John Kotter of the Harvard Business School suggests that successful change efforts come when people are helped to "see the problem or solutions in ways that influence emotions, not just thought."
Phillips continues along this line: "Unfortunately, that kind of thinking is not taught in many business schools, seminaries, or leadership courses...it does not come naturally to the modern leaders who pride themselves on disciplined, analytical, and reasoned thinking. Contrary to what many of us have been taught...changing our behavior is more than just acquiring more information. It involves renewing our mind (Romans 12:1,2)... "Few people, however, really understand the process of renewing our minds and rewiring our brains...our thinking begins with our emotions...Changing behavior does mean changing how we think...However, truly changing how we think requires us to deal with emotion's power first."
While clearly defining emotions is difficult, many psychologists agree that there are three aspects present in emotions:
- Conscious experience - emotions are felt and verbalized
- Emotional behavior - epitomized in actions such as laughing, crying, smiling...
- Physiological events - these are primarily uncontrolled reactions of the nervous system (such as sweating when we are afraid, faster heart beats when excited, etc.
The two main structures in the brain are the "amygdala" (emotional) and the "neocortex" (rational). If the amygdala is disconnected from other structures in the brain, it can't evaluate the emotional significance of events and will result in a life without meaning. Information that comes through our five senses travels first to the thalamus from where it then goes on to both the amygdala and the neocortex; however, it reaches the amygdala first. This saves time in the case of an emergency when immediate action is required without having to know all the details of the situation first.
While the amygdala is preparing the impulsive reaction, the prefrontal lobes of the brain (which is at the end of the circuit to the neocortex) "attempt to inhibit the influence of the reactive amygdala...This area brings a more thoughtful, analytical response, modulating the emotions."
Phillips explains the brain functions in more detail showing how parts of the brain act as a "damper" or a neural thermostat to regulate unpleasant emotions..."Without this damper, an emotional hijack can occur...'The hijacking occurs in an instant, triggering this reaction crucial moments before the neocortex, the thinking brain, has had a chance to glimpse fully what is happening, let alone decide if it is a good idea.' (from Daniel Goleman, "Emotional Intelligence")
This explains why a present insignificant event can trigger emotional pain from an unhealed negative event in the person's past. "When someone is emotionally (unhealed) or environmental factors have created stressful situations, no matter how much the damper of the left neocortex tries to restrict a purely emotional reaction, it may not be able to. (And so) we feel before we think."
The author makes an important conclusion to this section of the chapter by saying:
"As our brain's emotional systems have assessed limited meaning from the situation and are preparing for action, the cognitive rational systems in our brain are trying to prepare a more educated response...What we (call) rational thought is actually the rationalization of our emotional reaction to the experience we are having...We might think we are being logical. However, all we are really doing is rationalizing our emotional understanding of a situation."
Because of the length of this chapter, I will make another posting in a day or two to conclude it...
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