Fear and Protection vs. Growth - Try to Make Conscious Choices of Your State of Being

One of my top 10 favorite books of all time is The Biology of Belief: unleashing the power of consciousness, matter, and miracles, by Bruce Lipton, PhD.  The author’s lifetime of work was finally compiled in his marvelously written book, which was published in 2005.  It’s really only been in the last few years that his work has been gaining momentum, and that the awareness of the power of our thoughts and beliefs to impact our health and overall lives, is viewed as an “acceptable” and scientifically backed conversation.  

I first became aware of Dr. Lipton’s work when I heard him speak in the early 2000s.  I was blown away by what he was saying, and I was beyond excited because everything he was saying resonated so deeply with me - it was a conversation I knew to be true at my core, and he was finally bringing science and a coherent conversation to so much that I felt to be true, but didn’t have a way of communicating.  

One of my favorite parts of his book is the chapter that talks about growth vs. protection.  At the microscopic level, our cells have two basic categories of behaviors and functions that they perform:  growth and protection.  Both are required for survival of the cell (and the organism as a whole).  When there is a threat or a perceived threat, the cells go into protection mode to fight or block off the threat.

Equally important is the growth aspect of the cell - moving toward nutrients and processes that promote reproduction and healing and the continuation of healthy cellular function.

The challenge is, that the cells cannot perform optimally in growth and protection mode at the same time.  If they are in protection mode, they call on more energy to fight off or protect agains a threat and therefore have less energy for digestion, growth, healing, and expansion.  In addition, for optimal growth, there needs to be an open exchange between the cell and its environment.  However, when in protection mode, much of the exchange of information and nutrients in the systems are closed down to protect the cell from the perceived threat.  This closing down also prohibits the production of life-giving energy.  The longer the cells are in protection mode, the more growth is prohibited.  

We humans operate much like the cells - we have a protection mode we go into when we are faced with a threat (or perceived threat), or we can be in growth mode - regenerating our cells and tissues, taking in nutrients and producing energy to grow and expand.  Fortunately, we have so many cells in our body that we usually aren’t all in protection mode or all in growth mode at the same time.  The percentage of cells in protection mode depend on the severity of the perceived threat.  We can survive for quite some time under the condition of perceived threats (protection), but overt time, this state will effect our well-being on many levels.  

When your body goes into a fight or flight mode (protection), your immune system is repressed.  You see, we have a system called the HPA Axis (Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis).  When there are no threats, this HPA Axis isn’t stimulated and our system is in growth mode and is flourishing.  When there is a perceived threat, the HPA Axis is stimulated and blood is re-distributed from our organs (digestion, reproduction, healing) to our extremities so we can run or fight.  Also during threats, blood flows away from the forebrain (the center for executive thinking and logic) to the hind brain (survival - reactionary thinking).  Also, the stress hormones released during a perceived threat through this HPA Axis repress the activity in the pre-frontal cortex - the conscious awareness and intelligence portion of the brain.  Basically, when you are frighted or stressed, you are not as intelligent.

Just as important, it’s not enough to just get rid of the stresses that put us in protection mode - that just puts us in a more neutral state.  To quote Dr. Lipton directly from his book, “To fully thrive, we must not only eliminate the stressors but also actively seek joyful, loving, fulfilling lives that stimulate the growth processes.” 

To take this a step further, we go from the cellular level, to the human organism level, to the community “organism” level.  As Dr. Lipton explains, much like cells of the human body, “a community can easily survive short term stresses, like an air raid drill, but when the stress goes on and on it results in cessation of growth and the breakdown of community.”

Chew on that for a while.