Turn Down Your Brain's Worry Center Worry is a natural emotion that occurs when we feel threatened. However, many of our worries are unfounded, sapping our energy and deflecting our attention from life's real problems. In a recent New York Times article , Boston author David Ropeik makes the case that most of us don't know how to worry. Although we often underestimate how risky something really is, we are even more likely to overestimate the dangers of taking actions that would actually help us.  In other words, when it comes to evaluating the risk-benefit ratio of our actions, we do a pretty poor job.  This is because, Ropeik argues, our brains are wired to worry first and think second.  This quote from the work of NYU neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux sums it up in a nutshell: "connections from the emotional systems to the cognitive systems are stronger than connections from the cognitive systems to the emotional systems." Find Local: The emotional system LeDoux refers to is the limbic system, the set of structures deep within the brain that fires up in situations which have implications for our survival and well-being.  When we're threatened, a little structure called the amygdala screams out in fear . When delight comes our way, or even the anticipation of delight, other structures in the limbic system shoot off large quantities of the neurotransmitter dopamine .  The limbic system sends its stimulation up to the cortex, where these sensations inform our higher-order mental structures. As LeDoux