The Autonomic Nervous System & Our Human Behavior
Science is always evolving. That’s the point. It’s designed to be questioned. And, we are allowed to change our minds about things. That’s a beautiful, messy thing about being human. The only constant is change.
Our Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is quite possibly the most magnificent thing ever designed by Source. The ANS was once thought to be two-parts, acting reciprocally, with babies feeling no pain and having no memory. It was thought that the sympathetic was the stress response, and the parasympathetic was the rest and relaxation.
This is not the case. Our Autonomic Nervous System is much more brilliant and complex than we originally hypothesized.
Majority of our behavior is ANS-driven. Think religion, politics, career, love, entertainment, etc. Politicians, actors, pastors, etc., all zone in on fear and sex as these are at the center of our biological design.
We are designed to be in a perceived state of safety majority of the time (80%), with a few dabbles in perceived threat (20%). Health, growth, and restoration happens in a perceived state of safety, while survival or maintenance happens when there is a threat. Intimacy, orgasm, birth all happen when we feel safe and at home in our bodies. Reproduction, by biological design, does not happen when there is a perceived threat. This is the brilliance of our human bodies.
Our nervous system is designed to enhance our survival and safety. It will perceive a threat. Once a threat is perceived our nervous system works backwards from the most modern branch to the oldest branch (social → sympathetic → parasympathetic).
One branch does not solely operate in threat while another branch operates solely in safety. All three branches operate in safety and threat, depending on our development and how we were programmed, based on our nurturing and experiences. We all have behavioral patterns. These originate from our nervous system, which date back to conception and the first three to seven years of life.
Are you mind blown yet? What reflections come up for you? Questions?
