Dear Rachael:

You wrote: “Think of yourself as separate from your emotions and learn the power of selecting what emotion to feel… This is obviously easier said than done and takes a lot of mastering and ‘rewiring’ as humans are conditioned to defend themselves in bad environment”-

I know that humans and other animals dissociate when trapped in a dangerous situation and unable to defend themselves (unable to either Fight or Flight/run). In that kind of a situation, the animal or person in a way is “selecting what emotion to feel”, that is to not feel fear, for one. Only it is nature doing the selecting.

I think that dissociating is already wired in our animal brain as a reaction to danger (the term Freeze is used, as one of three reactions to perceived danger: Fight, Flight, Freeze). It is not something to master, it is already there, at birth.

anita