This image of our brain with these four gems (pardon my sarcasm) has been sitting on my smartphone for most of 2025. I am in admiration and awe at the ease with which they run our life and sometimes ruin our life.
So I thought I’d put all my research about these the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, the brainstem, and the hippocampus into one powerful metaphor.
And I’ve converted their performances into one hilarious high voltage drama. Taking part in this drama are also the various neurotransmitters in the brain: Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin, Endorphins, Cortisol – the supporting cast! Let’s examine their roles:
The Software (The Chemicals)
- Cortisol (The Siren): The stress hormone. It’s the alarm that floods your system to give you energy to fight or flee, but it makes clear thinking impossible.
- Oxytocin (The Best Friend): The bonding chemical. It builds trust and makes you feel safe and connected to others, acting as a natural “calm-down” switch.
- Serotonin (The Life Coach): The mood stabilizer. It keeps you balanced, confident, and emotionally steady so the Chief of Staff (prefrontal cortex) can do its job.
- Dopamine (The Cheerleader): The reward chemical. It provides the “high-five” feeling of satisfaction when you achieve a goal or finish a task.
- Endorphins (The Protector): The natural painkiller. It masks physical or emotional pain to help you power through a difficult moment.
Let’s also quickly recap how our brain functions:
The Hardware (The Brain)
- The Prefrontal Cortex (Chief of Staff): The logical CEO of your brain. It handles planning, complex decisions, and keeps the rest of the staff from panicking.
- The Amygdala (Secret Service): Your internal threat detector. Its only job is to scan for danger, but it is famously jumpy and tends to overreact.
- The Hippocampus (Chief Historian): Your memory bank and archivist. It provides context by looking up past files to see if a current “threat” is actually dangerous.
- The Brainstem (Facilities Manager): The guy in the basement running the utilities. It controls your breathing and heart rate automatically without you asking.
Now that you have met all the 9 characters in our drama, it’s time to meet the person who is running the building.. the President.. and that is YOU.
Imagine your brain as the White House West Wing. You are the President, but you are only as good as your staff.
Scenario 1: The Five Alarm Fire (The Real Crisis)
The Situation: A literal fire breaks out in your house or in the office. The President’s life (your life) is at risk.
1) The Secret Service (Amygdala): Spots flames. “CODE RED! GET THE PRESIDENT DOWN!”
2) The Siren (Cortisol): Blasts at 100%. “EVERYONE MOVE! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!”
3) The Facilities Manager (Brainstem): “Cranking generators!” Your heart rate triples so you can run.
4) The Chief Historian (Hippocampus): Pulls a file instantly. “I have the blueprints! The North exit is clear!”
5) The Chief of Staff (PFC): Uses the Stability Fund (Serotonin) to stay calm and direct the evacuation.
6) The Protector (Endorphins): Slaps a medic patch on you. “Sir, your hand is scorched, but I’ve numbed the nerves. Keep running!”
7) The Cheerleader (Dopamine): Shouts through a megaphone. “The exit is 10 feet away! You’re doing it! Almost there!”
8) The Diplomatic Radio (Oxytocin): Pings the neighbors. “Help is here! You are safe with the rescue team now.”
9) The Outcome: Survival. The entire team worked in heroic, frantic unison to save the President.
Fortunately, we don’t face such life and death situations in our everyday lives. But often we behave every now and then like it’s a life-or-death situation.
Weird. Let’s see how it unfolds in daily life.
Scenario 2: The “Principal’s Office” Panic (The Hilarious Absurdity)
The Situation: It is 10:05 AM. You just walked into the office. A colleague whispers, “The Boss has been frantically looking for you.”
1) The Secret Service (Amygdala): Draws two pistols. “THE TABLES HAVE TURNED. WE’RE BEING EXECUTED!”
2) The Siren (Cortisol): Blasts the exact same 100% volume alarm used for the real fire.
3) The Facilities Manager (Brainstem): “Shutting down digestion! CRANK THE HEART RATE! FIGHT THE BOSS!”
4) The Chief Historian (Hippocampus): Drops all the files. “Did we mess up the Q3 report?! WE ARE DOOMED!”
5) The Chief of Staff (PFC): “Stand down! It’s probably just a question about the offsite! It’s not a firing squad!”.
But then he runs out of Stability Fund (Serotonin) and gets tackled into a closet by the Secret Service. (it’s called Amygdala Hijack).
6) The Protector (Endorphins): Confused. “I don’t see any wounds, but the President looks miserable. I’ll just stand by.”
7) The Cheerleader (Dopamine): “Maybe if we check Instagram for 20 minutes? Let’s seek a distraction from this horror!”
8) The Diplomatic Radio (Oxytocin): Static on the line. “Nobody loves us! Everyone in this office is a spy!”
9) The Outcome: You walk into the Boss’s office looking like you’re ready for a cage fight. The Boss looks up and says, “Oh, hey—do you have the charger for your iPhone? I forgot mine at home.”
10) The Tragedy: You have just aged 2 years because your Secret Service doesn’t know the difference between a “Low Battery” and a “Career-Ending Crisis.”
We can change neither the hardware nor the software in our brains, but with awareness, there’s something we can do to make sure that our 9 characters do not overreact, and it’s what we will call the 10-second presidential order.
The 10-Second “Presidential Order”
When an Amygdala Hijack happens i.e the Secret Service (Amygdala) tackles you and locks the Chief of Staff (PreFrontal Cortex) in the closet , you cannot “think” your way out. You must issue a physical Executive Order to the Facilities Manager (Brain Stem) in the basement.
The Action: The 4-6 Reset
1.Inhale through your nose for 4 seconds (filling the belly).
2.Exhale through your mouth for 6 seconds (as if blowing out a candle).
3.Repeat 3 times.
Why this works:
Short, fast breaths signal the Brainstem that you are running from a tiger. Long, slow exhales signal the Brainstem that you are safe (because a running person doesn’t breathe slowly).
The Brainstem must follow this physical input, which in turn shuts down the Siren (Cortisol), unlocks the Chief of Staff (PFC), and tells the Secret Service, “Stand down, gentlemen. The President has this under control.” 🙂
Hope you will use the Presidential Order often enough in 2026!