After working more than 25 years in the world of Information Technology, repairing computers, buying and selling technological products, etc.
After almost 3 decades of living in the business world and the rational world, having learned about Technology at the service of Tourism, etc.
Just a little over 4 years ago, in my work as a Personal and Organizational Coach, I learned that human beings can know (little or a lot) about biology, anatomy, psychology, engineering or business, in general about many other sciences and arts.
What we know little (or almost nothing) about, most of us human beings, is about our Emotional World.
Biological origin
At the top of our spinal cord is the brain stem, the most primitive region of the brain (also known as the reptilian brain), regulator of basic vital functions such as: respiration, organ metabolism, etc. Out of this primitive brain the emotional centers emerged, and, millions of years later, the thinking brain.
Our first emotions were produced by smells. At first, the olfactory center was made up of only two cell groups: one registered any aroma and classified it - edible, toxic, sexually available - and the other sent reflex responses through the nervous system, ordering our body to take actions. out - eat, vomit, etc.-
Then, the brain evolved and new groups of cells were formed, until the limbic system was constituted.
Finally, the Neocortex is constituted, the most recent cerebral cortex on the phylogenetic scale and that, in our species, reaches its maximum development, occupying most of the cerebral surface.
In summary, and in order not to complicate the lexicon used, there are 3 types of Brains in all of us: Reptilian, Limbic and Neocortex. The limbic is where the emotions are registered.
When you feel anger or fear, you are under the influence of the limbic system. In it are the thalamus, in charge of sending to the thinking part of the brain (neocortex) the information it receives from the senses; the hypothalamus, which regulates sexual impulses and other mood states; the hippocampus, related to learning and memory; and the amygdala, which controls fear.
When the limbic system was formed, man stopped responding only reflexively to stimuli; He was still deciding whether or not to eat a food based on its smell, but recognizing the aromas and more consciously discriminating the good from the bad. This work was and is carried out by the nasal brain, a part of the limbic circuit that constitutes the rudimentary base of the thinking brain or Neocortex.
As millions of years passed, the Neocortex - the intellect - continued to develop. This part of the brain allows us to experience feelings - in addition to coordinating and reflecting on our movements. To him we owe the survival of our species and the start of our emotional life: thus, in addition to experiencing pleasure with mating, emotional bonds were created. As the Neocortex mass increases over time, the number of neural connections with the limbic system has increased, which increases the amount of emotional responses.
In the same way that there is a close relationship between emotions and our nerve centers, emotional life has repercussions on the immune system. As guardian of the body, this system identifies each cell of the organism and decides what is its own to protect it and what is foreign to it - a cancer, for example. To destroy it. Hence the rejection that sometimes occurs with certain transplants.
When we experience negative emotions, our immune system decreases its effectiveness, while happy people have a great capacity to respond to both internal and external aggressions.
How to control our emotions
The most evolved part of the brain, the Neocortex, is the one that must be used to achieve control of emotions.
With rational intelligence, we must order our brains to reason out the causes of an outburst of anger or an attack of shyness, and then order the emotion to calm down.
To achieve this, we can breathe abdominally, filling and emptying, deeply, first the abdomen and then the lungs. If we do not find reasons for the outbursts, the order should also be given not to lose control.
Applying the ability to reason to the emotional terrain, emotional intelligence will be re-educated. Emotions will only manifest themselves intensely when the situation warrants it. With patience, it is possible to control both the innate and the acquired and balances the body, heart and mind. Yoga and meditation are also a good help in the process of emotional control.
