DANGER BRAIN/SAFE BRAIN–August 26, 2024

• DO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR BRAIN STATES
• DANGER BRAIN IS A PLACE WITHOUT WORDS
• YOU CANNOT DO IT ALL WITH YOUR PREFRONTAL CORTEX
• LEAN INTO SAFE BRAIN BY COMBINING THE TWO

Do YOU know about your brain states?

DOING SOMETHING! Thanks Michelle Obama.

Mental health service requests are at a record rate of demand, and there is a lack of capacity to meet all the needs.  Societies around the globe are overwhelmed with the crises of climate change, violence, political manipulation, and antidiversity sentiments.  I took a course in my sophomore year of college on the dangers inherent in polarized thinking (all-or-nothing or black-and-white thinking) which I have come to call Danger Brain. Psychologically, the brain has a need to categorize for simplicity and survival.  I can teach you how to look past the black-and-white thinking of Danger Brain and search for the grey by leaning into Safe Brain. 

I focus on two brain states as many of my clients will tell you.  These brain states simplify the anxiety, fear, anger, depression, and downward spirals that you experience individually and as a member of a collective society.  When Danger Brain takes over individually, you suffer. When Danger Brain takes over collectively, WE suffer.  That collective usually involves people who are in power and as such entire political parties that hold and perpetuate Danger Brain.  Now is the time for Safe Brain.  A person who leans into Safe Brain has wellbeing.  A collective society that leans into Safe Brain can change the world.

Danger Brain is a brain state stemming from your limbic system that allows us to react to danger without thinking.  Eight times per second your brain is asking if you are safe.  You might be operating in a Danger Brain state when you are tense, harsh, and have “all or nothing” thinking.  Safe Brain is one of your brain states that is calm, nuanced, able to think in both/and terms (also known as dialectical). The world is a complex world with a lot of sensory inputs happening multiple times per second.  Danger Brain, unchecked, runs rampant.  You can develop the tools to explore Danger Brain, make friends with it, work with it, and not let it run your life.  You can lean into Safe Brain for a more integrated brain and less symptoms of depression, anxiety, and trauma. Collectively, this will lead to increased community, kindness, loyalty, and respect.

There are people who know how to manipulate fear, anxiety and downward spirals to inspire Danger Brain to come to the surface.  The more we know about this state, the more we can work with it, make friends with it, and not let it control us.  Let’s start a Safe Brain movement for ourselves and our society.