Response Ability

He was right, of course. And I did find my wallet, lying on the snowy parking lot of that pub, just as it had landed after falling from my jacket pocket, everything still intact. I was reminded of this episode recently while doing some research on emotional vs. logical responses and pondering why it is that sometimes we just can’t stop the emotional response no matter how illogical or irrational it may be. A lot of these thoughts were taken from Emily Sterrett’s book The Science Behind Emotional Intelligence. What I learned is that scientists have now discovered that signals are sent to the brain through both chemical and electrical transmissions. The chemical transmission system, using peptides, is far older in evolutionary history than the electrical one. Emotional responses using these chemical transmissions are milliseconds faster than thinking responses relying on electrical transmissions. This evolutionary development was a survival mechanism whereby the reflex brain could send a warning of a crisis before the rational brain could even process the signal. The body was alerted through its chemical receptors and could begin to react. The emotional brain, or limbic system, is thought to have developed out of the base reflex brain. It stores every experience we have from the first moments of life – impressions and feelings before we could even understand them or give them names. These impressions are very vivid; they appear to open neural pathways that make them stronger in our minds. We sometimes react to situations that trigger an association with some of these past events without even knowing why. As we live life, we experience more and that vast impression warehouse fills. We also acquire stronger intuitions, hunches and gut reactions, all fed from the emotional brain. This brain also controls what impulses get passed along to the cortex and neocortex or the thinking brain. It assigns weight or preferences in doing so based on the warehouse of experiences. These two or three parts of the brain share millions of connections over which neurons travel freely and at incredible speeds, enabling the emotional and rational brains to influence each other in complex and a myriad of ways. That’s why sometimes it’s best when thinking through a particularly difficult challenge to just “sleep on it”, allowing the two brains to communicate uninterrupted by conscious thought. The emotional brain can offer us valuable clues as to why we feel the way we do in response to triggers. It can and should guide our behaviors. Emotional intelligence or just plain ol’ maturity enables us to become aware of these emotions and harness them if we don’t let them get out of control and, instead, find ways to put them to good use. The rational brain should help keep us from being overpowered by strong emotional responses. But it shouldn’t completely overshadow the emotional brain. Like everything else, balance is key. Ignoring emotions, or not even being aware of them means we are handicapping ourselves, as we are left to respond without the benefit of all the input available to us. Worse, denying these emotional responses actually sets up molecular blockages that cause changes to the body’s cells. Research has shown that the chemical information substances flow more freely when we allow ourselves to experience emotions – keeping that vital pathway open. I recall a sermon years ago by a very good friend who stood in the middle aisle, shuffling his feet in cadence, as he intentionally fractured the word “responsibility” into “Response Ability”. The message was clear and still is all these years later – you are responsible for your reactions. Through this exercise, I’ve learned that we must use both emotional and rational inputs, in balance and in check.