Freeze-Response

“Freeze” is the word used by the police and the villains “alike” when they try to take full control over a person (as we see in movies too!).

But what if, a person needlessly responds with a ‘freeze’ at all occasions? A kid learns hard the lessons, and when the question paper is given out in the exam hall, the first unwitting response is a ‘freeze’ that chills the fingers holding the question paper, the known answers seem to just evaporate into thin air! The better response would have been to fight or ‘flight-from-question, using choice of any-five out of ten’ etc. Such better-responding students manage to ‘cook’ up some answer, using a few “key” words from here and there, and manage to squeeze out a few ‘grace’ marks at least, and boost up the aggregate marks to a ‘respectable’ score overall! That ‘freezing’ kid ends up scoring a bit lesser than the marks actually deserved for the intense study, hard work, and the knowledge acquired all through! (Good reputed organizations have excellent HR tools, which identify such “average-scorers-due to-freeze response”, and hire them at a lesser cost, and then ‘squeeze’ out the better productivity in a “cost-effective” way, and pocket the residual profits!). This fight-flight candidate learns the art of ‘managing well’ with ‘available-gimmicks’ and ends up as a good ‘marketing’ executive, pockets a tidy sum, climbing up the business ladder. These are generalized examples, to illustrate the pattern of fall outs. In real life, other aspects also affect the attitude, situations vary and so also the results.

Why a few of us ‘freeze’ was the question. It is not often that we find such a deep question. Even those who are experts at fight-flight responses, do freeze when “confronted inadvertently” with spiritual-related situations/issues in their lives! That is when they “really” realize that they were “really” never free from a deep-lying “freeze” response system within! Someday, everybody might have to concede, that those who manage to avoid a freeze-response to spiritual aspect of life are fortunate, and if from an early life, then it is “very very” fortunate!

(There was even a saying, “If you find suddenly that you are surrounded by “too many” friends, start telling them your problems, worries etc, and in no time, they would all vanish. Those who still stay back are true friends!” This is one advantage of using the ‘freeze’ tactics on others!)

psn(6^th May, 2011)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110505182725AAvzQXM

Why do I freeze when I'm scared instead of using my fight or flight response?

Well basically the question explains it, I've noticed when I get scared I just freeze...I don't flee or fight...why?

My answer:

At cellular levels, the early responses as a child become impulses, instincts and then habits. It starts right from within the womb. (For example, there was a story of an instance where a doctor treating a pregnant woman had to induce a slight burn injury at the abdomen of the woman, to make the child withdraw its limb and stay crouched tight in the womb, instead of stretching out the limb and causing discomfort to the mother. As a kid, when we "experience" a burn injury, we 'withdraw' our affected part from the source of pain, also like during an electric shock).

Over a period of time, if there is a significant absence of 'instances-to-learn-from' to also stay back and fight or to run away, our response system gets habituated to withdrawal. And, freezing is the process. A tortoise withdraws its limbs inwards when it senses danger (it can neither run or fight... its hard shell is the only defense).

Providing examples and varieties of response-systems constitutes a very significant aspect of training a child. (A typical example would be, a person "thinking" of HOW TO STOP THIS TURBULENT MIGHTY RIVER, and then conceiving the idea of building a dam, instead of just helplessly watching like others, the floods swallowing lives, and material for years, ages, centuries! ). The very Education System has to take care of this aspect. Freezing is not necessarily an act of fear, or cowardice. But that is what logic would try to tell us 'instantly' (For example, a soldier, who infiltrates into enemy area to reach the center-most point would 'freeze' momentarily, to escape notice by a guard passing by, to avoid catching attention half way, and to avoid abort of "mission" half way! The clue is, these responses are wonderful, when we do it consciously, in full awareness, and good alertness EACH time!

A good question. The purpose of the question has a very deep and wide reach. Thanks!