As humans we rely on our brains to protect us from mortal dangers to ensure our survival. As a species, we’ve developed a highly sensitized system of functioning to alert us to dangers that may be present in our environment but how often do these ingrained systems block us from the courage required to start that new job or new romantic relationship. Have you ever wondered how your fear of success or love prevents you from actually attaining it? Though you may profess and take steps to reach for the things you want, yet you somehow always run from or reject it. Deep within our faculties lie answers to unlocking the reoccurring thought patterns and behaviors that limit us from living to our fullest potential.
Srinivasan S. Pillay, MD, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, recently published, Life Unlocked: 7 Revolutionary Lessons to Overcome Fear, a book that gives the biological and psychological implications in our brains' responses to fear in clear and accessible language for any reader, along with practical tools and practices to overcome these patterns. Pillay explains the latest research findings of Cognitive Neuroscience and applies these findings to his experience as a therapist and director of the Outpatient Anxiety Disorders Program and the Panic Disorders Research Program in the Brain Imaging Center at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts through real life stories of patients.
Pillay outlines seven common fears that everyone experiences to some degree and that most of our fears come from the unconscious. Our brains process visual stimulus much quicker than our conscious realizes. An example is seeing a coiled rope in a dark hallway. Our first emotional response occurs in the thalamus which sends signals directly to the amygdala alerting us to the "snake". After a moment we are able to process the stimulus again, this time through the long route from the thalamus to the cortex(reasoning) which concludes it is actually a rope and then sends signals to the calm the reaction of amygdala.
The bridge he constructs for overcoming the isolating behaviors of fear is through personal exploration and therapy to understand the nature of our fears while we re-stitch the patterns of our brain connections with practices that can replace fear with hope so that we begin to change our previously established patterns. Based on his experience in clinical psychiatry and brain-imaging research, Pillay illustrates what ignites our fears and anxiety and how we have the possibility to rewire our responses with the proven concept of Neuroplasticity. He offers the reader a MAP-CHANGE approach at the end of every chapter to use as a practical tool towards establishing new connections and responses to life.
Life Unlocked contains the science and clinical research data to assist us in understanding and overcoming our fears and anxieties so that we may move past what we fear and truly reach for the stars. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the deeper science behind the mind-body-spirit connection to use as a platform for unlocking your hidden potential.
