“Why did my child give up?”. “Why couldn’t they try harder?”. If you have ever had these thoughts, then you have come up against something called “Limbic Braking”.

You, your children, and every other human being have experienced this essential, protective brain mechanism at work. But where did it come from? Why are we still treating it like it is something we can control and not something that happens to us? How can we harness the power of self-regulation to release these brakes for ourselves and those we care for?

Join Susan Hopkins and Dr. Stuart Shanker as they tackle these questions and delve deep into the human brain for answers.

Created as part of our Self-Reg Show podcast series. Subscribe & Download on your favourite platform and check out all our great podcasts here.

Episode Quotes

“They could tell by watching the subject’s pupils, and by measuring their heart rate, the precise moment at
which they were going to give up. You have to remember that when we’re thinking, when we’re working on a problem, we actually do it with our whole body, our muscles tense up. And we’ve known for a long time, that thinking is very expensive. Meaning that we use a lot of energy when we’re trying to solve a problem.” – Stuart Shanker

“It’s not that the kids being lazy. Instead we see the limbic brakes for what they are; a mechanical system that operates without our volition without our awareness even. And we’re going to use this to motivate ourselves to figure out why is the stress so great? What we can do to reduce the stress? And what we can do to get that system, that self-regulating neurochemical system, back into balance? .” – Stuart Shanker

“It’s about the intention of trying to find a way to genuinely lighten the stress load. Especially from an equity perspective.” – Susan Hopkins

Continue the Self-Reg Learning

• Self-Reg Foundations Certificate Program
• Self-Reg in Early Childhood Development Program
• Blog: Perseverance vs. Compulsion by Stuart Shanker
• Blog: The Self-Reg View of Resilience by Stuart Shanker

Catch our previous episode on asking Why? and Why Now? here.