We are all animals and therefore many things that we learn about our brains and bodies come from the study of animals, in comparison to us, as people.
Zebras
When we look at stress and coping there have been some amazing studies regarding stress and coping that Robert Sapolsky has examined and written about. Robert Sapolsky is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation genius grant. One of his more famous works is Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers (I created a link but do not receive any affiliated compensation…I just think this is great stuff!). In his book, Sapolsky essentially talks about the stress responses and the impact it has on the body, not only in animals (in this case a zebra) and in humans.
Sapolsky writes:
“Think like a zebra for a second…for animals like zebras, the most upsetting things in life are acute physical crisis.
You are that zebra, a lion has just leapt out and ripped your stomach open, you’ve managed to get away, and now you have to spend the next hour evading the lion as it continues to stalk you. Or, perhaps just as stressfully, you are that lion, half starved, and you had better be able to sprint across the savanna at top speed and grab something to eat or you won’t survive. These are extremely stressful events, and they demand immediate physiological adaptations if you are going to live.”
He explains that the body of these animals reacts just as it should, adapting to deal with a short-term physical emergency.
Let’s say you’re the zebra and you escape the lion, or conversely if you are the lion and you get your meal. Once the physical emergency is over the body regulates back to its normal state. Rarely are these animals in a chronic state of crisis.
However, people are great at being in a chronic state of crisis. We create social stressors and worry about what we’re going to be when we grow up. We worry about the state of our world and what condition it is going to be in when our children grow up. People can be in a chronic state of stress.
Now hold on to that thought for a moment.
Lobsters
Rabbi Dr. Abrahma Twerski gives a great talk on responding to stress. If you watch the Youtube video you get the quick point. If you don’t watch it the summary is simple.
The question is: how do lobsters grow?
A lobster’s body is actually very soft, and it is covered by a hardened shell. The shell does not grow with the lobster, and so when the lobster begins to feel the pressure and discomfort of his shell he swims to the bottoms of the ocean floor, hides from predators and sheds his old, ill-fitting shell and grows a new one.
This process continues throughout the lifespan of the lobster, as long as it still grows. He goes on to say that the catalyst for change is the discomfort; however, humans only try to mask discomfort with medications or suppressing feelings, etc. that growth does not happen.
How to channel my inner animal
- Learn to allow our stress response to engage when it is important to do so, and turn off when it is important to do so.
- If we utilize mindfulness to evaluate our fear, worries, and anxieties we can determine if we are making assumptions, and also what is factual. NEWS FLASH, not all thoughts are fact.
- We can learn to allow stress to be of benefit to us. Yes, stress kills, but only if we think it is bad for us. If we can see that this stress is going to challenge us and teach us something—or give me the courage to do/say something our body manages stress much better.
- Be okay will discomfort. When we learn to accept it and not let our problems become greater than ourselves we can grow from these situations. We can shed our lobster shells and get bigger, better lobster shells!
Probably not what you were quite expecting as far as channeling your inner animal, but animals use stress to their advantage. They use it to survive (real) dangers and they use it to grow. We can do the same if we create a better awareness around our own mind and body.
Ready to learn the skills necessary to avoid ulcers and learn to grow? Let Jolene at Mindful Wellness Counseling know, today!
