How to Train Your Crocodile

When in Africa, we once got uncomfortably close to a crocodile hidden under an embankment. The croc hissed and skedaddled in one direction. We skedaddled the opposite way, muttering expletives.

It's the same physiological process that might happen to custormers in a noisy pub when someone smashes a glass. For a second or two 57 people and a couple of dogs become alert and stop talking. They're assessing what the anomaly means. In doing that, the most primitive parts of our brains instantly and automatically (within 1 fifth of a second) prepare everybody's glands, including those of the dogs, to produce hormones ready for action.

Our primitive brains, which neuroscientists refer to as 'reptilian' and 'mammalian', are the first to receive information from our five senses and, before those aspects of our 'New Mammalian' brains begin their own rational and analytical processes, that information starts a chain of reactions.

That's fine if you're a crocodile but not always helpful for creatures of our kind. For instance, if your boss is yelling at you, your inner crocodile may feel it wants to bite her head off, but you stay shtum because you can't afford to lose your job. Outside in the corridor though, you translate your Crocodilian into English rather volubly.

In living with any serious illness such as cancer we're prone to reptilian reactions quite a lot. It happened when tumours were found in my lungs. It's a threatening disease and there are so many unknowns. Unfortunately, in our culture and our education system, we've done little or nothing about learning to cope with our crocodiles. “It's just the way we are,” we say. But no! It's the way we've become. Although psychologists have a fairly good understanding of what they call 'ego', the self, that knowledge has not been disseminated widely. To gain access to it we often have to wait until the problem becomes acute, before we get help from our overstretched mental health services, go privately or, for most of us, muddle through in ignorance.

Half the solution to a problem is to recognise what the problem is, and many, probably most of us, don't understand how to put our croc on a leash. But it will be helpful to do this if we are to live with cancer and our treatment with, at least, a relative level of peace. First, it's important to recognise that we have to deal with the whole person, not just the mind, the emotions or the body. Secondly, we're in danger of seeing things the wrong way around. It's like looking in a mirror, left becomes right and right left, but if you see yourself on a computer screen and try to comb your hair, you won't be able to do it. We're so used to seeing things reversed we're in the habit of getting some things the wrong way round, even when we're not looking in a mirror. For instance, in tackling fear and anxiety we're likely to start with our minds and try to use will-power to repress the feelings of discomfort generated by our minds. That's like playing one-armed bandits against yourself. If you win, you lose. It's no good trying to bring our minds to rest when our bodies are telling us they're feeling anxious and fearful. When we try to resist our feelings through the power of the will our feelings resist back. We end up by doubling the power, not reducing it, and becoming more tense not less.

When we have a shock, our first reaction is likely to come from our inner crocodile. It's prompting us to flee so we breathe short and shallow. That may be okay for the croc but inappropriate for us. In that situation someone may say, “Breathe deeply,” even though that seems to be the opposite of what the body wants to do at the time. Our minds are intimately connected to our breath and although the mind wants our bodies to breathe short and shallow, we can take control and make them breathe long and deep. That says to our crocodile, “Basket!” After a while it will usually do as it's told, though with a few resentful hisses.

But don't wait for crises before you train your crocodile. There are many occasions during the day when we can find a few moments to breath deeply and bring minds to rest, perhaps when waiting for a bus, washing up, gardening or doing some photocopying. By developing the habit of mindfulness every day we can build serenity and peace into our autonomic nervous systems. Even more so if we take time each day, preferably in the morning, to spend 15 or 20 minutes in solitude and calm. After a while it's not too difficult to find that inner peace whenever we notice our minds triggering tension in our bodies. Don't resist that tension with will-power though. Just relax. Our own inner peace will soothe our inner croc whenever it feels restive.

What's your inner crocodile called? Mine's Granville.  😁