The words, ‘Fight’, ‘Flight’, and ‘Freeze’ are associated with the amygdala, the brain’s emotional weathervane. When our brain’s amygdala senses danger, our bodies shift in response to help us literally survive through fighting. If that won’t work then flight (running away). And, if all else fails, we freeze (behave like an opossum). We were built to fight, flight and freeze because centuries ago, our survival as human beings depended on it.
Dealing with Threat Mode
This invaluable amygdala in today’s times often slips into old-brain-thinking and gets tricked into believing we’re in threat mode, putting our system into Fight, Flight and Freeze response when that’s not what’s called for. Frequently we would be better served by keeping calm, assessing and releasing our concern. Imagine you’re enjoying a glass of wine in front of the fire with a good book and you see something out of the corner of your eye. The amygdala goes into FFF because it sees potential danger. However, if we remain calm and think rationally we can quickly realize it was a mouse or roach. We will want to call our exterminator tomorrow but we certainly don’t need to fight, run away, or play dead to survive the mouse. Now, imagine more common daily events; your boss tells you he/she doesn’t like your productivity, a potential boyfriend/girlfriend stops calling, or you inadvertently hurt your friend’s feelings. When these things happen, not only do we go into FFF, but when that doesn’t work, we experience stress from unreleased energy built up in our bodies readied for fight or flight.
Charting Your Course to Self-Compassion
In this post we defined the three ways that we commonly respond to stress: Fight, Flight and Freeze. We frequently turn the stress inward, which exaggerates it. In future posts in this series, we will discuss how mindful self-compassion is a more effective response.
| STRESS RESPONSE | STRESS TURNED INWARD | SELF-COMPASSION |
|---|---|---|
| Fight | Self-criticism | Self-kindness |
| Flight | Isolation | Common Humanity |
| Freeze | Rumination | Mindfulness |
Spend some time taking in this information and the next blog will provide more insight. Sitting with the information presented is time well spent; you will gain more depth of insight as we travel this journey together.
