Rabbi Natasha Mann

  Spiritual Peripheral Vision Earlier this year, I had my fight-or-flight response triggered. Of course, this happens to all of us every now and then, from so much as stepping into the road at the wrong moment. Any time our brains process that there is a direct danger, it can trigger an acute stress response. It’s a well-engineered piece of human psychology… usually.  In my experience, I froze. I became entirely still as my consciousness zeroed in on the point of danger in front of me.  Just in case I haven’t made this sound dramatic enough, what my brain was responding to was a shark swimming directly at me.  I was, to be fair, deliberately in the water with the sharks. I’d gone for a swim with them on the other side of the Atlantic. I was originally told there would be a cage, but hey, it’s Florida; we turned up and were told there wouldn’t be a cage today, here, take a snorkel, try not to splash around or you might look like a fish. Nobody is going to enjo...