Claire HayekFounder, Mind. Soul. Purpose (MSP) Teambuilding · Pressure-Proof Leadership | Neuroscience-based leadership

Train Your Brain to Respond, Not React

12 May 2025 · 1 min

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1:04

In this instructional segment, Claire Hayek explains a simple yet powerful method for emotional regulation: pausing for 2–5 seconds before reacting to a frustrating situation. She describes how this brief pause allows the prefrontal cortex to engage instead of an automatic amygdala‑driven response, reducing emotional hijacking. The speaker frames the pause as a “CEO” decision‑making moment, encouraging a quick breath (inhale‑exhale) to create space for more considered action. The technique is presented as easy to practice, becoming more effective with repetition.

Chapters

Pausing and reframing. Okay, what does that mean? Before reacting to a frustrating situation, pause for 5 seconds. It's really hard sometimes to do, but the more you do it, it works, the easier it becomes. Okay, the trick is that this is actually a simple trick, reduces emotional hijacking. That's what we call it, allowing your prefrontal cortex to actually engage. Okay, so instead of going straight to the amygdala and reacting, okay, when you pause for 5 seconds, you're actually giving time to your prefrontal cortex to step in and make that decision. It's like the CEO making decisions, like, am I gonna send that signal right away to the amygdala to react, or am I gonna, you know, maybe control it a little bit better? It's so simple. Pause, pause, take a breath. Inhale, exhale, 5 seconds quick, even 2-3 seconds helps, okay?