Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee - BITESIZE | How to Reduce Overwhelm and Be More Present | Deepak Chopra #311

Starting point is 00:00:00 Today's Bite Size episode is brought to you by AG1, a science-driven daily health drink with over 70 essential nutrients to support your overall health. It includes vitamin C and zinc, which helps support a healthy immune system, something that is really important at this time of year. It also contains prebiotics and digestive enzymes that help support your gut health. It's really tasty and has been in my own life for over five years. Until the end of January, AG1 are giving a limited time offer. Usually they offer my listeners a one-year supply of vitamin D and K2 and five free travel packs with their first order. But until the end of January, they are doubling the five free travel packs to

Starting point is 00:00:51 10. And these packs are perfect for keeping in your backpack, office, or car. If you want to take advantage of this limited time offer, all you have to do is go to drinkag1.com forward slash live more. Welcome to Feel Better Live More Bite Size, your weekly dose of positivity and optimism to get you ready for the weekend. Today's clip is from episode 130 of the podcast with Dr. Deepak Chopra, someone who Time Magazine has described as one of the top heroes and icons of the century. In this clip, Deepak shares some practical tips and techniques to reduce stress and overwhelm and help us wake up to our true potential. to our true potential. Anxiety, stress, depression, these things are just going up and up. And I think that really speaks to what you're talking about, that many of us are, we're asleep.

Starting point is 00:01:59 We're just sort of sleepwalking through life. Feeling as though there's something missing. You were asked, I think, what is the single most important lifestyle practice? Your answer is to wake up. And I found that so powerful. What does waking up mean? And what would you say to people who are listening to this right now, who have no concept of waking up, and how would you make it relevant to them? You're sleepwalking. And the reason you're sleepwalking is that most of your reactions to the world

Starting point is 00:02:28 are not coming from conscious awareness or choices that you're making at this moment. We are constantly bamboozled by a hypnosis of social conditioning. So all our responses to the world are automatic. You're like biological robots. So that means we are in a daze. We are actually very predictable in our responses.

Starting point is 00:02:57 Every situation, every circumstance, every news event, a stranger on the street can offend you by insulting you, flatter you, etc. You have no freedom whatsoever in this so-called waking state because it's a reactive state and you're a bundle of conditioned nerves and reflexes constantly being triggered by people and circumstance into predictable outcomes. That's not being awake, that's being asleep. into predictable outcomes. That's not being awake, that's being asleep. And the only solution is to wake up to your true identity, which is unlimited, immeasurable potential for creativity, for maximum diversity of expression, for higher consciousness, for your capacity to create a better world,

Starting point is 00:03:46 all those which we call dharma, is part of waking up. How does one go about waking up? I used to do this as a practice, but I no longer do it because I think I'm awake at the moment. So I used to stop every once in a while during the day and ask myself, am I aware? And then I would ask myself, what am I aware of? And then I would realize that at the end of this question, all I was aware of sensations,

Starting point is 00:04:29 perceptions, images, feelings, and thoughts. That's it. That's the totality of all experience. Sensations in your body, the five perceptions, sound, touch, sight, taste, and smell, and color and shape, images in the mind, imagination, feelings, emotions, and thoughts. Now, if you want an acronym for this, it is S-I-F-T, SIFT. That's the totality of all experience. The rest is a story. It could be a religious story, a story you know it could be a religious story a theology a philosophy a doctrine a dogma or scientific story but it's still a story if all if you want to wake up recognize what's my story right now are there other versions of this story and you realize there are infinite versions of every story every thought every feeling every feeling, every emotion, every perception. You know, if I asked you, what's that? You might say it's a rainbow. And another person

Starting point is 00:05:32 said, that's love. That's wonder. That's exhilaration. Or somebody might say it's just water vapor. Yeah. It's about, you know, it's about curiosity, isn't it? Open-mindedness. How would you, as someone who's very experienced with this, like if someone is struggling to follow that line of thought, how would you potentially explain it to them in a slightly different way? So you say, you know, what does it, how can you help somebody who's not even thinking about this? Okay. Well, if they're not thinking about this, you can ask them to ask themselves four questions every day, only four questions. Sit quietly, close your eyes,

Starting point is 00:06:18 put your attention in your heart, ask four questions. Don't worry about the answers. heart ask four questions don't worry about the answers first question is who am i okay am i the body am i the mind or am i the awareness in which this is a changing experience second question is what do i want do i just want lots of money will it make me happy okay what do i want do i want a good relationship do i want if you don't ask question, you're not going to get what you want. But then ask yourself also, what is the limit to what I want? What is the limit? Where will I be contented? Don't worry about the answer. Third question you ask is, what is my purpose?

Starting point is 00:06:59 Why do I exist? Just to go, you know, at the end of my life, if somebody asked me, what was your life about? I'd say I went to work 24-7. I made a lot of money. I worked the heck out. And, you know, is that my legacy? What is your purpose? And the last question, which is the most important,

Starting point is 00:07:19 what are you grateful for? And, you know, I ask this question every day. What am I grateful for? If you don't have time for four questions, ask this one every day what am I grateful for if you don't have time for four questions ask this one question what am I grateful for and your body will go into a different mode just by thinking of the things you're grateful for and we know now inflammatory markers go down gene expression changes there's homeostasis just by keeping a gratitude journal we did a study with chronic heart failure patients on digoxin and many drugs and then people who were just doing a gratitude journal guess who did better the ones who were keeping gratitude journals yeah i love that that's really

Starting point is 00:07:58 tangible that is very actionable and i guess it just speaks to this idea of taking a pause and turning your attention inward and asking yourself you know this it's such a simple idea but it's so effective and it is remarkable how many of us these days don't feel we've even got time for five minutes of self-reflection each day but we do have time for an hour on instagram and an hour on youtube and a few hours on netflix and and i get it right i'm not i'm not here to judge anyone i'm just i'm just saying that's a very practical take home for people that i think would automatically start to just change their perspective on things and and allow you to start going deeper.

Starting point is 00:08:45 There's one other thing which is very practical. It just says stop, notice, and choose. That's it. Stop, notice. Notice how you're feeling. Notice the sensations and feelings and perceptions. And then choose what you would like to experience i mean doesn't matter it's a piece of chocolate ice cream stop notice feel your body then choose how you would like to feel and actually that would feel very good that little chocolate ice cream would feel very good if i took the right amount and ate it mindfully, it would actually be exhilarating. Yeah, rather than inhale the entire tub without even being aware of it, right? Which is something I have done on many occasions in the past.

Starting point is 00:09:36 I really want to get on to meditation, I think, because there's so many different meditation techniques out there. And I think meditation is very confusing for people. It is something that is so powerful, yet so many people I think have, they want it now. It's like, it's going to help you in my stress hours. I've meditated once. I don't feel any different. It's not for me. I'm not going to do it. I'm looking for the next thing. You know, keep searching until you find that thing. and I've had an interesting journey with meditation myself and I know you write in the book that it is a journey I wonder if you could sort of give some of your top tips how can someone who's never tried before or they've tried and fallen off the wagon how would

Starting point is 00:10:20 you recommend that they get going with a meditation practice? You can start with just sitting quietly with your eyes closed and do nothing for five minutes. Do nothing. And if you can handle that, then start observing your breath for five minutes. Again, not manipulating. If you can handle that, then start observing sensations in your body for five minutes. Again, not manipulating. If you can handle that, then start observing sensations

Starting point is 00:10:46 in your body for five minutes. Just with non-judgmental awareness of first nothing, then breath, then maybe sensations, then you could pick a perceptual object, whatever it is. Or you can pick an image in your mind,

Starting point is 00:11:01 a candle or a flame or a sunset. So there are many techniques of meditation which I outline in your mind, a candle or a flame or a sunset. So there are many techniques of meditation, which I outline in the book, which are natural, by the way, concentration, reflection, inquiry, contemplation, transcendence, awareness of body, awareness of breath, something called interoception, where you can actually become aware of what's happening in the visceral part of your body. In yogic traditions, that's called interoception. So in the West, we are concerned with perception. We're never concerned with interoception.

Starting point is 00:11:36 But you can train yourself to be a yogi that you're fully aware of what's happening in the body. And you can even regulate it. If you understand how meditation works, it doesn't matter which meditation it's quietening the mind getting to the source of thought which is the fundamental reason why we meditate and actually it's the best way to return to what we might call home base and you can try any one of these things. Try stopping, try noticing, just be more conscious of the choices you're making. If I was asked one definition of enlightenment, it would be consciously choosing freedom from the conditioned mind, period. So if your audience just stopped right now, and instead of listening to you and me, they just became

Starting point is 00:12:25 aware. We can ask them to do that right now. Instead of listening to you and me, they become aware of that which is listening. So as you're listening to me, become aware of that which is listening.

Starting point is 00:12:43 There's a presence there. That presence is the real you. And it's at peace already. So don't look for peace. It's already there. It's just being overshadowed by distraction. That's it. And what you can do right this moment is be aware of your own presence and ask yourself one question.

Starting point is 00:13:09 Is anything wrong right now? Is anything wrong right now? And now is not a moment in time. It's the presence of being awareness. Nothing wrong. So, so powerful. Hope you enjoyed that bite-sized clip. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. And I'll be back next week with my long-form conversation on Wednesday and the latest episode of Bite Science next Friday.

Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee - BITESIZE | How to Reduce Overwhelm and Be More Present | Deepak Chopra #311

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.