TIGER TROUBLE

‌I heard an interesting insight about tigers recently that when a tiger approaches you, stay still. No, the tiger won't run away. He will come closer and try to nudge you, sniff you and scare you to your bone. He wants you to run, he wants a play, a catch-me-if-you-can game to excite him to kill you. If you don't fall for all he does to instigate you, he will get bored and move away unless he is starving to death (rare case). But how many of us can think of this when a tiger approaches? I guess very few. As we spot a tiger, the mind goes to fight or flight mode. The tiger being not something that can be fought (which is analysed by the brain instantly), we run. We scream our lungs out and outperform our capability to run, to go as far as we can from the tiger.
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‌Now, why would you read this any further knowing that you facing the tiger is one in a million chance? But we face a tiger every now and then in life. Not in the form of striped skin, broad paws, load roars and sharp teeth but as a challenge, a fear, a difficult decision. Life is just that tiger, that wants a little play before it can screw you up. The more you try to run away from it, the more it chases you. The more you try to avoid the encounter, the more it entraps you till it can render you helpless to surrender, to give up and give in. Here comes a time to change or get changed. Rest and digest. When we are completely trapped with no space to move only then we stop and start thinking of a permanent solution. That if thought first, we can save ourselves of all anxiety and running around.
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‌We have been designed by the nature in such a way that if the body and mind are used to their full potential, they get better and better with time. But unfortunately, we believe in updating our computer softwares but not our inbuilt mega computer.
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‌Our autonomous nervous system which is responsible for involuntary and reflexive functions in the body has two divisions. The sympathetic nervous system or the "fight or flight" response, prepares the body for action. It activates automatically and initiates increase in heart rate, contraction of muscles, termination of digestion process and the glycogen conversion to glucose. All this happens to aid our body for fight or flight.
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‌The parasympathetic nervous system or "rest and digest" response, relaxes the body. It has to be worked on and when enabled, it restores the calm and counterbalance to the body to carry on all the bodily systems normally. The more we follow parasympathetic response, the less likely we are to fall prey to anxiety, stress and all related problems.
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‌So clearly, being in "rest and digest" response mode can add more good times to our lives. But how do we exercise it's functioning more? If we don't want a tiger to feed on us all our life from time to time, we got to face him. We got to understand and work out a way to keep him out of our way forever. So, find your niche and indulge in something that truly relaxes you like loving a dog, dancing it out, learning something new, working out and you will see the effect spreading to other spheres of life, helping you to ground those unruly tigers of your mind.
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