Many of us will likely have been witness to a child’s shopping store tantrum – one in which an    outraged child was seen wailing away about a desirable purchase, for what they deem to be a perceived need.  Meanwhile, onlookers and observers would also very likely have slipped into a judgmental stance, thinking that what was really needed, was proper parenting, and/or a good dose of childhood self-restraint.

Sound familiar? However, it’s both more complex, and more simple than that.

The human body is an amazingly & complex machine.  When we think of machines, we think of several subcomponent systems that each have to operate well (to varying degrees) in order for that machine to function properly.  Note that when I say to varying degrees, that safe operating range variance can be considered to be a homeostatic range.  When subsystems fluctuate outside that range, other systems  respond accordingly.  It’s that simple.

Consider perhaps, an oversimplified example, a situation in which the oxygen in our blood drops due to fatigue/. An internal message gets sent (often beneath the level of consciousness) as a physiological response to try to increase the oxygen level, and we subsequently yawn.

Being outside those regular operating ranges can be thought of as a homeostatic imbalance. The part of our brain that is continuously monitoring all these systems by way of receptors is the hypothalamus.  Once this master system overseer gets information in the way of chemical signals, it triggers the necessary system to release Dopamine which in turn activates our glucose seeking.  We seek glucose when we absolutely need energy to escape a perceived threat.  Just because that perceived threat may not be in the form of a vicious animal or dangerous predator, we need to escape or perish.  Evolutionarily, we are hardwired as a species to react to our energy level needs as a means of survival.

The way we often return to those homeostatic ranges is through energy.  Glucose is the gasoline that fuels the engine.  When our body’s systems need energy in the form of glucose, they go seeking it, occasionally in the most maladaptive ways, like the department store tirade.

It’s not self-restraint we need, it’s self-restore! Have soft eyes.  See beyond the behaviour! It will change the way you think.

Cognitive Dynamics can help by introducing you to Shanker Self-Reg®

Next month I’ll discuss how to quiet the Dopamine drive.