Under stress, there is a constant pressure to break the rules, to act unethically to get out of the stress. Since the human cortex is by-passed by the stress reaction and the reptilian fight/flight system is activated, there is a natural tendency to do things when stressed that one might never do in the relaxed, calm state. Under chronic stress, this can reach the point where the unethical can be rationalized into existence just to achieve relief from the stress. Unfortunately, unethical actions only add to the chronic stress burden of the individual, and plunge him or her into a worse situation than the one from which extrication was sought.
As hard as it is to do, the best strategy in chronic stress is to stay ethical. The simplest way to do this is to have an active prayer life when stressed. If one asks for God’s help when stressed, then one is less likely to act unethically, for the simple reason that it is easy to mentally accept that God is less likely to help us when our actions are displeasing to Him. As a first step in dealing with chronic stress, I advise people to pray, and if the urge to break the rules arises, ask God for help in staying ethical while facing the challenge. People who have done so under immense stress are justifiably famous for their self control, and those who have succumbed to ethical lapses under stress later wish they had been stronger.
Nothing will assist you more in learning how to conquer stress than understanding “the triune brain”.
Some years ago, Paul MacLean, M.D., announced a remarkable simplification of the human brain after years of studying the brains of many animal species. His discovery has penetrated our popular culture so thoroughly that you may not realize that a single person came up with it after many years of careful analysis or that the result of his reasoning is as powerful as it truly is. Yet scientific breakthroughs are often remarkable simplifications of what at first seems to be a mountain of unanalysable data.
What MacLean discovered after years of brain research was that the human brain consists of a large cerebral cortex (the thinking brain ) which is uniquely human, surrounding a mammalian brain (capable of experiencing emotions and of linking memories to events), and that these two in turn surround a reptilian brain whose main concerns are survival, territorial defense, food, mating, dominance, and avoiding subjugation.
Interestingly, in non-stress, the human brain dominates, making emotions subservient to the cerebral cortex’s greatest strength - communication. This is why actors can deliver such impressive lines in the most stressful of make believe circumstances (e.g. “Make my day!”). They are not in real stress and they deliver their communications with perfectly appropriate emotions.
Yet we all know that when the chips are down and the situation is really stressful, it is the rare individual who can remain calm enough to deliver any communication with a perfectly nuanced emotion. This is because in stress, the cerebral cortex loses its ability to think calmly, and the more excitable reptilian brain takes over the emotional system leading to attack or to flight, the famous fight or flight response.
Have you ever wondered why political debates are so emotion-charged, so lacking in reason? It’s because the reptilian brain has taken control of the emotional system from the cerebral cortex.
My book “Calm” is about how to regain control of the emotional system when the stress based reptilian system has taken it over, so that even in the most highly charged and stressful situation you can remain calm and act rationally. This is the same behavior that martial artists utilize to remain calm in combat.
