Neuroscientist REVEALS How The Law of Attraction ACTUALLY Works | Dr. Tara Swart

Dr. Tara, welcome to the podcast. It's a pleasure to have her here if people listen to this interview and have the opportunity to delve into her world. What is possible for you when you understand the true power of neuroplasticity and combine it with the power of source. and manifestation, so give us a little idea of ​​what is possible after this conversation. What I would say about visualization is that the way it

works

in the brain is that if your brain has never seen or experienced something before, it would consider it a threat. So, seeing or experiencing something for the first time, there would be some fear associated with it and that would probably mean that your stress hormone levels would increase, which would then change the blood flow around the brain and make you less likely to take risks, um because it wants to keep you safe, so if you've visualized something that you want, your brain is like it's experienced it before, so it makes that first real event easier, which is why I advise people to create real images. in a collage like you.

Knowing what we call a vision board or an action board or regularly visualizing the outcome that you want to start to really tell your brain that it has already come true, so that when it starts to happen, you notice all the things about how it sounds. . smell how it feels and then give gratitude for the fact that it has come true because gratitude is like the opposite of fear when you are in a state of gratitude of love and trust and joy and excitement you are releasing the bonding hormone, the Oxytocin, which makes you feel warm and open, lowers your guard and allows you to take healthy risks.

I'm so glad you start with gratitude and, by the way, thank you very much for being here. I appreciate it a lot, I know. You are in great demand. I think it's a gratitude to add another layer to what you said. What you shared is that many people forget how far they have come in life so far, so we tend to focus a lot on what I want. manifesting and bringing in from the future and great, that's important and that's a big part of what today's conversation is going to be about, but we forget that five years ago, ten years ago, there are things that we have in our life that we had been in working.

We would have yelled at you from the top of the roof if we knew we would have achieved that or brought it into our life, so I think loving the life you have is also part of training the brain and assuming the power of manifestation which is very true what you said and you put it very well, I mean, you know I like the way you said five years ago, even a year ago, there may be things that you think if that ever happened, it would be amazing, but when it happens,

actually

We don't tend to acknowledge it a lot, you know, when something like that happens, we just think, okay, what's the next thing I can try to manifest, so there's a serious lack of recognition and celebration, you know, the things that we already know. we have achieved and the importance of that, besides just enjoying life, is that the more evidence you can give yourself that you had a goal and you achieved it, and the more understanding you will have of how that worked in your brain, what the circumstances were. .

Was that what made this happen? Obviously that makes it more likely that you will achieve the following. I often meet high achievers, especially many people who are listening today are high achievers in their life. It feels like it's okay, check. Ready to move on to the next thing, what does celebration look like for you in your life? You have been to so many podcasts and talked about different examples, today we will share some of them on how to manifest, in fact, I might even ask you what is something that you were paying attention to a year ago that has appeared in your life maybe today or in the last few weeks, you know, and what was a way to solidify that in your brain and body by having even a little Celebration moment, so what is Celebration like and what is something that a year ago you wanted to include in my journal?

So journaling is an important way to, you know, write down a lot of these things that have happened, but I have a separate section that is a list of achievements and accomplishments, so when I feel like nothing is manifesting right now, you know that there is something I really want, but I feel like there is an obstacle every time I try to achieve it. This happens, I go back and look at my list of accomplishments, some of them I've seen often enough now that I can remember them, but when you feel like things aren't working like I said, the blood flow in your brain changes. and it can

actually

work against you because to keep you safe it will say, well, don't risk it, don't try to get on that podcast, you know? go to the United States and you know what you have planned, stay. at home it's safer so when you go and look at this list of achievements you think about the times you felt like that wasn't going to work but then it did and like you were saying a year ago, I almost can't.

I think a year ago I hadn't even launched my podcast, so I launched it in September 2022. You're huge, yeah, and it was a pretty sudden decision because, as you mentioned, I've been working on Creating a TV Show for quite a while, yeah, and then we came up with the brand of reinventing ourselves with Dr. Tara and TV shows don't happen overnight, so it was like that excitement of wanting to get that out there but knowing it. It was going to take me a long time, of course, I always saved the writing of the book. It's like you're pregnant for a year, but in the end you don't have a baby because you have to wait until the book is published. so I launched the podcast in September 2022 and my team, the studio in the US, sent me this huge bouquet of pink flowers.

Pink is my favorite color and I love flowers, so I wasn't expecting that at all, so you know, even if it's something. small like that, so every once in a while I buy myself something and say this is because you launched the podcast or this is because your book came out, and then that object becomes something more than what it is, it's a reminder constant every time I see it. It's you know, a pen or an article of clothing that is related to a certain achievement, yes, it is a reminder of the power that is within you, that is within everyone listening today and we all need reminders because much of the Media is so ubiquitous. that is all around us, even without even trying, can take us to a place where, if you look at the subtext, it reminds us that we are powerless, that we cannot impact the world, that we are all victims of circumstances and that there are many things.

There is more evil in this world than good, so do you feel that people have to become resilient in order to withstand that attack? There are two things I would say about this, one is that most of the

neuroscientist

s that I know everyone that I know personally and others that I have heard of don't watch the news or read newspapers, that's powerful and it's not because we don't want to be informed because we obviously manage to stay informed in other ways. important events around the world, but if you just look at the nature of the news, the proportion of bad news and the impact it has on your brain is disproportionate, so the first thing is to select your news feeds and your social media feeds .

So that you don't get bombarded with so much bad news and you balance that on your own, of course, life can be difficult, so yes, you also have to be resilient, but the first thing is to take charge of who you really are. feeding your brain and that's everything from your diet to information, how does that regularly expose ourselves to negativity or some kind of fear-based media, what does that do to the brain and how does that actually happen? So we've come to the topic of neuroplasticity, which is essentially neurons firing together, they connect now every time you meet someone experiencing an emotion, remembering a memory, watching the news, neurons firing in response to what you're doing. experiencing through all your senses and you know the information that you are assimilating, so neuroplasticity is an incredible thing, but what we must not forget is that it can be as bad as good, so if you repeatedly look at bad news, if you repeatedly obsess with a bad relationship or After a breakup that you had, you're going to embed that wiring deeper into your brain, so it's a Force for Good, but it can also be reinforced.

I don't want to say bad, but unproductively, what are some of the habits and addictions that people have? Even maybe people listening today are dealing with certain behaviors that they don't want. These are some examples of those in which their brain is like hijacked by this route, but, in quotes, it is bad, what would be some addictions, habits, behaviors that people are suffering from? As of today, that's an example of this, yeah, so I like the way you framed it as not good in good or bad, we could say positive or negative or you know it's productive, not productive, um , and so through my work, which is very varied, so you know, I work with executives primarily in financial services.

I teach at MIT Sloan. I work with a very different demographic through my social media and through people who read my book and listen to my podcast, but I see the same issues coming up. across the board and this is based on dopaminergic pathways in the brain that are related to motivation, so motivation is the neurological mechanism that makes us seek something that is good for us, but motivation and addiction are in a spectrum, so something that used to be good for us, if we overdo it or do it and somehow it starts to not have the same effect, then we have to do more of a certain action to get the same reward, that can become destructive and obviously drugs and alcohol are examples of that everyone will understand, but I'm talking about things like being a workaholic, so working too many hours instead of exercising, particularly in a very high intensity way , which actually creates more cortisol and stress in the body, basically screen time and the story I listen to.

With this, it is very important in my work to be receptive. I always respond to emails immediately and get rewarded for that, and that may be on the other end of the spectrum: I'm constantly scrolling through social media. I'm working over time. zones I'm looking at my phone in the middle of the night so you can see with all that stuff how you know having a good work ethic is great, but working too many hours and damaging your health in your relationships doesn't hurt you. I know not being sedentary is good, but exercising to the point and I see it with the higher performing people, you know, the high flyers, the professional services, the lawyers that I am.

I met a lawyer at her lunch and as soon as she said she does this intense, super intense High, you know, High, she really likes challenging exercise. The first thing I told her was that you're exactly the kind of person I shouldn't be doing, who should be doing yoga and walking, and her. I more or less said: I know right away, which means that even you know it's bad for you, but you keep doing it because the original impulse is that exercise must be good for you and I'm sweating out my stress by doing it, but it's really good to take a step back from time to time and check if this is still good for me, and the same obviously with the use of screens and social media.

I'm going to jump around a little bit as we stack and build a little bit of your experience. From the audience, of course, we're going to get to your story, which is so fascinating. I'm going to go back a little bit to the beginning of the interview because I think you know my audience here, this podcast used to be called the broken brain podcast we've done a lot of episodes on brain health what my audience isn't used to hearing as much is a train from MIT Oxford, you know, doctor, the professor talks about a manifestation that is new to them and maybe even some people think that it is real manifestation, isn't it real?

So I'd love to start here, tell us what manifestation is and tell us what it's not, yeah, so it's definitely gotten a bad rap, you know, and I think it's just for all the different definitions and possible journeys to manifesting, you know the general term of manifestation, you know you can have it, but as a scientist, if I told you that manifestation is not much more than re-setting a goal and making it a reality in real life, then there should be no argument that it could be quite scientific. And when I wrote the source that came out in 2019, so I wrote it in 2018, I had always been personally interested in spirituality, visualization, and manifestation. but I felt like there wasn't any overlap with my professional work at the time that it was.

I would know that until recently I was a psychiatrist and I already had my PhD in neuroscience, so when I started researching the science behind manifestation for me personally I had to be able to explain it based on cognitive science, which is Psychology and Neuroscience, just so that I had meaning to me. It wasn't even necessarily the book I was going to write, but it had to feel right, I really understand how. Thisit

works

and then what am I going to do with it? How am I going to share that with people? But the fact that explaining manifestation through cognitive science means that it's your brain that makes these things happen seemed extremely empowering to me if it had to be that way.

Blind faith in something you know, a higher power or the universe or it had to be about quantum physics, which you certainly know I'm not qualified to understand deeply, that's fine, but it made me feel like I'm not part of this creation story. success and, personally, it works better for me to feel like I am and what I was very surprised how many people in my real life who are not scientists at all said that I have always been interested in manifestation, but now that I understand how it works in the brain, I am going to do things like make the action board or you know, set the goal and work towards it, something I always read about but never acted on before.

I think it's a beautiful phrase, you set a goal and work to achieve it, but what you are clearly indicating is if I achieved it. Well, and please feel free to correct me, is that if you are harnessing the power of manifestation, you are simply harnessing what is the most effective way to carry out that process. It's that right, yes, that's right and it kind of goes together really well. with brain science, which is that the brain is a small organ, if you look at it, you know in proportion to the size of your body, but it needs a lot of energy, so it uses 23, 20, 30 percent of the decomposition products of what we eat every day. when we sleep, you are consuming 20 of what we have eaten that day, so you like to always choose the path of least resistance, so you really like to be efficient, therefore, being you know efficient and effective in your real life in terms. of what you do to achieve the things you want makes sense to the brain, so that already started to line up pretty well and I was smiling internally when you said oh, I'm going to jump around a little bit because in the brain it's all about interconnection, so I hope this makes sense to the audience and I'm sure the podcast will be beautifully edited, but for me jumping completely makes sense because everything is connected and I'm sure as we come to a conclusion, all those threads. they'll come together and hopefully people will have a really great view, even if it sounds like we're going from brain science to manifestation, you know, different topics, we're weaving threads like the brain is totally weaving neurons into neural pathways. , yes, and there is a There is a deep connection that you explain beautifully with that and manifestation.

Now a question about manifestation is that everyone, even people who don't realize it, are still harnessing powerful manifestation, they may not realize that they are actually manifesting things. in their life that they say they don't want but their mind is completely preoccupied is how does that fit into your wheelhouse yeah, like you said, it's a topic that has attracted skepticism in the past and you know it still does to some extent and what always What amazes me is the small number of people that I see that I consider to be the biggest negative manifestors that I have ever encountered in my life and I always think and it's and we've all been guilty of it to some degree oh you know that will never happen for me oh that goal is too big for you you know, let's lower it a little, something like that, um or worse than that, you know, it's just my luck bad things always happen to me nothing turns out well for me like I said neuroplasticity if you continually say and think those things it's more likely to come true if you are so powerful at manifesting that imagine what could happen if you decided to do it I say it will work for me, it will work better than I even dreamed it could and I simply invite people to try it for a day, an end week or a week, or I have a very close friend who is also an executive coach, but Not particularly in manifestation, who one year said, "I'm just going to say yes to everything that I would normally say no." You know, for me, sometimes, learning to say no to things has been an important part of my journey and I'll share it. something with you that I have never shared before, apart from with my close friends, which is simply due to the type of upbringing and education that I had, so you know that you will understand the expectations of first generation immigrant Indian parents and then I was very lucky, I had a very privileged upbringing, but it was very competitive and you know, I was absolutely expected to go to the best universities and be a professional, and that leaves this little girl inside who always thinks she'll never be good enough, and I remember that.

When I was filming my online show for MIT Sloan, I told one of my best friends, you know it's really hard work. He was in lockdown in the UK, so he was also in a different time zone, and it was you know, sort of deadlines every few weeks to get it ready and I remember telling him it's not perfect, it's not going to be good enough. I'm very stressed and there's just not enough time left to do it right and she told me she's never seen you not hit the ball out of the park and beyond and I told her this is the only time that's not going to happen.

I'm absolutely sure of it and I think I made my family's life pretty good. I was miserable for a few weeks around that time and then it came out and I did it. I can't remember all the similar stats now, but I mean, it was literally the number two show, second only to the AI ​​show in New York, so yeah. It had a net promoter score of 98, over 200 people signed up for the first iteration and for the first time in my life I thought that at this age you can't keep saying that nothing is going to be good enough and then it turns out to be like this. well you have to make a change here so the next big project I took on was my podcast and I didn't have a lot of expectations about it, something I really wanted to do and I had a great team. around me um but they also said you know it's brand new so if we want to have followers that you already know it would be better if we could do it before it's released just because once it's released people will be asking for analysis and It's just new and that didn't offend me.

I thought it would take some time to grow and, um, quite quickly, but certainly by the end of the first season it had reached number one in the UK and the US in Life Sciences. Apple Podcasts and for the first time in my life I didn't say I can't believe that happened. I said I'm not surprised it happened and it was a big neuroplasticity shift for me so I still have to prove myself a little bit. Doing that again because I've only done it once in my life, but it's things like that, more intangible, like the difficulty of saying no, you know, not prioritizing yourself because your level of self-esteem and deservingness are fundamental to manifestation. if you dont do it.

If you don't believe you deserve something you immediately make it less likely to happen because of every action you portray in the outside world based on what you believe about yourself, that's so powerful it really brings up this issue I've been talking about. heard about you. What I write a little about in the book is that many people are not aware of how their insecurities or early belief systems, whether in childhood, that they did not choose to believe, they simply inherited them from their environment, they do not realize how powerful What are they. and how these narratives shape what they pay attention to, how do some of them work from a neuroscientific perspective?

How do you want to help our audience think about the power of these first moments and that even when we become adults it's like you are? an adult now you know you have a history you have receipts about it you teach other people about the point of gratitude and yet these first stories and ideas take over you what's going on in the brain that's the case um well there are several mechanisms that We could argue here, but probably from a neuroscience point of view, the most fundamental one is that the longer those pathways have existed in your brain, the deeper they are buried, the more powerful effect they have on you, and the less conscious they are. you are from that, so the earlier the first experiences are, they will tend to be about the family that you grew up in and obviously there are concentric circles because then there is the community that you grew up in, in the school that you went to and you know the La politics of the country you grew up in and any important events that occurred in your childhood, but we do take it to the family because obviously the adults in your family and also the teachers and community leaders are very, very important.

For children whose brains are so impressionable, you really only need one really amazing role model in your life to have a big impact on you, but you know it positive or negative, so your survival depends on the love of your caregivers and therefore Therefore, you learn at a pace. At a young age, what is okay to do and what not to do to maintain that security around you and I'm talking about things like the values ​​that your family has and the boundaries that you know are acceptable or not acceptable in your family. the secrets that are kept in your family, who you identify with and that they may have told you when you were a child because you won't decide for yourself, but it will be things like, oh, you're like your mother.

Or are you like your uncle, you know? or you mentioned in your family that we are a high achieving family, we have to do it this way, yeah, yeah, so you know there are some things like that. that has a very, very strong impact on the early stages of life and, um, there's a whole other area that we could get into in epigenetics, which is a very rapidly growing field, but we certainly know that what happens in the uterus is, um, we know a lot more. about that is not epigenetics, we know that that is also very critical to what happens to you, so in the most basic example, if a mother is stressed and has high circulating levels of the stress hormone cortisol, that, of course , will affect the baby because they share the same blood supply, we know in animal experiments that pregnant mice that were given the smell of mint and given a mild electric shock at the same time as when the pups were born, never received a electric shock, but they would have a stress response to the smell of mint, so that's the part about being in the womb and then we also know that now we know more about the fact that what happened to your parents throughout their life and your grandparents and possibly even beyond also has an effect on your neural wiring, so most of all, one thing I find really interesting is that you don't inherit the genes your parents were born with, you inherit the expression of their genes in the moment of conception, and further back than that, we know. from the Dutch famine and the Holocaust, turning on and off the expression of certain genes that you know will affect you in your life and that can sometimes be a good thing even if something bad happened, like it was a stressful situation.

If something happened it can make you more resilient or it can make you more prone to anxiety, so even there there's a level of I don't know if choice is the right word, but let's say maybe agency over how you use what you've been. given to make the most of your life, you know the life you have now and certainly, as you said, in adulthood there are things that you can remember and reframe and you know that in most popular psychology they are known, these things are known. known by phrases like re-parenting or inner child work or mirror work, where you basically obviously accept what happened to you in the past, but see if you can reframe some of the emotions around it or just reframe the emotions or handle that. memory in a way that allows you to move forward in a different way than you have so far, yes, I appreciate you addressing that because I mentioned it in the context of sometimes people feel like I'm trying to manifest it.

I'm trying to pay attention to the things that I want to create in my life, the things that I want to attract, the things that I want to bring and often they don't know that if they don't pay attention to them, there might still be some background thoughts that you have to overcome and which, by the way, everyone has, of course, there are degrees of trauma that people have gone through, but everyone has gone through some version of an imprint and your parents were just doing the best they could. They have their own imprint and a lot of times they didn't even sit down and say, you know, they didn't tell you to your face that you weren't good enough, right?

They said certain things and we inferred from them. Those situations that some people suffered and my heart goes out to them. I have a father that you know he just told you that you're not good enough so you constantly walk around in your life even when you're trying to achieve even when you're. trying to manifest all you can see is I'm not good enough, I'm not good enough, I'm not good enough, so I think when we start to become aware that these thoughts are there, we start to put some of our resources in action boarding demonstration of visual boarding really harnesses the power of the brain we can say okay, great, that's notthat, it's not my uh, it's funny when people believe everything they think, some of your thoughts are like popcorn, it's like your old high. school coach or that's your elementary school teacher who said that you don't have good handwriting or that you're not creative, yes, in fact, I think at one point one of your beliefs, as an example, was that I'm not creative, yes .

What were some of the first experiences he had that left that impression on you? Just as an example for our audience, so I would like to just say something before I continue with what just came to my mind, please jump to it, it's really important, so if you think about a pendulum of the formative experiences that you could have had as a child and knows that one side is. extremely good, which may be that you know parents or teachers who have told you that you can do anything you set your mind to. At the other extreme, there may not be something as obvious as you're not good enough, but it may be something like that.

It's not the kind of job that you could end up in and it's not going to work out for you, you're better off doing something else, so those two things are very obvious, we often remember those things consciously and even bad things like that will never happen. . For you, some of those things have driven me to achieve those things more because someone told me I couldn't do them. I think the potentially most dangerous area but also the most potential is the center of that pendulum swing where there are little what we would call maybe like you know micro um experiences that you may not even consciously remember that really affect what you still do in adulthood, which is why it's really worth doing work like journaling, therapy, or meditation to try to figure it out.

What are you not aware of that could be driving many of your behaviors? So yeah, mine is a very classic example that I discovered once I started sharing it and that's something I'm a big fan of. Know? There are many things that we keep secret because there may be some shame around them and when we share them we tend to find that many people have similar things, we think that we are exactly the only person and then we start sharing. and then other people raised their hands, so mine was: you know, it's not traumatic or anything, but my art teacher in high school said that because I wasn't good at drawing that meant I wasn't creative, so I think I was around 15 years old.

I fully believed that until I was at least 35 years old. And that was good because I did my science studies at various levels. I went to medical school. I became a doctor. You know, it wasn't that relevant to my life, but. It was certainly a lingering thought, it was actually just when I was lecturing at Stanford at the D school, which is a really interesting concept where they have a design school, yes, it's a design school, but they accept people of all backgrounds. different faculties. like medicine and engineering and you know the arts and they kind of brainstorm and they come up with ideas that you wouldn't come up with if you were left alone and I mentioned this to the guy who ran the d-school at the time and he he said, well, that happened to me too and in fact in our age group there is a generation of people who believed that they were not creative because at that time being creative meant that you could paint or sing, um and it wasn't kind of broader vision of creativity that we have now, but even then, that for me went hand in hand with the fact that my English teacher told me, "You're so talented at acting that you should do it." I read English at Oxford and went to Radha and became an actress and when I told my father he literally said Over My Dead Body and said go to medical school first and then you can do whatever you want, but obviously once you If you've gone to medical school it's pretty hard, parents love to see that, but it's interesting how exactly to make that turn, especially here in America, at least you guys have a slightly better higher education program, yeah, you won't finish with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, you know, which is very common here, yeah, but yeah, that's interesting advice, for sure, yeah, and you know at that time you didn't really see many Asians even in the small screen, um, and it's been like that.

It's fascinating to me to see that change over the last 10 or 15 years, so another thing that's really important in terms of manifestation and how to overcome some of these beliefs that we might have about ourselves is to give ourselves examples of people that we can relate to. We identify ourselves for any reason. It doesn't have to be your actual skin color or anything, but it's someone who feels like you and has achieved something you want to achieve. I mean your own past successes are great things that you should write down like I said too so that when you move on to the next thing you can say here was something I didn't think I would achieve, but I did it so I know I can do it. if you don't really have an example of the specific thing that you're trying to achieve, then you know he could have looked at you or looked at you with the wrong gun or the wrong rupee and said well you know they launched a really successful podcast so you know that should help me believe that I can do it.

Well, it's possible, yes, exactly, um, and so in that area there are four things that are important, so focus on your own past successes, find the kids these days, call them receipts, you know what? I heard you use that word. I don't know, yeah, so they got receipts. Basically, you know, here's proof that you went through this. It's your, it's your record, just like you get a receipt for buying something. It's like showing me your receipts, which basically means, "Hey, are you working?" That's so cute, I love it, I'm going to adopt that slang, so if you don't have a receipt, then look for an example of someone like you who has managed to keep your brain and body in good condition. the usual basics that I talk about, like sleep, diet, and exercise, and then the last one, which is the cup, you know, coming full circle to the question you first posed, is, deal with that voice. in your head that tells you that you can.

Don't do it and wherever it comes from, whether it's your parents, your teachers, you know the past, um, and for that I suggest that people create their own personalized affirmation or mantra, so that underneath every thought that we have about ourselves There is a belief that we are often not fully aware of it, so you need to do the work through self-reflection, that is, delving into the thinking, the recurring thought that you may have about something specific, discovering what it is. what you believe about yourself that is driving that thought and then create a statement that is the opposite of that belief and just a clarification, these are recurring thoughts, so they are negative recurring thoughts or something like something heavy, it's like not had a positive aspect, yes, it is something negative or maybe even. slightly inclined neutral negative is that it's something that's holding you back something that's holding you back yeah okay I got it a neuroplasticity is really driven by repetition and emotional intensity so whether it's a recurring thought or like you would have said an important thought, um and then this It comes from Buddhism and also from neuroplasticity, which is replacing a thought that you don't want with a thought that you do want or that will help you move forward or that will unblock you, you know what you don't It's been happening. so far, so you know, if it's something like I'll use a very very common one, which is that you know I'm not good enough, then you would change that to something quite daring, so don't know that I'm not a fan actually . from that phrase I am enough because I believe that everyone is enough and they need to be more, you know, they feel like they are more than that, so it would be something like this, it's perfect for me, I'm exactly right for this.

I'm more than enough for that, you know, and every time the doubt arises, you replace it with that thought, and from a neuroscientific perspective, that works well, there's research behind it, like you know you've heard from people anecdotally. I remember people talking about that when I first came into the world of sort of positive culture reading about Tony Robbins or this person or that person when I was early in college, but you're saying that's backed up by the research that in It's actually helpful for the brain to have something else to hold on to that creates a different future, yes, and I'll tell you why remember what I said about how energy efficient the brain is, basically, if a thought has been recurring or has a strong emotional intensity then it is probably a lot, it is aligned with a neural pathway that is probably made up of many neurons that have connected together and when a pathway in the brain is thicker, it is easier for chemical and electrical signals to pass through that pathway, so by and and what is important to know in the brain is that you cannot undo a neural pathway in the brain, the only thing you can do is overwrite it to create a pathway that is more energy efficient than the one that already exists , so by continually interrupting the negative thought and replacing it with a positive one, you will eventually reach the point where that path is stronger than the original.

I think I just had an aha moment and I may be wrong, but you're going to correct me, right? That's why you are the interviewer's expert. The aha moment I had is that a lot of times I see people who want to focus on the negative aspect of why they are the way they are, which I'm sure it can be. benefits obviously you need to look at something initially but it could be that they want to use their thinking power to say you know and it's a recurring thought like "Oh my god, I'm so stupid" like "why do I keep doing things this way, why do I keep doing things this way?" that?" Do I keep doing the same pattern and it feels like you're writing that path over and over again when you use that phrase instead of a little bit of gentleness that's there, which is hard, it takes practice, but you're going to do it? something more like going to another thought that is positive in front of people.

I think this might even come back to the dopamine connection, is that some people are addicted to punishing themselves. Have you ever seen that people want to punish themselves and say oh God? God I'm so stupid I do it I always do it okay I'll do it again I just like there's an addiction to wanting to self harm a little bit it's a dopamine thing so first of all all that language . I'm so stupid, why do I keep doing that? You know things we're going to have to work on, so from what I just shared with you, I would try to change that immediately as well.

I can be smarter than this. I don't always do that or I can change myself to not always do that, you know, so that's the beginning or I'm showing up to be the best I can be and I'm working to even be better in some version, like what seems true to you, but It's still towards the positive, yeah, but you still have to have awareness to be able to do that in the first place, you know, it's like you're saying some people are aware that I'm so stupid, this always keeps happening to me, um. And then it will be a very complex mechanism in the brain made up of a whole series of neurotransmitters, it leaves everything intertwining, which you well know, they are all supported by different neurotransmitters, but the way it works is Okay, so your amygdala is an object with almond-shaped deep in the limbic system, which is the seat of your most basic primary emotions.

Some people call it the first brain. Do you sometimes think about it that way? Like the first brain we have. to go further, yes, yes, we have gone beyond what used to be called The Reptilian Brain, but, and there is something like that, it is easy to think of the brain in sort of three sections that have grown around each other, but our understanding of the brain is much more sophisticated now, so we like to think of it as systems that interact with each other and that are supported by these different neurotransmitters and you know the brain is much more complex than we thought for a while. .

For a long time and it was only when we got the scanning technologies that we understood it a little differently, so yes, the amygdala is part of the limbic system and it has to do with where our emotions come from in the first place and then there is everything a kind of cascading system of biofeedback loops and things that affect how they develop in the brain and the body and then the hippocampus, which is also part of the limbic system, is where our memories are formed and stored, so that those two parts The parts of the brain interact a lot with each other because obviously we hold memories associated with emotions and, going back to what I said, when we're under stress, we don't feel good about ourselves, we have higher levels of cortisol, stress. hormone when the brain detects that cortisol levels are higher than they should be and stay high.

One of the things it will do to keep you safe is the amygdala and hippocampus will come together and bring up all your bad memories.having failed at something telling you why you shouldn't take a risk and you know go out and try to do better telling yourself that you're stupid that this will always happen to you that you can't change it because if in that way let's say I felt like that this morning and then I came here to recording the podcast with you probably wouldn't be like that, you know I wouldn't give my best performance, you'd be cautious, you'd be worried about saying things. you'd be questioning yourself exactly, um and you know I wouldn't want to share that much personal information because I would think that it would lead to me being criticized or ridiculed or humiliated so it basically makes you hold back in some way.

I feel like in that mode the brain when you need it most doesn't give you the things that can really help you, so, for example, let's say I had a bad day today and I thought, Well, no. I'd never met Drew before, so obviously I'm not going to tell him what happened. this morning because then you'll think I'm a bad podcast guest. You know, that's how the brain will start to help you know how to justify, yes, but if that had happened and I had come here and said, look, Drew, you heard me. on the podcast before you know what I'm capable of I just had this really unexpected bad day, how can we work together to make sure this interview goes as well as possible knowing that that's what happened behind the scenes, you know? , change it completely, yeah, um, so it's things, it's understanding that sometimes when we're feeling really under pressure, our brain isn't necessarily helping us and the more work we've done when things are good or good, the more we can to have access to the consciousness that is so important in the moment to be able to override this potential safety mechanism of the brain that tells you, for survival reasons, that you are stupid and that you should not take risks. that things are going to go wrong, do you think that's the brain's version?

Also for some people it's fight and flight, but for other people maybe it's the brain's version of going into the stress response of freezing. sometimes it comes in, you know, we have fight or flight, but we also have the freeze that some people just play dead when they feel like maybe they're not literally playing dead like animals do when they're hunted. in other things and somehow there are a ton of videos about this on YouTube and Instagram about animal games, dad for a moment the predator that was chasing him gets distracted for a second because he thinks he made the kill and then the animal is able to jump right into the rabbit or whatever we do, it's part of us that tense up in a moment and that also taps into that freeze response.

Yes, basically fear is what triggers us in response to fear. We can do it. take flight, which is literally running away or we can fight, let's use a workplace scenario that would mean you could yell at your boss or even physically attack him, which you really can't do, which is why currently we are more likely to freeze and I love this example of animals playing dead. It's a great kind of analogy, but obviously we wouldn't do it physically, but we would try to blend in. Let's hope my boss doesn't notice. and instead upsets a member of my team because I'm not doing anything right now, you know, scenario, well, let's close it and not mention the things that could be really useful for people to figure out, it's like I don't want to. to get beat up, so let me close, yeah, and like I said, the blood flow in your brain is literally shutting off, it's going to the survival centers so you can get up in the morning, get dressed, look smart enough. working and sitting at your desk but you're not able to be productive, collaborative, creative, have healthy conflict, all of those things are actually, can you tell, making things much, much better, so if I'm connecting the points for myself correctly, what?

What I hear from you is that it's what we do when times are good, the training we do, the affirmation diet that you mentioned earlier, the breathing, which is also a way to continually keep blood flow high. to the brain and all the other things you talk about, we'll look at some of them in a minute, they're the things we do when times are good and we have the intention and the practice. I don't want to use the word willpower. but making it a priority when times are good, that supports us in these times when times are bad, it's that accurate.

I've never been taught that formally in medicine or neuroscience, but I've certainly found that to be true in my real life, um, several times, um. I'll cite research from a Mishi jar that balances that view a bit, so when she was working with the US Marines on mindfulness-based resilience training, they had a group that was supposed to practice mindfulness. mindfulness before going to the lab. Battle Zone and a control group who weren't practicing but in the group that was supposed to do X minutes of meditation a day there were some skeptics and they just didn't do it and so they went with her group to Battle Zone. and very quickly I noticed that the colleagues who had been meditating were able to sleep at night even though there was gunfire all night and that the colleagues who had been meditating were not sweating or having palpitations like them, so they went to the researchers and told them.

They said Okay I didn't do what I said I have been doing for the last month but I want to start now please can you help me? I was told that of course we can help you start this meditation program, but we can't promise it. It will suddenly help you now that you are in the Battle Zone and what was really surprising was that it had a very, very quick effect, a positive effect on people, so even people who had not done meditation in preparation for the battle they reaped benefits. like in a matter of days, so I don't want people to feel like, well, I haven't been meditating for years and you know, journaling and I don't always eat super healthy, so I'm damned, I always say the best.

The time to plant an acorn was 200 years ago, but the second best time is now outside of that topic. What are some of the things you know? I can imagine somewhere in the title of this episode, every time we come up with a title, people are so curious about it. manifestation topic how do we prepare our body and brain to be better at the end of the day? If we use their definition, manifestation is simply about setting a goal and then achieving that goal. How can we improve the brain and body? Discover each of the main elements that you really need to walk people through, what it actually looks like when you create it correctly.

What would be one of the first things you would say if we want to improve in this aspect of creation? things in our life and achieve our goals, so one hundred percent the first and the best, I would say, is sleep, so when we're asleep we process our memories, our emotions, um and also, you know, we start mentally preparing for the the next day and in the next kind of chapter and I'm going to put that together with something that is directly related to manifestation, so all the benefits of sleep alone, adequate quality and duration, that's basic science if we add it with the fact that if you visualize or look at your action board late at night, then you are preparing your brain to label in order of importance the items that are on your board or that you visualized just before going to sleep, in the state between being wake up and fall asleep.

Also in the state between being asleep and waking up, those are two very powerful moments to impact your subconscious and if you can prepare your subconscious to rate what is on your vision board or on your action board as more important than some of your tasks. basic daily Obviously you know that we all have to go to work and do our jobs and take care of our families and put food on the table, but those things are somewhat automated, what we want to do is increase the automation to notice the things that you want to manifest because if you have done that while you're falling asleep and then during the night, the next day you're more likely to notice things that you could really take advantage of, an opportunity, you could meet a person that you could go to. a different place or reading something you wouldn't read or all the things that basically form a mosaic that at some point you haven't realized but has become a quilt is a bit like to be honest, I'll say that about mindfulness Also, I no longer sit and meditate formally.

I did it for years, but I got to the point where it started like a patchwork, like I was letting you know, just putting little patches like they weren't even together, but I was cooking mindfully, I was eating mindfully. I would go on a mindful walk, I would take digital detoxes, I would make sure I gave my loved ones my full attention, without even thinking about what's in an email or on a phone or whatever, for certain periods of time and then. those things started to come together more and became, you know, kind of like a 24-hour quilt, yeah, I love that you said that because I think, especially in our space, meditation is so modern that the people who had done it at At some point and I'm in the same boat as you, I was a diligent meditator who adopted different traditions and backgrounds and things when I was in my early 20s and did it for years and then inherently I just didn't feel the need from that formal version of I knew a little bit about this work by this gentleman called The Shanti and it's called spontaneous meditation, which is very similar to what you're talking about here and then this component and of course I know people will say, hey, meditation is different. than mindfulness, but it's been incorporated into my daily life through different versions and maybe at some point it will change and I'll go back to a more formalized meditation structure, but it's not always cool to say that.

Hey listen. I'm not meditating anymore, but that was something that was there, but I'm still weaving it in because at the end of the day, meditation is a vehicle that takes you to, you know, everyone has a different definition, but hopefully, the present moment in which to be. Now I do, and it's interesting because I shared it with a friend who is a big fan of my book, you know, super smart and successful in a very different field, and two or three times she told me, "I couldn't, I just could." I can't do it if I don't meditate and I felt like maybe I was doing something wrong and again being the scientist that it took to hear some people who actually do research in that area in New York say that that's actually an evolution in your spiritual path because If you think about it, even if you meditate for an hour a day, which I don't think most people do, that means for one hour out of every 24 you're being mindful and for the rest. 23 others you're living your normal life, but if you can merge those things so that your whole day is, in some ways you don't know, not every hour, but the majority of your day is somehow incorporating mindfulness or a form of meditation, whether walking meditation. or try meditation, so that's more integrated, but it's also more time that you spend in that mode, sure and everyone will have a different version of how to get to that destination, but it's good that people talk and say, "Hey, so It's like my trip." It's evolved because I think a lot of people like when you said I was I'm actually in the same boat here.

I've had to tell people who are big fans of this and they say, oh yeah, you're obviously a meditator, right, you're very calm and relaxed and whatnot, and I'm like I used to do it a lot and I'm not afraid to admit that I'm not. I am so much right now, but that was a conscious choice that was there and I'm sure that could change in the future, you know, another thought I had is that this idea of ​​looking, going back to the last question, I asked you your idea of the action board and let's get into why. you call it an action board, this idea of ​​looking at that right before bed because you're prioritizing sleep as one of those important things to take advantage of to really boost your ability to step into manifestation and the power of manifestation in the brain, people know it.

This is inherently true, I mean, how often do you see, for some people, it could be a scary movie or it could be a really intense movie or it could even be a topic that you're looking forward to and then that night what? it ends up happening, you have dreams about it all night and the next day it's still on your mind, it was taking up space the whole night before just from watching something so intense the night before, which makes me feel so sorry for the people who are literally watching the news until they sleep CNN Fox MSNBC all these things yeah, you know, it's funny, there's a gentleman here in um, in Los Angeles.

I don't know if you've met them before. Reverend Michael Beckwith, yeah, okay, he's the founder of Agape. Center, he is very close to Oprah and did many of her Super Soul Sundays. He has a great quote. He says you knowNews is simply a collection of the lowest common denominator of human society. Yes, basically, if you want to find out everything that's wrong. Yeah, and more and more you're starting to see that social media is becoming the same way because even if you try to select who you follow, I don't know if you realize this now. Instagram Tick Tock Facebook Twitter they even show you things they know are going to excite you even if you don't follow them, have you seen this a bit?

Yeah, to be shown all this information, you think I'm not following that, whereas suddenly I'm connecting with that anyway? I digress, but my heart goes out to people that even that very vulnerable space, you know, in Buddhism they call it ego death, just like going to sleep, there's a little bit of baby ego death that happens when you go away. to sleep every night, you are very vulnerable and you are exposed to all these negative images, it is no wonder that people wake up the next day and are in a bad mood they feel that there is no support for them they feel that nothing is working they feel that the world could be behind them or they feel like they are not enough for all their creative ideas, visions and goals they want to improve their lives and improve the people around them, we have to do it and I love that you said that.

I'll probably crop it for social media. You know, that

neuroscientist

you know isn't watching the news. at least with that regularity, yes I feel like it's a great trick that could help so many people, even with people addicted to their phones right before going to bed at night, we are very impressionable and I don't think many people understand how we are doing shocking, no and um, I would like to add something to that, which is that, and I will also share that I love horror movies, so yeah, yeah, I like people watching to see whatever. I mean, it was just an example of how impressionable we are right now and it's not like you're watching a horror movie every night right before you go to bed, no, um, but even though I don't watch the news and obviously I mostly It's bad news.

Right before I go to bed I have this practice that I do in the morning because when you wake up you don't really know what you're going to think about all of a sudden, like there's something on your mind that you have to do that day or something that's worrying you and I'm not saying that don't come to those things and deal with them sometime in the morning, but before I have time to think, the first thing I do when I realize I'm awake and I'm still lying in bed is I say I love my pillow.

I love my pillowcase. I have the best mattress in the world. I love my mattress topper. I love my silk duvet and all my bedding. that before I even have a chance to think, the first thing I did was talk about love and gratitude, you're setting the stage, you're setting your space and your brain, I love it, it's beautiful, you know, getting back to it. I had mentioned taking a good look at your action board or at least some positive images that remind you of the life you want to create right or even, as we mentioned at the beginning of the podcast, the beautiful things you already have, family, friends, other things like things that many of us take advantage, you take advantage of them and forget them, as if it were natural, the brain adapts and gets used to it, okay, for granted, taken for granted, sorry, Advantage, um, what is it before we go through some Of the things that could be enhancing our ability to set goals and achieve them in our life, here we call that manifestation what is an action board and why did you give it that name, while most people identify it as a vision, yes, tangibly it is the same as a vision board in the sense that it is a collage made up of images that literally or metaphorically represent the things you want in your life or how you want your life to look or feel and that in It can actually be done physically by hand with similar people. paper and card or it can be digital nowadays people make them a lot more.

Do you have a preference over one or the other? I would say a little bit like we've described our meditation journeys, if you're starting the practice. I would recommend doing it by hand, yes, but if you've been doing it for years then it's probably fine to do it digitally, although the current one is digital and on my phone, but the one next to my bed is my most prized success. It's important because I use it more to remind myself of what I'm capable of and some of the things are themes that you know I would still want to repeat in my life, so it's not like they're old things that I don't want anymore. but when you say you're more successful, it means that at the time you were making this shift from being identified as you know to using vague terms like I'm just a psychiatrist, I have to be in medicine, I'm in neuroscience, you know?

I'm not creative, this was the board that made you shift in a different direction, this was a little later so this was already in my business that I'm in now, okay cool, it was more personal. It has a special meaning for you, yeah, okay, um and, but whether personal or business, it represents the biggest change I've made in the 15 or more years I've been making action boards, yeah, I love it, yeah, um, so where were we? So why did I call them action boards? Yeah, yeah, okay, so the board itself is very similar to what people would recognize as a vision board.

I like the fact that it can be a metaphorical representation, not just a literal one, for example if you look at Mine now, you may not understand exactly what the images mean to me, but I know exactly what they mean to me. Some of it is literal, but some is not, so it's about the feeling it creates for you, as well as who you are. If you're looking at the reason why I call them action boards instead of vision boards, it goes back to what you asked at the beginning of the interview, which is that you know why people might be skeptical about manifesting and certainly, about a scientist talking about it. because I feel like before using that different terminology there was definitely this feeling that you can create these images or create a fantasy in your mind and do nothing but sit at home and wait for it to come true and everything will come true.

I, yes, and I don't believe that at all. I would venture to say that if you create a vision board and do nothing to try to make it a reality through your own hard work, it will never come. True, it might even create negative reinforcement because you feel good, that's all, but you have to take the vision and combine it with action and actually step forward, which sometimes takes courage. Yeah, that's why we're trying to prime the brain because the brain reminds you that you've done this in the past or someone else has done this in the past and yes, you're stretching or yes, you have to take a little jump, but it is possible because Seeing those images every day, there are two things, so you are absolutely right: preparation is the key between the vision and the result that manifests in the real world, but it is exactly what you said plus the fact that I.

We've already explained that we're automated to do certain things that we need to do to survive, like go to work, eat, you know, take care of our families, have shelter, but we're not necessarily automated to have all the things on our vision board. so preparation is also bringing it to the front of your mind so that it's not just ignored on a busy day, we're busy too, you know, a lot of people will say I don't have time to manifest. or there are other things that are more important in the short term that I need to do and that's why my manifestations are always in the background and never get the priority they need, but if you prepare your brain then it's the first step. is that you will be more aware that these are the things that I am looking for, oh, you know, it is a book that is relevant, something that I want to manifest, so I should read it and then the second step is what you have said. then you have the courage and you go out and do some things that you may not have done that probably get you closer to that outcome.

There is a quote I heard a few years ago. I don't remember where I got it from. I'll have to watch the end of the episode and we'll put in the show notes, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it and the quote I'm paraphrasing is the universe, which can mean a lot of different things. things for People Source we might be talking about your book is titled Source, you could replace it with God if that's your belief system, but the universe is constantly conspiring for your highest good, the only question is are you realizing that That fits into the idea. of taking the different worlds that you are bringing together, manifestation of neuroplasticity and a little of your own spiritual tradition.

I mean, if I'm a scientist, then I would say that we currently can't prove that it's a natural fact that maybe it's more about quantum physics, which is not a conversation that we're having right now, no, but I'm not against it because What I feel like he's really saying is that we're not starting from, you know, like you said, whether people see bad news. late into the night to me, the message they are really giving themselves is that the world is not a safe place, that is the most basic belief you carry with you if you are constantly bombarded with news of violence, death and injustice and poverty, so if you hear this beautiful phrase, the universe is constantly working to help you get the things you want, so what that really tells you is that the world is a safe place, so now go and do what you can to make it. your life is better but because it's taking away your vision that well, I can't risk doing those things because look at all the bad things that are happening in the world and if I know that if I expose myself then something bad could happen, it's taking away from you. that and I think that's really important and you know of course I'm outside the curve, you know, the comfort that spirituality can give you.

I also say, as a scientist, that you have to do something. You know you can't just rely on that, so yeah, and what I think aligns perfectly with the action is the question. The second part of the first part is that the universe is constantly conspiring for your highest good. a scientific statement, right, it could be a spiritual statement for some people, the second part is the only question is: are you willing to notice it? And the observation goes directly to the action, that you're looking at your action board at night and you want to build a business, you want to write a book, you want to do something and then you're chatting with a friend and in a coffee shop and they go to the bathroom and You see someone on the corner and they're reading a book that's on exactly the topic that's there and it's like you can try to start a conversation.

What is that book? What does it mean to you? What is this? So many beautiful things in my life have come just from these tiny little coincidences. that has been the magical Serendipity or intersection, but I still had to take action on it and say hello to someone or pick up this book or order this thing or whatever and that led me down a rabbit hole that led me to a further impulse action and eventually some external version of success in that particular project, yes, and you may not even see someone reading that book, so you go and have a conversation with them.

I definitely believe in signs, but for me, I do see, I do notice the signs. it's because my brain is primed for something that I know I want and then okay, why do you keep noticing it and why do you notice it and what does it mean that you really want to manifest it? So it could mean that I go and have a different conversation with someone else, but that's the fact that I noticed the title of the book for some particular reason or yes, and would you have noticed if you hadn't had that preparation the night preceding the action steps I want to follow? ask you a little bit more about other best practices around action boarding if someone would like to create an action board for, let's say, you know an area of ​​your life for this is for business this is for love this is for that is there a better one? practice?

You know, people have a lot of things they want to attract, a lot of things they want to create in their lives, are there any best practices on the do's and don'ts when it comes to this general topic? Yeah, so I don't. I don't do it like that, but I know people who have created separate action boards and they've had great success, so like you said, it's the right thing to do for different people because I think because I'm a neuroscientist but also because I'm a real people, person, I'm interested in interconnection, so I like to have everything on one board and I even like to think about that, oh, I have sections, so it's not completely random, it's in sections like work and you know, family, health and stuff. things. "It is like that, but sometimes I make sure they touch each other because for me there is a connection between pattern recognition, yes, and I even like the order in which they are arranged next to each other and where they are in the board, so again it's not like that." It doesn't have to make sense to anyone else in particular, but for me the top left is usually about love because yourheart is on your left side and to me love is the most important thing in the world so I'm always going to put it at the top um Central is usually obviously an important place and then it sounds like oh no or whatever you put in the bottom obviously isn't very important, but I always think that's critical, so for me that's usually about home um, but you know, that's like a year.

I did it like this in other years, it could change, but it will always make sense to me, so not everything that makes sense to me is really important and then I used to do it and I said. Well, I never liked to clutter my board too much, but it used to be pretty full, but I see people really cluttering their boards and I often say I always say if I see that's what you want your life to look like. I like it because for me that is very hectic. I would like to have some space in my life.

I usually leave some space just because when I look at my board I want to feel calm. I want to exhale. I don't want to look. I look at it and think, oh my God, there's so much stuff there. I feel like it's overwhelming, so it's a feeling, but equally what I've realized over the years is that I don't know everything and there can be things. That could happen to me and I haven't imagined it yet and I want to be open to those things too, so one of the reasons I justify leaving space now is that I'm allowing magic to happen that I can't even.

Imagine it, but I love it, yes, that's beautiful. What are some of the things you see that get in the way of people taking action to create an action board? I think one that I'll just acknowledge and that we talked about before is that people I feel like that's why you're on this podcast today that it's kind of fake, it's not going to make a difference. I think I'll add another one before I pass it on to you that I definitely felt from the beginning. When I first heard about this work at the beginning of my kind of personal development journey, it's a version of feeling a little vulnerable and wanting to put out there the things you want to ask for in your life, yes it can be very vulnerable and I know there are different schools of thought, some people say, “Hey, I want to show people my vision board, action board” and some people say no, I want to be more protective.

Definitely, in my early days, it was more like, "Hey, this is for me, so I'm just holding space for it, but part of that was that at the time I didn't feel ready to be able to say, well, why is this?" that thing there and what does that mean? I didn't want a lot of questions, especially from people who I was the first in my group of friends and family to really follow this path of personal development, spiritual vision, you know, that whole kind of world, um , so I would have been more, I would have felt more vulnerable, yeah, you know, and I would want to protect my goals and visions in life, uh, I didn't want people to say, oh, that's crazy, why do you think that you could achieve that right?

I think it's a real thing, right? I don't want that kind of negative stuff. No, I'm laughing with you because I know that happened tonight. I imagine you know from the amount of time you've been in this area that was probably hardest as a couple guy to be open about things like that, I think you know, when I started to be open about it and I started to be open about it when I started and maybe I went a little bit the other way and that as time goes on I'm a little more private about my forums, but I think that, or you know, along with the skepticism that comes with it, you know it's something that women do more than men, for example, maybe more which is a feminine thing that people have quite a practical scene, it's quite feminine, it's certainly seen as more spiritual than scientific, um, I guess there's a lot of ways that you look at it, but let me answer your first question, which is that it's fake, well maybe it's fake but try it once because because if it doesn't work it won't hurt you if someone gives it a real chance, how long should they try the process?

I even say that if you think okay, let's see if this works and your hands. are crossed by those people who can't see me on YouTube you're already coming in with a little bit of negativity yeah, you know that component, but if someone says no, I want to do this, I want to pay attention, I want to write. to follow the methodology that is in the book Link in the show notes for anyone who wants to consult the source what is a good amount what is the time you say try it what is the right amount of time to try well, I make my boards and recommend that people do an annual one because it is not too short-term, these things do take time and the only reason they need time is that the manifestation is based on neuroplasticity and that means that a neuronal structure has to be changed. path in your brain and that takes time, it depends on what it is, so I usually say that if there are some that look like quick wins on your board, do everything you can to make them happen because then you are giving yourself evidence that it works, It's cumulative and some things will naturally take longer, but if you're still watching the sport and there's absolutely nothing happening then that can be quite demotivating and it's very important to stay motivated, but I also want to say that.

Although I'm a big proponent of action boards, it's not the only way you can manifest and there are some ways that may be more appealing to people with more masculine energy or who are less spiritual, so one of them is a no-brainer. . a list, so a list of things that you want, you know, I think it seems less fake, so there will be a lot of people who will say, well, I'm not going to make a vision board, but they might already have a list. and they, but they don't talk about it, yeah, oh, they have a list and they do talk about it, and then there's actually a small group of people who neurologically can't visualize, so I suggested creating a soundtrack of success. .

Basically you can choose song titles or music that you know make you feel the same way, like you have achieved something you want. You can even create a successful scent so you can have a particular essential oil or blend that represents you. that you've accomplished, you know whatever might be on your manifestation list or board, so there are other ways to do it, um, and the amount of time really depends on what it's like for me, it's similar to that question, how do ? How long does it take to form a habit? It really depends on what it is.

If I would like to do some type of exercise three times a week, then you could probably do it in a few weeks, but if so. I need to like completely change my emotional intelligence, that will take 9 10 12 months, um, but both can be achieved. The simplest analogy for me is how long it would take you to learn a language and basically what languages ​​you speak. speaks gujarati and english, okay yeah, so you're bilingual, so let's say you want to, so you'll probably find it easier than someone who isn't to learn another language, let's say you decide to learn spanish, okay, then you could use Duolingo and being yourself. motivated without any particular end goal and you can imagine how well that could go or you could go to a Spanish class every week and you could book a vacation to Mexico in six months and you would probably be much better at Spanish if you did that than If you did it the first way, then it is like that with a habit or with your manifestations, which depends on how difficult the thing is and also depends on how much effort you put into making it happen.

And I would say, I think this is what you were asking before: there's also an element of self-sabotaging behaviors and the first thing I see is not so many people who don't do action boards because they wouldn't. They'll actually be talking to me, so the people who talk to me want to make an action board, but I've seen quite a few people who find the images but don't paste them. Oh, interesting, yeah, what do you think is going on there? And actually, we. I have a mutual friend who has done that. I'm not going to say who it is on the podcast.

I was actually on her podcast when she shared that, but it was years ago and I told her on the podcast about my experience, there's only one reason you're not hitting them and that's because you don't think you deserve them wow wow and that really resonated. in it, so I think there is a desire to do it and you know what it is. is that you might want to, but then there's deserving, you know, I mentioned that in the beginning it's very important if you don't think you deserve those things that you don't know, not hitting them is really what's going on inside.

I really don't think that's going to happen, so if I put it there it will lead to a share-like failure. I mean, I think people have different levels of private law, so I'm not saying that everyone has to share their vision board, but if you feel confident enough about it, like when I had my first one, I had a small apartment with like a bathroom and it was on the wall of the bathroom so if someone came to my apartment and used the bathroom they would see it but obviously the only people who came to my apartment and used the bathroom were close friends so that was fine and what I experienced was that it was very inspiring for people and they were really interested. and not only was it inspiring in terms of that they could do something similar, but because they were my closest friends, I was literally getting text messages and phone calls saying, "Oh, you know that thing on your vision board." I know someone who is doing blah blah blah yeah.

Exactly, that's beautiful, I love it and I think it's all about who it is, because because this is an extension of Your Action Board, it's who the people are that you surround yourself with. I can imagine things in certain situations depending on age. where people find themselves, especially if they feel like they're doing this living in their parents' house, immigrant parents, other things like that is like what you want to be a writer, a dancer, a creative person or whatever, but as As you get older and you're able to select your group of friends, you know, I have a weekly men's group that's been meeting for the last seven years here in Los Angeles.

It's an incredible group of caring, highly evolved men who also happen to have a business, so they're very motivated on that side, yeah, and we meet every week, you know, rain or shine, you know that from 52 weeks in a year, it's like 30 weeks that we meet, as long as there are like three people in the city. I meet and with that group I can regularly share all kinds of different things, in fact, one of the questions that we pose, the group that asks weekly when we don't have a question about the day that is really designed to It's kind of an open conversation and We do this by walking along the path, which is like a very important part.

I don't know if you know of any research on EMDR and that type of space, but it's a question we often ask. The default is tell me what you're celebrating today, because men in particular aren't very good at celebrating what you've accomplished recently, even if it was Tiny, that might have been, you hadn't called your parents in a while and you called. them and that made them feel very happy it could be something as basic as that and then also like what are you browsing? what's something that's important to you in your life that's that's something you're trying to progress on maybe a new workout routine maybe there are some authors in the group so you're trying to write a particular section in your next book, but it's a little sticky, you know? and get it off your chest, it's not like we're here to complain about anything and there's nothing wrong with that, there's just an open place here to be able to share whatever's on your mind, right?

I imagine that group would say, hey, here's my action board, here's what this means, here's what it means, you know this because you feel like even if people have questions, it's going to be asked in a way that supports them and design for your highest good, so I think this idea of ​​an action board is also a reflection of people thinking about that kind of old saying: I know you're the average of the five people you surround yourself with, so There may be some people that you go deeper with and there may be other people that you can be a little protective of until you know that things totally change and you can just say and I really like to congratulate and celebrate.

I think it's amazing what you do. I wish more people, but you know, particularly men would do that, something so healthy, positive, productive, and charming. I feel like thank you for having me on your podcast, but really. That's the one thing everyone should learn from this episode, well it can be combined with everything else you're saying because what I feel is that you know the bigger your goals and dreams are, the more you're going to need supportive people in your life. for this to happen, I look at all these worlds that intersect and I congratulate my mother-in-law, who is also here listening, who is the first person to tell me about your work, nilu, thank you very much and you know all the people. that we know in common and all the people who have also supported you hey, you should talk to this person on their podcast oh, check this out or check out this talk event or have you thought about this or it might be a good idea.

You know, the new onetv show, whatever it is, it's our friends, it's our community, it's the people we surround ourselves with that are there to cheer us up, especially when times get tough, yeah, have you seen your group of friends evolve over the years? it's changed depending on the type of what's important to you, so I'm extremely lucky in that sense, um, but probably not subconsciously if you know what I mean, so I probably can't understand it. I mean, you worked on it and you created it and you created it. a really positive group, yeah, and like my, I don't want to say the best, I actually have to say now that my core or my oldest group of friends are people that I've known for 30 or 35 years since we were kids, so I think it's just that I'm very lucky to have those people, you know, still in my life and then when I changed careers, it was definitely an opportunity for me to pick some new people that could come into my life and, um, it's just interesting, I think who, what kind of friends you make, you know, as an adult. different than the ones you do in childhood, but the ones from childhood have very similar values ​​and you have a lot of memories with them, but they may be doing very different things for you and those you meet later, especially after an important career.

The change may have more in common with the person you are now, but for me it is really very important that they are. You know that we are all people who support each other, that we want the absolute best for each other and that we would do anything for each other and that I could tell anything too, another reminder that your friends and your core group is a reminder that the world is safe, you know, it goes back to that quote from Albert Einstein which I'll paraphrase here, but I think he said that The most important question a human being can ask himself is whether the world, the universe, is a force for good, yes, of course, or is it a force for evil, yes, yes.

Now I think not only do I personally think that's very important, but when we look at You know, you're asking me what are the factors that contribute to manifestation. Just because they are similar but in some ways more vital are the factors that contribute to successful aging and longevity. And as in a healthy life, you already know the best. possible way and those are sleep, as I already mentioned, and I'm going to say that hydration is quite a bit higher than what I would normally do, just because in order for the chemical and electrical signals to pass along the neural pathways, you have to be adequately hydrated. , so it's such a basic thing um and then obviously exercise because oxygenation of the brain so these are factors that contribute to manifestation but also successful aging and then diet and diet, let's assume that people know the basic concepts of eating in a healthy and diverse way for the most part. plant-based diet above, you should focus on eating as many dark foods as you can, so dark skin foods and that includes coffee for your mother-in-law, who I know, but not at the wrong times, so you know. dark berries dark chocolate purple sprouts broccoli um eggplant the polyphenols in that skin contribute to neurogenesis, which is the growth of new nerve cells, so not just the connection of existing ones um and then the factor that's up there so that people staying healthy in old age are positive and meaningful social relationships, so they should not be underestimated and you just reminded me through this conversation how vital it is for the manifestation, because if in all the places where people looked or talked He said: Don't be stupid, Tara, that doesn't work. to work, why do you do that? um and a lot of people live in that reality, so you know I might stop doing that.

I may be embarrassed to talk about it. I may not want to share my achievements. um. I think it is very important to be humble. but you know, part of the joy of life for you is being able to give that inspiration to other people with the same appearance as you. I said this is what I was going to do and it happened and I'm so grateful. I think there is an important point because I would say that that central aspect of the loneliness that the world is suffering right now is that every year there are an increasing number of people who feel that even if they have many friends or people they know to many family members, there are people who feel I don't have people in my life who really understand and understand who I am, that number is seen at least from the data that I have been seeing and it has been increasing and I think for those people In that category , just one thing I would like to add is that if you ever had someone in your life, even when you were younger or maybe it was in college or maybe you know someone, it might take a little bit of work.

Depending on the age you met them, but see if you can get back in touch with that person and even on the topic of manifestation, can you set it up? I literally call it with friends. I'll say you know how much I missed you, right? By the way, how good does it feel when someone tells you they missed you, especially if they haven't talked to you in a while? And by the way, the kids listening can tell that to other kids, right? and you would have to do it. Worry about it Say, you know what I really missed talking to you, we had some really amazing times, how does it feel to put a monthly check on the calendar and we can check in on each other's goals and dreams and what we're doing?

What you're working on in life, if you've ever had a person but you don't feel like you have that personal, reach out to that older person and see if a monthly check-in or something like that might be a way to at least keep some of that energy going. in your life and then before you know it you will probably add a second third fourth person and now you are surrounded by people who are supporting your success, yes I think it is a very good idea and interestingly some people like them people. They've been back in my life for a long time recently and when I look at the messages it's just interesting because you don't know how much people have changed during that time, but all the messages are like, "I'm so happy for you." You're back in my life, I love you so much, I've thought about you over the years and of course I'll pass the message on to that friend I'm still in touch with and it's like you know, it's oxytocin. boost and I would just like to add to this as a human being, not just a neuroscientist, that you don't have to check your monthly goals, you can just check and shut up about something silly, you know, yeah, no, thanks for adding.

That's really important, it could just be an opportunity to say hey, hey, tell me what's going on in your life, right, give me the latest, tell me something really embarrassing that you've done, so I can laugh at you, you know, anyway , guys. connect, yeah, sure, whatever you connect, you know, I want to come back to this idea. I think a lot of people would be surprised that, from a manifestation standpoint, they were listing a lot of things related to taking better care of your body. I often like to ask the opposite version of that question just to clarify that point: what happens when we don't take care of our body, how does that affect the manifestation, so you've already gone a little deeper into the dream, but if we don't take care of our diet and don't We get to know adequate levels of protein in our diet, adequate levels of rainbow diversity and fiber that comes from eating lots of fruits and vegetables, do you know how that affects our ability to manifest and create our goals and dreams in life, yes it is very simple answer, so manifestation is a higher function, it's not a survival function, it's a survival function, you know, people have questioned me about it and say it's not a luxury for the people who do it. have. the basics that they need in life, so, um, and to that you would say yes and no, what I've said is to be very respectful of the fact that some people have much more difficult lives than others.

I still hope and believe that everyone can make their life. Life would be a little better if there was a little room for manifestation besides the basics and I've always tried to be very diplomatic about it because I realized that there is a whole spectrum of lives that people have. I had a guest on my podcast who when I told him that it was actually like a pause for dramatic effect and he said that protesting is not a luxury, it's a necessity and that changed it for me, you know, it was cool that someone was so bold about it, but given that.

It's a higher function, what I would say is that if you are compromised in any way, tired, hungry, dehydrated, inflamed, stressed, sedentary, something like that, then that is the priority for your brain and your body to heal and not will state if so. I have all that to deal with, so if the Gap is, is there any compromise in your body? If there is a commitment in your brain or in your body, that is what your body will focus on, once you are at least neutral, then you can do the manifestation. a powerful answer, thanks for remembering it.

I really think that connects the dots for a lot of people. Yes, I want to ask you a question that I hear often that comes up on the topic of manifestation and it's a question that people ask. Well, what if I don't know what I want? I'm sure you've heard this before someone listening today says, I believe this. I think it's amazing. My challenge is not to create an action board. My challenge is not type. to do the work I want to push myself I want to take care of my body and I'm doing it well I just don't know what I want in life in fact I feel confused and maybe even a little conflicted As for what I should do, how do you help that person to navigate?

I get that question in DM sometimes not too often, but sometimes enough that I have to think about it, so what I usually tell the person at first is maybe. approach it by thinking about how I would like my life to feel and then what I like to add that's more specific than that are two specific types of things in the book that I actually started by saying, did your life unfold exactly the way you always dreamed it? would and if not then the manifestation is that you know a potential channel for yourself, the other thing is at what stages of your life did you know what you wanted or what were the things you wanted when there were moments of greater certainty and then if that It is not like this. enough to start the thought process, then simply journaling in general is the way to begin to untangle that confusion, conflict, and lack of knowledge.

Could it also be that people can just start with what they have now and can always add something more? Later I will give you an example from my life: when I was clear that an important factor for me in my life had been good, how can I create a situation where I can work with my family and friends? a great motivator, okay, sure, and then I found out that okay, if you get a traditional job, you can't necessarily hire your family and friends, in fact, that's seen, let's look down on ourselves, even if you are, especially if You are a manager, you have to follow the path of entrepreneurship and I said: well, I have no idea about business.

I have no idea what I want to do. I've been studying computer science here, you know, following that kind of Indian path of yours. I know a secure job and profession. I said, Okay, I don't know what I want to do, but I know the feeling I want. I want to be with my family and friends working on interesting projects. What is the feeling? Literally my first vision board. It was like that, okay, we are going to travel together, we are a small team that is working on interesting projects, what projects I don't know yet, right, I don't know what we are going to do, right, we are having interesting things. conversation, but our world is a mix of professional but also personal, so if we want, go out in the middle of the day because we're going to go celebrate someone's birthday or, you know, talk about a big victory in our lives or whatever I mean, I saw that mixing and I had different images.

Sometimes I would write in different words on my vision board what I would do, what I would want, but I didn't know what I wanted to do yet, but I think the only thing was that I didn't put too much pressure on myself to have to know what I wanted to do. Yeah, I'm really glad you said that because it kind of validates what I've been telling people about how you want your life to feel because I don't always get to know the end result of those stories that people they know send me. text messages, so the fact that you had a feeling and that was really positive, that's great for me to hear and I will too. share that you know, I make an action board annually, but I've always had a hard time making a five-year plan or a ten-year plan.

I have never done that and I always used to think that I just can't for some reason but at some point I realized that if you and I know that I am a planner, I am not that spontaneous, I would like everything to be in order, I think you will get to MIT and you will get somewhere. from these other schools and lecturing at Stanford, if there's not a little bit of planning in the mix, honestly, I see that as really random, okay, yeah, and I canmoment. I thought that would happen as soon as the first lockdown happened, but I just don't think we're aware of the consequences for them on people's mental health, yeah, absolutely, um, you don't know, I think this will last a long time.

Books will be written about it, all the documentaries we made, but at least in the meantime, you can help people, that's really the mission and the goal, and that's what you're doing with your work. You know, for my last question here as we wrap up. below and then we share it with followers so they can stay in touch with you. I want to talk a little about pain and suffering. We were chatting about it recently and you mentioned which again. I am so sorry that you lost some people in your life and even if you have an amazing life, everyone will experience some kind of loss, yes some restriction in their life, even people who love and care about each other may realize that they don't If you fit in and don't want to keep building a life together and it's better that you go in different directions, that's something that happens of course, I think sometimes when people think about the world of manifestation, there can be a feeling that everything It's rose-colored glasses, it's going to be great and everything will happen, but you've been so transparent in sharing it with people that there may be bumps in the road and that doesn't have to be something that takes away from what you want to create, so could you talk a little more about that?

Yes, on the topic of pain and the intersection of how that continues to be part of our journey and life. even in the power of manifestation, yes, so I would like to reiterate a point I made about something slightly different, which is about all the work you do when life is good and how that serves you when life is difficult, so we were talking. we were talking about mindfulness, but you know that includes building resilience, it includes mindfulness, but there are a lot of other things you can do to build your mental resilience and I think it's helpful to have done that.

You know, there is a theory that says that throughout life we ​​experience many microstressors, whether daily or on a regular basis, and then at some points in our lives, we will experience stressors that are so great that they could break you and if you have developed your resilience and you just had a bigger bucket to pull out, you know when that happens and then I think how I would relate it to manifestation is that at any given moment it seems like your life is going to go in a straight line and then all of a sudden , it's just going to be a right turn or a left turn or a junction that you hadn't imagined, you know, it was taken into account, so of all the things I've done to try to prove to myself that I'm creative, the one that I think it's like the cherry.

The icing on the cake is that I co-wrote a song with a rock star last year. I heard about this and there's a line where it says like I'm standing at a crossroads and I don't know which one. way forward um and that song you know is somehow about grief but it's not necessarily like the death of a loved one it could be like the loss of oneself um it could be the loss of something um it could just be like a change in your way of life, that has happened a lot to people since the pandemic, so you know that grief in its many forms has to do with how you handle it, given your resilience, but it is also an opportunity to change course and Of course, part of that is the default.

It may just be that you're going downhill and knowing you'll never recover, but given everything we've talked about manifesting mental resilience, friends supporting community, the fact that you can evolve and grow your brain and change, the The best way to see it is you. You know an opportunity to grow and maybe do things you wouldn't have done if you had stayed on the path and nothing had changed. I think there's also an element where even if something happened in your past, it's like we're all human. We've had something happen, maybe even something where we're not proud of how we treated someone or some area where maybe we were wronged or not served the right way and a level of forgiveness for ourselves because we were doing the best we could.

We knew that I think that's a big part of manifesting in my own life. If I could talk about myself, under the circumstances, the situation and the Consciousness I had at that time, I did the best I could and safely with you. I know we call it in America we call it um uh armchair quarterbacking right, it's related to American football, so basically it's easy to say how the game should have gone, okay, yeah, the Tuesday after the big Monday Night Football game. Yes, yes, everyone can. look back at your past and say: I should have done this or why I did that or why I got into this relationship or why you know I should have this or that, whatever, but a sense of gratitude for the things that I didn't.

What's not going well in your life are also part of the things that make you who you are today and your potential right, that's right, there's that quote, just everything that I am didn't make me everything that I am and I think that When we enter into that power we can really harness it again. This is just me speaking from my own experience. We redouble our efforts on what we are best at and don't hyperfocus too much. I'm not. I want people to get better at anything they want. to get better, but I really feel like we will get further in life if we double and triple down on what we are better at and what we should do versus the little things that didn't go well or how we should have focused on it.

So neuroscience is completely backwards, so the whole idea of ​​leveraging your strengths and it's not that you don't work on your areas of development at all, but in terms of brain efficiency, leveraging your strengths is absolutely the best way to do it. Go ahead, this has been a fantastic podcast. Thank you so much. I'm glad our friend Dr. Rupee connected us and we had the opportunity to have this conversation. Simply thank you for having the courage to follow the creative path. Thank you if so. It wasn't for that, for people who look outside and think what are you talking about, you're a doctor and you're a researcher, you could have done whatever you wanted, but they might not know if they haven't grown up. in those family structures and systems that like everything, you take a bold leap when you start dabbling and go straight to the audience and that takes a lot of courage, so thank you for having the courage to spread your message that the world has. benefited, uh, I feel like there are a lot of really interesting projects coming in the future.

I heard about a TV show that maybe will be there, so I can't wait until one day you're ready to share about it, yeah. but in the meantime, about the projects you're willing to share about season two, the podcast is coming up. Can you remind our audience? What is the name of the podcast? The podcast is called reinvent yourself with Dr. Tara. There's going to be a bit of a break before the second season comes out because I'm absolutely determined that if it's called reinvention it can't just be a repeat of the first season, so there's going to be an incredible twist, um, yeah, we're still working on it. about exactly what it will look like and while they wait for the second season, of course, they can follow you on social media and they can also have the opportunity to get a copy of your book, which is now in 38 languages, yes, so choose your choose what whatever it is and have the opportunity to immerse yourself in it wherever else you want to send our audience.

I'm most active on Instagram, so that's where I tend to respond the most to people I'm with. Dr. Tara Swart and Twitter Tara. black, um and yeah, the books available on Amazon and all the bookstores are beautiful, all the links in the show, notes to everyone, Dr. Tara, thank you so much for coming on the podcast, thank you for making my mother-in-law's day and having the opportunity to meet you. You know, we also got to take a selfie with her, yeah, definitely, definitely, and again, thank you for being here. I really appreciate it. Thank you very much for inviting me.

I'm very glad we did it. Hello Youtube. If you enjoyed it. you just watched keep watching for more great content on how to improve your brain and your life just look at yourself how you are behaving are you showing up what is the impact of the way you speak and how you act on other people what is the impact on yourself what is driving that behavior