The brain’s an expert at keeping us safe. When there’s danger our threat system kicks into fight the danger, run away, or freeze to stay safe. It’s intended for a real life or death situation. However, sometimes we confuse what’s real or just our imagination. 1/19 #March4Justice

To illustrate this: Would you fight, run away or freeze if.... You’re inside your house and its on fire? I had a heart attack? I say you are a loser? Most say they would run from the fire, fight to help me for the heart attack, and fight me if I said they are a loser. 2/19

This is the perfect time to point out that only the first two examples (fire, heart attack) are a life or death threat. That is, you will not die if I call a loser. Yet a lot of us respond as if we will die. This means we are using the wrong system a lot of the time. 3/19

This can mean we might find ourselves in a constant state of threat. This is a recipe for trauma. Remember the threat system is for a life or death situation. Although our minds can confuse what’s a real danger and what’s just our imagination. 4/19

So questions we can ask ourselves: Is this a life or death threat? Is this real or just my imagination? If it’s a real threat then go fight, run or freeze. If it’s not, then drop the fight and turn up your self-soothing, or what I sometimes like to call your peace system. 5/19

Our self-soothing, or peace system, lets us experience peace, joy, love, compassion, blissfulfulness and ecstasy. It allows us to celebrate the miracle and beauty of being alive. Worldwide research shows three things make it grow: Gratitude, empathy, and mindfulness. 6/19

Each of these - gratitude, empathy and mindfulness - is an area of science on its own. You could actually teach an entire subject on each. They are also academic words with little connection to reality. So lets translate and combine them into one sentence for simplicity: 7/19

Gratitude: Thankful,
Empathy: to feel alive,
Mindfulness: right here, right now.

Peace system: “Thankful, to feel alive, right here, right now.” 8/19

Gratitude: If you could have any three things in the entire world what would you want them to be? When you’re done what’s three things you already have that you are thankful for? Now be completely honest. Which one do humans focus on more? What we want or what we have? 9/19

Most of us focus on what we want much more than what we have. Wanting what we do not have can easily lead to suffering obviously because we don’t have it. Research shows that being thankful for what we do have can enhance our wellbeing and sense of connection with life. 10/19

Try remember daily: I’m alive, I can see, hear, smell, taste, touch, think, feel, remember, imagine, create, my brain operates effortlessly, I comprehend this thread, using cognition and language, I can extract its meaning. This is phenomenal. Being thankful for what is. 11/19

The sun’s shining. The sky’s endless. A million things are working for you, not against you. You have clarity. So why focus on the one negative? Our brains are experts at detecting threat. So remember: Is it life or death? Is it real or my imagination? Then. Be. Thankful. 12/19

Empathy: If I tell you a joke and you laugh the laughter actually means “you get it”. Similarly, if I feel what you’re feeling it means I get you. Just as important when you feel what you’re feeling then you get yourself. Empathy fuels connection. Trauma is disconnection. 13/19

Mindfulness: A Great Master said: “If you are depressed, you are in the past. If you are anxious, you are in the future. If you are at peace, you are in the present.” Depression’s always about past. Anxiety’s always about future. The only moment peace exists is the present. 14/19

So why are we barely present? Having a mind allows us to time travel with our thoughts and imagine the past or the future. Doing so we can relive the worst misfortunes of the past or anticipate the worst case scenarios. Neither are real in the present moment. 15/19

Clarity is one’s ultimate state of mind. Why? It means to see clearly. You simply see reality the way it is. The byproduct of clarity is a sense of peace. Joy is simply peace dancing. Clarity exists when we are in the present and fosters peace, joy, love and compassion. 16/19

Too much focus on past misfortunes can bring depression. Too much focus on what we want rather than what we do have now can bring anxiety. So regularly ask yourself: Where am I? Am I in the past, the present or the future? Do I have clarity? Or am I lost in my imagination? 17/19

The present moment is “almost” always safe. However, we do not experience it as such when we live in a constant state of threat always looking out for danger. Sometimes there is a danger. So regularly check: Is this moment safe, dangerous or is it just my imagination? 18/19

If the present moment is unsafe, then you fight, freeze or move away. If it is safe, as “almost” always, then it’s the self-soothing or peace system’s time to shine by celebrating the miracle and beauty of life. How? Being: “Thankful, to feel alive, right here, right now.” 19/19