“When a person has a reaction to something in their environment, there’s a 90 second chemical process that happens in the body; after that, any remaining emotional response is just the person choosing to stay in that emotional loop. Something happens in the external world and chemicals are flushed through your body which puts it on full alert. For those chemicals to totally flush out of the body it takes less than 90 seconds. This means that for 90 seconds you can watch the process happening, you can feel it happening, and then you can watch it go away. After that, if you continue to feel fear, anger, and so on, you need to look at the thoughts that you’re thinking that are re-stimulating the circuitry that is resulting in you having this physiological response over and over again.” -My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor.

You may have noticed an emotional reaction after reading this. You may be asking yourself, “Why do I feel so emotional”? One response to this is that there may be some “big feelings” that need to be worked through. Recurrent, persistent feelings that are causing distress and impairing relationships, impacting work, school, or other important areas are an indication that something is going. Our emotions encompass experiences that combine physiological arousal; however, feelings are also influenced by our interpretation of how we perceive a situation. Especially when childhood experiences are rooted in early trauma, these narratives can be very painful and take time to heal.