The 3 parts of the brain - front, mid, hind. The front part takes care of the logical/analytical stuff. That's what makes humans "smart", meaning animals either lack this part or have rather undeveloped front brains. The mid-brain is more primitive. The human mid-brain is essentially similar to most mammals. It has colourful names like dog brain, the puppy, lizard brain, reptilian brain etc. It handles fear and some basic emotions e.g. anger. The hind brain is for autonomic nervous functions e.g. respiration, digestion that you don't control consciously (the only exceptions you can force yourself to control are breathing and blinking).
The problem arises when our stress levels go way high, leading to fear and anger. (Btw, these point the way to the Dark Side of the Force.) The puppy now becomes so dominant that it hijacks your front brain, making you lose your rational thought. This is of course why you can't reason with an angry or frightened person. Solution - calm the person down before talking sense into him. Oh yes, at the same time you lose your rational thought, you are going to lose your fine and possibly complex motor skills. Talking, writing, messaging on a handphone become impossible. Have you ever been so stressed in an exam that you can't think straight and worse still, can't even hold your pen.
Fortunately, one solution is to BREATHE, as in breathe in on 4 counts, hold on 4 counts, breathe out on 4 counts, hold on 4 counts and repeat the cycle. This may not work with everyone in every situation but it sure beats sitting there stoned. Remember, breathing is one of the autonomic nervous functions you can control so it acts as a bridge between your autonomic nervous system and your somatic nervous system (which controls your fine motor skills). Hence, it works as it does.
slashed at 5:27 pm .