Dhru Purohit Show - How to Manifest Your Dreams and Work Past Self Doubt in 2025

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

This episode is brought to you by Bon Charge, Momentous, and Lifeforce. Our minds are incredibly powerful, and our mindset and thoughts profoundly influence our health, manifestations, and actions. However, when faced with challenges or stuck in repetitive patterns, knowing how to break free from negative thoughts or tendencies can be difficult. Today’s episode explores how to overcome past programming and rewire our brains to create the life we envision for ourselves mindfully and purposefully. Today on The Dhru Purohit Show, we bring you a special compilation episode featuring Dhru's conversations with experts on setting intentions, manifesting goals, and giving love to the aspirations in our lives. Dr. Bruce Lipton explains how our minds function like computers, with much of our programming shaped by our environment before age seven—often leading to self-sabotaging behaviors. Dr. James Doty shares insights on how we’re all actively manifesting our lives and offers practical exercises to help clarify our manifestation goals. Dr. Tara Swart provides actionable tips to overcome self-doubt and build lasting confidence. If you have big dreams for 2025, this episode is for you.  In this episode, Dhru and his guests dive into: Programming that's coming from within versus externally (02:34) What manifestation can do to your life (23:14) Reclaiming focus is key, and stepping away from noise (26:54) Strengthen the power of attention: what to start and what to stop (31:10) Power of subconscious mind (35:29) Addressing the voice in my head (38:28) Ghost beliefs can be helpful and serve a purpose (41:34) What evidence should I be looking for to know I am on the right path (46:00) Overcoming the fear to take action (50:34) Priming the brain to expect good rather than expecting the worst (54:31) Final thoughts (55:46) Bruce Lipton, stem cell biologist and bestselling author of The Biology of Belief, Spontaneous Evolution, and The Honeymoon Effect, challenges the idea that genes solely determine our destiny, emphasizing the role of perception and experience in health. Dr. James R. Doty, MD, is a Stanford Neurosurgery professor and founder of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE). He is also the New York Times bestselling author of Into the Magic Shop. Dr. Tara Swart is a neuroscientist, former psychiatric doctor, and senior lecturer at MIT Sloan. Dr. Swart is passionate about teaching others how to apply lessons from cognitive science to enhance everyday lives. Also mentioned: Episode with Bruce Lipton Episode with James Doty Episode with Dr. Tara Swart   This episode is brought to you by Bon Charge, Momentous, and Lifeforce. Right now, BON CHARGE is offering my community 15% off; just go to boncharge.com/DHRU and use coupon code DHRU to save 15%. Optimize your energy and mental clarity with the Momentous Three: Protein, Omega-3s, and Creatine, made by and used by the best. Go to livemomentous.com and enter promo code DHRU to get 20% off any order.  Right now, you can save $250 on your first diagnostic and get personalized suggestions. Optimize your longevity and track your progress; go to mylifeforce.com/dhru!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi everyone, Troop Road here. Like many of you, around this time of year, I spend a little time each year reflecting on the year that just passed and also setting some intentions for the next year ahead. Now, not traditional New Year's resolutions, but more intentions about things that I want to give more love and attention to. And when I do that, I feel so much more aligned with my goals and dreams in life. So I thought it'd be great to take some of the top episodes that we've had in the last year where we've had different experts come on this podcast and bring us back to the basics

of setting intentions, manifestation, and giving love to our goals and dreams in life. In specific, I talked to stem cell biologist and author of the best-selling book, The Biology of Belief, Bruce Lipton, as well as Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. James Doty, who is also the founder and director of the Center of Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford. And as a New York Times bestselling author of one of my all-time favorite books, it's called Into the Magic Shop, a neurosurgeon's quest to discover the mysteries of the brain and the secrets of the heart.

And finally, one of our top episodes in the last two years, we've taken some incredible snippets for my interview with Dr. Tara Swart. a neuroscientist, former psychiatric doctor, and senior lecturer at MIT Sloan. Let's dive into my first conversation with Bruce Lipton, who really helps us understand and sets the stage about how our outside programming shapes our belief, which shapes how we show up in this world. If you have big dreams for 2025, you definitely want to keep listening. Something mind-blowing that I've learned from your work that I want to share with you is this idea

that 95% of our life is not coming from our own individual wishes and desires. It's coming from the programming that we all get, including me, from other people in our life. And you've shared that this concept is something that most people don't and can't see that that programming is happening to them. Can you talk a little bit more about this? Why? Why? it's so hard to see that so much of our life is being run by the programming that's coming from outside instead of that's coming from inside? Okay, well, you know, let's start with a very important scientific fact because everything is going to be predicated on this most important fact in the world. And that is the most valid science on this planet at this time is quantum physics.

Now, most people go, that's the weird stuff and that's too crazy. But I'm going to put it this way. It is the most truthful of all the sciences on the planet. And principle number one is what I want to emphasize. And principle number one, since 1927 and emphasized over and over again over the years, is consciousness is creating our life experiences. Well, this becomes profoundly important because it says that your consciousness is part of a co-creation of our life experiences, that everybody's consciousness is involved. And all of a sudden it takes us out of a world where, oh, things happen to,

us into a world where we're engaged with things happening. And so we have to understand the role of this consciousness. Well, first of all, we start with a simple premise that we have to, let's connect the brain to the worker day world, and that is this. The brain is a computer. It's not like a computer. It is a computer. It has all the same functioning attributes as any of your desktop computers right out there

right now. And I say, if you understand. how your computer works, now I can give you an insight about how your mind works, because the mind is an expression of the brain, and the brain is the computer. And so when we're going to talk about the mind, I have to say all of a sudden, when you say the mind, everyone thinks, oh, there's one mind out there. And I go, no, no, each of us has two minds. And they're very different. And if you don't understand them right away, problem number one. Okay, the two minds, let's list them. The original version of the mind is called the subconscious mind. That's subconscious

means below awareness. It means it works without you even having to pay any attention to it. You know, so for example, your heart's beating, your body temperature is being regulated. You can walk without thinking about putting one foot in front of the other. It's just automatic. It works under the level of consciousness, subconscious, okay? The more recent addition, is the new mind called the conscious mind, which is just behind your forehead right here, and that's a mind that has your wishes and your desires in it. I say, what's the difference between the two? Subconscious mind is the equivalent of a hard drive that has programs in it. Conscious mind is the creator mind, which has access to the keyboard. So I can type in what I want into my

computer, but it also can run with the program. Okay? So now I say, so what's the point? And the point is this. Yes, the subconscious mind's hard drive programs are in it. Conscious mind's creative, but here's the fact where the problem comes from, and that is the conscious mind can do two things that are different. It can look out your eyes, like looking out the windshield of the car, and you're driving your vehicle body, and you're the driver, and you're looking into the world, and you're driving where you want to go. Conscious mind, that's really pretty good. Okay.

And I say, well, that's the conscious mind that's taking us to wishes and desires. I go, yeah, but what else can a conscious mind do? And I go, oh, it can think. What the hell does that mean? Think. I say, when the mind is thinking, it's not looking out. It's looking in because thoughts are inside. So the direction or the point of view of the conscious mind is based on,

is it looking out the window at the world and paying attention? Or is it thinking? Because if it's thinking, then it's not looking out, it's looking in. A thought is on the inside, you know? And I say, so why is this important? Because it says that when you are thinking, you're not looking out at the world. Your thoughts are inside. I go, what if you're driving the car and you start thinking? I go, well, conscious mind is not looking out the window anymore. It's inside your head looking for whatever you're thinking about. I go, yeah, but who's driving the car? Oh, the subconscious mind, this is critical, is called autopilot.

It's the one that if the conscious mind's busy, it's just like the pilot got out of the seat, the autopilot sits in, takes over. And the autopilot happens to be, as a computer, a million times more powerful than the computer running the conscious mind. So I say, so what's the point about all this? I say, well, the subconscious mind's got programs in it, and it takes over the control when you're not paying attention,

like when you are thinking. I go, oh, I say, well, how much of the day are you thinking? I go, 95%. I go, what does that mean? I say, well, then it says, how much time are you actually in the driver's seat looking out the window and going towards your wishes and desires, they go, 5%. Five percent. Is all you are moving toward where you want to go?

I go, well, who's driving when I'm thinking? I go, the subconscious, it's got all the programs. It knows how to drive the car when you're thinking. You could be in thought and then all of a sudden start to come to attention, look out the window of your car as you've been driving and realize you haven't paid attention to the road for the last five or so minutes and you're still there. I go, yeah, subconscious, powerful computer tick over and it drove it for you. So now here comes the point.

Consciousness is creating our life experiences. Principle 1, quantum physics. Consciousness is derived from the mind. Okay. But the mind can either be driven by the conscious creative mind or it could use the programs and then have the habit mind, so to speak. I go, well, 95% of the day you are. are thinking with your conscious mind. So that means 95% of the day your life is coming from the

subconscious programs. Okay. And at only 5% are you actually looking out the window and going toward where you want to go in your life? And I say, well, here's where the problem is. I said, well, these are programs. I go, yeah, where did you get these programs? Oh, the first seven years of your life. And actually, three months before you're born and the seven years of your life, your brain is evolving. It's not finished, finished doing its job yet. That consciousness is not a predominant activity of a child's brain at all. That the main activity of a child's brain under age seven is theta, which is a vibration. I say vibration. I go, yeah, put wires on a person's head, electroencephalograph, read their brain function.

It's vibration. There's a vibration for consciousness, alpha and a higher one beta. These are higher vibrations. That's where consciousness comes from. But a child, under 7, is not really into that level. It's at the lower level called Theta. Theta, imagination. And that's how kids under 7 mix real world, imaginary world.

The broom is not a broom. It's a horse, you know, things like that. I say, yeah, that's theta. But what you don't recognize is this. Theta is also hypnosis. And he goes, so why should I have hypnosis for seven years? And the answer is simply this. In the older days, we'd go buy a computer, and it didn't come with programs.

Got a brand new computer, take it home, plug it in, push start, the screen lights up. It's booted up, and I say, now do something. You just bought a new computer. And you go, I can't. I said, what do you mean? I said, first you have to put programs in. Then you can use a computer. So, oh, we put in how to surf the web, write a document, spreadsheet, art, blah, blah, blah.

These are programs. And I say, and once the programs are in, then you can actually use a computer and put in what you want into the computer. And I go, a child's brain is a computer. It boots up. Last trimester pregnancy screens on. But it cannot do anything until first it gets downloaded programs. I say, how does it get downloaded programs? I go, oh, the brain for the first seven years is in theta, which is hypnosis.

I go, oh, how do you get programs? A baby, a kid can't go to school. They can't read a book. They can't do classroom stuff. I said, but they need the programs to get their computer going. I say, nature made the first seven years of hypnosis. How do you get a program when you're a child? You watch.

Whatever you're watching is downloaded. It's a video recorder. Everything. And I said, well, what do you watch? I say, you need to be a member of a family and you need to be a member of a community. And there are rules. There are all kinds of rules. And each culture has different kinds of rules.

And I say, well, you have to fit in. You have to learn the rules. And I go, a kid under seven, what are you going to take him to school? Can't do that. Ah, all the kid under seven has to do is watch. Just watch the parents. Watch what the man-child does, what the woman child does. watch what the community is doing.

And you're observing their behavior, yeah, but you're also downloading it. Why? That's the programs of how to be a member of a family and how to be a member of a community. They're observable behaviors. And then you record those behaviors, now they're programs. And they become part of your subconscious mechanism. I go, so cool, for seven years, I observe other people and download their behavior. And I go, well, this is really important.

because that's how you're going to learn how to be the, you know, member of the family or whatever. I go, now here's a problem. The people that you're downloading behavior from don't necessarily have your wishes and desires in their behavior. They don't necessarily do what you want to do, but you copy them. And if they have a defect in their behavior, if they have a problem in their emotions or whatever behavior, you observe them, you downloaded that too. So when you downloaded them, you downloaded not just their behavior, but you downloaded all the emotional stuff that went with that behavior. And so guess what?

The downloads are not you. There are other people. I go, so what? I go, well, once you're past age seven, you can control with the conscious mind. I go, yeah, you do control with the conscious mind. I go, yeah, but you also are thinking. I go, oh, God, that takes away from the control. I go, how much?

95% of the day. I say, so what does that mean? I say, well, then the mind is controlling your life. Yep, 5% of the day from your wishes and desires, conscious mind, and 95% from the programs that you got from other people. And I say, oh, but what if I got negative programming? I did. My father and mother had a dysfunctional relationship.

I observed my father to see how do men be. I recorded his behavior. And then once I started to try and find a partner, when I played those programs, I downloaded from him. All those partners ran away. Why? Because it was dysfunctional behavior, and I downloaded it. I was operating from some bad programming.

But the point was, why wouldn't I have seen that I was operating from bad programming? I go, okay, let's go back and recognize what was the fact? Why am I playing a program? Oh, because my conscious mind is thinking. I go, oh. And I say, and where is it paying attention? Or, you know, what is it paying attention to when it is thinking? I go, thoughts inside my head.

Oh, it's not paying attention to what's going on outside. I go, no, no, it's not looking outside. Then I say, then why is the problem? I say, because the autopilot subconscious with the programs, when it kicks in and starts playing the program like my father's behavior for relationships, it was plain because my conscious mind wasn't paying attention. So whatever was coming out in my behavior, I didn't see it, but everybody else did. And I say, what was the result?

I couldn't get a relationship off the ground for nearly 50 years. Bad behavior. Did I see it? No. Did everybody else see it? Yes. Story that's been told thousand times by me. now, 1,001, you have a friend, you know your friend's behavior, and you know your friend's parent.

One day you see your friend has the same behavior as the parent, and you're going to tell your friend. You're going to go, hey, Bill, you're just like your dad. Back away from Bill. I know what the answer is. You already heard the answer. The answer that Bill's going to say is very clearly, how can you compare me to my father? I'm nothing like my father." And everyone laughs because they've had this experience.

And I go, what is the point of the story? This is why I'm telling it. Everybody else can see the Bill's behavior is like his father's. The only one who can't see it is Bill. And I say, and now I go, so what? And I go, ready for this? We are all Bill. Everybody, whoever you are,

you are, 95% of the day you are playing programs. These programs did not come from you, the basic ones. They came from downloading other people's behaviors. Up to 60% of the programs that we download, and that's the average number, 60% is higher in many cases, 60% of the programs that we download are dysfunctional, disempowering, and self-sabotaging behaviors. And you go, yeah, but if I was playing those, I would see them. I go, no, again, if you were playing them, is because you're not paying attention. But everybody else will see them,

and they will make a response to you. And I go, so now let's put this in perspective. I have ability, according to quantum physics, to create the character and quality of my life. I'm the creator of my life. But I'm looking at my life, and I say it doesn't match what my wishes and desires are. The world is filled with chaos, crime,

health problems, all stuff going on. It's like, I wouldn't create that. I go, not in your conscious mind. You would never create that. But you're not creating from your conscious mind. Your life is being created from your subconscious programs, which are other people's behaviors. And you don't see it.

Everybody else sees it. Conclusion is very strong and very important. You look at your life with wishes and desires and say, I'm having trouble manifesting I'm not getting what I want. And I say, but why not? And here's your answer. Because these people out here are messed with me,

and that guy messed with me, and this guy interfered, and that guy caused a problem. And all of a sudden, you start to realize, oh, I'm a victim. And those people interfere my life. And I go, okay, correction factor, clear the screen. What's the point? You were creating behavioral programs

they were responding to. What was the point? You created the problem. No! I go, yeah, but you didn't see it. So can I blame me for it? No, 100% no. You cannot be blamed for the problem.

You can become aware of the problem and then you can be empowered to do something about that. So building on this idea that we can program our subconscious I talked to Dr. James Doty about the importance of focus and intention when it comes to manifesting our desires in life. Let's listen in as he explains some of the neuroscience behind manifestation and even how what we call synchronicity may actually be a form of manifestation.

Dr. Doty, today we're diving deep into the art and science of manifestation, including how an understanding of the neuroscience around manifestation, can radically change our lives for the better. So I'd love to start there. Can you tell our audience that's listening and watching today what you think will be possible for them and their lives after listening to this interview? I think there are several aspects.

One is, unfortunately, so many people give their agency away. And what I mean is that they look outside of themselves for something that will guide them or that there's some cosmic presence out there that's going to intervene. And in fact, the first sentence of the book, as you know, is the universe doesn't give a fuck about you. And the reason is, is because the universe has no f***s to give. And the point is that so many of us, and I included, early in my life,

I looked for external affirmation. People who would say, well, what you're doing is good or that's right or, geez, you did incredible things, I like you. off with the goal of sort of making me feel okay about myself. And in some ways this very much relates to that, because the answer is only you have the power to make yourself happy. As Epictetus has said and many other Stoics, you may not be able to control your circumstance,

but you can control how you react to your circumstance. And in many ways, that's the truth about happiness. And also, of course, how you look at the world. So I'm sure you've been in the situation where you've shared with a loved one, a family member, geez, you know, I want this to happen. God, I'm so excited about this. I think this is a great idea. And then they'll say something like, no, that's stupid.

Why would you do that or you can't do that? And, you know, obviously that's very hurtful and for many people deflating. But if you have your own internal compass that guide you and you have a vision of what you want to do, and you do some fairly straightforward practices, but it's not as if it's a one and done. It's a process. I think the other thing people get confused about manifestation is that there's a timeline here,

or it works out exactly the way you want. And there's not, and you have to be patient. One of the things I think that causes suffering for a lot of people is attachment, and this is attachment to outcome. When everything is focused, is focused on an outcome if it doesn't manifest or occur the way you wish, you're very disappointed and you're upset. The reality is most of the positive things about goals is actually the journey.

It's not necessarily a destination. The same is true of manifesting. The other reality is that sometimes things don't manifest the way you want. And there are reasons for that. And some of them can be very complex or not straightforward. So the idea is how do I use the tools I have to maximally increase the likelihood of my intention manifesting? There are no guarantees, but how do you use your brain, if you will, to bring about your intention? And I think that's what this is really about. You know, the first step that you talk about in the book to step into that positive energy,

when it comes to manifestation is reclaiming the power of your mind to focus. Why is focus so key? And how do we step away from the noise that's causing us to be unfocused or focused on the wrong thing? Well, I think that is a challenge, especially in modern society, because we have so many distractions. So I think that's a critical aspect of regaining. your attention, but it takes effort, but it's readily available. And once you reclaim your attention, then you can direct your attention. And then you can direct your intention inward to impact your subconscious.

And what happens is when you have an intention and you use your attention to embed your intention into your subconscious, then the process of these cognitive brain networks, which are parts of the brains that work together in different circumstances, then it empowers them. And as I was mentioning, as an example, we have this thing called the salience network. So once you are able to embed your intention there, then that creates this process on a subconscious level

where you're looking both internally and externally for events that actually will make you manifest your intention. And this is also where your attention, network gets empowered, if you will. Because once you are searching around finding those things that will connect you to manifest your intention, then that will activate your attention network. So you then become focused on that. And it will then downplay your default mode network and also the nature of what we call your

executive control network will actually make it manifest, if you will, because when you're executive control network is empowered, it is actually the to-do part of your brain. It makes it happen. So once you embed your intention, that then activates your salience network, which then empowers your attention network, which then allows your executive control network to actually make that intention manifest. Maybe that was all confusing. No, I'm with you. I'm with you. And people can always hit rewind. Yes. And practice attention. Right. Exactly. And the thing is, in the book, there's actually a six-week program that goes through every aspect of this, which is, you know, one, understanding what you have been manifesting, how inefficiently that may be, and why you're doing that, and then actually clarifying your intention and then actually embedding your intention. If there was one thing that people listening today could start and one possibility of something that they might stop, for example,

to strengthen this power of attention, which goes back to this step one, reclaim your power to focus your mind. What would be something that you might suggest to them? One thing that they could start, and maybe one thing they could stop. One of the problems that I have is that I have a tendency to say, I have to do this and I'm going to do it now.

And I pick something that's really hard and complicated, and I'll go, I'm going to do it. And invariably, if you do that, you almost always fail. The most important thing is baby steps. And you look at a book, as an example, by BJ Fogg, which is called, I think, Tiny Habits. And then there's another one called Atomic Habits. But if you look at changing little things in your life where they actually become habits, in some ways, that's learning how to embed your intention.

If you're doing just one thing, okay, and you're making it happen. That in and of itself is a process of focusing your intention. and creating these little habits can be extraordinarily powerful because what happens is when you're not directing your attention, then you're wondering around all the time. And once you start doing things that require this effort, you realize how powerful that is to make things manifest. And you start small and then you move to larger things.

I think the other thing is you have to give up attachment to the outcome. because, again, and this may sound strange, but in some ways we're talking about the difference between fear and love. And what I mean by that is attachment to an outcome in some ways creates anxiety and stress, which is a manifestation of engagement of your sympathetic nervous system, which fundamentally is a fear reaction. Okay. So if you're attached to that, you're always worried about that. I have to get there. I have to get there.

Yet the very nature of that internal dialogue is actually working against you. And that's not to say having a goal isn't important. It's to say that goal becomes so prominent that that's the only way. Yet we know for manifestation that it can take a different pass and turns. And in some ways, it is smarter than you are about knowing the best way for something to happen. As an example, let's say you wanted, let's say, a different house. And you created this whole narrative about that. And the narrative being, though, I want this bigger house because I have a large number of children,

it has a larger yard, and not just I want this house to impress people. Again, two different perspectives. But if you go through all of that and you say, I want it in this place, in this neighborhood, and I want it this big and da-da-da-da-da-da. And you go through this whole exercise. And then suddenly another opportunity comes up, which is a completely different type of house than you imagine. But then once you get into it, you realize,

actually, that was a much better choice for me for all these different reasons. Let's say, oh, it turned out that the school, the best school in the area was there, and that's where my children will go. And that's much better than the place I had initially picked. because your subconscious is sorting through all this different information that's at a subconscious level so you don't appreciate it. And so when you get a different alternative, you may say, think, that's crude, I wanted this.

Why didn't that happen? Well, there are all sorts of other things that were going on there that you weren't aware of, and that in some ways your subconscious actually guide you sometimes to a better choice. When a lot of us go back and we look at our life and some of the key things that we're proud about. Could be finding a partner, a job maybe that you got involved in. So much of it when you look back, if you really pay attention to it,

so many of the good things that have happened to us that have made us who are today have happened largely because of some version of happenstance. And so I'm continuously amazed at how a lot of us, including me, forget about the power that we might have wanted one thing, and yet life took a different course. And it sounds like you're saying our subconscious could be involved and we got something better than what we could have ever imagined.

And I think that's exactly right. And this is the nature of synchronicity, which I talk about in the book or serendipity, if you want to call it that, is that oftentimes the way these events occur, again, on a conscious level, we don't understand why they occur, but they occur for a reason that actually is much more powerful than what our initial goal was in terms of our manifesting. And that's some of the extraordinary things about it,

is that once you are able to unleash this incredible power that you have within and embed your intention, which I talk about these techniques in the book, is this almost gives a direct line into your subconscious, which allows it, and I think I use the example of a bloodhound. You give it a minute. or a scent and the subconscious bloodhound starts going around looking at the circumstances. I'm sure you've been at a party and there's a lot of noise, but if you hear your name,

you immediately turn to it, right? Because it's deeply embedded in your subconscious. The same is true when you let the bloodhound lose. As an example, there was a project I'm working on right now, and again, I use these techniques of manifesting, and I was at a coffee shop. And again, very loud, but a fellow about two tables over started talking about something that exactly related to this project. And, you know, I turned and actually went over and introduced myself and we're working on a project together now, right? And this is how this works.

Because on a subconscious level, this bloodhound is always looking around to make serendipity or synchronicity happen. And that's the way it works. Well, if you're still listening to this. podcast and I hope you are and you're thinking, okay, the science is cool and I want to believe that I can apply this information in my own life, but I have doubts. Well, first off, you aren't alone. In advance of my round two conversation with neuroscientists, Dr. Taras Ward, I ask my listeners, you guys, what questions they had about manifesting and the science of manifestation.

Let's listen in as she answers these questions and others from you, our community. So this question came in from someone who heard our first episode and it says, I feel like I'm trying to practice neuroscience-inspired manifestation, but there's a part of me that feels like, quote, why are you kidding yourself? It's not going to work. How do I address that voice in my head, even when I want to believe that practical manifestation is real? So there's all sorts of reasons that people feel like that. And it comes from what we call, ghosts and so ghosts are related to neural pathways that have been there for so long in your brain that you're not even aware that they are there. So the earlier in childhood that a neural pathway formed and kind of became strong, the more of a ghost it is. And these are formed by things like the boundaries that your family had, you know, so some people have very like strict families and some people have very like open homes where people could just drop by any time

and um stay over or whatever the values that you know that were held in your when i say family i mean the environment that you grew up in any secrets um any role identifications so this can sometimes be things like oh you're just like your father or it could be things like you know you're the kind of go between messenger and the family you know whatever so there's a lot of things that these very, very old, deeply embedded neural pathways. And so for such a variety of complex reasons, any of us could think that's never gonna work out for me. My number one tip for overcoming that is obviously address anything

that's like an obvious reason that you might think that, and that could be in therapy or through journaling. But when you have a thought like that, it's underpinned by a belief about yourself, and it's usually to do with deservingness. So trying to work out specifically what that is for you and then creating a positive affirmation that's the opposite of that statement.

So let's say you're thinking, stop kidding yourself, that's not going to happen for you. And it's because you repeatedly watched one of your parents say that they were going to achieve something but then fail over and over again. And that's what you witnessed, a child. So your belief could be something like failure happens more than success. So what you'd have to make your positive affirmation is success happens more than failure. Now at first, that might

seem like you're not even telling the truth, but it has to be quite a bold statement. So even if it doesn't feel true right now, every time you think failure happens more than success, you have to say out loud or write down or in your mind, success happens more than failure. And you need to keep repeating that until that becomes more of a natural thought process for you. Were there any ghosts that you created a manifestation around or, sorry, affirmation around, that were helpful in your journey of stepping more into your creative ability to communicate the neuroscience?

I think this, the one that came up that was, that really had to change for me, that was big for me, and I'm sure has contributed to the creative story, was that everything had to be perfect. So, you know, I had to get 10 out of 10 on the spelling test. And if I didn't, I was questioned about why I got one thing wrong as a kid. And so an affirmation I made when I changed my career was let your true self. shine through. And it's not necessarily related to that everything had to be perfect, but, you know, there were a few reasons that those sort of themes came up. So I used that one, let yourself, your true self shine through for quite a while until I became, that became very

natural for me. And then I, you know, I struggled with things like good enough is, is okay. You know, I could not really get my head around that for a very long time. And what I realized was that the behavior that was panning out for me was I had such high expectations that everything had to be perfect. So then I thought, well, it's not going to be perfect. So, you know, I was just looking out for everything that was like less than perfect or wrong. And then I realized that actually usually in the end, whether it's perfect or not is irrelevant, I do quite a good job of most of the things that I do and I'm proud of them afterwards, but

I've caused myself so much stress and the run up to it. And, you know, the closest people around me maybe felt something. of that stress too, that really just wasn't worth it. And I gave myself the data and the evidence that usually the projects that I pay my attention to turn out really well. So I kind of just learned to drop the stress that around perfection that was coming with that. And, you know, I think a big learning that I had as well is that things don't always pan out how you plan.

So becoming more flexible and open and spontaneous was important. important. And I think both of those things have definitely contributed to being more creative because in creativity there is no such thing as perfection and you do have to be flexible and spontaneous. I love how you said that, you know, things don't always go according to plan. And for some people, that is their sort of negative mantra that keeps them from trying new things. And I just had this insight that even I had a version of that when I was younger. And And as I was starting my entrepreneurial journey, it was the switch of, well, things don't always work out, which was said in a negative way to prevent me from trying things.

And that's switching to, you know, sometimes things don't work out and that can be a great opportunity. Because when things don't work out, it's a test, it's an experimentation. And that is all more information about a different way to potentially go about stuff. I love when things don't work out in business because that's more information for us to find a different way of going about things that one of those next ventures will end up working out and be very successful. Yeah. I mean, as a serial entrepreneur like you, that's quite an obvious in a way, just like very

tangible. But what I want to put behind that that I'm sure you have examples of as well is that it's the way that you deal with that that's the actual test. Right. Something cannot go as planned, and you could waste months or years dwelling on that. Or you could learn through neuroplasticity to put that behind you as quickly as possible and move on to the next potential option. And that's definitely been a big learning for me as well.

You know, and it's come from not being able to let go of things that haven't planned out the way that I wanted them to. And then really looking back and taking stock and realizing, okay, that, that happened, that happened anyway. Whatever it was that actually happened, that wasn't going to change. But the amount of time that I wasted, not being able to come to terms with that, that was actually the mistake that I made. Great reminder. Okay, next question here. On my path to manifesting my dreams, what evidence should I be looking for to know that I'm headed in the right direction? Are there clues?

that I should be paying attention to along the journey. That's a really nice question. I wish I had a bit more of a specific example, because I want to say that there are clues, but it's quite hard to say what they might be if I don't know what necessarily. So let's, okay, let's just say generally, if you're trying to manifest things.

Let's say somebody wants to find a new job and change careers, and they feel very nervous about it, but they are starting to do. create their action board, they're imagining, and maybe they don't even know what career they want to shift to. I mean, you've gone through this in a way yourself. And they imagine themselves being more creative, hanging out with interesting people, learning, working in a different environment, maybe traveling, speaking on stage, or communicating something. Let's use that example, right?

Yeah, and I think that's a great example. And for other things as well, a question you could ask yourself is, am I making progress however small towards that thing on a regular basis? I think if you find that you're plateauing or going backwards, then you might need to like, you know, rethink. But I want to go back to the six principles in my book and say that, like, make sure that it feels like these are valid in your journey. So the first one is abundance, which is based on the negative gearing in the brain of, avoiding loss. So the balance of being nervous and excited is a good sign.

For me personally, I know that that's a sweet spot for me. But if you're way more nervous than you are excited, you might want to kind of journal about that and see just what the facts are around how likely this, you know, manifestation is, how realistic it is within your, you know, your power to influence it. And then magnetic. Desire is really important because often people say that they want things because that's what all their friends are doing or that's what society expects.

And magnetic desire is something that you want so strongly that you are willing to go through the time that it might take or the effort that it might take and you can't not keep moving towards it. Like you don't have an option. So I think that's a really important one. And it doesn't even matter whether other people want it or not. you know you want it. Yeah.

And you know, maybe particularly if it's not in the norm or the flow, but it's like very, very special to you, then I think that's actually maybe even a better sign. And then, you know, manifestation is what are the things that you're doing, whether it's through your thoughts or actions in the real world, that are going to bring that thing to reality? You know, so I guess the question here is, how much can you do? How much can you influence this? And, you know, that may include asking for help.

So it may be that somebody or something else can influence it too, but you've still got to ask for that help. And then patience, which I mentioned before, which is that you don't give up because, you know, because it's taking too long. So, you know, continuing to be motivated towards that goal, even if it feels like nothing's happening at times, which that, you know, can happen.

And then harmony and universal connection kind of, go together in that the thing you're trying to manifest isn't taking away resources from someone else. You know, it's not creating scarcity. It's part of the whole general abundance that, you know, we want to sort of foster in the world. Yeah, I would say you've got to be really practical about it and go back to those things and help use those six kind of questions to ask yourself if you can see clues in your life. That's powerful. In our last podcast, you detailed out why you call it an action board. Traditionally, people look at it as a vision board. And you say action board because you want people to take action. So this next question here goes right into that,

which is that, so I've put my action board together and I am, I've put it in a place where I can see it. They didn't write that, but that's kind of what I'm extrapolating from this question. So I've put my action board together. I've put in a place where I can be reminded of it daily. What happens when I am a afraid to take action towards it. Any best advice on overcoming and facing fear that gets in the way of the action that's needed to fulfill my action board. Yeah, I actually want to take that back a stage because something I hear quite often is that people have selected all the images, laid them out on the board, but haven't glued them down yet. And I think this is, this person's obviously gone further, which is great, but it's kind of on the same spectrum. Usually it comes

back to a feeling of lack of deserving of the image, so the thing that you want. And what I will say from a neuroscience point of view is that fear and uncertainty are actually the worst state for your brain to be in. If you take a step forward, what you find out quite quickly is that even if something doesn't work out, that feeling is less bad for your brain than the fear of uncertainty. The fear and the whole thing. holding on to fear is scarier. That classic quote, who was it one of the presidents, or maybe it was Winston Churchill, we have

nothing to fear but fear itself? Who is that? I think it's Winston Churchill. If we could fact check me, Tessa, so I don't get some hate mail later on from my history teachers in high school. But yeah, it is so true. How many of us have this feeling in our life that this simple little action, it just took one email being sent, one phone call, and we made it in the same.

to so much of a bigger deal in our head than it was when we actually ended up having to go through it. Yeah. And if you've got a few examples of that in your life, then that's great. It's really helpful. And I remember when I first read Who Moved My Cheese? There's one of the question on one of the pages is, what would you do if you weren't afraid? And I find myself asking myself that question sometimes.

So I don't put myself in a position of you have to do this. I just say, what would I do if I wasn't afraid? And I write it down in my journal. And usually then you see the first step to what you can do. I love that. There's a sister question to that question that I've stolen from the author, podcaster, life hack expert, Tim Ferriss. And he asks himself a question that he's talked a lot about.

And he encourages his listeners to do it. He says, what would it look like if it was easy? Oh, yeah, that's nice. So often we think that this thing that we want to make progress on in our life has to be hard. We've almost manifested hardship into it. But what would it look like if it was easy and even if it's still tough? Simply asking that question, I know for me, removes a lot of the stress around this thing that I want to make progress on.

I might want to achieve. And at least as a mental thought experiment that puts me in a place to even imagine that it doesn't have to be hard. And what would that look like? What would it look like if that was easy? Yeah, and I think this relates also to procrastination about just deadlines and tasks. You know, so it's the same kind of field, which is, okay, you're not taking a step and action towards your, like, action board goals, but it's not really that different to why you procrastinate over, you know, a document or an interview or something like that.

And it is because you think it's going to be much harder than it is. And so I have so many examples of where I finally get around to something at the last moment and then I think, oh, that didn't take as long as I thought or it wasn't as hard as I thought. And I have a kind of, let's say a cousin question to the two that we've already said, which is, what would it feel like if I get the best possible result in this scenario? And once you kind of just imagine that and then you go into the scenario, you go in like so much more willingly without the fear. I love that question because part of what you're doing, or at least part of what I'm understanding that you're saying that you're doing, is you're priming the brain to expect good rather than to expect

the worse. Yeah. Why is that so important? Give us a reminder. Because it's a natural survival mechanism in our brain to expect the worst to protect ourselves from, you know, potential bad consequences. But particularly in the modern world, the proportion of how often we think that's going to be a bad outcome and what actually is, is it's skewed, it's not correct. So by priming your brain more

towards the trust and excitement and getting the bonding hormone going, you feel better. And the fact is that your fear of how bad the outcome could be wasn't correct in the first place anyway. So it aligns more with reality. That's powerful. So can we just restate those questions again? Don't worry about restating mine. Restate the questions that you mentioned. So we'll go backwards. The last one was, what would it feel like have I got the best possible outcome from this scenario? What would it feel like if I would get the best possible outcome for this scenario? It's a great question, but it's almost like partly like a mantra to set you up for success. And then what was the first one if you remember?

What would you do if you weren't afraid? What would you do if you weren't afraid? Two powerful questions that you can bring into your life when you feel that fear is, holding you back from taking a step forward. The influence of our thoughts, beliefs, and experiences on our future is profound by consciously pursuing our goals through clear intentions and micro habits, shifting our mindset, and nurturing our deeper understanding of the realm of possibilities. We can initiate the process of manifesting the life that we truly desire.

And it's not woo-woo, as you've seen, there's actually science and neuroscience. behind it. I hope you're walking away from today's episode with a little bit more of an understanding of how you can use the science behind manifestation to truly create the life you desire. And if you benefited from the episode, do me a quick favor. Text this episode to a friend, someone who's thinking about their goals and dreams in 2025 and could use a little bit of a boost. And as always, if you've loved any of these segments or all of them, we have the full-length interviews with all these guests available for free, just like all our episodes. You can listen to my interview with Bruce Lipton, Dr. James Doty, and Dr. Tar Swart in the show notes below. Just click on the link. And it's a great

listening after today's compilation episode. And on the topic of goals and dreams, I want to say, first of all, thank you so much for tuning into this podcast. You know, doing this podcast was a goal and a dream of mine for a really long time. And the fact that you're listening is the biggest dream in the world for me, that somebody would actually care enough to listen to these interviews and want to hear me asking questions to the people that I find interesting. So thank you so much for supporting one of my goals and dreams. And I send you positive vibe as you're thinking about the things in your areas that you want to give love and attention to.

And know that whatever you decide to give love and attention to, whether it's starting a new business, volunteering more at your local church or temple, maybe it's a health goal. Whatever it is, know that I'll be here with insights, honest questions, maybe some motivation on health and personal development to support you in your journey. Until later on this week, thanks for tuning in.