Flow State: Giving the Finger to Fear Since the 1970s

When you give someone the middle finger, you usually look them in the eyes and express your displeasure. Giving Fear the middle finger, on the other hand, is the polar opposite of giving him the middle finger. To get rid of fear, you ignore it and don’t have an opinion about it.

Entering a state of flow, where your work and skill level are in a growth sweet spot, is the key to overcoming fear. When you’re in Flow, key portions of your brain are in a transitory hypofrontality condition; transient meaning temporary, and hypo means less. You can achieve your full potential by temporarily reducing these areas.

I’m going to describe how flow allows you to “lessen” one aspect of your talent, sport, job, or life, allowing you to give fear the middle finger and thrive in your skill, sport, career, or life.

IT’S A LITTLE NUTTY

Many of our emotions and motives are known to be influenced by the almond-shaped Amygdala, which is found in each hemisphere and is part of the limbic system. Those associated with survival, such as fear, in particular. The Amygdala is a cluster of nuclei (cells) deep within your temporal lobe. Your Amygdala is also in charge of memory storage and location.

FEAR

The location of neurons responsible for fear and conditioning has been discovered thanks to scientific studies into the amygdala. Because of the simplicity with which it may be created and evaluated, fear is the most researched response. Dread conditioning is a technique for teaching people to fear something by repeatedly exposing them to it. The brain may be reprogrammed to develop new memories and to induce fear on command as a result of this recurrent conditioning.

Loud, unpleasant noises and frightening events might lead your brain to rewire and build memories that will change your views. The emotional amygdala increases your experience of sound and danger, which is then stored as distressing.

UNCONSCIOUS PROGRAMMING

After digesting this information, you’ll see how you may have unknowingly programmed yourself to fear, dislike, worry, and be afraid of certain things. Such that your real potential for hacking the flow state and achieving in your life’s direction has been hindered by this unconscious fear conditioning.

THE “OH SHIT” SITUATIONS IN FEAR RESPONSE

The fear reaction, also known as the stress reaction, starts with your sensitive amygdala, which is the first to sense a stressful circumstance. The amygdala processes danger’s pictures and noises emotionally and alerts the hypothalamus immediately.

El capitano, often known as the hypothalamus, is the master gland. When it says “jump,” you say “how high.” The hypothalamus communicates with the autonomic nervous system, which regulates involuntary physiological functions such as breathing, blood pressure, heartbeat, dilation or constriction of major blood vessels, bronchioles, and organ and gland homeostasis.

There are two branches to the autonomic nervous system. Nervous systems that are sympathetic and parasympathetic. Your fight or flight reaction is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, whereas your rest and digest system is controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system. As a result, one becomes aroused while the other becomes calm.

As a result, the sympathetic nervous system is activated by the distress signal delivered from the amygdala to the hypothalamus, which sends distress signals to the adrenal glands via the autonomic neurons. The adrenals react by pumping adrenaline (also known as the hormone epinephrine) into the bloodstream, which causes physiological changes throughout the body.

The heart rate is increasing, which is causing blood to rush to the muscles and other essential organs. Blood pressure rises, and breathing quickens, sucking in more oxygen and increasing alertness in the brain. Hearing and other senses are sharpened. Simultaneously, adrenaline causes blood sugar levels to rise (glucose and fats from temporary storage sites).

FASTER THAN A BULLET

The amygdala and hypothalamus communicate so quickly that the visual centers of the brain haven’t had time to properly comprehend the information. That’s why we hear of supernatural ninja reflexes from people who are confronted with tremendous danger and take action.

HPA AXIS

The hypothalamus triggered two of the stress responses when the adrenaline spike began to wear off. The HPA axis is a term that refers to the axis that controls the production of hormones in the The sympathetic nervous system keeps its “pedal to the metal.” When the hypothalamus detects that the danger is still present, it releases CRH (corticotropin-releasing hormone), which signals the pituitary gland to release ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone).

ACTH travels to the adrenal glands, causing cortisol production to increase. Cortisol gives you a “heavy foot,” allowing you to keep your “pedal to the metal” attitude.

IT’S OK FOR A LITTLE WHILE BUT WATCH OUT

While our fear/stress response is vital, it can have a substantial inhibiting effect on triggering the flow state and hence actually flourishing in your profession in the wrong hands. You can be taught to not only fail as a consequence of fear, but also to fear and fail as a result of fear.

PLUS, if you keep your “pedal to the metal,” your sympathetic system will overwork and flood your system with stress hormones, making it much worse. Cortisol, a.k.a. cortisol, inhibits your escape during the struggle phase of the 4 cycles of flow, giving you the feeling of having lead feet.

SO WHAT’S THE ANSWER?

Simple, Flow State.

Why?

We engage our optimal performance mind and body condition when we enter the flow state. Our brain works together to achieve a temporary hypofrontality. Dr. Arne Dietrich of the American University of Beirut, Lebanon’s department of social and behavioral sciences invented the phrase to describe when regions of our pre-frontal cortex begin to deteriorate.

The term transient refers to something that is only present for a short period of time, hypo: under, beneath, below or less. Frontality, on the other hand, refers to the frontal lobe of the brain (in particular the pre-frontal cortex).

Hyper is the polar opposite of Hypo: hyperactive or exceptionally energetic.

According to studies, hyperactivity causes amygdala hyperactivity, hyper-vigilance, and hyper-awareness, which leads to anxiety and unproductive stress. When the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPEC) is agitated, the amygdala is disturbed, and the chain reaction of fear is triggered, according to Dr. Arne Dietrich’s research.

EMPOWERING KNOWLEDGE BUT…

Now, this empowering knowledge: when we enter flow, we unknowingly give the finger to fear by entering a transient hypofrontality. Close the door to distraction and open the door to your own particular potential. You can achieve this state, but retraining your fear response and entering flow require regular practice and training.

If you haven’t previously signed up for our free flow state course, you may do so now and receive four additional flow state courses, giving you the tools to train in the flow.

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This article is originally written from this website: How to Give the Finger to Fear Through Hacking the Flow State.