The Resilient Mind - How to Rewire the Brain to Manifest from Love, Not Lack - Dr. James Doty

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

Dr. James R. Doty is a Stanford neurosurgeon and neuroscientist whose groundbreaking work reveals how love and compassion transform the brain and change lives. As the founder of Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, he’s helped bring heart-centered science to the global stage. His bestselling book Into the Magic Shop has inspired millions to reconnect with the deeper power of the mind. Dr. Doty’s mission is simple yet profound — to help humanity move from fear to love.Take action and strengthen your mind with The Resilient Mind Journal. Get your free digital copy today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/Download_JournalSpecial thanks to Lewis Howes, subscribe to his channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/lewishowesWatch the full interview on Lewis's page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=402NBfm1exg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Resilient Mind podcast. In this episode, you will be listening to how to rewire the brain to manifest from love, not lack, with Dr. James Doty. Get access to the Resilient Mind Journal by clicking the link in the show notes. Enjoy. What is the number one thought and number one emotion that blocks us from the ability to manifest greater? Fear. What type of fear? Well, it's insecurity.

It's shame. And it's this results in limiting your beliefs. And so in some ways, what we're talking about here actually is a decision between fear and love. Right? And when you're fearful, this stimulates your sympathetic nervous system with all the negative aspects of it. When you love, you're open, you're generous, you're thoughtful, you're kind because you've engaged the parasympathes. sympathetic nervous system. And you have a choice. This is like, if you look at stoic philosophers, like somebody like Epictetus, who was a slave, he says, I cannot control my external environment.

What I can't control is how I react to my environment, right? So you meet people, I'm sure, say, my life's miserable, my life's horrible, while you meet. Other people go, well, it's tough right now, but I'm, you know, optimistic it's going to get better. Or I know if I do this, it's going get better. These are completely oppositional attitudes that have a profound, profound effect, depending on what you're believing in. Yes. But how does someone shift their attitude into positive when they're in a suffering state and they feel like they're a victim to so many different things happening to them? Sure. Well, I can't sit here and say, you do this and your life is going to be perfect. There's some situations either because of, as an example, structural

racism that's built into the system or chronic poverty because throughout the world and even in America, the ability to overcome poverty for most, it's highly unlikely that's going to happen. So yes, you do have power, but it's not necessarily, I'm going to change it and everything's going to be perfect for me. And I'm sure things are not perfect for you, right? And no matter how much you try or want, well, externally, things may look fantastic. It's not perfect. Sure. And it's not the way you necessarily want. And I have to say the same thing. But there are people who, yeah, no matter how hard they're going to work, it's going to be very challenging. That being said, what we do know is there are certain practices and rules. And if you are going to get out of

something, or if you are going to change things, then the best way to do that, which has the highest likelihood of success, is to go through some of the things that we're talking about here. And one of those is that, as an example, there is a tendency for us to want to achieve, right? And if you're an athlete, you have a goal you set there. Well, goals and our final, you're But if you focus only on the goal and have no concern about any of the other things that are going on. The process. Yeah. Then you reach the goal and there's nothing there.

Yeah. Yet what we do know, the greatest cause of suffering is what? It's attachment and craving. Desires. Yeah. Yeah. And the thing is when that is your absolute focus and we can't all get these things, you're going to be highly disappointed, and you've ignored all the people in your life as you've

focused solely on that. And unfortunately, many people learn that lesson far along after they've destroyed their families. They've been through multiple marriages. Their kids don't like them. Right? Because they've been chasing a result or a goal or a dream, but neglecting everything else. Yeah, because, again, as I was saying even about myself, I thought, well, if I just do this, you know, my shame and insecurity will go away. I'll be loved by everybody and my life will be perfect. Yet at every one of those peaks, all I had was disappointment. And while everyone told me life was great, I did not feel that inside because I had not understood that I was the only one who had the key to the self-created prison. And until you realize that, you're on a very difficult

pass. So if we're coming from a place of insecurity, fear, or lack, and we're saying, you know what, I want to manifest. I want to create more for myself. I want to have more money. I want to have more opportunities, accomplishments, success. And that's what I want. I desire these things. And I start to apply some of the practices of manifesting and creating more abundance of my life. But if I create those external results, and I haven't shifted the insecurities of the shame, what happens next? Well, you end up the way I did, which is you have everything and you're incredibly unhappy. Yeah. So you can still manifest and attract what you want and create what you want and accomplish goals, but it's not going to make you feel different about yourself. The amount of it makes you

actually make you feel worse. Exactly. And this is why I was telling you about the story about the woman, because I was 12. And she taught me a visual. technique or manifestation technique, which is actually the origin of where this book came from. So at 12, she said, I want you to write down 10 things that you want. Well, again, unfortunately, in Western capitalist society, and a 12-year-old, you sit there and think of what people want in that. Want money. I want cars. It won girls. I wanted a Rolex watch because a friend of my father had one. It looked so amazing to me, right? I wanted a silver portion of I wanted a mansion overlooking the ocean, et cetera, et cetera.

At 12. Yes. And I wanted a million dollars, which nowadays would probably be about $100 million. But anyway, and I got absolutely every one of those things. And I was more miserable than I had ever been. Really? And the interesting thing about that is that, and this is in some ways the point of this book, because, again, the average person thinks they know what they,

want, they don't understand what they need. And that's the critical aspect here. What's the difference between knowing what we want and having what we need? So, as you know, there's what we call hedonic happiness. So the list I just gave you relates to pleasure and hedonic happiness. I want, it will make me feel good about myself, I, I, I, I. That is the worst thing you can do if you want to manifest. the best. Really? Yes. When you make it about self. Yes, because in some ways, you're talking about insecurity. The driver of that is insecurity, fear, right? And not enough. And not enough. And especially poor people look through the lens of not enough. And so when you're acting by a belief

based on fear, that has a negative effect on these cognitive brain networks. Now, it doesn't mean it's not possible. It just means that you're limiting yourself. And so we talk about this idea of hedonic or selfish happiness. And this is transitory. It's shallow. It doesn't last long, right? Udamanic happiness is a sense of purpose. And that actually is in terms of benefiting others, it's not about yourself. And the key to that, though, is that when you look through the lens, and we're talking about looking through the lens of compassion, what happens is that you then change how you see the world and what you need,

not what you want. Interesting. Right. You see, and that changes everything because you realize when you're of service, when you're caring for others, you don't necessarily need, having that big house or the Porsche isn't going to make you whole. And so you probably don't chase that anymore because it's a chimera that you're focused on because you think it's going to help get rid of the shame and the emptiness.

Right. You see, so it's a different mindset. So when you shift to the parasympathetic nervous system, that activates all of your brain networks and allows them to sync together, if you will, and then has the highest likelihood of manifest. Interesting. So what I'm hearing you say, and correct me if I'm wrong, when we come from a place of lack and wanting more for personal gain by itself, it's not going to bring us the ultimate level of happiness versus when we come from a place of wanting to create more to serve or impact others in some way that is connected to a purpose, a greater purpose, we will have more fulfillment and hopefully manifest. exactly what we need. Exactly. That's exactly around. That summarizes that that is the fundamental key here. All of us are manifesting every day, right? Most of us do it very inefficiently. Right. You know, because everybody sits and says, I want X, Y, or Z, or I wish for this to happen.

I think there are techniques you can use that can maximize the potential for you manifesting your intentions. So learning how the brain works and how those techniques work, maximize that. So you go, it's like an athlete, as you well know, if you've never been taught something, you try it for the first time, you sort of stumble through it. Frankly, most people stumble through life, right? And then as you practice it or you learn from people who, you know, have the knowledge, then you perfect it. And then you understand the, if you want to say, the neuroscience underpending of it and how you make the, you make these what we call cognitive brain networks interact, and then you've taken it from sort of,

well, it might happen, I thought about it to there's a high likelihood it will happen. How, I mean, how people talk about the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. What is at play when we start to think about things we want to manifest and actually actualizing them in the physical material world? Is it the conscious mind or the subconscious mind that is driving this manifestation process? Well, that's an excellent question. So the key is how do you get information which sticks into your subconscious? So just saying, I want this.

It may or may not work because, again, we're also distracted by all sorts of stuff. You know, as an example, we have about 10 million bits of information coming in through our sensory organs, second. Ten million? Yes. And we're only able to process on a conscious level 50 to 100. Okay, so now most of that goes to maintaining homeostasis or functioning of our body systems on an unconscious level. But we have actually access to our subconscious level, and you can learn that through different techniques, and then utilize those to maximize the input. And so when I say you have 50 to 100 bits, you can use part of that to consciously embed your intention if you know how to do that. Interesting. Wow. Okay. And as a brain surgeon and a neuroscientist yourself, what did you learn

through working on physical brains, the matter, as well as neuroscience in terms of, I guess, creating this for your life, a more harmonious, abundant life, studying both, the brain and the mind. Well, in some ways, I mean, being a neurosurgeons, a physical task, and it's not as if there are little signs on the brain that tell you where everything is. Now, certainly, we know from anatomy generally where things are, but you have to remember, I mean, there's a subset of people who, you know, we talk about our speech center being on the left side, but there's a subset of people that's on the right side. Really? Yes. How do you know that? You don't unless there's something that interferes with it or you specifically test for it.

So in general, the anatomy is pretty consistent. But, you know, it's like looking at somebody, you know, you're tall, there's a short person, and that's the way the brain works. Not everyone is wired the same way or has everything in the exact spot. And in fact, as an example, let's say you play the violin, the homunculus, which is both the sensory and motor area that has different representations of body parts, if you're a violinist, the area associated with your hands or hands get dramatically increased in size compared to other parts of your brain.

And in fact, the same is true with certain types of meditation practices, right? So you can have a profound effect on your brain, physical brain, And certainly you have power over your mind. And in some ways, that's what we're talking about is, and this goes back, you mentioned the law of attraction, you know, all is in the mind. And I think, in fact, some of the things you talk about, you understand that when you are disciplined and can get access, you can make things happen. Yes.

And whether it's a physical challenge or a mental challenge, but you have to understand how to get access. So how do we get access? I'm not going to tell you to you by the book. Exactly. Well, one of the things you talk about in the book is this phenomenon of vibration. And, you know, it's interesting because there's brain waves, but there's also heart energy or vibration as well.

And I think you mentioned about how the heart vibration is actually, I don't know, 10 or 50 times more powerful than the brain waves, I think, correct? Yeah, actually, you can measure the, vibrational energy from the heart at five or six feet away. And you know, this is where it gets confusing between the woo-woo and the reality because a lot of people will wrap all sorts of other baggage onto that. But it's true. And the interesting thing about that, though, is, and I'm sure you appreciated it, you can meet people who have an energy about them and a presence about them, and it makes you feel good. Yeah. And typically these are people.

people who are non-judgmental, accepting, open, and respect who you are as a person. They don't look down at you. And you want to be around those people. And those people emit this very positive energy. That's interesting. Yeah. And so it's interesting also because, as an example, if you have a group of women who live together, over a period of months, their menstrual cycles will match. Really? Why is that? Well, it's the nature of this vibrational energy,

and I talked about it in the book. And in fact, if you took a metronome, like had five or six metronomes lined up and watched them and they're on the same table vibrating, they will all get in sync over a period of time. And so this idea of vibration has actually an influence on things. On other things? Yeah.

So if I'm acting chaotic and I'm constantly the state of chaos if I'm around someone else, I may influence them to create that type of vibration as well, or vice versa. They might influence me if they're calmer for media calm. Yes, yes, absolutely. And in fact, which one wins? That's a good question. I mean, it depends on how powerful that energy is. And that energy can be very powerful, negative or positive. And of course, I think you would agree. Most people try to avoid being around negative people. Of course. You know, there's a saying that, what do they call them, energy eaters, I think you're around them. It's like,

in fact, I got called by a woman the other day, and I just dread getting a call from her ever because it always turns into a drama about her and you sit there, and it's just over and over again. And it's sad because, and we can talk about this more, all of us carry baggage from our childhoods, right? Yes. And until you are aware that the baggage you carry has an influence on every decision you make, every relationship you have, you can't change. As an example, I'm sure you've seen situations where individuals repeatedly pick an abusive partner. Yes.

Over and over again, I don't understand why this happens to me, because you have created that energy that allows that to happen. And I'm not blaming. I'm just saying that this is truth. So if you never understood as an example that while when I was a kid, I had an abusive father and, you know, he would be mean to me or hurt me, the problem is, you know, that becomes familiar to you. And even though it's painful and hurts you, it is something that's associated with a love figure.

Interesting. And it's really very sad, actually. I mean, a lot of our programming and conditioning sounds like it is wired in us at a very young age. And we have been conditioned by 7, 8, 9, 10 to have a set of beliefs, way of thinking and a way of feeling around our environments and relationships. And then we live with it for 10, 20, 30 years until we start to become aware of it, hopefully sooner. But we kind of repeat these patterns until there's a breakdown or there's a sadness or, or a breakup or something that gets us to wake up. How hard is it to change our belief systems

that have been wired in us for decades? Well, it's very hard. I mean, you see it every day. You see people who become addicted to alcohol and drugs. And, you know, it's not because they want to live that life. It's because they're in such pain from the baggage they carry and they have no way out. That's the coping mechanism. Yes. Yes. And so it's, It's very sad. And as you pointed out, until there is a profound, painful event that gets their attention, many of them won't change. Thank you for tuning in.

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