Brain Centers

You are not responsible for every emotion that surfaces. Some emotions may be triggered by your own thoughts and what you see, hear, taste, smell, and feel. But some emotions may be triggered by something in the external environment. Since your brain creates your “feelings” (your interpretation of what the emotion is trying to tell you) however, all things being equal you are responsible for the feelings you hang onto over time. Emotional signals appear to be interpreted into feelings in the frontal lobes of the neocortex or 3^rd brain layer. The pre-frontal areas directly behind your forehead help to identify the emotions and the feelings and to moderate emotional expression related to them. Emotional impulses tend to arise in the mammalian or 2^nd brain layer. Old habit patterns tend to hang around in the reptilian or 1^st brain layer and can surface quickly if your brain downshifts into that layer due to anger or fear. “Emotional processes operate at a much higher speed than thoughts, and often bypass the mind’s linear reasoning process entirely” (Joseph LeDoux - The Emotional Brain)