How is the fear response triggered? How exactly are these reactions triggered? What's going on inside our heads? I'm going to show you now how fear is triggered. Possibility 1: Sensing your "five senses" makes you feel something that scares you. When you see, hear, smell, taste, or touch something, what is it that ultimately scares you? Do you question your fears first, or are you just subconsciously feeling afraid? Feeling something triggered, in which case, you feel fear. It follows the action so quickly that some people are almost never aware of the feeling. Reaction Once you realize or think that something is making you fearful, the following happens: • The hypothalamus [illustration] is aware that there is danger. • The amygdala [illustration] (fear center) is activated. • The amygdala's "central gray zone" triggers a fear of death. • The "lateral core" of the hypothalamus triggers the sympathetic nervous system [illustration]. • The activation of sympathetic nerves improves the function of organs necessary for stress (heart, lungs, muscles) and inhibits the function of those less important organs for stress (stomach, intestines). • After the danger is over, parasympathetic nerves [illustration] are activated, sympathetic function returns to normal, and organ function returns to normal. Possibility 2: Thinking Thinking can also trigger a fear response. For example, if we think about our own boss yelling at us, the same fear response is triggered, as described in perception, and our brains are unable to decide between a life-threatening situation and a non-dangerous one. So we need to help it make the leap. The following exercises are only suitable for people without anxiety or panic disorder. If you suffer from any of these symptoms, then I ask you to skip this section because you already know that a single thought can cause you fear. Many people think that fear comes first, and then they think. That's not right. For people with panic or anxiety disorders, even thinking about a fear situation that has occurred in the past can trigger immediate fear. This effect has become "conditioned". To show you this, I now ask you to do the following: • Close your eyes after reading the exercise. • Imagine a situation that scares you, enter the situation as if it were happening, and describe exactly what is happening and how you feel. • Describe the situation. • Watch your body react. How do you feel?