Overcoming Attention Biases 57
nervous system, a part of the body that controls the fight- or-
f light response. During times of stress, your sympathetic
nervous system, which is part of the autonomic nervous
system, initiates changes in your heart rate, digestion, respi-
ratory rate, pupillary response, and urination. It’s quite a
useful physiological process, one that prepares you to either
f lee from a threat or fight it. This process is what helps you
(hopefully!) escape when you encounter a bear, but the same
process is what can make you feel anxious for no obvious
reason.
W hat do you think your response might be if you actu-
ally encountered a bear on the streets of your neighborhood?
You might choose to f lee from the bear, but you also might
freeze or choose to fight it. Your response to this hypotheti-
cal situation relates back to how you judge and evaluate your
emotions and how you react and respond to your thoughts.
Your accelerated heart rate and rapid breathing can be a
good indicator that the bear is dangerous, and these physical
symptoms indicate that you should f lee to make yourself
safe. Having this kind of interoceptive awareness is perfectly
helpful in modulating your reaction to something that’s
actually a threat (such as a bear!), but it may be out of place
in situations that aren’t so dangerous (such as giving a
speech). By taking your emotions at face value or respond-
ing ref lexively to every thought, you are not mindfully regu-
lating your emotions. It’s important to fine- tune your
emotions so that they are appropriate to the severity of a
given situation. By reacting to public speaking in the same
way as you would react to a bear, you are forgetting to
respond to your emotions f lexibly. Mindfulness is key to
emotional f lexibility!