down even further and then came to an abrupt stop, just like the the bike rider, panic and fear gone, and confusion taking their place as the miscommunication between his poor command of the Queens English and my poor use of the Queens English expanded into a cloud of raised eyebrows, shrugging shoulders, grunts, spittle and the next set of words from my now defunct dictionary, “Me walking!”, I blurted out angrily, “Pedestrians first!” with my hands clenched into fists and my beetroot face comical.
Frame 5: The Daredevil risk-taker, having seen it all before, revved his bike off the walkway and onto the now vacant road, sidestepping me swiftly and with the ease and grace of a swan on the lake, not even bothering to look back at my perplexed face, leaving the disappointed Gremlin and the image of Dexter, wondering if he should memorise the number plate for me.
By the way, this is not my first rodeo.
This particular event, only slightly different in circumstances from others, reminded me of my past lapses in judgment and reason, and my tendency to quickly escalate to a more aggressive state of being, and flashes of Dexter whispering words with dark wishes and malintent.
This experience sparked my curiosity, what exactly happens in our brain during such intense emotional surges?
How was I transformed from a relatively loquacious and superfluous communicator with an acute ability to communicate and converse, structuring logical arguments and able to wield the Socratic method to joust with those above my station.
How on earth was I reduced to a bumbling idiot, barely able to communicate between grunts and spittle in response to a situation that in hindsight, barely justified a spike in adrenaline, let alone triggering “Hulk mode!”.
To my relief, this behaviour, while not uncommon, is biological by design and once understood and with a little bit of practise, can be reversed and even avoided all the same. Yes, we can put the Genie back in the bottle, logic and reason can be firmly set in their seats with a little deep breathing and conscious will.
The Science Behind the Shutdown
When faced with a sudden threat, the brain’s response can be likened to a complex chemical cascade, like a relay race where one person hands the baton to the second and so on. This cascade starts in the amygdala, the brain’s emotional processing center and is responsible for the famous “Fight or Flight” setting that all humans are born with. Similarly, the “Flight mode” on your phone works in much the same way, access to data is severed, all communication comes to a halt apart from the basic functions left to you on your device.
It goes something like this:
Threat detection
The amygdala, a small almond shaped, dense cluster of cells deep within the base of your skull, situated slightly above the level of your ears within a part of the brain called the temporal lobe.
Once the right conditions are perceived by us, this dense cluster of cells, influenced by years of conditioning and our previous environments, gives the green light and sends a distress signal to another almond-shaped cluster of cells deep within the brain, and the relay-race is on, with each team passing on the impulse like a baton.
Amygdala Hijack
The Hypothalamus and the relay-team are even more difficult to locate than the Amygdala, and situated deep within the brain so that the best way to explain where to find them and how they behave would be to refer to a diagram, so here is the link. The Hypothalamus instructs the adrenal glands to release adrenaline (aka epinephrine) and norepinephrine, which in turn trigger a particular state in the human body, and all part of a system called the Limbic system.
The Change
Immediately after this, we feel and experience the following:
Heart rate increases.
Blood pressure rises.
Breathing accelerates.
In reaction to the chemicals, our body is flooded with oxygen rich blood, like a high pressure hose being turned on, and for the purpose of reaching our extremities to ensure that we have everything we need for a fight, or to evade one.
In return, blood flow to the brain lessens as the focus of our brain is on supplying the body, in order to keep it alive, and so it prioritises activities that are linked with survival over those that control language, decision making and complex thought processes.
When Emotions Override Thinking and What To Do
During high-stress situations, the flood of chemicals like adrenaline, prepare the body to react swiftly, often bypassing logical reasoning. This phenomenon, known as an amygdala hijack, can impair language skills and critical thinking, and leads to:
Slowed language processing: Difficulty finding words and articulating thoughts.
Impaired decision-making: Reduced ability to weigh options and consider consequences.
Focus on immediate action: Enhanced physical readiness at the expense of thoughtful responses.
Understanding the brain’s response to emotional stress is natural, and in some cases, we are justified in puffing our chests out, making ourselves bigger than we seem and either charging in like a mad bull, or running away like a fleeting gazelle.
In most cases though, especially in the world that we live in today, these reactions are not fully justified and we would do better to not do anything but breathe and observe.
Breathing, especially deep breaths, slow down the whole process and indicate that there is no imminent danger. This returns blood and oxygen flow to the brain so that it can do what it does best, think.
Observing helps to establish if there is a threat at all and being in a position to take advantage of our capacity to think and / or physically act is much more beneficial to us in our modern day lives.
So the next time that little gremlin starts shifting gears and Dexter prepares to go out and purchase tools and plastic sheets, remember that you have a window of opportunity to engage that part of your brain that can make sense of it all, and just “breathe, breathe in the air, don’t be afraid to care.”
