(ethereal music)
- Here is a survival trick I've learnt in high-risk areas.
It's a form of mind control, controlling your own mind.
Let me introduce you to your three brains.
First, we have monkey brain.
This is the neocortex, the newest brain.
It is roughly two and a half million years old.
The neocortex is the thinking brain.
You've used this brain to figure out how to chip,
flint spearheads and cover the cave walls
in the finest art.
Then we have shrew brain.
This is the mammalian brain
or limbic system and was formed 250 million years ago
and includes the amygdala and hippocampus.
This is the emotional part of the brain
and is responsible for remembering good or bad experiences.
Then we have the lizard brain.
That's your brainstem and cerebellum,
which dates back to 400 million years ago.
Lizard does the basics
in control of the body's vital functions
like breathing, heart rate, body temperature and balance.
To remember all of that,
let's paint a stupid scenario.
Monkey, shrew and lizard
are driving in a classic car racing across Southern France.
The sun is shining and life is beautiful.
Here's monkey in the driver's seat.
Monkey is us, reasoning, analytical.
Monkey can do all manner of shit
none of the other animals can do.
Plan for the future.
Imagine abstract scenarios, create art, plot murder,
make jokes, apply reason, solve problems
and delay gratification.
But monkey is also easily led astray by shrew and lizard.
Beside him in the middle is shrew.
If you were asking what possessed you,
it was probably shrew.
He does that.
Shrew robs monkey of reason.
He makes impulsive choices.
Shrew is all emotion, wild desire, fear,
rage, arousal, anxiety, intuition and instinct.
Lizard's job is mechanics and reflexes.
He's in charge of the basic systems, digestion,
sweating, shivering.
He is the engineer in charge of monitoring
hundreds of dials, temperature, electrolytic balance,
blood sugars.
Being the engineer he says things like
the engines cannot take it anymore, captain.
All is well until our friends drive around the corner
on a parallel stretch of mountainous road.
And there's a geopolitically unlikely,
but narratively significant terrorist ambush.
(suspenseful music)
To make matters worse
an Apache helicopter arrives on the scene
and begins launching rockets at the insurgents,
blowing much of the road to bits.
They're surrounded and it's absolute chaos.
Time to panic.
It's a fight or flight situation.
All our three brains want us to survive,
but they can't agree how.
They fight over the steering wheel.
Red mist clouds, they're thinking,
it's a riot in a zoo, but in a car.
To make matters worse
lizard cracks open his personal stash
of endocannabinoids and endorphins, serotonin and dopamine,
which if you were to buy these out on the street
would be hash, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.
Everyone overdoses.
This is panic.
Our humanity is being overwhelmed
by primitive animal urges.
All three are freaking the fuck out,
but that's not what we're gonna do, oh, no.
We're going to play this one cool.
Breathing is the one mechanism we have control over
in a fight or flight situation.
This is the trick.
All you do is take three or four, five
deep breaths in through the nose, hold,
and then out again.
Breathing is the one function that we have control over
in a fight or flight situation.
It is a wedge against panic.
Breathing tell shrew and lizard
who's in charge, you are.
I can't tell you the best decision to make
for whatever stresses your life throws at you.
But I can tell you the best state of mind to be in
when you make those decisions.
Much of surviving in high-risk situations
is using common sense in extraordinary circumstances.
Breathing puts monkey back in the driver's seat.
And when monkey is back in control of the wheels
options begin to emerge.
A J turnout of their rock, smoke grenades
or that truck on the left.
Monkey takes a deep breath.
Guys, we have to chill.
With a swift nod and aye, aye, captain
lizard tweaks a few knobs and leavers
and we see our vital function,
heart rate, electrolytic balance, blood sugar,
move to acceptable levels.
Shrew's training kicks in and he's able to reign in his fear
and all those scary drugs we mentioned.
Well, this is the best bit.
They are here to help you.
All those drugs become performance enhancing.
They drown out the chatter, pain, fear,
and allow you to concentrate on finding a way out.
They make you superhuman.
As they escape the carnage behind them
and drive towards the sunset
our three friends, look at each other and laugh,
yeah, fuck, yeah, fucking hell, yeah.
This is flow.
Flow is all the best bits of fight or flight
without being carried off by fear or emotion.
It's a Goldilocks zone between human reason
and animal savagery.
Flow is being cool.
Flow is life at its best.
(ethereal music)