Hello and welcome back to practicing human, the podcast where every day we're getting a little better at life.

I'm your host, Corey Miscara.

And before we go into today's episode, I'd like to apologize for the audio.

My usual microphone is broken at the moment, and I am on the road road so do not have a backup, which means I

am recording right into the computer. And the alternative was to not do an episode, so I hope

you can bear with less than optimal audio. Because in today's episode, we're going to be talking

about the four Fs and more to come on what that

means in a moment and why that is important in your life.

First, let's settle in together with the sound of the bells. So the four Fs.

Together, these create our internal defense system that we have in service of keeping us safe.

Most of us are familiar with the first three, fight, flight, freeze. But there is a fourth that's

lesser known, but equally, if not more important. So let's review what this can look

like in a hypothetical situation that you most likely won't be in anytime soon. Imagine you are being

chased by a lion. What would you do? There wouldn't be much thinking about it, actually.

Your mind would press an inner turbo mode button called fight or flight,

and in an instant, your heart would start beating fast, your pupils will dilate,

your digestion will suppress, your blood will get pumped to larger muscles in your body,

cortisol will be rushing through you.

Your whole system gets optimized so you can either beat up the lion or run like heck.

However, if in a moment of clarity, your mind assesses this scenario and goes,

well, I've watched Animal Planet or I subscribe to Nature is Metal on Instagram,

and I know there's no way I'm going to fight this lion and come out alive. I also know that

...