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When we have the flight or flight response, what happens in our mind? We begin to list all the possible threats in order that our system will be as prepared as possibly it can be for whatever it is that is coming our way.
Say we're walking in the woods. We hear a twig snap behind us. We spin around to see what caused the snapping. As our head is turning (and in our model, subjectively this is happening in extreme slow motion), our mind is naming every possible twig-snapping physiology, within certain parameters. In other words, we're not going to be thinking, "bunny rabbit, clown, show poodle," because there's no payoff in increased odds of survival in being ready to face a clown. Rather, our mind will be listing something along the lines of, "lion, tiger, bear, rapist, murderer," because our system believes that if the threat turns out to be something already in our mind, we will be better able to protect ourselves from it. This may, in fact, be the case if we are being attacked, or about to be attacked. But again, the problem arises when our mind, triggered by stress, is making lists of all the dangerous things in our world and our chances of being attacked are something close to zero. In this scenario, the lists simply are causing even more stress response in us. Which causes the making of even more lists. Etc. Ad infinitum.
Today I will notice if I'm listing potential world evils in my mind, and I will make a point to become present, rather than to continue.
 Valley Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, Studio City
(probably not dangerous)
All material copyright Jeff Kober (except book jacket image)
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