EQ training: Amygdala Hijack

MooMoo went for a training called ‘Great Relationships at Work’ and in short, it is called ‘GR@W’. It was a pretty useful 2 days course with an interesting trainer.

Though some of the things taught were not new, it is how the trainer presented and enlightened us with his own personal experiences to relate to our daily lives. The trainer was able to let everyone have a ‘paradigm shift’ on how we can see things and to handle the same situation differently in order to have a better outcome.

One of the items that was highlighted during the training was called the ‘Amygdala Hijack’ which was pretty interesting.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Definition of ‘Amygdala Hijack’:

This is what happens when people “lose control of their emotions” when “hot buttons” is “pressed”. The result is their emotions are not used effectively in relationship.

They go through “volcano” eruption or “system” shutdown.

On reflection, they find it hard to explain why they acted the way they did.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘Amygdala’ is human’s feeling brain. The ‘Amygdala’ which is pronounced as ‘ah-mig-dala’ is a tiny feeling brain that controls your emotional responses.

‘Amygdala Hijack’ is also known as Emotional Hijack where the feeling brain takes over your thinking brain. To avoid this situation, we can take a ‘6-seconds’ pause by taking a deep breath in and out before making any decisions or actions.

Sometimes, if we allow the ‘Amygdala Hijack’ to happen, it can be very harmful in many ways, such as spoiling relationships, bringing damage to ownselves as well as others. Therefore, we must always take control of how we react.

For further details, you can read the book “Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ” by Daniel Goleman.

This training actually gave MooMoo an insight of what had recently happened to her after the ‘Hair4Hope’ event. At that time, MooMoo was very angry at that particular '338' guy and I guess she didn't practise the '6-seconds' pause before she reacted. Haha... Sometimes, when she recalled back and thought if she had not reacted how she would have reacted when the incident happened, would things have not turned out as it is now.

Well, everything happens for a reason, whether good or bad, just gotta accept it. Anyway, what have been done cannot be reversed and life goes on. ^=^