"Your brain's number one job is to keep us alive. One of the ways it does this is by constantly taking in information-from the world around you and from inside your body-and asking: Am I safe enough or not safe enough to handle what's happening right now? Your nervous system spreads the word throughout your body. It connects your brain to your heart, your gut, your muscles, your breath-and depending on the answer, it changes how they all work together."
"When your brain decides you're safe enough, your nervous system switches on its connection circuit. Your heart beats steadily. Your breathing stays calm. Blood and oxygen stay available to the thinking part of your brain. It's like all the lights are on upstairs, making it easier for us to be curious, creative, compassionate, calm, and courageous.But when your brain decides you're not safe enough, your nervous system switches on its protection circuit."
The body evaluates safety before conscious awareness and adjusts physiological systems to prioritize survival. When safety is perceived, breathing, heart rate, and blood flow support thinking, creativity, and social engagement. When threat is perceived, physiology shifts toward protection: heart rate and breathing increase and resources move to muscles. Common behaviors like snapping, withdrawing, over-helping, or resentful thoughts act as nervous-system signals rather than moral flaws. Many people present calm externally while experiencing internal strain, a pattern labeled quiet cracking. Learning to notice and respond to these bodily signals with small safety-building steps can restore regulation and wellbeing.
Read at Psychology Today
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