Watching the Ukrainians unite and fight to defend their country, their loved ones, and their fellow countrymen got me thinking about the neuroscience of courage - what they are tapping into that is enabling them to demonstrate this incredible bravery.
When we repeatedly confront/face down our fears, we can overcome their influence on us and strengthen our courage.
Courage is impacted by our amygdala, which (among other things) drives fear and our fight or flight response, and our subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC), which plays an important role in regulating emotion, including acting to suppress the body’s response to fear.
Consciously activating our sgACC can suppress our amygdala response, which means that voluntarily taking action in the face of fear actually helps us fear less.
To activate our sgACC, try the following:
1. Visualize actions you want to take and positive outcomes of those actions. Focusing on steps we want/need to take helps motivate us to act. (Conversely, if we can’t clearly picture those actions, uncertainty can paralyze us.)
2. Understand the why behind your desired action. We’re more motivated when aligned with our values and core purpose, doing work that supports an important/just cause. Becoming more conscious of our underlying motivations and identifying actions in support of those makes it more likely that we’ll take action and persevere.
3. Embrace the possibility of failure. Fear of failure has stopped many capable people from taking action. Believing that there is value in the effort even if we don’t succeed, significantly increases our ability to act. Having a resilient mindset that enables us to learn from setbacks and carry on also helps.
4. To quote Kelly McGonigal “Tend and befriend.” Stress can help us become more caring, courageous and wise by triggering an instinct to protect our tribe. Three chemicals come into play here:
a) Oxytocin (social bonding/trust) helps us feel more empathy, connection, trust and a strong desire to bond with others. It also inhibits fear centers in the brain, increasing courage;
b) Dopamine (pleasure/reward) increases motivation while dampening fear and primes our brain for physical action, helping ensure that we won’t freeze under pressure; and
c) Serotonin (happiness/status) enhances perception, intuition, and self-control, helping us understand what is needed and ensuring that our actions will have the greatest positive impact.
Any time we choose to help others we activate this state.
While the neuroscience of courage is enabling the Ukrainians to demonstrate courage on a massive scale and on the world stage, we, too can use the same science to demonstrate more courage in our own lives.
What aspect of your life would benefit from a bit more courage?
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