7 Ways to Calm Your Survival Brain
The most ancient parts of our brains are hardwired to 1) always be on the lookout for threats and 2) pay more attention and give more weight to potential threats in the environment than to potential good things. This “negativity bias” was helpful in the conditions our ancestors lived in throughout most of human evolution, but can create challenges for living in our modern world.
Although many people in the Western world are living in safer conditions than ever before in human history, it often doesn’t feel that way. The survival parts of our brains can’t tell the difference between something happening in real life versus something that we are just hearing about, especially something we are seeing on a screen.
This leads to a host of challenges, including an epidemic of anxiety. Fortunately, our brains have an incredible capacity to learn and grow. We just need to use the newer parts of our brains to understand what is happening and take active steps to reassure and calm the older survival parts of our brains so we can thrive in the modern world.
Here are seven ways we can calm our survival brains to balance the negativity bias and see the world in a more positive, realistic way:
Practice gratitude. There is a reason why gratitude gets so much attention in the positive psychology literature - because it works! Just the effort of trying to think of something that we feel grateful for switches us out of the fight/flight chemistry in our brains and bodies into the prefrontal cortex. There are many easy ways to incorporate more gratitude into our daily lives, such as establishing the habit of every evening writing down three things we are grateful for.
Prioritize joy/laughter. We can’t be in stress chemistry and laughing at the same time. Our culture has a serious joy deficit. But for optimal mental and physical health, we need to find ways to bring more joy and laughter into our lives. Start by making a list of all the things that bring you joy. Then do one thing today, even a tiny thing like taking a moment to stand in the sun and feel its warming rays on your face. Really let yourself savor the experience, and feel the joy chemistry flow through your body. Laughter also is super powerful for shifting out of stress chemistry into joy chemistry.
Spend more time in nature. Our human bodies, including our brains, evolved over millions of years completely in sync with nature. Since the invention of agriculture about 10,000 years ago, then with industrialization in the last couple hundred years, and even more profoundly with the technology boom of the last few decades, we have been growing more and more out of touch with nature, which is very hard on both our bodies and our brains. Whatever you can do to spend more time in nature, your body and your brain will thank you!
Seek out positive social support. Throughout most of human history, our ancestors lived in small, tightly-knit bands and social connection was crucial to survival. We are hard-wired to seek social connection, especially in-person connection, and our society is rapidly going the opposite direction. Do whatever you can to connect with people, even something simple such as striking up a short conversation with the cashier at the grocery store. There is much research being done now that shows positive social connection is more important to our mental and physical health than just about everything, including our diet, exercise, and smoking, as described in this TED talk.
Focus on positive thoughts and feelings. The part of our brains that decides whether we are under threat is constantly scanning both our external environment and our internal environment - our thoughts and feelings. If we are constantly thinking fearful thoughts, our survival brains are going to get pretty nervous. An example would be going into a new situation imagining everything that could possibly go wrong, and going over and over those fears in our minds. On the other hand, if we are thinking positive, realistic thoughts, our survival brains will be a lot calmer. Going into a new situation we could make a list of things that might be challenging and what we could do if they occur. Then shift the focus to the positive - things that we’re looking forward to in the situation, gratitude for the opportunity, remembering successes we’ve had with similar situations in the past, etc. This will help the survival brain see the new situation in a more balanced way.
Talk to your survival brain - it is listening. Simple acknowledgement and reassurance can make a big difference, such as : “Hey, survival brain, I know you are just trying to keep me safe and I really appreciate that. But now we know there is a much better way. When you are relaxed and not getting distracted by the things in our modern environment that aren’t real threats, we’ll have all our resources available to live our best life, including appropriately responding to any true threats that might arise.”
Use positive visualization. Our survival brains mostly take their cues from nonverbal images and emotions. That part of our brains can’t tell the difference between something that is actually happening and something we are just thinking about. As we’ve explored, that can have negative consequences, but it turns out we can use this feature to our benefit by imagining times when we felt happy and relaxed, spending a few minutes really engaging all the senses to shift fully into calm and relaxation.
These are seven simple ways to help calm our survival brains so we’re not constantly in reacting mode. I’d love to hear your experience with these strategies and/or others you have found that help you feel more calm, happy, and relaxed. Please send your questions, comments, and suggestions to liz@happybrainlife.com.
One last note: people who have experienced trauma in their lives often have more highly activated, easily triggered survival brains. If this is the case for you, you may need more intensive help to calm the part of your brain that understandably just wants to keep you safe. Please seek whatever professional guidance you need.
