Connecting Through the Fear

Are you in?

What part does fear play in your life? In modern life? In the US election? In our response to Covid-19?

Our human bodies evolved nervous systems that respond to threat with fear then activate survival responses — flight fight freeze fawn. Our primitive brain rules and our conscious mind has trouble being heard. We become more selfish and self-centered as we are driven by unconscious needs for survival. Fear plays an enormous role.

We also evolved to survive and cooperate in small communities or tribes — extended family groups of people who have each other’s back and view outsiders as a threat. The most successful groups had a diversity of skills and perspectives. Some people were hypervigilant and warned the others of impending threat. Elders were valued for the wisdom of experience. Others had a gift for healing.

We understood that the tribe survived or died together based on cooperation and mutuality of respect. A downside is that within this structure, individuals were highly susceptible to being shamed. It was a survival threat to be kicked out or ostracized and we did anything to stay connected.

It matters who we see as “our people”. Who is our insider group and who is in the threatening outsider groups? We are hardwired to mistrust and compete with people on the…