The School of Greatness - 4 Keys To Completely Heal Your Mind & Body EP 1206

Episode Date: December 24, 2021

Everyone is on some kind of healing journey right now, whether it’s mental, spiritual, physical—it doesn’t matter, we’re all going through something and it can be really hard to figure out where to start or which direction to go next. So for this episode I wanted to share with you some of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned from my conversations with Marisa Peer, Dr. Nicole LePera, Lori Gottlieb and Gabby Bernstein.In this episode we discuss why the words you use about yourself are so important, the best coping strategies for stress, tools to help you heal from the damaging effects of shame, how to become more authentic and vulnerable, and so much more!For more go to: www.lewishowes.com/1206Marisa Peer EP 949 - www.lewishowes.com/949Dr. Nicole LePera EP 1083 - www.lewishowes.com/1083Lori Gottlieb EP 1013 - www.lewishowes.com/1013Gabby Bernstein EP 1103 - www.lewishowes.com/1103Mel Robbins: The “Secret” Mindset Habit to Building Confidence and Overcoming Scarcity: https://link.chtbl.com/970-podDr. Joe Dispenza on Healing the Body and Transforming the Mind: https://link.chtbl.com/826-podMaster Your Mind and Defy the Odds with David Goggins: https://link.chtbl.com/715-pod 

This is episode number 1206 on how to completely heal your mind and body. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Everyone is on some kind of healing journey right now. Whether it's mental, spiritual, physical, it doesn't matter because we're all going through something and it can be really hard to figure out where to start or which direction

to go on next. So for this episode, I wanted to share with you some of the most valuable lessons I've learned from my conversations with Marissa Peer, Dr. Nicole Lepera, Lori Gottlieb, and Gabby Bernstein. So in this episode, we are going to break down and discuss why the words you use about yourself are so important, the best coping strategies for stress stress tools to help you heal from the damaging effects of shame, how to become more authentic and vulnerable and so much more. And if you're enjoying this at any moment during this episode, please share it with someone that you think would love to hear this as well. And if this is your first time here, or if you're a

regular listener, but you haven't subscribed yet, please click the subscribe button over on Apple Podcasts right now and leave us a rating and review. And today's fan of the week is from Elena from Hawaii. Aloha, Elena. And she said, life-changing podcast. I absolutely love this podcast. Every guest interviewed is incredible. 10 out of 10 recommendation. So big shout out to the Aloha

State to Elena for leaving a review and subscribing and for being the fan of the week. And again, just go ahead and leave a review at any time for your chance to be shouted out on the podcast as a fan of the week. Okay, in just a moment, we'll dive into the four keys to completely heal your mind and body. In this first section, you'll hear from Marissa Peer, who is a world renowned speaker, rapid transformational therapy trainer and bestselling author. In this section, we discuss how to heal from decades of thinking negatively, how to change our interpretation of flee or freeze to flow, why the words you use about yourself are so important, and how role, function, and purpose work. Let's dive in. If we're so focused on negative thoughts, how do we even

get to the place of stopping those thoughts and starting to heal from years or decades of thinking negatively? And I guess that's a great question because most people don't even get there. You have to understand thoughts are things. When you think a thought, you have an immediate reaction. That's why if you think about eating, your stomach rumbles. You think about sex, you get aroused. People say, I don't believe that. I say, well, what do you think an erection is?

You think a thought, you get a physical reaction. That's not a one-off. If you think a thought, get a physical reaction that's not a one-off if you think a thought a thought has a physical reaction in your body immediately and an emotional response if i think i'm embarrassed i might blush if you say something moving my eyes might fill up with tears because my body is reacting to thoughts and if you could all be taught that early on you react to thoughts that's the fact Here's another great fact. You can change your thoughts any time you like.

And if you change your thinking, it changes your entire life. So, for instance, we're all saying I'm stuck at home. I go, no, I'm safe at home. Stuck, safe. You change one little word, it changes everything. So let me say I'm trapped. I'm in a lockdown. You know, we're not actually trapped.

They're not sealing up the doors like they did in the plague. In the plague, they sealed your doors and you couldn't physically get out. But we are asked to stay indoors. We still go out for walks. We go out to the store. We go to the pharmacy. We're not stuck. We're not locked in.

We're not trapped. We're not in in, we're not trapped, we're not in prison. It's not an apocalypse. It's not Armageddon. But if you start to use those words, it begins to feel exactly as if it is that case. So it's really important that you change your words. And I learned that when I was helping a hospital who had people who couldn't go in the scanning machine. And they'd all say things like, well, I feel like I'm helping a hospital who had people who couldn't go in the scanning machine. And they'd all say things like, well, I feel like I'm in a coffin. You know, when I get in that scanner and I can't move, I'm so trapped. I'm like, look, come on.

You lie in bed for eight hours every night and don't move. Why don't you just say I'm in my bed? I'm super chilled and I feel so relaxed. And what will happen is your mind will react to your thinking. And so I had many people do that. And I was teaching nurses how to get people to do that, especially little kids of six going into the scanner. And they said, you know, when we tell them they're in their bed,

they actually fall asleep in there. And we say, we're going to play a game now of statues. How long can you keep still for? So when I actually a few years ago was in a scanner which I didn't ever plan to be and I thought with this let me play a game and then I went I'm in my bed I'm so chill this is so great I've got half an hour to just lie here and then I decided I'm in my coffin now and they start to talk to me. Marisa, you're moving. All the time I had no idea because I was saying, I'm stuck, I'm trapped, I'm claustrophobic. My body was like, get out.

And it starts to do things to make you want to leave. And so if you just understand how you are, everything changes. So our ancestral brain is like like flee, fight, freeze. I can fight, I can flee, I can freeze. So I'm in a scanner and it's like, well, I need to flee this. I need to fight it. And I'm like, no, if you can't fight and you can't flee, don't freeze, flow. I can't fight, I can't flee, but I can flow.

I mean, Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in solitary confinement. We can't even do three weeks, but they're like, El, it's a nightmare, I'm cooped up, my kids are driving me mad, I want to get a divorce, I can't stand it. But he did 27 years. You know how he did it? Because he said, everyone in my country is in prison. I'm just in a different prison to them.

If they can do it, I can do it. And I'm going to come out here the leader of my country. And he did. So, you know, we have this belief that events affect us. They don't. The meaning you attach to an event affects you. The interpretation you choose about an event is what affects you. Sometimes we're going, I love it. It's great.

You know, I'm so much time. I'm having the best. I hate it. I can't stand it. I'm climbing the walls. I'm going cray. I'm ripping my hair out. None of which we're not actually ripping out our hair or climbing the walls or going insane. We shouldn't use that. But clearly it must be the interpretation because we're all reacting differently. So this won't affect you, but what you make of it will. And it's your job to change the interpretation. And if you can change the interpretation, it would change your entire life.

How do we change the interpretation to go from free or fight, or freeze to flow? Well, first of all, you think, what does this mean? What does this mean? You know, I've had a couple of clients who went to jail, and they reacted introvert. One of them was a very rich woman who went to jail for tax evasion, and she said, actually, she ended up really liking it. Being in jail. Well, she had a beautiful house, lots of staff.

She didn't really go anywhere. Everyone did everything for her. She didn't really have any friends. She had the ladies who lunch. And when she was there, she trained to be an aerobic teacher. She trained to be a yoga teacher, nothing else to do. She really bonded with the other women. And when she got out, she went back every week to visit them because she said you know it was different in there it

was like girls boarding school i didn't realize i was isolated at home and more connected in jail which is an interesting way to think about it and people who often people who've been in jail or been trapped in their house, been in lockdown. So Isaac Newton, I believe, in 1665, he developed the theory of gravity while London was locked down because of the plague. Sealed in their house. And so he used that time. So I guess you have to think, well, you know, I can't change this, but I can change what it means. One day I'll look back and go, well, actually, that was a lot of good stuff.

What can I do about it? I mean, we all go, I just haven't got enough time. Oh, I'd love more time. If only I had time to myself. Well, here it is. What could you do or learn or achieve? And I'm not saying it's easy because I'm also safe at home. And I really miss going out and meeting people but I'm also doing things I've wanted to do for years that I couldn't do

because of time so silly things like cook with your kids and make that a math lesson how much does that weigh how much vitamin c is in the skin of a potato do the the laundry, you know, why do you think detergents are called biological? You can make it interesting. You just have to really decide, okay, what does this mean to me? And can I change the meaning? And when I can change the meaning, it will change my life because the meaning is yours to change and the interpretation is yours to change. But the fastest way is to look at words. Am I saying apocalypse, Armageddon, trapped, stuck? Someone said to me, they've taken away my freedom. Who? The government.

Government forces have taken away my freedom. Maybe. But how about they want me to live? They want me to be safe. The government has put this in place to keep me safe. So I'm safe at home or they've taken away my freedom. Why looking at your words first? Why is that so important?

Because the way you feel about everything is down to two things. The pictures you make in your head and the words. The way you feel about everything, every minute of every day is only down to two things. The pictures you make in your head and the words you say. But you could make that even simpler and say, forget about the pictures because the words make the picture. You know, I'm not visual and I can't see stuff. But if I said to you, Lewis, think of anything, but you may not think of an orange snowman, especially one whose snow is the same color as a carrot in his nose.

You've got to think of an orange snowman. And so when you hear words, they make pictures. When you say, don't think about blushing, don't think about falling. You know, I paddleboard every day, and I notice if you go, I'm wob here I'm gonna fall I've never ever ever fallen off because I don't think about falling I think about balance and how much I like it but when you say a word you make a picture and even the words you use in

front of words make a picture you can, this is driving me crazy. I'm going insane. There's a picture. Or you can say, it's a challenge. It's interesting. It's an opportunity because they don't make a picture. So when you say, I've got this cracking headache. Oh my God, it's killing me. I'm in agony. My head is killing me. Swelling. It's throbbing. Yeah. Or you say, I've got a little niggle here. A little niggle. Not great, but so what? When you say, I'm starving, this is what people do. I'm starving. I could eat a horse. I'm dying of hunger. See, what you're doing, which most people don't know, is that 500 years ago, the thing that killed us more than anything else was not disease and it wasn't war.

It was hunger. And we're wired to be scared of hunger. So when you say to your body, I'm starving, I'm dying of hunger, I could eat a horse, your mind goes, oh, that's that dangerous thing that could kill you. You have an apposite here that regulates what you eat, but if you say you're starving Us put that on hold so you can eat Fridge and eat so much stuff and then when you beat you still feel hungry

Because you just told me you were starving So you're saying that we're using the words. I'm starving or I'm okay. I don't get food Whatever you say is going to manifest in the body. And you just have to think, how could I change? Am I really starving? I don't think I've ever been starving. I mean, I've been hungry, but I've never been starving. Could I really eat a horse?

No, not even a horse's leg. Of course you couldn't. Am I really dying of hunger? That takes at least 12 days, probably even longer. So then you think think why would I lie to myself and delude myself how about saying the truth I need to eat I'm ready to eat and you see what happens is maybe you're driving home or maybe you're on the train station and you say I'm starving now your mind goes there's a KitKat machine right there you should eat three

of those and maybe some jelly beans and taco chips as well because you're starving. And I'm your mind and my job is to keep you alive. And you just said you're starving because your mind's job is to listen to your words and your job, and it's a great job, is to tell it better stuff. So then instead you go, you know, I am hungry. I need need to eat but I've got some chicken in my house I've got some vegetables I've got a casserole I cooked it yesterday I can wait an hour and eat better food and we all have to say that I am hungry but I'm choosing to wait 30 minutes for better food you know it's the same thing in a restaurant but when I go to restaurants I'm not hungry the minute I sit down they bring that bed bread basket, I think, oh, I need that.

And I could have eaten all of those at one time until I learned to say, I'm choosing to wait half an hour to eat this really nice food I've ordered. But you have to talk to yourself. We're all taught if you can talk to your customers, you'll have a great business. If you can talk to your kids, you'll be a great parent. If you can talk to your kids, you'll be a great parent. But no one says, but you need to talk to yourself. That is the most important conversation you'll ever have, the one you have with yourself. This relationship is killing me.

This kid is killing me. I'm dying under my workload. This free weight makes me want to die. This is not true. Why don't you say the truth? The commute is a challenge. I've got all these audio books. I've got some snacks in my car.

I'm prepared for the challenge rather than it's killing me. What happens when we say this is killing me over and over again? How do we manifest that physically? If you say that, your mind's job is to keep you alive on the planet it doesn't actually care if you're happy you know people think my mind's job to make me happy no it's not it's to make you live long enough to reproduce yourself and actually that takes the first 30 another 70 left so our mind's job is a little confusing to our mind. But, you know, we are ancestral people in very modern bodies. And when you say my job is killing me, it goes, don't go to that place

called job. And if you keep going to that place called job and keep saying it's killing you, I'll just give you a nice ulcer. I'll keep you at home now. I'll make you sick. I'll give you a disease. I'll give you a disease. And we see that. People say, oh, I need a week in bed. And then they get flu.

Now they've got their week in bed. I need to get out of that meeting. And now they get chronic diarrhea. So it happens all the time anyway. And because your mind is designed to keep you alive and so if you say you hate someone i will say you know this guy oh he ripped out my heart stamped all over it threw it in the trash really i think he got bored with you darling and you know what if he stuck around you probably would have got bored with him he was just your starter relationship he taught you a lot and you learned a lot. And everything he loved in you, but he didn't take it when he packed his wash bag and left.

He didn't put in it all the things that made him like you. They're still in you. He couldn't take them home. And everything he liked in you is still there. And you can find a way better person that loves you more. But when you say to your mind, he ripped out my heart, stamped all over it, he killed me, the mind goes, you know what? Don't have another relationship.

Stay single. I'll make you the biggest bitch in the world. I'll make you the cold, most cold-hearted guy, because you keep saying, if I meet another person that leaves me, I'll die. If I meet another person that hurts me, I couldn't take the pain. You know those songs, I haven't got time for the pain. I can't live without you. When you say to your mind, it'll kill me if another guy dumps me or girl, I'll die if I get rejected. If I have

another miscarriage, it will just be the end of the world for me. You've told your mind, I couldn't cope with that event, and your mind's job is, okay, my job is to make sure you never have to experience that event ever, ever, ever again. So I'm going to make you a bitch, I'm going to make you mean, I'm going to make you obese, unattractive, all these things, right? You know, I worked with someone. It was so fascinating. This girl had hypersensitivity to light so bad that she couldn't go out in normal daylight. And when I talked to her, she said, you know, when I was 11, I got really, really badly bullied. And I said to my mom, can I stay home?

And she's like, no, I'm a single parent. Of course you can I stay home? And she's like, no, I'm a single parent. Of course you can't stay home. I've got to go to work and I hate my job. And you have to go to school and deal with it. And she said, but mom, I need to stay home. No. When she got hyper light sensitivity, what do you think happened? She was able to stay at home.

She had to stay home every day. Her mind believed that staying home was what she wanted and was really seductive. And we have to be so careful when we say, I want to be at home. I don't want to go out into the world and deal with that. It's too much for me. And recently, I was teaching because I teach RTT all over the world. And I was teaching my course. And I heard this story.

I just trained a graduate and I was so proud of it because she said, you know, my first client was an anorexic girl. And when I talked to her using RTT, I said, because we always say the same thing, what was going on when you first began to have this? It's what I call what lies beneath. And she said, well, I was 11 years old and opened my dad's study and he was looking at porn. And he was panting like a dog.

And I remember standing at the door thinking, oh, I never want anyone to look at me the way he's looking at that girl. I would die if a man looked at me the way my dad is looking at that girl. Now, that's actually a command to the mind. Do anything and everything to make sure no man ever looks at me the way he's looking at her. And that's when she became anorexic. When you're anorexic, the ovaries don't develop. You don't get breasts.

You lose your hair. But what was even more interesting is a girl in the audience said that's so bizarre because I'm bulimic and my dad used to I used to drop me off when they're divorced you go look at your mom look at her in those tight clothes who does she think she is she just looks like a tramp she doesn't I thought I never want my husband to ever talk about me like that. And I'm so fat. He would never talk about me like that. So same, almost the same scenario, the same request to the mind.

I couldn't cope if anyone spoke about me like that. And one became anorexic and one became a beast because the mind took the command do anything and everything to make sure no one ever looks at me like that to protect yourself and it doesn't have a set thing but um what is interesting is we in rtt have something called role function purpose so we say to people if this headache had a role what would it be if um your irritable bowel had a role if these panic attacks had a purpose and they come up with the most profound stuff but it's only ever three things in 30 years it's always the same three the panic attacks protect me you know my dad wanted me to be a family lawyer like him,

but when I got panic attacks, he said, oh, you could never do that. No, you can't. How could you ever be in court with panic attacks? So they protected me from this expectation. I knew I could never meet. The second thing is they punish me. You think, why would my mind punish me? But when I talk to a little

yeah you know I had an affair with my friend's boyfriend and I it caused so many problems and now I've got colitis I've got autoimmune which means the body is attacking itself when I was 15 I stole money from my mum's purse and then I never told her but ever since I've had this chronic irritable bowel, these terrible headaches. I blush all the time. You know, years ago, we used to go to do penance. We used to wear hair shirts. But if you have guilt, your mind's job is to become judge, juror, jailer. Let me punish you. So punishing ourselves is huge. A lot of people do it. They don't even know why. And the third thing is get attention. You've all seen kids lying on the

floor in the store screaming because they want attention. That was me. Getting sick because they want attention. You know, many, many children who can't get, if you can't get the love of your parents, the very next best thing is to be sick. It's almost as good. They have to pay attention. Yeah. Oh, I didn't think my mom loved me, but she's driving all over town buying this gluten-free flour, getting me special cream, doing something. And for many kids, being sick is like, oh, I didn't think I mattered, but clearly I do. Oh, I didn't think I mattered, but clearly I do. In this next section, you'll hear part of my discussion with clinical psychologist Dr. Nicole LaPera, where we'll talk about the best coping strategies for stress, the root of a panic attack

and how to manage it, the main archetypes of human beings and the masks we wear to avoid the pain we've felt in the past. Let's dive in. What are the best coping strategies for humans to help us get out of stress and into more peaceful, calm states that you've seen? The best ones. The best coping strategies. Yeah. Not like the bad ones, but what are the good ones? Yeah. We have the access to the most powerful regulator of stress through our breath. We can learn two things. First, to be just present to or a witness around our body's just regular breathing patterns. As simple as this sounds, the way our body breathes, if we can cultivate a very full, deep breath, very calming breath, chances are our body in that moment is in that state of relaxation, is receptive to the world around, is feeling safe to express. The large majority of us aren't breathing in that very calm, rhythmic way.

Most of us have evolved to become chest-based, very shallow breathers. And the reason why I even just talk about our natural rhythm is because our mind is constantly scanning our body and its processes, breathing in particular, because for our mind, that's a marker of how aroused we are, how stressed our body is. So what I noticed when I dropped into my body was that I always breathe very shallow from my chest. And at times I would stop breathing and that correlated with stress. The more stressed I am, the more I'm actually holding my breath throughout the day. So just that simple act of witnessing to me showed evidence of, wow, Nicole, your body is stressed out day in and day out,

regardless of what's happening in the actual current moment, your body is stressed out day in and day out regardless of what's happening in the actual current moment your body continues to send signals of stress and the reason why listeners who might struggle with anxiety or panic as i once did why this is problematic is because like i said our mind is scanning down and it's going to begin to then think stressful thoughts. It's gonna scan the environment for what's wrong. And as we all know, we're very good at identifying what's wrong in that moment. And then before we know it, the reason why I offer this is now we're caught in a loop.

Because now I'm thinking stressful thoughts, further activating my body. So dropping in, noticing our body's natural rhythms can give us some clues as to how activated we are. And then of course, the next action step we can take if you're living in an over-activated nervous system as I am, is to begin to harness intentional breathing. Beginning to either direct my breath down into my belly if I am in that shallow, stressed out, activated state. Or if you're like I described

earlier, having no energy, almost feel like you're not here energetically we actually want to cultivate that chest base the more wim hof shallow activated tool of breath work to activate our energy system to actually up our energy into our system so we can use breath work in either direction to control our body's responses. And while this is great for the body and why I talk about it is it can build body balance back in as many of us need it. It's also so empowering now, right? Through an intention, through doing something differently, I can actually create change. And I speak as someone who did suffer from debilitating anxiety and panic attacks. And I know how overwhelming

and out of control that can feel. So I mentioned that last piece of empowerment for all of those suffering with anxiety out there, because that can be the steps back to actually creating change and saying, hey, wait, I can control my body and my body doesn't have to control me when it hits that peak of panic. What is happening when someone is in a panic attack? Like, what were the feelings like? How long did it last? And how does someone get out of a panic attack moment? So panic, and again, I'm just simplifying it for understanding purposes.

It's that ultimate state of nervous system activation when your body is literally geared up to fight, flight, or flay, which is usually what happens next. We go into that old coping tool or that old resource that we once used. It feels very different for each of us. Some of us actually think it can feel, as I once did, like a heart attack. I describe an episode in my book where I had just gotten home, I was in a psychoanalytic training program. And as part of my training, every Saturday, I would sit in courses to learn how to be a practitioner of the work of psychoanalysis. And one of my courses was a group model where I was a participant in group psychoanalytic therapy. So anyone listening who's been in any therapy, a lot of feelings can

come up. So it was a particularly emotional group I had had that morning. And I came home and I was with my partner at the time. And long story short, I started to have symptoms. I started to feel sweaty. I started to feel clammy. I almost turned gray looking. And my heart in particular started to beat problematically or of concern. It was pounding. It just felt weird. And I'm someone who had had panic attacks before. I know a panic attack can mimic a heart attack.

Yet I was in my down puffy coat, curled up in a ball with my cell phone in my hands, just waiting to call 911 because I was convinced that this must be something that's physiologically wrong with me. So some of us, it can feel like a heart attack. Some of us, it's just that elevation where my heart feels like it's through the roof. I might get that panicked feeling like I'm crawling out of my skin. And it's very, very scary. And what it is, again, it's an extreme state of that nervous system activation. So the best tool is to help our nervous system go back into that peaceful, calm, safe place.

Now, this is where I want to acknowledge that those of us who are in the throes of a panic attack and have never practiced intentional breathing or breath work probably aren't gonna be successful. And this is, of course, what we wanna do. We wanna use the tool only when we need it. This is where we really wanna learn how to cultivate that balance in our bodies outside of that 10 moment, outside of that acute where panic is crashing down around me.

We want to consistently learn how to drop into our bodies. Take a temperature check. How safe is my body? Am I in activation mode or am I calm? safe is my body? Am I in activation mode or am I calm? And when I'm not calm, learning how to balance my body then so that when, as I feel my panic obviously increasing over time, I can learn how to downregulate myself. Is the panic attacks, what's the root of that? Is it someone not being aware of their body and breathing? Is it allowing stressful thoughts to come in? Is it all of it stacking up over time and then there's a breaking point? What is the root of panic attack?

It becomes all of it over time because our nervous system works outside of our awareness. We have a function, it's called neuroception. It's essentially where we're constantly scanning the environment, energies even included. We're not even aware of it. We're not even aware of it. Our body, our eyes, everything is this. And it's primed to look for threat.

However, threat gets defined based on our past experiences. This is how we can't extricate the two. So something that felt overwhelming back here continues to color my world in my now moment. Even if it's not really happening. Outside of my awareness. Right. So that's really important to consider.

That's the feeling that many of us get when we maybe walk into the room or up that alley and just something feels off. We're responding. Our nervous system is always responding to everything in the moment. However, it's doing so based on our past moments. So we could be throwing ourselves, unbeknownst to ourselves, into nervous system activation. And some of us are living in it all day long. Crazy. When we feel stressed, is it affecting the actual brain or is it affecting the mind? And how do we regulate the two of the thoughts, the ideas, the mind, the consciousness, I guess, the awareness or the brain, the physical brain itself? What is stress going up into the brain or is it actually attacking the mind kind of like outside of the brain?

It can affect both. It affects the brain structure in two ways. The first way is through actual inflammation. Stress, the cortisol that typically is associated with stress, activates our body, activates immune system responses, where inflammation is the predominant response. Our brain is actually covered by a very thin film, a blood-brain barrier that's very penetrable. Things can get through. And one of the issues is when inflammation actually lands within our brain. thin film, a blood-brain barrier that's very penetrable. Things can get through. And one of the issues is when inflammation actually lands within our brain. So that can begin to cause structural changes in our brain, as can our mind. The way we think, the way we

process our brain can actually change the brain pathways, the systems, areas that we're firing up more frequently than other areas. With the most predominant one, so many of us are living from our emotional brain, our amygdala, our hippocampus, all of those deeper centers as opposed to our prefrontal cortex. So this is why it gets complicated and there are very many brain scans out there of depressed individuals, of anxious individuals, of individuals diagnosed with ADHD or ADD, of autistic, right? All of these diagnoses map onto the brain showing changes, though it's the chicken or the egg conversation. Because those changes, my argument, is occur as a result of the human's functioning. I believe as far back as in utero, I know that my

system was impacted by my mom, by the hormones raging through her body because I was sharing that body. I was sharing a blood source. I go as far to believe my mom's beliefs, her thoughts about herself, about me as a baby in her belly, about what my future would be, were impacting, again, my developing. So our environments, I believe, begin to shape us. So hypothetically, I could have came out as a baby infant showing, like I likely did, structural changes in my brain, possibly even an up-regulated nervous system. Hard to differentiate whether genetically

that's just what it was for me, or again, whether my earliest environment shaped and i believe in the science of epigenetics that our environments are always shaping ourselves down to our physiology our genetics our environment is shaping our dna shaping our dna and then shaping our systems shaping how our brain looks and functions shaping how our body looks and functions, shaping how our body looks and functions. Yeah. Well, what's that study where they put love and anger on water bottles? Did you ever see that?

I can't remember. The ice? Yes. Yeah, the ice. And then it's either dark crystals, dead crystal, you know? It's like these beautiful snowflakes. I can't remember what that study was or that test. Yeah, where they did the frequency of different emotions and had that ice that would freeze, I guess, ultimately.

And it would crystallize in different structural. And it's beautiful because what I see is that shows evidence of how impactful the things that we can't see are. And I think the collective is waking up to the reality that there are a lot of these things that we can't see are. And I think the collective is waking up to the reality that there are a lot of these things that we can't see. There are energies, there are inner knowings, there are messages of all sorts that, again, we're responding to outside of our awareness that are there, even though we can't see them

or the science isn't showing it in the graph that fits very comfortably into our human mind. Anytime we're in that expanse of unknown, it's very uncomfortable for us as humans. It's like we can't see our thoughts, but those thoughts will impact us, right? It will impact our structure of our brain, our body, how we feel

when we think a certain thing as well in the environment. You mentioned people-pleasing, overachiever kind of archetype, right? What are the different types of archetypes that human beings have? Is one people-pleaser, overachiever kind of archetype right what are the different types of archetypes that human beings have is one people pleaser overachiever what are the main ones I guess so just an archetype so we're having everyone knows what we're talking about here again it's very conditioned patterned way of being we don't as humans typically fall neatly some of us might see ourself and only one archetype some of us might see ourselves in only one archetype. Some of us might see evidence

in different archetypes. We might see different sides of ourself in different types of relationships. So multiple archetypes might apply. Again, they're not be all, end all categories, but they're general ways of being. Typically, how we're relating to others in relationships or to the world at large. So I mentioned the overachiever because that's one of my predominant ones. Some others are the caretaker, the person who's always endlessly showing up to service others' needs. But never their own. Never their own. A yes person who can't say no, who's always, again, in another model of service.

know who's always, again, in another model of service. There's a hero worshiper archetype, always outsourcing, always looking for the person or the thing that has an answer as opposed to within life of the party, another archetype that's pretty common. The person who never allows any negative, if you will, even though I don't love those words, sadness, any lower kind of vibration energy to be part of their experience. They're always happy. Everything's always great. Again, acknowledging that there's a range of human emotion. And if we're cutting off the negative, we're usually cutting off aspects of our lived experience. So they're general ways of being. Typically, maybe listeners can know kind of the way they show up in relationships. If not, being a witness, seeing how are you showing up? What is your primary mode

of relating to other people? This is based in the idea that typically our primary modes of relating are based on our earliest relationships. We get very repetitive. So I was, like I described, my overachievement didn't start in adulthood. I began to assume that role in my childhood relationships, the person who's always performing in one way or another, or trying to keep the peace in one way or another. That was me, keeping the peace was me, for sure. And so if we are aware of that first kind of our main archetypes is the

next step learning how to heal or is it learning how to reparent or what would be the next phase that we should in doing the work so the first as i always acknowledge for some of us just having that awareness yes i'm continuing to have my needs unmet in relationships because that's usually the Yes, huge. thing that hurt me. But for some of us, that can be relieving. That can offer an alternate version of narration as opposed to, I'm broken, which is usually where we end up. Oh, I'm unfulfilled in my relationships because I'm unlovable, because something's wrong with me. So for some of us, just having that awareness, no, I'm the overachiever. I'm the caretaker because of things that have happened as a result of my experiences. For some of us, that's healing in and of itself. Is these coping mechanisms then?

Typically. These kind of master archetypes. It's like, we do this because- Our way of being becomes. I call it the onion. By the time we're in adulthood, we're living such a conditioned way, typically as a result of coping with something that was too overwhelming or too difficult at one time. And the coping, is it all back to feeling seen, heard, and acknowledged? Is it like we do these things so that someone sees us or acknowledges us? In my opinion. And or to then, as a byproduct, avoid the pain that once was. In this next section, we dive into my conversation with Lori Gottlieb, a psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone.

In this section, we discuss what happens when we don't deal with our emotions constructively, how to live with a true sense of vitality, how to take responsibility for your own happiness, and tools to help you heal from the damaging effects of shame What happens when we never deal with our emotions or feelings? Well, you first of all get sick Everything everything right so we have just like we have a physical immune system We have a psychological immune system and we have to take care of our psychological immune system. So it's just like, you know, what do you do to keep healthy with your body? Like, you're going to eat right, you're going to exercise, you know, you're going to do all the things that you want to do to take care of yourself, you're going to get enough sleep.

Those things also help your psychological immune system. They're not totally separate. The mind-body connection is profound. But at the same time, are you going to be around people who don't nourish you? That's going to hurt your psychological immune system. That's going to make you sick. Are you going to stuff down your feelings? That's going to make you sick. And so how do we take care of ourselves? And part of it is, instead of trying to numb out your feelings, because numbness isn't the absence of feelings. instead of trying to numb out your feelings because numbness isn't the absence of feelings. Numbness is a state of being overwhelmed by too many feelings. Wow.

And then not only do you not experience the feelings that you don't want to experience, but you don't experience the other feelings. You mute one feeling, you mute the others. You mute the pain, you mute the joy. So you're living in this state where you don't actually get to feel the range of feelings that make us human. What is that state called? Sick? Sick, I was going to say dead. I mean, I feel like you can be alive, but not living. And that's what happens to people is that they're alive. They're going through the motions. They wake up every day, but they're not really living their lives.

What's an assessment we could take for ourselves if someone's listening or watching to ask themselves how alive or how dead they are and if the people in their life closest are actually good for them or are hurting their psychological states? Right. Is there a questionnaire we could take like just off the cuff? Is there an assessment? Is there a few things we could ask ourselves? Yeah. I mean, I think that it has to do with a sense of vitality, right? Which of course, like vitality, the word like life is right in there. When you wake up in the morning, are you excited about what you're doing? Is there meaning in what you're doing? Do you feel connected to how you're spending your days? Because at the end of your life, are you going to look back and say, what did I do that was meaningful? Maybe you should talk to someone. In my book,

there's a woman that I treat. She's this young woman who goes on her honeymoon. She's newly married. She comes back and she has cancer. And she says to me at one point, she says, why do we need a terminal diagnosis? To have a wake up call. Why do we need a terminal diagnosis to live our lives with intention? Why do we need that to really pay attention? And I think that if we can keep the awareness of death sitting on one shoulder, and I don't mean in a morbid way or in a creepy way, it's not depressing. It's actually, again, going back to vitality, it helps us feel alive because life has 100% mortality rate and that's not for other people. We like to believe that, right? And so the thing is that if we know

that we have a limited time here, I think we would pay more attention to what we're actually doing every day. Why is it so hard for people to pay attention? Fear. But they feel like they're stuck sometimes for years, right? It's like I stay stuck in a relationship that I know is not right for me for years. I stay in a depressed state for years. I stay in a job that I hate for years. It's all based on fear. Well, I think it is fear. I think it's fear of uncertainty. This is going to sound strange, but change is really hard because we cling to something that's familiar to us. So even though we may know, oh, this would help me, this would be a good change for me, we don't do it because it's unfamiliar.

And so if you grew up with a lot of chaos, if you grew up feeling sad all the time or anxious all the time, that feels like home to you, even if it's unpleasant or even miserable. She'll keep finding chaotic environments to stay in. Right, and keep recreating it. Yeah, and so it was funny because my own therapist gave me this great analogy. He said to me, he said, you remind me of this cartoon, and it's of a prisoner shaking the bars, desperately trying to get out. But on the right and the left, it's open, right?

No bars. So basically, the prisoner is not in jail. And that's what so many of us are like. We feel like we're trapped. We're not in jail. We can change. We can just walk around the bars. But why don't we?

Because with freedom, the freedom to walk around the bars, comes responsibility. And if we're responsible for our own lives, that scares us. We feel like, oh, I don't know if I can do that. I don't know if I'm competent enough to do that. Or now I'm to blame if things don't go right. I can't blame it on everything else. Is this one of the reasons why inmates after a long time being in prison who get out, go back into prison because they feel like they need to be back in that environment? Or are there other reasons? I think there are other reasons. I think we don't give people the support when they come out.

You know, the mental health issues that they needed to be treated for were whenever, you know, they never got that support. And then they come out and they're back in the same situation where they don't have that community support. Why is it so hard for us to take responsibility for our own happiness? for us to take responsibility for our own happiness? I think that if you grew up in a household where you were seen and heard and understood, those are the people who do take responsibility for their own happiness. I think for people who felt like

they were ripped off in their childhoods, there's a part of them that's still in a fight. There's a part of them that still wants that redo. And so it's kind of like, they're not aware of this, but what they're saying is basically, I will not change mom and dad until you give me the things that I did not get in childhood. So they'll go find a partner that emulates their environment from mom and dad and try to change them. Well, right. This is the irony of relationship, right? For those people

who have not sort of worked through it. This is so common. And I think all of us have this piece in us, right? Because nobody had a perfect childhood. So what happens is people say, okay, when I'm an adult, I'm going to pick a partner who really makes me feel nourished, who really gives me all those things that I did not get growing up. But what they don't realize is unconsciously, they have this radar for the people who look very different from their parents on the surface. But then once they get into that relationship, it's kind of like, uh-oh, this feels familiar, right? And so what they did was their unconscious said

when they were picking their partner, hey, you look familiar, come closer. Even though unconsciously, they thought, oh, you're totally different from my parents. I'm gonna, this look familiar. Come closer. Even though consciously they thought, oh, you're totally different from my parents. This is going to work out great. But no, they have radar for that if they haven't worked out the stuff that's sort of their unfinished business. There's this saying, we marry our unfinished business. We actually do marry our unfinished business. So that is why it is so important as an adult to take responsibility and say, you know what? I'm going to

have to grieve this loss of what I didn't get and I'm going to have to work through this and assess where I am as an adult so that I pick people and surround myself with people who are healthy for me what if you've chosen someone that you love deeply but it's unconsciously your unfinished business mm-hmm is that the wrong person for you once you realize, oh, they're never going to change? Or is that a point for us to reflect back and say, actually, I need to heal the past,

accept this person for who they are, and be willing to flow within this relationship? Well, what happens is, so you married your unfinished business, but so did they. And so if you can both recognize that, if you realize, hey, wait, we have a lot of conflict in our relationship or we're really avoidant in our relationship

or we don't feel connected in the way we want to feel connected, that's a great opportunity for both of you to work out your unfinished business. To heal together. To heal together, right. And so that relationship could thrive. If you both are willing to look in the mirror

at yourselves and do the work yes that could be a really beautiful relationship and it could be very healing for both of you in fact it could potentially be the strongest bond ever if you both were able to go through that yeah but if you're unwilling to go through that then what you're going to be in both people right well both people have to be willing i mean that's the thing so it's like you may wake up one day and say, oh, wait a minute. I have all this unfinished business. And then your partner says, yeah, it's all you. You're the problem in the relationship.

You know, it's kind of like in couples therapy so often I'll see something like someone will say, like, you never listen to me. And I'll say, how well do you listen to them? Right. Right. It's always like. If you're just yelling at someone all day, are they going to want to listen to you? Right. Right.

So, you know, there's this dance that we do in relationship. And what happens is people are doing these dance steps. And people become very, they become very ingrained. It's like, oh, here we go. You can script out people's arguments. You know exactly what they're going to look like. It starts with one thing and then it goes back into many different things. And you know exactly how it's going to go and who's going to feel what and who's going to accuse the other person of what.

And that's the dance. And so if one person changes their dance steps, the other person either is going to fall flat on the dance floor or they're going to have to change their steps, too, if they want to keep dancing. And usually, so we always say you can't change another person, but you can influence another person. How? By changing your dance steps. So, for example, we like to say insight is the booby prize of therapy, meaning people will come and they'll be like, oh, now I understand why I keep getting into that argument with my partner.

And so then they go home and they come back the next week, and I'll say, well, did you do something different when you got in that argument? Well, no, but I understand why I did it. So you have to be both vulnerable and accountable when you come to therapy. Why is that so hard for people, to see someone else's perspective? Well, two things. One is because, you know, that unreliable narrator thing

that we think that we are right, and we don't want to be told. And so what we hear when we say there's another perspective, we're not saying you're wrong. We're saying there's more to the story. So there's a difference between their perspective is valid as well is not saying your version is wrong. We're saying there's more. So people hear it though as you are

wrong. And the other part of it is that there's a lot of shame that people are sticking to a certain story because if they allow that other part of the story to come in, the part that they're responsible for will probably come up. And they feel a lot of shame. So when I see individuals in therapy, they come in and they tell me a story. And they leave out the parts that they are embarrassed about. The parts that they feel like, that was not my finest moment. Like what?

Give me an example. Like, oh, I screamed back. Or I did this. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you know, here's what happened. Or here's, this is the situation and my partner did this or my mother did this or my child did this or my boss did this, whatever.

And they don't tell you these other details and they sort of trickle out later on. Yeah. And they're very relevant to the story. Right. But that's shame, right? And so, you know, that's why the therapeutic relationship is so important because you get to a point where you really trust the therapist and you're able to be really honest about what happened. How much does shame shape our stories? Oh, so much.

I think that, you know, as humans, we want to belong. And what shame is about is I'm not going to belong. I'm not going to be loved. The greatest human need is, you know, how can we love and be loved? And when you feel like there's something I did that people will look upon badly, they might not like me if I tell them this. That's just, you know, wired into us. It's like the ego death to us. It's like the emotional death. If someone knew this about us, they would not love me and I would emotionally die. And I would be alone. And I would be alone, yeah.

Yeah. And we need other people. I felt like this way for many years where I opened up about sexual abuse about seven years ago. And for 25 years, no one knew because I was so ashamed. And I felt like if anyone knew, how could they possibly love me yeah or accept me or how would anyone want to date me or my family how would they not disown me these were the stories that I was writing I was a bad editor yeah how does someone who's done something that they're not proud of in the past who's

had something done to them that they're not proud of whatever they've been in a situation that they feel shame around how does someone done to them that they're not proud of, whatever. They've been in a situation that they feel shame around. How does someone start to process that shame to heal so that it doesn't continue to run their life and keep them imprisoned? Yeah. Well, I think they do what you did, which is you started talking about it. And I think you have to choose your audience, which is really important, especially as you're just starting out. So you wanna make sure that you're- Don't tell your abuser. Who's the toxic relationship who's, yeah.

Well, you know, I think you have to really choose someone who's safe. And if you don't have those people, you know, I think a therapist is a really good place to start. But I do think that it's harder for men to talk about any things, whether it's sexual abuse or even, you know, just sort of like anything they feel vulnerable about. And so men will come into my office and they will say to me at some point,

you know, I've never told anyone this before. Do women say that? Yes. So here's the thing. Women will say that. They'll say, I've never told anyone this before, except for my mother, my sister, and my best friend. You're the only one who I don't know. You're the only one. Right, right. Well, I haven't told this to you.

I told my book club. I told, you know, whatever it is. They've told like a few people, but they feel like, because women, it's acceptable for women to talk about these things. And so they feel like they haven't told anyone because they still feel like there's some degree of privacy around it. Men literally have told no one. And even if they have like a great partner and they have close friends, you know, they have a great family, whatever it is, they feel like I cannot tell anyone because vulnerability for men in our culture is not okay. Even though we say that, so this is funny. Even though women say, I wish you would open up, I wish you'd be emotional, I wish you would cry

and be more sensitive, but then when they are, they're like, I need you to be strong right now. Right, so this is exactly what happens in couples therapy.

So I'll have two people sitting on the couch and I have a couple and say, it's a heterosexual couple and the woman says to the man, like, I really want to get

to know you. I feel like we would connect so much more if you would just open up to me. I want to get to know you. I feel like we would connect so much more if you would just open up to me. I want to know what's going on inside there. Right. And he does. And let's say he tears up. Let's say he actually starts crying in a way where like his body is convulsing. Right. She looks at me like deer in headlights. She's so profoundly uncomfortable. And yet this is the thing that she was asking for. So what she'll say is, I don't feel safe when you don't open up to me. And I don't feel safe when you're vulnerable with me. It's like Goldilocks. It's like not too much,

not too little, but right in the middle. That's how vulnerable you can be with me. I've been saying this for a long time that I feel like this is one of the main things that hurts all intimate relationships. Yes. When a person doesn't feel safe to share their emotions to the person that says they love them the most and actually makes them wrong for it or makes them less than or retracts their love when they're vulnerable so i don't know the solution for this besides saying this all the time and by besides saying ladies like if you want a vulnerable man who's emotional you have to accept him when he's emotional well not just accept but embrace i mean that's the courage because it's so much harder for a man in general in our society to be vulnerable based on what we've grown up with and based on what we see.

That if you're not encouraging it consistently and celebrating it almost, why would you expect them to keep opening up when they have something they want to share if you're going to make them wrong for it? Well, right. So that's exactly what happens. There's a, there's somebody I write about in the book who, um, you know, there's this tragedy that happens in the family and he feels like he has to be the rock for the family. He's like, my wife, she can cry about this. She can be sad about this. But if I break down, I'm the thing holding everything up. And that was just not true. Actually, that was the thing that was making their marriage not work. That was making him feel anxious and not sleep and not function well. Right?

And that was the thing that got his wife to, at a certain point, say, like, I can't be in this marriage if we can't connect. But he thought he had to be the rock for the whole family. He could not feel his feelings. And instead, what happened was when he finally said, no, actually, this is tearing me apart too, that's when they started healing. That no, actually, this is tearing me apart too. That's when they started healing. That's when they started getting close to each other again.

In this last part, you'll hear from bestselling author and spiritual leader, Gabby Bernstein, who talks about using the tapping method when feeling stressed or triggered, how to become more authentic and vulnerable, the secret to manifestation, and the difference between wanting and needing, and how that affects the actions we take in life. One of the great practices for really releasing unresolved emotional disturbances is a practice called emotional freedom technique, which you're familiar with, something I practice or friends, the Ortner's practice and teach. It's called tapping, emotional freedom technique, or otherwise known as EFT. And what's beautiful about a

practice like tapping, and I'm going to give that one and a few others, what's beautiful about a practice like tapping is that you can take a thought or a belief or just a feeling that you're having in the moment and you can tap on it, which is meaning that you tap on these different energy meridians on your face and your chest and your arm and your head while you talk about the emotional disturbance. And what that does is it releases the amygdala's fight-flight response. It stimulates the vagus nerve, which regulates your nervous system, and it allows your nervous system to calm down and settle. And then when you're in a more settled state, that's when you become safe enough to start

to redirect and move into a more elevated way of thinking. The more you practice a pattern like this, a pattern like EFT, and I'll name a few others, the more you actually are working with the thoughts, but also working with the feelings and therefore the beliefs to regulate and then redirect. It's like how Dan Siegel says about children, you have to connect, then redirect. You can't just yell at a kid and say, do it better. You have to connect, honor their feelings, respect where they're at, find out what's up with them. When you notice that they settle, that's when you can say, hey, do you think we could go and try that again? So we have to care for our parts in that way as well. So through EFT, you can go through

these different rounds of expressing the emotional disturbance while tapping, which then regulates your energy field in that belief system and brings it to a special, loving, connected, more centered baseline. At which point in that new baseline, that's when you can redirect and begin to tap on what it is that you do want to feel or what is working or what is supportive in that moment. That's one method. I love that. Yeah. I think for me, I've been doing a lot of just breath work in general. When I feel overwhelmed, stressed, and anxious, instead of staying in that pain, I really try to connect my body to my breath and breathe through my entire body so that I can calm myself down and then ask myself, is this a feeling or a thought that is supporting me or is it something connected to my past that

I haven't worked on yet? So breath work is another technique that I think has been really helpful. There's a lot of extreme physical activities like ice baths and saunas and other things to connect to the body so that you can start to really kind of release some of those things or just feel more connected to it and see how can you move beyond it,

like tapping, which I think is really powerful. So any type of physical and thought-related process, I'm hearing you say, could be powerful. And just figure out what works for you. A tool we can give your folks right now is actually a tapping method similar to what you were referring to with breath work. It's like there's a point, which is called the gamut point, which I like to refer to as the holy shit point.

And it's between your pinky finger and your ring finger right there. Okay, right here. And that's the point when you notice yourself in that freak out that trigger that i want to you know i want to throw something step aside tap this point and you could say an affirmation like i'm safe just breathe i'm safe. I'm safe. Or you could say, I'm loved. I'm supported. Really, I like I'm safe. Because remember, like I said, under every trigger is the feeling of not being safe. I'm safe. And just tap that point. That is a quick resolution that we all have in our hands. We have all access.

Another one would be your right hand on your heart and your left hand on your belly. And to your point, breath work, breathing, inhale and extending your diaphragm and exhale, releasing it. Or even inhaling for two quick breaths and exhaling with a long exhalation. And that will really just begin to stimulate your nervous system in a way that just tells your body, relax. You can say all the right things, but if your body ain't connected to what you're saying, then it's still going to just stay in the cycle. Yeah.

So you got to connect the body with the belief as well. It's powerful. The feeling with the thought and match them both. I'm a big believer that when we doubt ourselves consistently, it's hard to manifest what we want. It's hard to attract when we live in doubt. And self-confidence is something that I think is hard for a lot of people, especially in the last year, to stay confident under chaos. What have been some of your strategies or tools or techniques to build inner confidence, whole confidence, complete confidence, not reliant on what's happening on the external world? Yeah, what a nice question. One of my main methods for establishing inner confidence that's not relying on the outside

world is to become more me, to be more authentic, more vulnerable, more real, more willing to be radically honest. Because when I'm just being me, I have nothing to prove. I'm just in the truth of who I am. And I also know that that's all that anyone else outside of me wants as well. It's just that truth. All you want from someone is that truth. I think that's why you and I have gotten closer as friends because we've gotten more honest with each other and more honest with ourselves, right, as humans. So we can pick is the coolest part of who you are. That's when we can start to lay down the pretenses of who we think we should be. Not your authentic truth is bad and not good enough or lacking. Or weird or, yeah. Just be real. Be real in the moment.

You know, I interviewed somebody recently and she was like, I'm just so nervous. I'm so nervous. And I was like, that's cool. Like, you're nervous. Okay. Yeah. Let's just be with the nervousness.

Thank you for telling me you were nervous because it, you know, it clears the air. It allows me to be present with where you're at in this moment and not feel uncomfortable in your discomfort. Say it like it is. Just tell the freaking truth. Yeah. This is what's up for me.

This is where I'm at. Any other strategies for building self-confidence? Yes, many. Any other strategies for building self-confidence? Yes, many. One form of self-confidence for me has come through unwavering faith in a spiritual connection. as a result of really being devoted to believing that there is a presence beyond me in the service of what is of the highest good for me and for all, has given me this level of certainty that I dreamt of that I can now live and stand by.

Therefore, when things are not working out the way I planned, I know there's a better plan. When something is delayed, I know that it's because there's something better coming. When there is rejection, I can see it as protection. Because I have a belief system that there is a higher presence, that there's a presence of a higher power, spirit guides, my grandmother, ancestors, working with me to co-create this life that I am living. So I don't feel alone anymore because one of the big reasons we feel we lack confidence is because we feel so alone. And so really feeling a presence of spiritual connection by your side, there's a beautiful message from A Course in Miracles. If you knew who walked beside you on the path that you have chosen, fear would be impossible.

I just got chills. That is so true. If you could actually believe in the unseen and if that was true, but you just can't see it, but you could feel it, then it would be a lot different life. Right. could feel it, then it would be a lot different life. Right. I actually asked in one of my books, I think the chapter title of one, a chapter title in The Universe Has Your Back maybe was, how would you live if you knew you were being

guided? Well, I mean, this is something that a lot of the, I would say, radical Christ followers, you see people who are, you know, just believe in Christ and that Christ is guiding them and working through them and all these things. Those people have a sense of certainty and faith and trust and connection to a spiritual, you know, to their spiritual truth. And I think it's beautiful to see whether you believe or agree with it or not. It's beautiful to see the power that someone has or the letting go of fear that someone

has when they believe in something greater than themselves or their fears. And again, whether you want to call it Jesus or your ancestors or whatever you want to call the thing that works for you, I think it's important to find something beyond, well, I'm alone here on this earth and what's the purpose? Because then you're going to be really scared and messed up. Totally. Totally. And that's been my whole career has been about helping people recognize and identify a spiritual connection of their own understanding. Yes. So it doesn't have to be a religious spirit. It doesn't have to be Gabby Bernstein's definition of spirit.

It's your faith statement, your own understanding. To crack you open to what that means to you, doesn't matter what it looks like, what it sounds like, what you call it, but it's that you start to rely on it, on a presence beyond your own. it, on a presence beyond your own. I love to say too that the secret to manifesting, the secret to attracting what you want is to forget what you think you need. Because when your agenda is so wrapped up in your desires, you block what could be. You block major possibilities that otherwise could be way bigger than what you even anticipated or thought you could receive.

So should we stop desiring things? No, no, no, not at all. It's just to forget what you – when I say – so for instance, I have a desire to have another child. I started to go through the IVF journey last May. So we're coming up on a year. Wow. The whole time, Louis, being on medication for over a year. That's painful, isn't it? A year. And the whole journey, I was steady, man. I gained, you know, 15 pounds. I was like, you know, taking medication every single day for 365 days. I stayed steady because I knew that my desire was on the way, but I had to forget

what I thought I needed, which was I needed to happen now or I needed to happen this way or I needed to happen without, you happen without six rounds or without seven rounds or whatever, eight rounds or whatever it was, or I needed to happen on my timeline or without gaining weight or whatever my story might have been. Instead, I just continued to stay steady and show up, listen to my inner guidance system, advocate for myself when I knew that something didn't feel right. And we're moving in the right direction now. Moving in the right direction now.

But it's been a year. So there's no small thing, right? That's a lot of time. But what's a miracle about that is my therapist even said, she was like, I'm so blown away by how steady you've been through this. And I said, it's because I have unwavering faith in the universe. When would you not have unwavering faith? How much time would have to pass for you to be like, okay, maybe the universe is telling

me that this isn't supposed to be happening for me at this time. It would never say that this isn't supposed to be happening. I would just say it's not supposed to be happening in this way. Interesting. I think that's an important message for anybody on the conception journey. There's many ways to have children. Right, right. So it doesn't mean your desires, you can still have the desires.

It may not look the way you want it to look. Oh, yeah. That's right. Interesting. Should we be guided by our desires and our dreams, or should we be guided by something else? I think that our desires and our dreams deserve respect. I think that they can be a driving force within us, but the real driver has to be devotional steadiness and peace and groundedness in the

present moment. That has to be what drives us most. That's what we have to rely on most because the only way to get to the dream joyfully is to have fun along the way, to be present in the moment, to stay grounded in the moment, to stay steady in the moment, and to have faith and have fun even when the thing hasn't come. That's really the whole, I guess, strategy behind manifesting is being present, having fun, cultivating peace. That's really the process, isn't it? You know, I wrote this book, Super Attractor, that we talked about on your show before. And the subtitle, Super Attractor, is Methods for Manifesting a Life Beyond Your Wildest Dreams. And it's no small promise, but it is the promise. But these methods that I teach in the book are not methods for tricking the universe.

They're methods for feeling good. Because the secret to manifesting is to feel good. We often think that when I get that thing, I'm going to be happy. It's the opposite. It's when I feel good, what I desire is on its way, or it's coming faster than I could contemplate. what I desire is on its way or it's coming faster than I could contemplate. So back to the IVF journey, I just was steady and feeling good. Drove an hour and a half every day there, an hour and a half there, an hour and a half back to go to this clinic because I live in the country. I was driving there and back, listening to you, listening to Rich, listening to the podcast and Jay and all my buddies, learning, studying IFS in the car. And I wrote a book this year,

wrote a book in 2020, educating myself so that I could, because I was writing about neuroscience and things I'd never touched before. And so instead of just dreading the drive, I looked forward to that drive. That drive was my study time. It was the only, it was like I had these almost three hours, you know, several days a month where I could devote just to studying. And otherwise I may not have given myself that time. So that joyful experience in the moment allowed me to look back and say, wow, a year I did this, a year I went through this, and I was never hung up along the way. I think that's one of the secrets definitely to manifesting is making the moments that you don't enjoy enjoyable. Yeah. And finding a way to have fun in the things that bring you discomfort or pain.

And I remember in my early 20s, I was a truck driver for three months, and I would drive six hours a day, driving like a big truck that had car parts on the back for Napa Auto Parts. And I drove, yeah, two hours one direction. I would transfer the parts, drive back about two and a half, three hours on the way back in traffic. And I remember the first week being like, this is miserable. I was making like $250 a week, driving five days a week, six hours a day. I was like, this is not fun.

But I got to make this enjoyable. Otherwise, I'm going to drive myself insane. And I started imagining. And at that time, I just started make this enjoyable. Otherwise, I'm going to drive myself insane. And I started imagining. And at that time, I just started learning salsa dancing. And I said, I'm going to use this time to salsa dance, even though I can't dance, but I can imagine it in my mind. And I put in a CD every single day of the greatest salsa hits. And I would just imagine myself learning the dances and going over the dances for six hours a day. And then I'd go practice at night and dance.

And I made it more enjoyable. Yeah. And it just made it, I don't know, that much more fun. Yeah. It wasn't this painful thing. Yeah. I think the key to feeling, you know, when you can learn how to feel good even when you don't feel good, you're going to attract and manifest so much more than you ever thought. That's right. That's right.

It's really easy to complain and feel bad all day long. It's so easy, right? Yeah. Well, it's our default. It's our default. We're fault finders. We're suffer seekers. We're constantly thinking that if you know if i'm not suffering or struggling i'm not succeeding i mean there's just all backwards crap in our brain but one of the biggest ways to feel good with our circumstances is just be in the acceptance of what is as well because a lot of what causes us the most discomfort is our resistance to discomfort

so in those moments when we can just say, this isn't like the most exciting moment of my life, you know, this isn't, or this isn't exactly what I want to be doing. I'm okay with, I'm just accepting of that. You know, it's like, I didn't, I know I would notice myself when I would be taking a shot and I would be mad about it. And then I would just get into acceptance. Well, you're 41 years old and you want to have a baby and this is what you do. And then I would quickly move from acceptance into appreciation of, well, you have an insurance policy that covers all this. And a lot of people are taking out a second mortgage on their home to do this. And you have this incredible blessing. And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? And I actually like to tell you

something really cool. Yesterday, I gave my sister-in-law, my sister-in-law is a young friend who's going through fertility treatment. And I had all this leftover medication. I mean, it's like almost was making me sad looking at all the medication because it's just like bags and bags of medication. I know how much of that I actually threw out and how much of it went into my body. And you just look at it and you're like, oh my God, it's like this – it's sort of this like overwhelming – and my husband looked at me and he's like, you took all of that? I was like, dude, yeah. Oh, man.

And I had so much medication in my refrigerator. I was kind of holding on to it even though I don't need it anymore, but I was like holding on to it like, what if I do need it again? Like just some, you know, like fake insurance policy. And this young woman was – my girlfriend was telling me that she had this friend that needed it. And I said, this is such a statement to the universe. Like I was like, grab a bag with a bunch of ice packs. Here you go. And I piled that bag up with all the leftover medication that had not even been opened yet because it just hadn't needed it or whatever. And I handed it to my sister and

I said, go give this to that young woman. You know, save her a lot of money. This is like thousands of dollars medication. Give this to her. But more importantly, well, number one, I'm grateful I can have the ability to give that to her because I didn't need it anymore. And it was great and she was ready for it. But most importantly for myself, it was such a statement to the universe where I'm like,

I have no use for that anymore. I'm not going to that anymore, no matter what. There's a path laid before me. No matter what, that's not my choice anymore. And so sometimes, even when we have a desire and we think it has to be one way, we sometimes have to commit to a new direction. We want to hold on to the old way. We want to hold on to the old. We want to hold on to the backup plan. Or whatever. It's like. You got to make a commitment. You got to tell the universe clearly sometimes.

Yeah. You got to let it go. Yeah. You mentioned needing. What's the difference between wanting and needing energy? And. If we need something. Or if we're needy in general.

Are we attracting and manifesting? Or is wanting something different than needy? Wanting and needing are very different. Wanting, as long as it's not paired up with a neediness, is beautiful. It's a longing. It's a desire. It's a cultivation of, as Abraham would say, a rocket of desire. It's just sending out to the universe, I want love in my life. I want another baby. Oh, Louis, I want another baby in my arms. I love having a baby. I want my son to

have a best friend. I want my family to feel complete. I want another little footstep in my house. Like you feel that. I don't feel needy when I say that to you. I feel like excited and have happy anticipation for what can be. Needy looks like I need that relationship to feel safe. I need that money to be good enough. I need that accomplishment. It's a vibrational frequency that is not attractive. It does not magnetize towards it. The universe can't support it. It is not in alignment with your super attractor power. So needy is actually another way that we get into what I call manic manifesting because when we're in that needy place, like we'll do everything that we have to do to get to it. It's like forcing it. Yeah. Forcing it. Exactly. And so whenever a desire

is backed with neediness, it's definitely misaligned. And what about the idea of I deserve this to happen? I deserve this in my life because of this. I deserve this thing or an entitlement energy. Deserving an entitlement, what did those energies bring to us or repel us? It's interesting. I have two points of thought on that. If you come from a place of I am entitled to miracles because my natural birthright is love and when I'm in alignment with love

and when I'm expressing love and when I'm in alignment with love, and when I'm expressing love, and when I am in commitment to love and connection and compassion and service, then I am aligned with the universal energy of love and miracles are my birthright. That is a spiritual form of entitlement, right? This is the belief system that I am love. And when I don't forget that, the universe delivers. I've been teaching that for over a decade. So there's a big difference between feeling that level of when I am in alignment with the energy of love, love is reflected back to me. That's entitled to miracles. But sometimes this is like a semantics issue, right? Because then the other form of entitlement of like, I deserve that job or I deserve this because I've put so much in.

That's yucky. That's that. Like, you know, I have people I mentor and I often hear them say things like, I've been working on my personal growth for so many years. I don't deserve this. I deserve more than this. And it's like, well, you know, that belief system might be one of the reasons why you haven't gotten that thing yet. You know, it's like.

So I guess I guess the way i would describe the difference between spiritual entitlement and sort of like ego entitlement is that spiritual entitlement is comes when you are truly grounded in the truth of who you are and why you're here and ego entitlement is when you're disconnected from that truth, trying to fill a hole that you could only find with a genuine spiritual connection. Yeah. And I go back the way when you were just saying that, I think about when you feel like you deserve something, you're more in judgment mode.

You're more in like, why isn't, you're impatient and you're judging something that hasn't happened yet or that isn't happening for you yet, as opposed to flipping the script and saying, okay, this is happening for me, for the betterment of my future, and where's the appreciation and the gratitude in this moment, I think would be a better place of manifesting and attracting. But it also doesn't mean that we can't believe we're deserving of something. Because for instance, I think, I believe that I am deserving of many things in my life. Because back to that spiritual entitlement. Because I believe that the things

that I am deserving of are a reflection of who I am. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's show with all the important links. And also make sure to share this with a friend and subscribe over on Apple Podcasts as well. I really love hearing feedback from you guys. So share and subscribe over on Apple Podcasts as well. I really love hearing feedback from you guys. So share a review over on Apple and let me know what part of this episode resonated with you the most. And if no one's told you lately, I want to remind you that

you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.