Daniel Goleman Quote

It is in moments such as these—when impulsive feeling overrides the rational—that the newly discovered role for the amygdala is pivotal. Incoming signals from the senses let the amygdala scan every experience for trouble. This puts the amygdala in a powerful post in mental life, something like a psychological sentinel, challenging every situation, every perception, with but one kind of question in mind, the most primitive: Is this something I hate? That hurts me? Something I fear? If so—if the moment at hand somehow draws a Yes—the amygdala reacts instantaneously, like a neural tripwire, telegraphing a message of crisis to all parts of the brain.