Getting To Know Your Nervous System

Your nervous system is a complex network of nerves and cells that carry messages between your brain and the rest of your body.

It’s responsible for signaling your body and brain about everything important for you to function, including when it’s time to sleep, eat, and wake up. 

It reads signals from the outside environment to tell you when you might need to protect yourself, when it’s safe to relax or if there is something new and interesting that deserves your attention.

It also reads signals from your internal environment, like the thoughts in your mind, or whether there are stress hormones present that indicate a potential threat, or tension in your muscles that might indicate a need to run or fight. 

Our brain receives these messages and automatically responds in a way that uses the least amount of energy—aka, what is familiar or habitual. 

So in order to change the way we automatically respond to situations like negative thought spirals, or communication patterns in relationship, it’s important to know the basics of our nervous system so we know what’s happening and when, and how to set ourselves up for success in retraining and re-wiring old pathways of thought and behavior.

Conducting our inner orchestra

Imagine an orchestra. Each musician plays their part, but depends on the conductor’s signals so the whole system can work in harmony to handle change in tempo or a movement in unison. 

If the conductor didn’t know who was in his orchestra, or how the instruments contributed to the overall composition, he wouldn’t be able to guide them. 

Likewise, if the conditions in the musical hall were suboptimal – like it being too dim to see the pages or it being too cold for the instruments, or the musicians themselves being sluggish, then that would impact the ability of the orchestra to function well. 

In this analogy, you are the conductor. 

The musicians, their instruments, and the conditions of the music hall relate to the structures of your nervous system and the health of your internal environment.

Understanding the major players in your nervous system is essential to knowing how to direct your attention, and what tools to use in which situation. 

The Prefrontal Cortex

When your nervous system is in a state of relaxed engagement, you have the fullest access to the healthy functions of your Prefrontal Cortex. 

When your Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) or “best self brain” is healthily engaged, you have access to your best empathy, creative problem solving, perspective, sociability, focus, intellect, optimal immune system and circadian rhythm. 

The Limbic System

When your nervous system perceives a threat (whether conscious or unconscious), the complex of structures in your nervous system responsible for your survival (referred to as your Limbic system) kicks in and takes over your brain and body resources. You move into reaction mode – acting from whatever behavior/pattern is your familiar pathway for surviving, which keeps you stuck in a familiar pattern loop.

One of the things that keeps you in Limbic activation is the thoughts you run through your mind. When you overthink about things that make you feel bad, worried, or frustrated, it is like you are feeding yourself stress, over and over. 

Generally speaking, your Limbic system gets dibs on brain resources (because our primary wiring is for survival) so by definition, if you are operating from a Limbic space, you cannot be operating from your PFC. 

When your Limbic system is holding the relational reins, you default to survival responses like judging, us vs. them mentality, hoarding, impulsive choices, selfish behavior, social isolation or withdrawal, jealousy, aggression, avoiding/numbing, grandiosity, sleep problems, or appetite problems.

How to resource your nervous system

Resourcing your nervous system with good food, healthy thoughts, connection, exercise, meditation, vagal toning practices and balanced sleep will help prime you for optimal functioning. 

With your system at optimal functioning, it is easier to notice you are emotionally hijacked (awareness), and bring your nervous system back into harmony so you can metabolize the emotions that are arising, and relate/make choices from your best self instead of your survival self. 

This is the pivotal step to effecting change.

If you want support in getting know your nervous system and diving deeper into creating change in your life, please reach out to me for 1:1 sessions: HERE