Fragmenting means, in a sense, that we are falling apart. The brain takes a break from its standard operating mode as one of its critical components checks out. The left hemisphere of the brain manages our thoughts, reasoning, deduction, and choices; the right hemisphere controls our feelings, impulses, images, and sensations. When we feel a threat to our existence, part of the left hemisphere goes offline. It is not that all our executive functioning is shut off like a light switch; it is more like a dimmer switch that goes from bright to dim instantly.1 As a result, instead of reasoning, we
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