The Lizard Brain

Dear Lizard Brain,
You lose this time. I just sent my manuscript to my editor. I admit, I sat for a long time thinking about hitting the send button. You tried.  You tried hard to give me a multitude of reasons why I shouldn’t send it. “it’s too short”, “really, you’re not a writer”, “what if she thinks I’m a wacko?”, “what if it’s just pure crap”. I ignored you instead. I hit send, and I’m still here. So…go back to sleep lizard brain, until I really need you….cheers, Missy

What’s a lizard brain?

It’s a small part of our brain, at the base of our skull. It’s real, and its sole purpose is to help us survive. That was a really important part of the brain at a point in our evolution. It’s really important, if say, you are in a tornado, or lost in the woods. Or maybe you need to run really fast and get away from a bear. Now, those are circumstances that require survival.  But, how often do those happen? Once in a lifetime?

Today however, the lizard brain hovers quietly, waiting to be needed.  The problem is what the Lizard brain considers ‘needed’ and you consider ‘needed’ are a very different beast.  Who knew that writing a letter would be a threat to the lizard brain.

Lizard’s love fear

That’s because, Lizards have a keen sense of smell.  They and can sniff out fear, even before you realize it.  Fears that quite possibly have been lingering with us, tucked away in our subconscious since childhood.  Fear of being rejected, fear of being laughed at or maybe being ‘the last one picked’ for the kickball team.

When I tell someone my story about 50 letters the typical response is at first positive, then immediately, the person who start a list of reasons why they couldn’t write a letter.  “What will they think?”, “If I write mom, I have to write dad,”“they probably won’t remember me,” “I don’t even know where they live now” “what if they think it’s silly”.  If any of these sound familiar, keep reading.

When I started holding small informal stitched gatherings, I would begin by telling my story, and then give people a blank piece of paper, a pen and a stamped envelope.  Everything they needed. Inevitably, there would be at least 1 person, who would use their paper to start a list of people they would write to. Several others would sit there, restlessly contemplating their escape from the room and at the right moment close their book and walk away. 

Fear makes a Lizard Brain very happy. 

Fear of rejection. Fear of being different. Fear of being laughed at. Fear of you fill in the blank.

Today, in a moment, I stared down the lizard brain, and won.  I’ll take that small victory…

Want to learn more about lizard brain?  Pick up Seth Godin’s latest book Linchpin It’s a great read….