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Whatever You Fear Has Already Happened
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By Susan Dunn, MA Clinical Psycho
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That huge elephant, I thought to myself for the 100th time,tethered on that tiny stake. They can weigh up to 7 tons, andthere was this huge elephant rocking back and forth, kept frommoving more than a few feet by ¡ an electric fence? 25 armedmen? No, by a small chain on a tiny stick.
How can this happen? How has it forgotten what it¡¯s capable of?This can happen to any mammal, including you and me, and here¡¯show.
We have three brains ¨C the reptilian, the limbic and theneocortex. (See The EQ Foundation Course? -http://www.susandunn.cc/courses.htm ).
Reptiles have only the reptilian brain, the primitive brain thatkeeps the heart beating, regulates instincts, pumps oxygenthrough the lungs. They¡¯re born miniature adults and alreadyknow all they¡¯re going to learn. So there¡¯s no need for parentsto teach. Reptiles don¡¯t bond with their young; in fact they¡¯lleat them if they don¡¯t scurry away.
But the little elephant calf is well cared for. This is wherethe limbic brain comes in, the one we share with all mammals.It¡¯s how we bond and where emotions come from.
The young calf is cared for by all the females in the herd. Theygather ¡®round to celebrate its birth, trumpeting, and spinning,with temporal secretions running down their temples. They feelthe bond.
Meanwhile, the mother must get the baby up on its feet to nurse,or it won¡¯t survive. It already has to learn something. And inthis process, too, all the young females are learning aboutmothering. The hormones and the limbic brain drive it all.
Childhood lasts a long time for the elephant, as it does for thehuman. They have much to learn about survival and their culture.They¡¯re dependant on their mothers, emotionally and physically,for 3-5 years, and often aren¡¯t weaned til their 10th year. Whythis long dependency? Because they aren¡¯t born knowing how tosurvive, they must learn it. Similar to humans and apes, much ofthe elephant¡¯s brain development takes place after birth. Thisallows for (and demands) learned behaviors, not just instinctualbehavior.
Like humans, the elephant is born with minimal ¡°innate¡±knowledge. For instance, it¡¯s only through watching adults theelephant learns its trunk can be used to pick things up, orscratch or drink with.
Now what if the young elephant calf, with it¡¯s new brain(¡°impressionable¡±) is captured and its leg chained to a stake inthe ground that he can¡¯t pull away from no matter how hard hepulls? And at the same time, he¡¯s scared. Scientists arediscovering that fear and the memory get stored together in thecells for a long time. Once coupled with fearful events, theycontinue to fire in unison long after the original event isover. At an early age, the elephant has learned ¡°helplessness,¡±that when that thing¡¯s on its leg, no matter what it does, itcan¡¯t get away, so eventually it gives up and quits trying. Andthere stands that 7-ton animal tethered by nothing, really,except its fearful memories.
Has this happened to you? (Think about it.) Could coaching help?(Think about it.)
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