Dooley Noted: 2/28/2014
At this moment, I am flying transpacific, to another country, on another continent, in another hemisphere.
I remember learning geography as a child and spinning my fingers on the globe. As my finger plopped down on various places on the spinning globe, I never imagined one day I might live that out.
Right now, I’m above water. I’m petrified of water.
But I know how the limbic system works.
The amygdala is an almond-shaped nucleus imbedded deep to your brain’s temporal lobe. It’s in charge of anxiety and fear conditioning.
You learn fear. And the amygdala will run that program after it learns it.
As a child, I loved water so much I could have been mistaken for a fish. After nearly drowning as a teenager, I learned the fear of water. My amygdala has run that program ever since.
If you can learn fear, then you can also unlearn it. That’s the beauty of the brain: we have neuroplasticity. Our brains can change.
We are in charge.
So, I force myself into situations that involve water. I’ve taken baby steps, starting with being able to watch water. (Think ocean gazing.) I worked my way up to wading in it. Now I can swim in it.
I don’t love water. But doing things you don’t love is often good for you. It challenges you and shifts you off your axis, testing your adaptability.
You don’t have to deny your fear. That’s being afraid of fear. That’s not initiating change in the limbic system.
That amygdala can change. You have to change it. You are absolutely, positively in charge of it. It will take effort. The effort will pay you back if you trust that you are in charge.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley
