0 Notes on Fear
How does Empathy Counteract and Transform Fear?
Empathy Circles a are a way to address fears. One fear is that one is unsafe because people will not listen to you. In an empathy circle everyone feels heard.
Resources About Fear
"Sometimes the backlash comes from people who are genuinely, if wrongly, fearful of change. More often it's manufactured by the powerful and the privileged who want to keep us divided and keep us angry and keep us cynical because that helps them maintain the status quo and keep their power and keep their privilege. And you happen to be coming of age during one of those moments. It did not start with Donald Trump. He is a symptom, not the cause.
He's just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years. A fear and anger that's rooted in our past, but it's also born out of the enormous upheavals that have taken place in your brief lifetimes....
Appealing to tribe, appealing to fear, pitting one group against another, telling people that order and security will be restored if it weren't for those who don't look like us or don't sound like us or don't pray like we do, that's an old playbook. It's as old as time. And in a healthy democracy it doesn't work.
Our antibodies kick in, and people of goodwill from across the political spectrum call out the bigots and the fearmongers, and work to compromise and get things done and promote the better angels of our nature.
But when there's a vacuum in our democracy, when we don't vote, when we take our basic rights and freedoms for granted, when we turn away and stop paying attention and stop engaging and stop believing and look for the newest diversion, the electronic versions of bread and circuses, then other voices fill the void. A politics of fear and resentment and retrenchment takes hold. And demagogues promise simple fixes to complex problems....
But to say that a common ground exists doesn't mean it will inevitably win out. History shows the power of fear. And the closer that we get to Election Day, the more those invested in the politics of fear and division will work, will do anything to hang on to their recent gains....
The antidote to a government controlled by a powerful fear, a government that divides, is a government by the organized, energized, inclusive many. "
"When people are afraid it is easier to keep them under control, and that's just what they are trying to do here. Trying to find enemies." lech walesa
The Science of Stress (National Geographic)
Excellent Scientific Overview.
41:00 - Benefits of Empathic Dialog. Mothers who have chronic stress are helped through dialog. This helps restore damage to telomeres. A meeting of minds has a healing effect.
Empathic Grooming - Like baboons physically groom each other, people can empathically groom each other.
Long Term Effects of Stress on Your Body
First part is good, the the audio stops.
How stress affects your brain - Madhumita Murgia - Ted-Ed
Stress isn’t always a bad thing; it can be handy for a burst of extra energy and focus, like when you’re playing a competitive sport or have to speak in public. But when it’s continuous, it actually begins to change your brain. Madhumita Murgia shows how chronic stress can affect brain size, its structure, and how it functions, right down to the level of your genes.
Managing Stress - Brainsmart - BBC
Stress is all too natural. But here are some tips for keeping it under control.
Cortisol
Oxytocin
Video: Oxytocin The Love Hormone Vs.Cortisol The Stress Hormone: A Complete Comparison
Abstract:
The presence of social support has been associated with decreased stress responsiveness. Recent animal studies suggest that the neuropeptide oxytocin is implicated both in prosocial behavior and in the central nervous control of neuroendocrine responses to stress. This study was designed to determine the effects of social support and oxytocin on cortisol, mood, and anxiety responses to psychosocial stress in humans.
CONCLUSIONS:
Oxytocin seems to enhance the buffering effect of social support on stress responsiveness. These results concur with data from animal research suggesting an important role of oxytocin as an underlying biological mechanism for stress-protective effects of positive social interactions.
How Empathy Circles Transform Stress
removes stress of competition for being heard.
fosters synchronization
reduces loneliness
A recent Greater Good article about anxiety and empathy triggered controversy among readers. But what does the science say?
On Monday, we published a research brief, “How Anxiety Reduces Empathy,” that provoked some conversation and disagreement among readers.