Nervous System Mastery: It’s not that deep …… or maybe it is….

Photo by Daniel Sinoca on Unsplash...

The ongoing journey of understanding our sense of self often requires an openness to explore beneath the surface, both in and out of conscious awareness. The individualised reality each nervous system is producing via the senses, memory components and complex networks is quite literally mind blowing. Individually and collectively it can lead to really challenging questions being asked: Why do I binge eat? Why do I drink too much ? Why do I have a visceral response to unfairness ? Why am I so materialistic? Why am I too empathetic ? Why do I feel so angry? Why don’t I feel anything ? What is our purpose? What can we do to feel safe? The list is infinite.

Pain Management and Energy Conservation

Obviously there is an array of different complex answers to challenging questions and our environment has played its part in some shape or form. But keep in mind ‘nature’ will ensure there is diversity in ‘coping approaches’ and simply navigating life itself e.g. numb the pain or avoid pain with alcohol. Or fill the ‘emotional hole' with food, in the short term both are a great fix but totally unsustainable. In contrast imagine having a nervous system that is bankrupt of empathy and cognitive flexibility. It would appear many humans from the past and present live with this affliction. Humans also have a powerful ability to avoid and/or deny both in and out of conscious awareness. Interestingly this appears to generate a swarm like effect, with many humans taking this approach (such as avoid/deny genocide, fascism or climate change). From a biological standpoint it can offer safety but just like the coping strategies above, avoid and/or deny potentially conserves energy &/or avoids pain but only in the short term. Ultimately the problem(s) & or trauma(s) remain often intensifying until avoid and denial becomes a redundant option.

Perhaps it is that deep after all….

Our emotional, thinking, movement, sensory data and memory systems are working tirelessly, both on and beneath the surface. But it is not just society, the environment or culture influencing our reality, it is also at the micro level. Lets explore some lesser known potential contributors to our individualised reality through a cellular lens:

Microchimerism- this is for the Mums out there!

A ‘chimera’ is a fanciful being.. think pheonix, mermaid, dragon, made up of parts from different animals. Now biologically a microchimera is a person made up from cells from more than one genetic origin. During pregnancy a baby’s cells can venture over the placenta and stay sometimes for decades or even a lifetime in Mum’s body. Fetal cells have been found in Mum’s brain, heart, lungs, liver and blood, even supporting healing. Likewise Mum’s cells can also enter the fetus. Such a two-way cellular exchange demonstrates the ethereal wonder of humanity.

More cycles and synchronicity

Now lets look at a different group of cells known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). This is a tiny cluster of cells in the hypothalamus of the brain (found above the roof of your mouth) that acts as the body's master clock, regulating circadian rhythms, including the sleep-wake cycle. It works with various hormones including cortisol, forming a pattern of release to ensure stimulation but also relaxation. But what is particularly clever is how cortisol can curate its own rhythm independently. For example the SCN can start to adjust and prepare ahead of the alarm going off after just 3 or 4 mornings of a new routine, because it learns from the initial spike in cortisol when we first started to react to the alarm going off. This is entrainment, where different rhythms influence one another and form a synchronicity to preempt.

Regardless of whether it is tiny cells doing their thing or a global human crisis it ALL contributes to OUR individual constructed reality. Humans are multi dimensional, connected to the natural world, our sense of self and fellow humans. Imagine creating a world that reflected this.