Lizard Brain

Some lizards are perfectly adorable creatures

Some tiny, some large

Reptiles with scales, cold blood

And instant power

Much like dragons

(Chameleons are a type of lizard)

Psychologists use the word lizard 

In an incredibly pejorative way

To describe a part of us

That may be beastly:

Lizard brain

If the reactive, primitive part of our brains

Just causes problems instead of being

Highly informative and

Desperately important

Can we just listen

To their messages

Much like we can tune 

Into our gut

For alignment

And fittingness?

Quick like lightning, surely our reactivity 

Can get us into trouble but

That doesn’t mean that this part of our brains

Is infantile, unmanageable, wild

Or always societally inappropriate

Besides being nimble

Lizards can also be quite still and protective

Survival is key for them and for us

We like lizards, aren't always

Rapid-firing or "too" emotional

So what if we are?

Lizards can grow back their own tails

If need be

So can we

Lizard brain may mean that we are

Innately and instinctively

Clued into our environments as if we have 

Another sense, just like taste or smell,

Sight or hearing, touch

We react because we know intuitively 

Being instructed and energized

We can embrace this dynamic

Part of ourselves and put to rest

The idea that we are so very controlled 

By a reptilian place inside us 

And, if we are, then why not allow our 

Lizardly selves to thrive, fully alive?