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PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
Like the fear and grief systems that it potentiates the amygdala is always active It is
constantly running its information processing algorithms though usually at a low level Brain
scans show that the amygdalas activity level rises when we feel threatened It is more active
at rest in people with anxiety or depressive disorders and less active in those who report being
happy and well adjusted We can never be certain what will set it off and we often are not
even aware when it has been activated for more on the amygdala see Chapter
The amygdala and by extension the fear and grief systems work on the smoke detector
principle Just like smoke detectors they are calibrated to be so sensitive that they are liable to
go off by accident They are set this way because a few false alarms are tolerable if it ensures
that we can recognize real peril when it arises In terms of reproductive success it is better to
overreact to a nonthreat than to underreact to a true threat This is a reasonable
predisposition for wild animals but an irrational one for modern humans Today we tolerate
constant false alarms of the fear and grief systems even though we are rarely confronted by
physical threats This vestigial hairtrigger mechanism is the reason we are predisposed to
negative thinking
The Negativity Bias Fear Grief and Default Mode
What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow
our life is the creation of our mind Buddha c BCE BCE
Humans are a special type of biological survival machine Unlike viruses bacteria protists
fungi plants and most animals we think We are capable of simulating environmental
situations so that we can predict the probable outcomes of our actions We use these
simulations to learn about and make sense of the events around us In a perfect world these
models would always be cheerful and productive Unfortunately our brains threat centers
influence us to model negative things so that we can respond appropriately when negative
scenarios arise This tendency to focus on the bad is often referred to as the negativity bias
The negativity bias makes us more likely to focus on a negative piece of information such as
a criticism than a positive one such as a compliment It results in superstitious nonreflective
fretting that rarely leads to insight or progress Also negative thoughts can be triggered rapidly
but tend to linger for long periods This is probably related to the poor rebound effect for
diaphragmatic breathing in which a minor threat can force a mammal to breathe shallowly
within a single second after which it takes several minutes for the breathing to return
to normal
Lamentably rosy glasses dont contribute to reproductive success in most ecological
scenarios Further animals that dont worry have poor survival outcomes Studies that look at
fish mice or primates that are bred or experimentally altered to become fearless show that
these animals are great at acquiring resources but are the first to be eaten On the other
hand the most anxious animals avoid predators and stay safe However they are not very
productive or reproductive because they are constantly hiding and cowering So it was good
for our ancestors to be somewhere between fearful and fearless But what about today
What about you Would you benefit from being fearless
Chapter Think Peacefully
For thousands of millennia our forebears were hunted mauled and devoured by
monsters These included sabertoothed cats cave lions cave hyenas dire wolves shortfaced
bears fivemeterlong snakes giant lizards and towering flightless terror birds However
anatomically modern humans employing expertly fashioned spears clubs axes and knives
were able to turn the tables For the last thousand years we systematically drove these
giant beasts of prey to extinction We killed off many of these Cenozoic megafauna for food
In so doing we made nearly the entire surface of Earth free from predators In the last
thousand years humans have replaced brutal disputes with courtroom judgments and every
man for himself with legal rights Compared to our ancestors we should feel invulnerable
Our world is far safer now Our genes and brains just dont know it yet
Humans today have virtually no natural predators We fight among each other less than
ever before and cannibalism is finally out of fashion but our brains fear and grief systems are
still fully operational The human brain is the pinnacle of evolution on Earth and the most
complex object in the known galaxy yet it is routinely preoccupied with unsubstantiated fear
vindictive anger regret victimization resentment and status anxiety When you experience
these emotions thank your brain for trying to protect you but know that they are vestiges from
a treacherous anarchic past Anxiety involves a tradeoff The table below lists several similar
tradeoffs discussed in this book
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
Common
Behaviors
Implications for Hunter
Gatherers
Implications for Modern
People
Chronic Stress
Caution and apprehension of
danger Motivation to struggle
fight and survive
Unhealthy bodily effects
Unnecessary psychological
discomfort and woe
Anxiety
Enhanced awareness of
potentially fatal threats
Exaggerated fear responses to
nonfatal threats
Depression
Accepting the dominance of other
Loss of confidence drive and
protection
Defeat group members ambition
Submissive Pacifying those who might harm Generating superfluous tension
Behavior you Deescalating conflict trauma and heartache
Dominating Elevating yourself in the social Putting others down and making
Behavior hierarchy them angry
Anger Aggression Healthy selfpromotion and Negative interactions and social
isolation
Competitiveness
Drive to attain food and mates at
the expense of others
Competition with friends and
coworkers is unnecessary and
divisive
Defensiveness
Selfprotection and healthy
suspicion of others
Unnecessarily high paranoia or