0
SPEAKER_00
 Once you understand that you can literally change your brain at any stage, any age, any mindset, it's life-changing, isn't it?
0
SPEAKER_01
And you do that through... Welcome to the School of Greatness.
0
SPEAKER_01
My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur.
0
SPEAKER_01
And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness.
0
SPEAKER_01
Thanks for spending some time with me today.
0
SPEAKER_01
Now let the class begin.
0
SPEAKER_02
 What is manifestation in your mind and how do you use neuroscience and neuroplasticity to manifest what we want?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so I mean it's so aligned to a lot of things that you speak about because at its most basic manifestation is setting a goal and achieving it, right?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yes.
0
SPEAKER_00
Or, you know, what I like to say is it's making
0
SPEAKER_00
 into reality and in the tangible world, your dreams and desires.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I'm not the kind of person that, you know, always said I'd like to live forever or, you know, live till I'm super old or whatever.
0
SPEAKER_00
 Once I discovered neuroplasticity, I thought, I wish I'd known about this when I was 18.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's literally life-changing.
0
SPEAKER_00
I think I was naturally manifesting from about the age of 18 anyway, but I didn't understand the science behind it.
0
SPEAKER_00
Once you understand that you can literally change your brain at any stage, any age, any mindset,
0
SPEAKER_00
 that's like, it's life changing, isn't it?
0
SPEAKER_00
And, and I feel that, you know, one of the things we were sort of chatting about earlier is that just because I'm a scientist and an MD, it doesn't mean that in my real life, it's easy for me to just channel neuroplasticity.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's still, it's still hard, you know, I've been through a divorce, I've been through grief, I've been through career change.
0
SPEAKER_00
 And those hard times taught me resilience and neuroplasticity, but the hard times were almost the opportunity.
0
SPEAKER_00
I didn't want to go through those things.
0
SPEAKER_00
I don't want our listeners to go through hard times.
0
SPEAKER_00
Pain.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, pain.
0
SPEAKER_00
 you can take that as an opportunity.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I think if you really understand neuroplasticity, then you can make the worst times in your life the start of the best time in your life.
0
SPEAKER_00
And that's what I love about neuroplasticity, that it's that ability to change, to grow, to regulate your emotions, if I know you're really into, and build resilience.
0
SPEAKER_00
I mean, an example of neuroplasticity that I would share with you, with our listeners, is gratitude lists.
0
SPEAKER_00
So for years, in my journaling,
0
SPEAKER_00
 I would write 10 things I'm grateful for every day.
0
SPEAKER_00
And they were always external things, friends, family, travel, financial freedom, whatever.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I literally just got bored of writing the same things.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I thought, OK, what else could I write?
0
SPEAKER_00
So I started writing things like my creativity, my vulnerability, my resilience, internal things.
0
SPEAKER_00
 And that was a real game changer.
0
SPEAKER_02
Really?
0
SPEAKER_02
What happened when you started doing that?
0
SPEAKER_00
It made me think that whatever life throws at me, I've got the tools and resources within me to deal with it.
0
SPEAKER_00
Um, and, and I didn't always have, you know, in my twenties, I wouldn't say I was very emotionally regulated.
0
SPEAKER_00
Um, but learning that whatever happens, the, the sort of the pendulum swing for your emotions,
0
SPEAKER_00
 The higher it goes, the lower it goes as well.
0
SPEAKER_00
And bringing that to like parameters that you're comfortable with is, that gives you sort of autonomy and agency in life.
0
SPEAKER_00
And again, that's the thing I love about neuroplasticity.
0
SPEAKER_02
I want to get back to manifestation in a moment, but you're talking about pain and grief and
0
SPEAKER_02
 career changes and health challenges that come up for people.
0
SPEAKER_02
If someone is going through a really hard time, pain, suffering, their health, relationships, breakups, death, anything, how can they use neuroplasticity to make it the greatest thing that ever happened to them, even if it's the most painful thing they've ever gone through?
0
SPEAKER_00
 That's, um, you know, it's such a hard thing to answer because obviously people go through pain and sometimes the end result isn't good.
0
SPEAKER_00
Um, but I think just doing what you can during the process.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I think visualization is really, really important.
0
SPEAKER_00
We, we know that that, you know, can actually cause cellular changes in your body.
0
SPEAKER_02
Really?
0
SPEAKER_02
 Visualization.
0
SPEAKER_02
So first, before you go further, I've heard you talk about manifestation, gratitude lists, and visualization.
0
SPEAKER_02
And you're starting to sound like the woo-woo self-help industry, not a MIT professor, medical doctor, scientist.
0
SPEAKER_02
But what I'm hearing you say is that there's real benefits scientifically to these things.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and I think when I wrote my book, The Source, which sort of married together science and spirituality,
0
SPEAKER_00
 there was a risk element to that.
0
SPEAKER_00
A little bit like when I left medicine and started coaching and speaking.
0
SPEAKER_00
I look back and I can genuinely say to you, Lewis, that the biggest risk in my life would have been not leaving medicine and changing my career.
0
SPEAKER_00
Not kind of merging the spirituality with the science.
0
SPEAKER_00
Those would have been the biggest risks, not doing those things.
0
SPEAKER_02
Staying only in the science and in the medicine.
0
SPEAKER_02
Why do you feel like you needed to merge both?
0
SPEAKER_00
 You mentioned that I'm sort of done with being defined by my job titles and qualifications.
0
SPEAKER_00
And that's a journey I've been on for quite a long time.
0
SPEAKER_00
I would say pre-pandemic, I had a conversation with someone at a dinner party where I said, you know, who am I if I'm not a doctor or a neuroscientist?
0
SPEAKER_00
And she said to me, because you're so much more.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I just burst into tears.
0
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
0
SPEAKER_00
 So that journey has been quite huge.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I would say that I'm on a journey of continual reinvention and that neuroplasticity underlies that.
0
SPEAKER_00
So the ability to be someone new, to be reborn, but all absolutely based on science.
0
SPEAKER_00
I know you were right to call me out and say it sounds a bit woo-woo.
0
SPEAKER_02
 I mean, what do your colleagues think about this when you speak about manifestation, gratitude, list, visualization, meditation, when they're like, well, that's just some like personal development, self-help talk, you know, where does the science prove and show evidence that these things are effective, in fact?
0
SPEAKER_00
 I mean, I think what I would like to say to you and have you reply to is that it's in the doing.
0
SPEAKER_00
So if I, you know, I've been doing what I call action boards, but they're like vision boards for like 15 years.
0
SPEAKER_02
You sound super woo-woo now.
0
SPEAKER_02
The dream boards, the vision boards, yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
I love this stuff.
0
SPEAKER_02
I mean, for me, this is stuff that I love.
0
SPEAKER_02
 But you're the head of MIT, you can't talk about those things, can you?
0
SPEAKER_00
And I think, actually, that's probably what my colleagues at MIT love about having me.
0
SPEAKER_00
I don't look like an MIT professor.
0
SPEAKER_00
I don't dress like an MIT professor.
0
SPEAKER_00
I'm not afraid to speak about those things.
0
SPEAKER_00
If you challenge me, I can always give you the science.
0
SPEAKER_00
 One of the things that the vice dean, I'll probably get his job title wrong, but he's a very good friend of mine, said to me after a few years was, oh yeah, the brain-body connection really is a thing, isn't it?
0
SPEAKER_00
And I just find that so frustrating because it so obviously is a thing.
0
SPEAKER_00
And there's still this perception that there's a cutoff at the neck, that what goes on psychologically isn't related to your physiology.
0
SPEAKER_00
 And another neuromyth is that emotions are bad.
0
SPEAKER_00
You know, you shouldn't have emotions at work.
0
SPEAKER_00
Sure, dysregulated emotions are not good, but emotions are good.
0
SPEAKER_00
We need them to survive.
0
SPEAKER_02
And being able to express them in a healthy way, you know.
0
SPEAKER_02
The full range of emotions.
0
SPEAKER_00
To have them, to understand what they are, to feel them, to be able to name them.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, they're signals.
0
SPEAKER_02
They give you information.
0
SPEAKER_00
 But you know, another thing it gives you information is, is your gut.
0
SPEAKER_00
And that connection between the gut and the brain is, we've known about it for a while, you know, sort of, there's a big neural connection between your gut and the limbic part of your brain, which is the emotional part of your brain.
0
SPEAKER_00
But it's actually bi-directional.
0
SPEAKER_00
So if you're stressed, that has an impact on your gut.
0
SPEAKER_00
And you know, if you're, if you are malnourished or you eat processed food or you drink alcohol,
0
SPEAKER_00
 you take antibiotics, then the impact that that has on your gut then affects your brain.
0
SPEAKER_00
And it's not just through nerves, it's through chemical messaging, it's through hormones, it's through other nerves and the sort of, you know, the ones that we classically know connect the gut and the brain.
0
SPEAKER_00
So
0
SPEAKER_00
 That comes back to what I was saying about visualization having an impact on yourselves.
0
SPEAKER_00
And your gut bacteria are very integral to all the cells in the rest of your body.
0
SPEAKER_00
So your immune system is connected to your gut and then that's connected to your mental state.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's connected to your brain, it's connected to your skin.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I like to speak in normal words,
0
SPEAKER_00
 But that is psycho, neuro, immuno, endocrinology.
0
SPEAKER_02
There you go.
0
SPEAKER_02
So do you call it vision boards or do you call it something else?
0
SPEAKER_00
I call them action boards.
0
SPEAKER_02
Action boards, okay.
0
SPEAKER_00
Because I do not believe that you can create a fantasy of what you want your life to look like.
0
SPEAKER_02
Without action.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
I agree.
0
SPEAKER_02
So what is the... Okay, can you break down the science for me a little bit on
0
SPEAKER_02
 Visualization and action boards.
0
SPEAKER_02
How did these scientifically support, you know, what's the evidence behind how they actually work?
0
SPEAKER_02
With connecting the brain to getting the results you want in life.
0
SPEAKER_00
So, you know, having been a professional sports person, you'll understand about mental rehearsal.
0
SPEAKER_02
Absolutely.
0
SPEAKER_00
And biofeedback, which is listening to messages from your body, which we sort of touched on with the gut brain connection.
0
SPEAKER_00
So if your brain has seen something,
0
SPEAKER_00
 or experienced it through mental rehearsal, then when it comes across something similar in real life, it's less threatening.
0
SPEAKER_00
So uncertainty is the most threatening thing to your brain.
0
SPEAKER_00
Anything new is a huge threat to your brain, which is kind of counter to neuroplasticity, right?
0
SPEAKER_00
Because with neuroplasticity, I make myself do something new every year.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I've learned several languages.
0
SPEAKER_00
Really?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
How many languages do you know now?
0
SPEAKER_00
 I've learned five in my life.
0
SPEAKER_00
I'm not gonna pretend I'm fluent.
0
SPEAKER_02
Are you fluent in any?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so I was very lucky.
0
SPEAKER_00
I was brought up bilingual in English and in Indian language.
0
SPEAKER_00
And then from the age of nine, I learned French at school.
0
SPEAKER_00
And then as an adult, I learned three other languages at different times.
0
SPEAKER_00
Probably not so good at those ones.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so during the pandemic,
0
SPEAKER_00
 I actually made a statement in the beginning, which was, don't necessarily put pressure on yourself to start a new career or learn a language.
0
SPEAKER_00
Then it went on for longer than we all thought it would.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I was actually on an Instagram Live saying that I'd always wanted to learn the piano.
0
SPEAKER_00
 And somebody sent me a DM and said, Dr. Tara, you can use the Floki app to teach yourself piano.
0
SPEAKER_02
Floki, huh?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's a really, really cool app.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I'd been gifted a piano keyboard for Christmas by my husband.
0
SPEAKER_00
I am ashamed to say a year or two earlier and never used it.
0
SPEAKER_00
So in the pandemic, I did.
0
SPEAKER_00
I did use the Floki app and teach myself.
0
SPEAKER_02
Now you know how to play piano?
0
SPEAKER_02
 More than Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, exactly.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
And my husband gave me tennis lessons.
0
SPEAKER_00
And then I thought, okay, if I can learn piano, and I can learn tennis, and I can see how much I improve, and I can see the muscle memory from when I played tennis from when I was at high school, can I apply that to looking at life through a happier lens?
0
SPEAKER_00
 So it's a natural default for all of us to, you know, loss aversion is one of the biggest gearings of the brain, and it's essential to survival.
0
SPEAKER_02
Loss aversion.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so avoiding loss.
0
SPEAKER_00
And uncertainty, like I said, we don't like that.
0
SPEAKER_00
So we like things to be safe, we like them to be the same, you know, we like to know what's gonna happen.
0
SPEAKER_00
And equally, the brain wants to look out for danger to protect us.
0
SPEAKER_00
 And during the pandemic, I'd been speaking for a few years about having a sabbatical.
0
SPEAKER_00
And a few people said to me, oh, now you can have a sabbatical.
0
SPEAKER_00
 And I said, you know, I'm locked up at home.
0
SPEAKER_00
I can't travel.
0
SPEAKER_00
I can't see my friends.
0
SPEAKER_00
I can't hug my stepson.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's not a sabbatical.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's not the sabbatical I dreamed of.
0
SPEAKER_00
And also the mental health requirements were so vast that I felt I had to do my piece and really, you know, speak to that through Instagram, through Zoom.
0
SPEAKER_00
 and try to help people.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I was actually busier with work than ever before.
0
SPEAKER_00
But I did start, you know, I saw a lot of relationship breakups.
0
SPEAKER_00
I saw a lot of people get sick.
0
SPEAKER_00
You know, a lot of people that I personally knew died during the pandemic.
0
SPEAKER_00
And it was easy to start to feel like, to focus on things like, you can't see people, you can't travel.
0
SPEAKER_00
 And I didn't, I didn't want to see myself go down that road.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I actually, I got a coach, you know, I believe in having therapy, having coaching, having supervision.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I worked on, on that.
0
SPEAKER_00
And she actually said to me, why can't you apply neuroplasticity to being happier?
0
SPEAKER_00
And because it's intangible, it's,
0
SPEAKER_00
 You can make a vision board with a house and a dream holiday and vacation and all that kind of thing.
0
SPEAKER_02
For the material world.
0
SPEAKER_00
Exactly.
0
SPEAKER_02
But how do you create one for the emotional world?
0
SPEAKER_00
 I think there are, and that's why imagery is important because it can evoke a feeling, but I remember the moment I was standing sort of at the door to my garden and a really small nice thing had happened and I thought, isn't that lovely?
0
SPEAKER_00
And I actually checked myself and I thought, I notice when something goes wrong all the time.
0
SPEAKER_00
 I don't always acknowledge when something goes right or is really good and happy.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so I could tell that I had changed, that I was noticing those things.
0
SPEAKER_02
You didn't notice that before.
0
SPEAKER_00
 I mean, I'm sure I did sometimes with like big things, but it wasn't... Not a little small, just like, oh, this is a cool little moment.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
Or a beautiful flower or, you know, somebody sent me a lovely message or I just feel happy today.
0
SPEAKER_02
You weren't aware.
0
SPEAKER_00
Not as much.
0
SPEAKER_02
Interesting.
0
SPEAKER_02
Until when?
0
SPEAKER_02
Recently?
0
SPEAKER_02
A couple of years ago?
0
SPEAKER_00
I would say during the pandemic.
0
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, what happened to me during that time is I also naturally learned and then read the research, which I always do, that it's a thing.
0
SPEAKER_00
 Prior to that, I was living my life, you know, 23 and a half hours a day and doing mindfulness for like half an hour a day or whatever.
0
SPEAKER_00
And in the pandemic, those things merged and they would never separate.
0
SPEAKER_00
I stopped doing meditation formally.
0
SPEAKER_00
 I lived mindfully all day.
0
SPEAKER_00
You know, I cooked mindfully because of my Indian culture, I always ate mindfully.
0
SPEAKER_00
But it kind of really leaked into the rest of my day.
0
SPEAKER_00
I remember because I used to work from the kitchen,
0
SPEAKER_00
 And I had to move in the end.
0
SPEAKER_00
But if you're sitting at your kitchen table, your family don't think you're working, even if you're on your laptop.
0
SPEAKER_00
So, you know, I'd be in the middle of an email and my husband would come up and start talking to me.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I sort of think like, you know, I was just focusing on this and you don't think I'm working because I'm sitting in the kitchen.
0
SPEAKER_00
And then I was like, well, actually, what's more important, this email or giving my husband my full attention?
0
SPEAKER_00
And so, you know, I sort of thought, OK, the email can wait.
0
SPEAKER_00
I'll put it down.
0
SPEAKER_00
 I'll turn to him, I'll give him full eye contact, and I'll be really, really, genuinely, fully interested in whatever he's got to say.
0
SPEAKER_02
That's beautiful.
0
SPEAKER_02
And that was in the last couple of years.
0
SPEAKER_02
So the mental rehearsal, I learned a lot.
0
SPEAKER_02
I learned this in high school and in college.
0
SPEAKER_02
I used to practice as an athlete.
0
SPEAKER_02
I would rehearse, okay, the game coming up this weekend, the game coming up tomorrow, and I would be
0
SPEAKER_02
 And I remember when I was learning the decathlon, when I was a senior in college, I decided to do the decathlon, which is 10 events.
0
SPEAKER_02
So I had to learn a lot of new events quickly.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I was an athlete, so I could pick things up, but there was very technical things.
0
SPEAKER_02
With pole vault, it's extremely challenging.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I remember watching this highlight video of the top pole vault athletes in the world at the time.
0
SPEAKER_02
This was back in 2005.
0
SPEAKER_02
 And I would watch this tape on repeat like an hour before I go to sleep every night and imagine myself and then actually practicing it in bed as I'd watch it.
0
SPEAKER_02
Myself doing the move like putting the pole in, going upside down, inverting and flipping over as they were doing it.
0
SPEAKER_02
I would try to visually mentally rehearse myself being that person going over the bar, going over the bar with this technique.
0
SPEAKER_02
 And then the next day I would go practice what I was rehearsing in my mind the night before.
0
SPEAKER_02
And I saw incredible results from the mental rehearsal because it just allowed me to get familiar with what was unfamiliar at the time in my mind like you talked about.
0
SPEAKER_02
And that's something I've implemented in the business world and in life is using that
0
SPEAKER_02
 But what does the research show on why this is so powerful?
0
SPEAKER_02
Beyond what I've seen personally from my own results, why is mental rehearsal powerful in attracting what you want?
0
SPEAKER_00
So, the first thing I'd like to say is that I really admire that dedication of doing it for an hour a day.
0
SPEAKER_00
Every night I would do this.
0
SPEAKER_00
You know, that's the difference between people who say, I want to get X or do X, but they won't spend an hour a day doing it.
0
SPEAKER_02
 That was just an hour a day rehearsing it.
0
SPEAKER_00
I know.
0
SPEAKER_02
I wasn't actually practicing.
0
SPEAKER_00
Implementing it.
0
SPEAKER_02
And then I'd get up at 6am and train for a few hours.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I think, you know, it's really important to say that I was on an Instagram live with a friend who, you know, owns a huge shoe empire and said that
0
SPEAKER_00
 At some point on her vision board, she wanted a house in the Hamptons.
0
SPEAKER_00
And there were so many comments that came up saying, yeah, I'd like a house in the Hamptons.
0
SPEAKER_00
But the thing is, you've got to put in the work and the money to get the house in the Hamptons.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's not, you know, sort of, it doesn't come.
0
SPEAKER_00
So basically, believing that something's possible or having had an experience of doing that thing or even imagining that thing makes it more possible in your brain.
0
SPEAKER_00
So there are amazing studies.
0
SPEAKER_00
 I literally don't know where to start.
0
SPEAKER_00
I think I'll probably start with the most exciting one, which is that if you do weightlifting and you separate people into two groups, so the group that actually lift weights, and the research study was on finger weights and elbow weights.
0
SPEAKER_00
 I won't get the percentages exactly right, but with two weeks of doing these weights, there was like a 30 to 40% increase in muscle mass with the finger or the elbow.
0
SPEAKER_00
But there was a group of people who only imagined lifting weights.
0
SPEAKER_02
Come on, what happened?
0
SPEAKER_00
 about a 15% increase in muscle mass.
0
SPEAKER_02
No way.
0
SPEAKER_02
They imagined that they were lifting.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yes.
0
SPEAKER_02
Were they actually like squeezing their muscles?
0
SPEAKER_02
They just thought they were lifting.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
Without moving.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
And their muscles grew.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_02
Come on.
0
SPEAKER_02
Really?
0
SPEAKER_02
That's crazy.
0
SPEAKER_00
That research study is quoted in my online program at MIT Sloan.
0
SPEAKER_02
Wow.
0
SPEAKER_00
 So I can't like recall it the actual name of the study but we can find out and put it in the show notes.
0
SPEAKER_02
There was another one that something similar where they had people
0
SPEAKER_02
 I can't remember exactly the layout of the study, but they had two different types of groups of people.
0
SPEAKER_02
One group practiced free throws, like 100 shots a day or something like this, trying to improve their percentage, their free throw percentage.
0
SPEAKER_02
And then they had others just imagine that they were making it.
0
SPEAKER_02
 And something crazy like the ones that just imagined that they made the perfect shot every time had like the same amount of improvement or more or something like that where they were mentally rehearsing in their mind, not actually physically doing it, and they had some crazy result similar to that.
0
SPEAKER_02
But it's fascinating.
0
SPEAKER_02
But when you can couple both of them, if you're lifting, I can imagine,
0
SPEAKER_02
 And you're imagining and putting the intention so strongly into, okay, I'm lifting this weight, my muscles are getting stronger, they're getting bigger, and you're putting the emphasis as opposed to just going through the motions.
0
SPEAKER_02
It probably has an even more powerful effect as well.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so you're absolutely right.
0
SPEAKER_00
That was a really great point to raise, which is the sort of the intentionality of what you do.
0
SPEAKER_00
 The same thing, like, okay, so intermittent fasting is a great example.
0
SPEAKER_00
There's a huge difference between people who say, oh, I forget to eat breakfast, and people who eat like me, which is only between 12 noon and 8 p.m.
0
SPEAKER_00
every day, because of the intention.
0
SPEAKER_00
It actually has a different effect on your body.
0
SPEAKER_02
 So it's like your body's like burning more because you're intentionally doing that or you're losing more weight or something?
0
SPEAKER_00
I won't go so far as to say it's burning more or you're losing more weight but there's, so again in neuroscience there's a difference between intentional mind-wandering
0
SPEAKER_00
 and just slipping off into daydreaming.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so if you slip off into daydreaming, that means your attention isn't the best.
0
SPEAKER_00
And it's actually kind of a bad sign in terms of your focus and your concentration.
0
SPEAKER_00
But if you intentionally let your mind wander, then actually that leads to more creative thinking.
0
SPEAKER_02
 I call that strategic messing around.
0
SPEAKER_02
You're strategically not working on something and you're just kind of daydreaming, you're thinking, you're being playful in your mind about possibilities.
0
SPEAKER_02
And great things usually tend to happen in that time when you give yourself space for that.
0
SPEAKER_02
As opposed to, I'm just going to scroll on Instagram or just mindlessly do some activity.
0
SPEAKER_00
Or even do an activity
0
SPEAKER_00
 and try to do too much, like multitask.
0
SPEAKER_00
So for example, a lot of people when they go for a walk will listen to a podcast.
0
SPEAKER_00
 Because of the science, I try to never multitask.
0
SPEAKER_00
So if I'm listening to your podcast, which obviously I do all the time, then that's all I'm doing.
0
SPEAKER_00
If I'm going for a walk, I'm not listening to a podcast at the same time, no.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I also do doing nothing.
0
SPEAKER_00
And that is not going for a walk or listening to a podcast or scrolling on Instagram, it's actually doing nothing.
0
SPEAKER_02
Sitting, not turn the TV on, it's sitting and doing nothing.
0
SPEAKER_02
What does that do for you?
0
SPEAKER_00
 So it can be partly mind-wandering, you know, leading to that creative, sort of more creative thinking.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's being, Lewis, and like, we're not doing that.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I think, you know, the thing that- Not doing being.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
And during the pandemic, but also since, and I think there's such a unknown, huge consequence of what we've all been through mentally, that I just, I see people
0
SPEAKER_00
 they don't like themselves.
0
SPEAKER_00
They don't like what they're doing.
0
SPEAKER_00
They maybe even don't like their partner and they don't think that they can change.
0
SPEAKER_00
And that's why I'm so passionate about neuroplasticity and mind over matter.
0
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, when I was telling you about the weightlifting and then you went into your story, I was just looking at you and smiling and thinking, can you see now why I'm so obsessed with neuroplasticity?
0
SPEAKER_00
You know, like it's,
0
SPEAKER_00
 I know that those people can change.
0
SPEAKER_00
I've done it myself.
0
SPEAKER_00
I haven't just done the research or read the research or taught about it.
0
SPEAKER_00
I've done it many, many times in my life.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so I know that people can do it.
0
SPEAKER_00
And that's what I really want people to hear.
0
SPEAKER_00
And you talk about greatness.
0
SPEAKER_00
I don't think people understand how great they are.
0
SPEAKER_00
And neuroplasticity basically
0
SPEAKER_00
 tells you that you're amazing, your brain is amazing, what it can do, you are not doing a tiny percentage of what your brain can do.
0
SPEAKER_00
I've got so many other stories I want to loop back.
0
SPEAKER_00
So a group of people in their 80s, so there was one group that just lived their life like normal, they were the control group.
0
SPEAKER_00
 There was one group that were moved to retrofitted homes that looked like their homes did 20 years ago, so when they were in their 60s.
0
SPEAKER_00
They had photographs of themselves when they were 60 in the house.
0
SPEAKER_00
They read newspapers from 20 years ago.
0
SPEAKER_00
And so by the end of one week, you're not like, you're literally, I can't wait to hear like how you react to this.
0
SPEAKER_00
They were taller.
0
SPEAKER_00
Come on, no way.
0
SPEAKER_00
They had better musculoskeletal coordination.
0
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
0
SPEAKER_00
 They...
0
SPEAKER_00
 In before and after photos that were shown to people that didn't know them, they were rated as younger in the after photos.
0
SPEAKER_00
So the tallness is to do with posture rather than, yeah, actually like growing taller, but just like the way that you hold yourself because you believe that you're younger.
0
SPEAKER_00
And there was a third group that were the reminiscing group.
0
SPEAKER_00
So they didn't live in retrofitted homes.
0
SPEAKER_02
They stayed in the same home.
0
SPEAKER_00
They stayed in the same home, but they thought about being 20 years younger and they also got improvements, not as much.
0
SPEAKER_02
 I believe it.
0
SPEAKER_02
You know, there's my mom, she... I'm going to butcher this.
0
SPEAKER_02
Birthdays were never a thing of mine, so I've never really paid attention to age.
0
SPEAKER_02
She just turned 70.
0
SPEAKER_02
I can't remember if it was a year ago or two years ago, but I think it was two years ago.
0
SPEAKER_00
With the pandemic, we've all lost the sense of time.
0
SPEAKER_02
I think it was two years ago.
0
SPEAKER_02
 My mom and I were like why don't you say every year moving forward that you're a year back now.
0
SPEAKER_02
So this year she's 68 I think.
0
SPEAKER_02
She's saying she's 68 and this year she's saying she's 67 and there's probably some psychological, emotional and you know
0
SPEAKER_02
 neuroplastic connection to it as well.
0
SPEAKER_02
Just like saying, no, I am younger and just believing it, living it, stepping into that as opposed to, oh, I'm getting a year older and older.
0
SPEAKER_02
There's probably something to that.
0
SPEAKER_02
Based on this research study, it sounds like there is.
0
SPEAKER_00
 And you know, I do it too.
0
SPEAKER_00
So I'm not going to tell you how old I am, but it's like getting, it's getting serious.
0
SPEAKER_00
But from when I was 30, I started a reverse aging diet.
0
SPEAKER_00
And it's not really a diet.
0
SPEAKER_00
It's just a way of life.
0
SPEAKER_00
So, you know, it's just, it's basically healthy eating and I don't eat smoked food.
0
SPEAKER_00
I stopped eating smoked salmon.
0
SPEAKER_00
Luckily sushi exists, so I can tell you.
0
SPEAKER_00
 And yeah, I just, I sort of don't think about the number that my age is at all.
0
SPEAKER_00
And if I did tell you how old I was, then I think you would be surprised.
0
SPEAKER_00
You look very young.
0
SPEAKER_00
Thank you.
0
SPEAKER_02
You look like you're 30 something.
0
SPEAKER_02
You're 30 still.
0
SPEAKER_02
Thank you.
0
SPEAKER_02
You're awesome.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you're definitely
1
SPEAKER_02
 I saw this video clip of Jamie Foxx recently online where someone was interviewing him and they were like, it doesn't look like you've aged in 20 years.
1
SPEAKER_02
He was like, I'm looking at photos of you from this movie 20 years ago.
1
SPEAKER_02
You look almost the same.
1
SPEAKER_02
How do you do it?
1
SPEAKER_02
 And his response was something about being in this industry where I'm in this imagination world, this playful, make-believe, get out of myself and step into different characters.
1
SPEAKER_02
He's like we're constantly playing.
1
SPEAKER_02
You're playing constantly.
1
SPEAKER_02
You get to be silly and goofy and try new things.
1
SPEAKER_02
And he goes I think that's part of it.
1
SPEAKER_02
I feel like I've never gotten older because I'm always acting young.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And you know what I think?
1
SPEAKER_00
I think what you do leaks into the rest of your life and has a huge impact on you.
1
SPEAKER_00
I interviewed Professor Amishi Jha for my online course.
1
SPEAKER_00
She's awesome.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
Peak mind?
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, peak mind.
1
SPEAKER_00
She's great.
1
SPEAKER_00
I love her research on the US Marines and mindfulness.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so I'd followed that research for a long time.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I reached out to her, I think, just through LinkedIn, or I found her academic email address.
1
SPEAKER_00
 she started replying and like sending me hearts and I love hearts and flowers so um I was like wow I'm like so grateful that she wants to be like on my program and she was sort of saying the same to me like of course I would want to be on your program I love your research too.
1
SPEAKER_00
When I interviewed her the way that she was so um
1
SPEAKER_00
 The attention that she gave me when I spoke with her and then the way that she flipped into recording mode when I asked her a question, I just looked at her and I thought, if that is what decades of research on attention gives you, I would like a piece of that.
1
SPEAKER_00
But I would say my version of the answer to Jamie Foxx is what I say to people,
1
SPEAKER_00
 Who say, you know, how?
1
SPEAKER_00
How do you stay?
1
SPEAKER_00
Young, how do you stay looking young?
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, they want to like do that I say do all the things that I speak about sleep eat Hydrate oxygenate, you know, but don't stress about it because it's the stress that will kill you and age you in the end Really?
1
SPEAKER_00
Yes about what specifically anything aging life, you know just being stressed because being stressed so a big area of research for me is mental resilience and
1
SPEAKER_00
 being stressed is pro-inflammatory in your system.
1
SPEAKER_00
And if you've got inflammation, it's aging, it makes you sick, it's bad for your gut, it's bad for your brain.
1
SPEAKER_00
So basically living an anti-inflammatory kind of lifestyle is important.
1
SPEAKER_02
And stress causes inflammation.
1
SPEAKER_02
Is that right?
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
And what we saw during the pandemic was because it was chronic stress on a scale that
1
SPEAKER_00
 pretty much no one that's alive now has been through before.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's similar to the world wars in terms of the stress, the impact that it had on people.
1
SPEAKER_00
And we're quite good at dealing with acute stress.
1
SPEAKER_00
We were wired to deal with running away from a saber-toothed tiger.
1
SPEAKER_00
But this chronic stress, it was pro-inflammatory and it made our systems really dry.
1
SPEAKER_00
 So people had frizzy hair, they had skin problems.
1
SPEAKER_00
What was super interesting to me as well in terms of neural wiring is that the wiring that's placed into your brain from childhood is obviously the deepest and the strongest.
1
SPEAKER_00
We're often unconscious of it because it's been there for so long.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And there's research called Ghosts in the Executive Suite or Ghosts in Family Systems that looks at things like values, roles that you play, boundaries, secrets in the family, expectations, who you identify with.
1
SPEAKER_00
And boundary issues became a really big thing during the pandemic.
1
SPEAKER_02
 People don't have boundaries.
1
SPEAKER_00
Well, we were restricted.
1
SPEAKER_00
We were told not to go outside, not to mingle with people.
1
SPEAKER_02
They had certain boundaries, but then... They also didn't.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
Then you didn't have privacy in your own home, I guess, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
Exactly.
1
SPEAKER_02
Your own space.
1
SPEAKER_00
And your skin is... It's the physical boundary of your body, obviously, but it's also psychologically very related to boundary transgressions.
1
SPEAKER_02
Interesting.
1
SPEAKER_02
Oh, my gosh.
1
SPEAKER_02
It's so fascinating you're saying this because
1
SPEAKER_02
 About two years ago, I was in a different relationship and I started to get this like kind of skin rash right here, like a little bit, like a little patch of like this redness right here.
1
SPEAKER_02
And then I started to also get it right below my belly button, like this kind of like red rash.
1
SPEAKER_02
And I'm thinking like, is something wrong with me?
1
SPEAKER_02
Do I have some like disease or something?
1
SPEAKER_02
And after I ended this relationship, literally that week, it went away.
1
SPEAKER_02
So I was in this relationship that was a challenge for me.
1
SPEAKER_02
And a lot of it was,
1
SPEAKER_02
 Based on my values, I was abandoning myself and my boundaries were being crossed almost daily.
1
SPEAKER_02
And I kept giving in to try to create a peaceful relationship, but then me giving in to myself was crossing my own boundaries, was abandoning my values, right?
1
SPEAKER_02
To make someone happy.
1
SPEAKER_02
 And I started to do a lot of healing and therapy during and after this.
1
SPEAKER_02
And I was like, man, this is going away.
1
SPEAKER_02
And she was like, well, you're reclaiming yourself.
1
SPEAKER_02
You're creating your boundaries again.
1
SPEAKER_02
And you're not letting someone walk over your boundaries.
1
SPEAKER_02
And you're not abandoning yourself.
1
SPEAKER_02
 So it was like my skin, because I did all the tests.
1
SPEAKER_02
I did like every allergy test, no allergies, no nothing.
1
SPEAKER_02
I go, what is this like little rash thing?
1
SPEAKER_02
I go, what's going on?
1
SPEAKER_02
You know, I cut out foods, I was like sleeping the right amount, all these things, but it was like the skin still had this irritation.
1
SPEAKER_02
I don't wear creams, I don't have anything.
1
SPEAKER_02
I changed the shampoos, all that stuff.
1
SPEAKER_02
And it was my internal psyche, emotions that was screaming at me.
1
SPEAKER_02
It was literally like screaming stress and inflammation.
1
SPEAKER_02
 And it was fascinating to see it go into, I guess, remission or just leave my body as I started to create more peace inside of myself.
1
SPEAKER_02
It's fascinating.
1
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, just going back to what you said about as a scientist, as a professor at MIT, how do people view the fact that, you know, you talk about spirituality, I talk about spirituality.
1
SPEAKER_00
The thing about that is if I was your coach and
1
SPEAKER_00
 I would have known that was psychological straight away.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so looking at a person holistically is important.
1
SPEAKER_00
And that's why I'm very lucky that I have the privilege of having a PhD in neuroscience and an MD from Oxford that I can say those things.
1
SPEAKER_02
Because you studied medicine, you studied the body, you studied all these different things.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And there's loads of people out there saying great things, but they can be slammed down as woo-woo really easily.
1
SPEAKER_00
But it's harder to do that to me, obviously.
1
SPEAKER_02
Because you know the science, too.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I know the science, and I've implemented it in my life.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I have so many stories of people that I know, that I've worked with, that I could share with you, who've
1
SPEAKER_00
 changed career, changed relationship, changed where they live, you know, made the things that they want to happen in their life come true.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so I'm going to go back to another.
1
SPEAKER_00
Give it to me.
1
SPEAKER_00
You'll know this story probably, but you know, Roger Bannister was the first person that ran a mile in under eight minutes.
1
SPEAKER_02
Four minutes.
1
SPEAKER_02
Four minute mile.
1
SPEAKER_00
Please edit that.
1
SPEAKER_00
Four minute mile.
1
SPEAKER_00
 Once he did it, several people then did it in the next few months, just because they knew it was possible, because we thought it was impossible before that, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
And so what I sort of say to people is, if you are embarking on something new, think about your own past successes.
1
SPEAKER_00
The chances are you've done something similar before.
1
SPEAKER_00
So then you can tell your brain, okay, I am afraid of this, or I am
1
SPEAKER_00
 you know, not sure that I can do this, but I've done it before.
1
SPEAKER_00
If you haven't yourself done whatever it is that you want to do, find somebody preferably like you or just somebody that has done that thing before and tell your brain that it's possible.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And then there's two other layers, the science behind, you know, sort of that maximizes that, I would say.
1
SPEAKER_00
And one is your negative self-talk.
1
SPEAKER_00
So, you know, the inevitable voice in your head that might say, who do you think you are?
1
SPEAKER_00
Do you really think you can do that?
1
SPEAKER_00
You can't do that.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, that's for other people.
1
SPEAKER_00
That's not for you.
1
SPEAKER_02
What happens to the body and the brain when you put those thoughts inside and you say those things to yourself?
1
SPEAKER_00
 It's basically your brain's protective mechanism.
1
SPEAKER_00
Your brain wants you to survive until you reproduce.
1
SPEAKER_00
It doesn't care about anything else.
1
SPEAKER_00
Your brain isn't here to make you thrive.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's literally here for you to pass your genes on.
1
SPEAKER_00
And in cave times,
1
SPEAKER_00
 that helped us to survive as a species.
1
SPEAKER_00
In modern times, it's no longer helpful.
1
SPEAKER_00
And that's why we talk about positive affirmations.
1
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, you might again say that sounds woo-woo, but in Buddhism, they say replace any negative thought immediately with a positive thought.
1
SPEAKER_00
And the neuroplasticity says the same thing because neuroplasticity
1
SPEAKER_00
 is amazing, but it can be bad.
1
SPEAKER_00
If you have a breakup and you obsess about the person, you're wiring that deeply into your brain.
1
SPEAKER_00
So you have to direct your neuroplasticity.
1
SPEAKER_00
And if you do get that voice in your head, which is normal for all of us,
1
SPEAKER_00
 you need to override that with a positive statement.
1
SPEAKER_00
An affirmation, a positive statement.
1
SPEAKER_00
We could do this together.
1
SPEAKER_00
If you have a recurring doubt or negative thought, then
1
SPEAKER_00
 Go one step below that and ask yourself what the belief is that's driving that thought.
1
SPEAKER_00
What do you believe about yourself?
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, you've mentioned today, and I've heard you speak about this before, about being abandoned.
1
SPEAKER_00
And that usually relates to deserving love.
1
SPEAKER_00
So you could create a positive statement that is the opposite of the belief that drives that negative thought and keep saying that to yourself until
1
SPEAKER_00
 the road in your brain for that belief becomes stronger than the one that's been wired in since you were a kid.
1
SPEAKER_02
What if someone's like, okay, I can say this, but I don't believe it because it hasn't happened yet.
1
SPEAKER_02
And essentially I'm lying to myself.
1
SPEAKER_02
Like, you know, so how does someone
1
SPEAKER_02
 believe it, even though it hasn't happened yet.
1
SPEAKER_00
So I don't love the statement fake it till you make it.
1
SPEAKER_02
I don't like it either.
1
SPEAKER_00
But I will put a... I like face it till you make it.
1
SPEAKER_00
I like that too.
1
SPEAKER_00
I would say believe it until you are it.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, that's kind of what neuroplasticity would say.
1
SPEAKER_00
So with neuroplasticity,
1
SPEAKER_00
 It's psychological work, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
But it's actually not.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's actually physiological work.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so I work with a lot of guys in financial services who, you know, emotional intelligence is a big thing that we need to work on.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I've had, you know, these people who are very, very successful.
1
SPEAKER_00
 genuinely be so frustrated.
1
SPEAKER_00
I don't understand, like, what am I supposed to do?
1
SPEAKER_00
People say I'm not nice to them, you know.
1
SPEAKER_00
What am I actually supposed to do?
1
SPEAKER_00
So this is what I say to them.
1
SPEAKER_00
Imagine a field of grass.
1
SPEAKER_00
And on day one, you walk through the field and the grass is high and you're sort of flattening as you walk.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then you walk there every day until you've trodden a little path into the grass.
1
SPEAKER_00
 and then you keep walking there until it becomes like a muddy path.
1
SPEAKER_00
Then you might lay some paving stones.
1
SPEAKER_00
 and then you build a proper path.
1
SPEAKER_00
That's what you're doing in your brain when you change any behavior.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I remember when I learned Danish, which was super hard.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I, you know, I've mentioned to you that I prefer to eat healthily, but I was literally taking like a can of Coke or like a bag of Maltesers to the Danish lessons.
1
SPEAKER_00
And it was 90 minutes and by about an hour, I would feel so tired and so hungry.
1
SPEAKER_02
Exhausting, isn't it?
1
SPEAKER_00
Exhausting, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
 I'm learning Spanish right now, and I'm trying to change my language around it, being exhausting and being hard, because I think the more I say that, it's gonna continue to reinforce that it's exhausting and challenging.
1
SPEAKER_02
So I've been trying the last few months to say, you know what, this is a fun experience, this is an experiment, it's challenging, but it's a good challenge, and I'm learning every time, it's hard for me, and it's trying to add a positive reinforcement as opposed to,
1
SPEAKER_02
 Man, this is hard because it has been challenging up until now to learn Spanish fluently.
1
SPEAKER_02
And I also think I have this huge expectation, like I'm going to be able to speak like a native, you know, Mexican speaker.
1
SPEAKER_02
And I think sometimes we forget how far we've come, you know.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, acknowledging that is so important.
1
SPEAKER_00
Can I give you a bit of inspiration?
1
SPEAKER_02
Give it to me.
1
SPEAKER_00
So I did eight weeks of lessons.
1
SPEAKER_00
 I then went to Denmark for some holidays and I came back and had a lesson and at some point she said, okay great, you know, we're done for now, see you next week and I was like, was that 90 minutes?
1
SPEAKER_00
 And so basically the 90 minutes had got, I hadn't got hungry, I hadn't got tired, I'd got through the lesson and I realized I've gone past that tipping point of neuroplasticity.
1
SPEAKER_00
You're at the point where you're digging for gold and you'd like to give up.
1
SPEAKER_00
And you just have to get past that point.
1
SPEAKER_02
I know, it's like I've been there for like a year.
1
SPEAKER_00
 But if you think about, I'm genuinely sure this will help you going forward, and please let me know if it does, if you think about it like building that pathway, building that brick wall, then
1
SPEAKER_00
 You sort of acknowledging that it's physical work sometimes takes away that frustration that you think you should just be getting it and you're not.
1
SPEAKER_00
Because I don't think you would blame yourself in the same way if it was like a sport.
1
SPEAKER_02
No.
1
SPEAKER_00
Exactly.
1
SPEAKER_02
Right.
1
SPEAKER_02
But it's like a physical workout.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
 Why does it seem like a physical workout when you're just thinking something and speaking and listening?
1
SPEAKER_00
Because it is physical work.
1
SPEAKER_00
You're building a pathway in your brain.
1
SPEAKER_00
You're not just thinking.
1
SPEAKER_00
Thinking doesn't happen without neuronal connections.
1
SPEAKER_00
So you're connecting neurons through synapses, you're myelinating pathways, you know all this stuff.
1
SPEAKER_02
And what does that do to the body when you're doing that to the brain?
1
SPEAKER_00
It's the same as doing a workout.
1
SPEAKER_00
It's using up glucose, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
 Fascinating which makes you hungry or tired or whatever might be and frustrated at points as well.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know because because Once you've made enough
1
SPEAKER_00
 synapses and connections and maybe myelinated the pathway.
1
SPEAKER_00
So there's three physiological aspects to neuroplasticity.
1
SPEAKER_00
Myelination is literally just making a pathway a faster pathway.
1
SPEAKER_00
So for example, we have myelinated pathways to snatch our hand out of fire, but we have non-myelinated pathways for pain.
1
SPEAKER_00
Because if you immediately felt the pain, you wouldn't be able to remove yourself from the danger.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And what you're doing in your brain now with Spanish is you're connecting up neurons that already exist through synapses, so you're making a new pathway for Spanish.
1
SPEAKER_00
 Judging by how hard you're finding it, it's possible that you are in the memory centers of your brain actually inducing neurogenesis, which is embryonic cells becoming fully formed neurons and then connecting up through synapses with established neurons and then maybe getting myelinated.
1
SPEAKER_02
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_02
What does that mean?
1
SPEAKER_00
 It's, that's really hard work.
1
SPEAKER_00
So in the adult brain, so, you know, children can learn like five languages at the same time, you know, from a young age.
1
SPEAKER_00
Um, and if you do have kids and you want to bring them up bilingual.
1
SPEAKER_02
Oh, I'm going to definitely do that for sure.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
So you have to have a different parent speaking a different language or a different, you know, a grandparent or nanny or whatever, so that they understand daddy's English, mommy's Spanish.
1
SPEAKER_01
Interesting.
1
SPEAKER_00
 otherwise they muddle up the words and that can be... That's interesting.
1
SPEAKER_00
So yeah, so kids can do that easily because they've got lots of embryonic neurons that you know in the first two years of life it's amazing they go from being
1
SPEAKER_00
 completely helpless to walking, talking.
1
SPEAKER_00
For us, it's harder, but it's possible.
1
SPEAKER_00
And neurogenesis, which is literally embryonic cells becoming neurons, may not be happening that much in the adult brain, but the synaptic connection is happening a lot.
1
SPEAKER_02
What's interesting, I've never felt like I've had a good memory when it comes to books, like things I'm reading in school.
1
SPEAKER_02
I think it's because school was so challenging and I always,
1
SPEAKER_02
 The belief was I was tested poorly and so it just reaffirmed that I wasn't good at it, right?
1
SPEAKER_02
Based on the way that school was created for us.
1
SPEAKER_02
But in sports, I could remember really well, right?
1
SPEAKER_02
So I could remember other things or if I'd meet someone and they told me some weird thing about them, like I would remember this, right?
1
SPEAKER_02
And I could remember 10 years later.
1
SPEAKER_02
 Something like that.
1
SPEAKER_02
So when it was more physical and active, I felt like I had an incredible muscle memory, right?
1
SPEAKER_02
And I felt like I had incredible wisdom, but I didn't feel like I was smart.
1
SPEAKER_02
I felt like I understood people, but I couldn't remember something I read in a page two seconds ago.
1
SPEAKER_02
Like I would have to repeat reading something over and over again to be like, what just happened?
1
SPEAKER_02
What did I just read?
1
SPEAKER_02
I couldn't comprehend words.
1
SPEAKER_02
 but I could connect with people and emotions and movement and things like that.
1
SPEAKER_02
So I'm trying to figure out what's that way to learn Spanish through that way.
1
SPEAKER_02
 or anything new, because I think one of the greatest parts about life, especially after childhood, is creating new adventures and not staying stuck in the same routine, but having new experiences, new adventures, and learning new things.
1
SPEAKER_02
I love that you like to learn something new every year.
1
SPEAKER_02
I think that's a secret to keeping you young and youthful and looking 31.
1
SPEAKER_02
Thank you.
1
SPEAKER_00
 Two things I'd like to raise about that.
1
SPEAKER_00
One is that you've obviously done the work and become very successful, but there are a lot of people who would be stuck in that I'm not smart.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I was stuck in I'm not creative till I was 35.
1
SPEAKER_00
Starting to give the numbers away, Lewis.
1
SPEAKER_02
Like two years ago.
1
SPEAKER_00
 So I was told at high school, because I wasn't good at art, that I wasn't creative.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I completely believed that I wasn't creative.
1
SPEAKER_00
I didn't think I could do anything but be a doctor for the rest of my life.
1
SPEAKER_00
And through a series of events, which probably I am not aware of the complexity of, I woke up one morning and I thought, I never chose to be a doctor.
1
SPEAKER_00
My parents told me to be a doctor.
1
SPEAKER_00
 I was told at school I was smart.
1
SPEAKER_00
I was so smart that I didn't just do an MD, I did a PhD as well.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I said to myself that morning, if I'm so effing smart, what do I actually want to do?
1
SPEAKER_02
With my life?
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so that was the start of my life.
1
SPEAKER_00
And within a short period of that, I realized I'm creative.
1
SPEAKER_00
I might not be able to do a good painting, although I actually can now.
1
SPEAKER_00
 So the belief, you know, also changed me.
1
SPEAKER_00
I started doing more art and stuff as well.
1
SPEAKER_00
But, you know, I created a business.
1
SPEAKER_00
I created a new life.
1
SPEAKER_00
I created a home.
1
SPEAKER_00
When I do my cooking, I'm creative.
1
SPEAKER_00
I've even, you know, I mean, there was a time that I looked in the mirror.
1
SPEAKER_00
I had this narrative.
1
SPEAKER_00
I'm not a writer.
1
SPEAKER_00
I'm not an author.
1
SPEAKER_00
 because my PhD was so traumatic, writing it was really the worst thing in my life.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I looked in the mirror and I was like, Tara, you've got a best-selling, award-winning book that's translated into 38 languages.
1
SPEAKER_00
You are a writer.
1
SPEAKER_02
I know, it's crazy, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
So there's that whole narrative that even you and I have got things in our head which are like, I'm not smart, I'm not creative.
1
SPEAKER_00
So think about people that haven't had the opportunities that we've had or who don't know about neuroplasticity.
1
SPEAKER_00
 That's why it's my passion and my heart, because I just believe that that's such a key to unlocking things for so many people.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I think I have forgotten the other thing that I was going to say.
1
SPEAKER_00
I said two things, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
So one was the narrative about not believing that you were smart.
1
SPEAKER_00
I think the other one was this sort of
1
SPEAKER_00
 understanding neuroplasticity to become things that you maybe think you are.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
Sure, sure.
1
SPEAKER_02
So what is happening when we are in the field in our mind and the grass, we start walking over the grass and then we start putting, you know, then it's muddy, then you put stones down and then you have a paved road.
1
SPEAKER_02
What is happening to your brain when you start to learn something new that is challenging and you get to a level of mastery or close to mastery on this?
1
SPEAKER_02
What is happening to the brain?
1
SPEAKER_02
 what is happening to the body and everything else.
1
SPEAKER_00
So what's happening to the brain is that you had a pathway that was established either from childhood or later in life.
1
SPEAKER_00
And the brain is obviously a small percentage of your body weight, like two to 5% for most generally, but it's a very energy hungry organ.
1
SPEAKER_00
 So it's using up 20 to 30% of what you eat.
1
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
1
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
1
SPEAKER_00
And again, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so, you know, I think, you know, having been a sportsman, you would think about what should I eat so I can have big muscles or, you know, what should I eat so I have lovely skin or whatever.
1
SPEAKER_00
But actually you should be thinking, what should I eat so I can make the best decision today?
1
SPEAKER_02
Wow.
1
SPEAKER_02
Interesting.
1
SPEAKER_00
 So when you're asleep, your brain is using up 20% of the glucose that you have ingested that day.
1
SPEAKER_00
When you are focused on a task, it's using up 25% of your dietary intake.
1
SPEAKER_00
When you're stressed, it's using up 30%.
1
SPEAKER_00
So, you know, in terms of, you know, I sort of like to live in a brain first kind of way, because if you're doing that, everything else is going to fall into place, your cardiovascular system, your gut.
1
SPEAKER_00
 So, you know, hydrating foods, good fats, all that kind of thing is going to feed your brain.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so, you know, what's happening in your brain and body is that you are creating the pathway, that dirt road into the paved road, that should become
1
SPEAKER_00
 the default pathway for your brain.
1
SPEAKER_00
So your brain is going to go down the most energy efficient route because that's easiest and what it knows and what it likes and it's using up less glucose.
1
SPEAKER_00
So what you have to do is build the pathway so that it's so strong
1
SPEAKER_00
 that it's stronger than the pathway that's been there since childhood.
1
SPEAKER_02
How do you do that?
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay, you're not going to do that with Spanish because you're never going to be better at Spanish than you are at English, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
But in terms of things like emotional regulation, if you were the person, and there's so many people like this who would cry and yell and slam the door and walk out and then come back,
1
SPEAKER_00
 You can actually change that.
1
SPEAKER_00
You can become somebody who's got good boundaries, who's got self-worth, who feels that they deserve love.
1
SPEAKER_00
And you do that through neuroplasticity and building the pathway, giving yourself the examples and acting like that in life until you do believe it.
1
SPEAKER_00
And just going back to the two things, I remembered what the other one was, which is what I have found personally is that
1
SPEAKER_00
 When you have no choice but to do the thing that you have to do, you do it.
1
SPEAKER_00
So, I would say... I would ask you, have you gone to a Spanish-speaking country on your own to a village where nobody speaks English?
1
SPEAKER_02
 I have been on my own in Mexico recently where my girlfriend speaks Spanish and so I practice with her but this is the thing.
1
SPEAKER_02
When I go to Mexico with her, she's a crutch for me because I'm like I've got to order this thing and I'm just like I just want the chicken and vegetables.
1
SPEAKER_02
Can you let us?
1
SPEAKER_02
 And there was some days where I was alone, because she was off working, and I was like, okay, this is an opportunity for me to practice, to mess up, to be embarrassed, you know, and be okay with it.
1
SPEAKER_02
And by doing it, I felt like I was getting way better.
1
SPEAKER_02
Because I was forced to practice and try and ask questions and listen intently and not just speak in English and translate it.
1
SPEAKER_02
It's powerful.
1
SPEAKER_00
 I mean, at your age, you will always, the way that your brain will speak Spanish is to translate it from English.
1
SPEAKER_00
So there's three types of being bilingual.
1
SPEAKER_00
And one is, you know, if you're bilingual from the time that you start speaking.
1
SPEAKER_00
And one is if you learn it.
1
SPEAKER_00
So for me, the Indian language and English.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And then the second one is a language that you learn as a child, but you're not, you already speak another language.
1
SPEAKER_00
So that's French for me.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then my adult languages.
1
SPEAKER_00
And, um, so I learned Afrikaans when I was about 25, which is like Dutch, um, and then Danish when I was a bit older.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I was saying to my friend, who's a professor of neuroscience in London, that when I tried to recall a Danish word and I'm struggling to recall it,
1
SPEAKER_00
 I always think of the Afrikaans word, but never the French or the Indian.
1
SPEAKER_00
And he said, isn't that fascinating that your adult languages are stored in a different part of your brain?
1
SPEAKER_00
And so for a neuroscientist to understand that my adult languages are stored in a different part of my brain to my childhood languages, that at a certain point with Danish, I reached that tipping point where I wasn't tired and hungry from trying to do it.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And I'm gonna admit that I then gave up Danish.
1
SPEAKER_00
But I've changed my brain.
1
SPEAKER_00
And that's actually what I wanted.
1
SPEAKER_00
That's why I was doing it.
1
SPEAKER_00
So yeah, and with so many things in life, like, you know, when I gave up the regular paycheck of being a doctor in the NHS,
1
SPEAKER_00
 A lot of people said to me, you could just go and do a locum for one weekend and you'd be able to pay your rent and your bills.
1
SPEAKER_02
A what for weekend?
1
SPEAKER_00
A locum means when you just do like a temporary job, you know, you just go and like sub in for a weekend or a day or a night.
1
SPEAKER_00
But for me, that would have meant failure because it was going backward and I had to force myself to make the new business work.
1
SPEAKER_02
You had to burn the boats.
1
SPEAKER_02
You had to burn the ship that got you there so you couldn't go back into the old, you know, the land.
1
SPEAKER_00
 And that's not for everyone.
1
SPEAKER_00
I'm not saying that if you want to start up your own business, that you shouldn't have another job on the side.
1
SPEAKER_00
But for me, I had to burn my boat.
1
SPEAKER_02
I was watching this TED Talk recently of a guy who was teaching about how to be fluent in a new language as an adult and why it's so challenging and things like that.
1
SPEAKER_02
 And he said, listen, the reason why most people fail is because they keep speaking their native language so frequently and you take a 50-minute class three times a week, you're not gonna become fluent.
1
SPEAKER_02
And he's like, the only way that I was able to do it, and he's like, I tried this for years and all these things until I finally went into a program where I think it was three months, something like that, where you get kicked out if you speak any other word other than the language you're trying to learn.
1
SPEAKER_02
 And he's like, if you say a word in English at all, you're gone.
1
SPEAKER_02
So it's like total focus on, okay, I just need to learn how to survive.
1
SPEAKER_02
And this is not even allowed.
1
SPEAKER_02
And if I'm doing this for three, and he was like, I was completely fluent in three months.
2
SPEAKER_01
 or something quick like this, three, maybe six months, but it was like a full immersion program.
2
SPEAKER_01
You can't translate anything.
2
SPEAKER_01
Maybe the teacher is able to, but you're not allowed to say anything in your language.
2
SPEAKER_01
And he was like, it's because I was forced, like you were saying, to go to this other country essentially by myself, I had to learn how to survive.
2
SPEAKER_01
 and it was faster because I couldn't just go back to the place where I was comfortable.
2
SPEAKER_01
So I don't know, I haven't had the time to do that yet, but I still need to use my language, but I'm sure it's amazing what the brain can do under these types of conditions, I'm assuming.
2
SPEAKER_00
 And I think that sort of, you know, speaks to what we were saying earlier, which is none of us want to go through hardship.
2
SPEAKER_00
We don't want to see the people that we love and care about go through hardship, but it can be taken as an amazing opportunity.
2
SPEAKER_00
And even with the hardest thing that I've ever gone through in my life, that there has to be an opportunity that comes out of it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Otherwise it was for nothing.
2
SPEAKER_01
Right.
2
SPEAKER_01
 What is the thing you're learning this year?
2
SPEAKER_01
What's the new thing?
2
SPEAKER_00
So, yeah, I've been sort of navigating a personal journey and I want to do some different things with work.
2
SPEAKER_00
So, you know, I was a, I had a break and it's so tempting to go back to doing the keynote speeches and taking on the high net worth clients and
2
SPEAKER_00
 You know, I've been tempted.
2
SPEAKER_00
I have sort of like done a little experiment and gone done a keynote and, you know, sort of met a new coaching client.
2
SPEAKER_00
But I think this belief that I had for a long time that I'm not creative, it's really important for me now at this stage of my life to live that dream and be the creative person I've always wanted to be.
2
SPEAKER_00
 I've actually co-written a song with my colleagues in a music studio.
2
SPEAKER_00
And the COO of the business said to me, you know, I need you to sign a document because you're a songwriter now.
2
SPEAKER_00
And that was like, I never, ever thought I would hear those words.
2
SPEAKER_00
You know, when you go to medical school when you're 18 and... The arts are not in your cards.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
 And, you know, I get why and I'm very, very grateful for my education, but my parents were immigrants from India to England and they wanted me to get an education and be professional.
2
SPEAKER_00
I never had the luxury of being creative or doing sport.
2
SPEAKER_00
You know, I was like always in my sports clothes once I was an adult, but that wasn't something that was valued by my parents.
2
SPEAKER_00
It wasn't a big thing for me at school.
2
SPEAKER_00
 at high school.
2
SPEAKER_00
So yeah, art, creativity, sport.
2
SPEAKER_00
Um, I'm the trustee of a charity for gynecological cancers.
2
SPEAKER_00
That's, you know, again, something that I sort of thought that, you know, you have to be a very privileged person to be able to, to do that.
2
SPEAKER_00
So yeah, I think this constant journey of reinvention of really being like the maximum that I can be and
2
SPEAKER_00
 In my book, The Source, I talk about the six ways of thinking, which are logical, emotional, intuition, physicality, creativity, and motivation.
2
SPEAKER_00
Trying to build all of those pathways in my brain and not, and I think it really comes back to where we started with you saying about the woo-woo, which is that my logical pathway is well-built.
2
SPEAKER_00
I don't need to build that pathway anymore.
2
SPEAKER_00
But I really want to explore
2
SPEAKER_00
 I have worked very hard on emotional regulation myself, but I think my motivation is good, but it's kind of
2
SPEAKER_00
 you know, having a strong work ethic was still a part of being a doctor and being a scientist.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so really taking that opportunity now to not do the things I could easily do that would like make lots of money for my business, but do things that I can.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, things you love.
2
SPEAKER_01
What was the biggest challenge for you, the biggest trigger for you that you had to learn how to overcome and emotionally regulate?
2
SPEAKER_01
Was it
2
SPEAKER_01
 that you would get frustrated or angry or triggered in certain ways by things in life, or was there another trigger that kind of blocked you emotionally?
2
SPEAKER_00
I would say two things.
2
SPEAKER_00
I would say one was being overly defined by my job title.
2
SPEAKER_01
That was your identity.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
 Because I went, the system is a little bit different in the UK.
2
SPEAKER_00
So at the age of 18, I went to medical school.
2
SPEAKER_00
So my whole adult life, I was a medical student or a doctor.
2
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, it was sort of, you'd call up and you'd say, oh, I'm, you know, I'm Dr. Howes's, you know, junior, I'm the junior doctor belonging to him, kind of, you know, you weren't, it was almost like you weren't a person.
2
SPEAKER_00
Then I think the other thing is probably quite similar to yours, which is like,
2
SPEAKER_00
 fear of abandonment.
2
SPEAKER_00
So just the way that you behave emotionally if you believe that you might be abandoned was a huge thing to, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
2
SPEAKER_01
When did you start to become aware of these things and start to kind of rewire your brain and regulate your emotions so that they connected?
2
SPEAKER_00
I would say mid-30s.
2
SPEAKER_00
A couple years ago.
2
SPEAKER_00
 Are you doing that to sort of like flatter me or to make me give away how long ago it was?
2
SPEAKER_01
You look in your 30s though, you look young.
2
SPEAKER_00
Thank you.
2
SPEAKER_00
So yeah, I mean sort of my
2
SPEAKER_00
 My life changed a lot around that time in that I got divorced and I changed career at the same time.
2
SPEAKER_01
So it was a big transition.
2
SPEAKER_00
It was a big transition.
2
SPEAKER_00
I had already become very interested in spirituality and read a lot of like Jungian psychology and Buddhism and things like that.
2
SPEAKER_00
And sort of mental training books, but I'd read them, but not done the work, if you know what I mean.
2
SPEAKER_01
You understood them, but you didn't understand them.
2
SPEAKER_00
Exactly.
2
SPEAKER_01
You didn't experience them.
2
SPEAKER_00
No.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I remember a point being like,
2
SPEAKER_00
 at the place that you had to sign the document for your divorce.
2
SPEAKER_00
I mean, I'm still very good friends with my ex-husband, he was with me, but I remember just thinking, I have to dredge to the bottom of the barrel to get a piece of resilience to even go through this next 10 minutes.
2
SPEAKER_00
 It was after that that I started changing my gratitude lists to things like my resilience and my creativity.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so that point of hardship definitely taught me a lot.
2
SPEAKER_00
And something I'd like to share actually, which I experienced during the lockdowns, was that all the work that I had done since then came to help me and serve me when I needed it.
2
SPEAKER_00
So what I learnt was that even if life is fine, you're plain sailing, you're happy, everything's okay,
2
SPEAKER_00
 Keep doing that work because when you need it, then it'll be there.
2
SPEAKER_01
It's so true.
2
SPEAKER_01
I'm in uh, you know, every two weeks I meet with my therapist coach and uh My life's pretty good right now.
2
SPEAKER_01
I feel a lot of peace.
2
SPEAKER_01
I'm not like in breakdown.
2
SPEAKER_01
I don't feel like i'm There's definitely challenges.
2
SPEAKER_01
I need to overcome consistently, but it's not affecting me emotionally where it's like exhausting me right every day There's a challenge in business
2
SPEAKER_01
 but I'm not taking it personally, I'm not affected by it.
2
SPEAKER_01
I might be frustrated or disappointed for a few moments, then I get back into my mission.
2
SPEAKER_01
But the reason why I continue to do therapy when things are good is because I'm like, I wanna have this for if there's some big breakdown that I need to be ready for.
2
SPEAKER_01
So I think it's important to be practicing when things are good.
2
SPEAKER_01
Rehearsing when they're good to stay good.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I think a lot of, I felt like the pandemic
2
SPEAKER_01
 I was going through more personal relationship challenges during the pandemic, but I felt like the pandemic itself.
2
SPEAKER_01
 kind of like the economic breakdown and all these different things that were happening, I felt like I was training and preparing for.
2
SPEAKER_01
Because in 2008, I had nothing when the economy crashed in 2008 in the US.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I felt like I was not prepared.
2
SPEAKER_01
And so I told myself, when this happens again in life, no matter what it is, I don't know what it's gonna be, I'm gonna be financially prepared, mentally prepared, like,
2
SPEAKER_01
 have my life in order.
2
SPEAKER_01
And so I felt like, okay, let's go.
2
SPEAKER_01
It's time to use what I've learned for the last, whatever, 12 years to put into practice.
2
SPEAKER_01
I still hadn't figured out the relationship side of things, but everything else I was ready for.
2
SPEAKER_01
So this is fascinating stuff.
2
SPEAKER_01
I'm curious, on action boards, mental rehearsal, visualization, gratitude lists, practicing just manifestation in general,
2
SPEAKER_01
 Which of these do you feel like is most crucial for someone to start implementing right now?
2
SPEAKER_00
Okay, so there's crucial and then I would say impactful, so they could be different.
2
SPEAKER_00
So if there's one thing that somebody listens to this podcast and goes away and does in the next two days, I would say an action board.
2
SPEAKER_01
Really?
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
What would they put on this action board?
2
SPEAKER_00
 So I prefer to do it by hand, you know, create a collage.
2
SPEAKER_00
You can do it on, you know, digitally, but I think if you've never done one before, it's really good to do it by hand and to look through magazines.
2
SPEAKER_00
And the reason I say that is that if you go online to look for images that you want,
2
SPEAKER_00
 you're limiting yourself to what your brain knows it wants.
2
SPEAKER_00
If you are open, then you might be drawn to an image that you wouldn't have thought of.
2
SPEAKER_00
I actually leave quite a lot of space on mine because I like to leave room for magic.
2
SPEAKER_00
I
2
SPEAKER_00
 Manifestation is so incredible once you go down that road and backed by the science that you almost start to think, be careful what you wish for because it's going to happen.
2
SPEAKER_00
I don't like to limit myself to only things that I can consciously think of, so I like to leave it a bit open as well.
2
SPEAKER_00
 So when, after I got divorced I basically became a workaholic and my vision boards were all about business and travel and money and I got to the point where I admitted to myself I'm using work to run away from letting my heart ever get broken again.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so in 2015 I made a vision board that was
2
SPEAKER_00
 business and travel and money with a tiny heart on it, you know, not really kind of... Yeah, not open to it.
2
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, I had another successful year and I was still, you know, single.
2
SPEAKER_00
So for 2016, I thought, okay, if I believe in this stuff,
2
SPEAKER_00
 Let's see if I can really do this.
2
SPEAKER_00
So December 2015, I looked through magazines and newspapers and I found a picture of a massive engagement ring and I put it on the top left corner of my action board.
2
SPEAKER_00
 I saw an advert that said, joy comes out of the blue.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I didn't know why, but I just liked it.
2
SPEAKER_00
So I put that in the center.
2
SPEAKER_00
There were some other things there, but they were sort of like house things and travel.
2
SPEAKER_00
So February, 2016, I met the person that was going to become my husband on a plane, joy comes out of the blue.
2
SPEAKER_00
And we were engaged six months later.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh my gosh.
2
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
2
SPEAKER_00
 So that was a big one for me.
2
SPEAKER_00
You asked what's been the biggest challenge in terms of emotional triggers.
2
SPEAKER_00
I think getting to the point where I remember thinking to myself, this person could break my heart.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I never thought I would let that happen again, but I'm so proud that I did.
2
SPEAKER_01
Wow, that's beautiful.
2
SPEAKER_01
So what is the science from action boards?
2
SPEAKER_01
 to actually manifesting these things on the board.
2
SPEAKER_01
When you discover something in a magazine and you see it and you cut it out and you put it up on a board and you have this design, this map of a future thing that you want to create for yourself, where does the science say that this actually works and it's not just woo-woo?
2
SPEAKER_00
 Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
So one of the things about the action board is that it must be visible to you, obviously.
2
SPEAKER_00
I believe further than that, that it should be in a place that other people can see it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Because a lot of people gather the images but don't stick them down, or they hide it inside their wardrobe or somewhere.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I believe that equates to not believing that you deserve those things.
2
SPEAKER_00
So when I had actual amounts of money on mine,
2
SPEAKER_00
 it was in my bathroom, so anybody that came to my apartment and used the bathroom would see it.
2
SPEAKER_00
And, yeah, obviously, you know, only people that I knew were coming into my apartment, but still, it had an actual amount of money on it.
2
SPEAKER_00
It's very un-English to talk about how much money you want to earn.
2
SPEAKER_00
So it was the boldness of that.
2
SPEAKER_00
And it was repeatedly looking at it, obviously has an imprint on your brain.
2
SPEAKER_00
So there's something in your brain called value tagging, which is how your brain
2
SPEAKER_00
 prioritizes what's important.
2
SPEAKER_00
So today, if you were to read the LA Times, you would receive more information than somebody would receive in their lifetime 100 years ago.
2
SPEAKER_00
So we are bombarded, overly bombarded with data.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so the brain naturally filters out things that aren't important to us, like you're not aware of the clothes on your body.
2
SPEAKER_00
So
2
SPEAKER_00
 and again the brain is wired for survival so it'll you know it'll prioritize things that are important to your survival and it does that in a warm and a cold way so it does it both emotionally and logically so if you repeatedly
2
SPEAKER_00
 expose your brain to the images of the things that you want, you are more likely to notice things that are related to that in your day-to-day life.
2
SPEAKER_00
But because they're more likely to be things that will make you thrive, you might not have noticed them if you weren't intentionally, repeatedly exposing yourself to that visual imagery.
2
SPEAKER_00
 On the negative side of that, another demonstration of neuroplasticity is that people who repeatedly looked at images of the Twin Towers falling in 9-11, who had no personal connection to New York, didn't lose a loved one or anybody that they knew, could get PTSD just by repeatedly looking at those images.
2
SPEAKER_00
So the power, both for good and bad, of neuroplasticity is that huge.
2
SPEAKER_00
 So if you channel it proactively for the things that you want, then you're more likely to both notice and grasp the opportunities that come up in your life.
2
SPEAKER_00
Interesting.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Do you do one once a year or twice a year?
2
SPEAKER_01
How often do you do it?
2
SPEAKER_01
I do once a year.
2
SPEAKER_01
Once a year.
2
SPEAKER_01
And do you pretty much manifest and attract everything on that action board every year?
2
SPEAKER_01
Or are they so big sometimes you're like,
2
SPEAKER_01
 I don't know.
2
SPEAKER_00
Sometimes it's not.
2
SPEAKER_00
Everything doesn't happen in that year.
2
SPEAKER_00
It happens.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I do remember in 2015, the same professor of neuroscience that talked about my adult languages, he said, well, you said you were going to find husband number two this year and you haven't.
2
SPEAKER_00
 But it just leaked into early 2016.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I think when my book came out, the managing director of Penguin Random House in the UK gave this amazing speech.
2
SPEAKER_00
And he said, you know, the only thing that's left on her vision board is Netflix.
2
SPEAKER_00
 And I remember going like this, because I was so embarrassed that he told everybody that I wanted to do a TV show.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so that was 2019 when my book came out in the UK.
2
SPEAKER_00
And now it's 2022.
2
SPEAKER_00
But you know, this year, I'm working on a TV show.
2
SPEAKER_00
Patience is important, too.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, like, even with a language, there's that kind of
2
SPEAKER_00
 hard part where you feel like giving up.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so with something bigger, like maybe having a TV show or I'm launching my podcast.
2
SPEAKER_01
Sure, it might take a few years.
2
SPEAKER_00
It might take a few years.
2
SPEAKER_01
But that year you're setting an intention, you're starting to walk over the grass, you're starting to lay the pathways in different areas of life to make it available for you.
2
SPEAKER_01
Is that right?
2
SPEAKER_01
By having that clear intention.
2
SPEAKER_00
 Yeah, and so again, in the book I write about abundance, so that's overriding the negative thinking.
2
SPEAKER_00
Manifestation, which is bringing into reality the things that you desire.
2
SPEAKER_00
Patience is part of it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Harmony and universal connection are part of it, so it can't be something that's bad for other people.
2
SPEAKER_00
And then magnetic desire is probably the most important part, which is- What is that?
2
SPEAKER_00
 It's basically the emotional intensity.
2
SPEAKER_00
So neuroplasticity is grown through repetition and emotional intensity.
2
SPEAKER_00
So if, you know, sort of even a traumatic situation can bond people, right?
2
SPEAKER_00
We know about that.
2
SPEAKER_00
So it's a similar version of that, which is that your emotional intent is so strong and so aligned and your motivation is so strong that you don't give up.
2
SPEAKER_01
 That's magnetic desire.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that's what I called it.
2
SPEAKER_00
It's basically emotional intensity in scientific speaking.
2
SPEAKER_01
So it's connecting the emotional desire internally to the idea of something, of having something, or wanting something, or creating something.
2
SPEAKER_01
 And what, rehearsing that desire and rehearsing that kind of emotional intensity, thinking about it, is that what it is?
2
SPEAKER_00
So I'd say the final piece is create the action board, look at it daily, because that's all the value tagging and the selective filtering of data.
2
SPEAKER_00
And then the final piece is believing that it's already true.
2
SPEAKER_01
And feeling the experience of it's already happened.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yes, exactly.
2
SPEAKER_01
 There's something to that, you know, and this goes back to gratitude.
2
SPEAKER_01
I just feel like because I'm a grateful person all day, I mean, I guess I have challenging moments, but I mean, I'm intentionally in the morning and the evening and throughout the day speaking of gratitude to others and to myself.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I think because of that, more good things continue to come into my life.
2
SPEAKER_01
They just happen.
2
SPEAKER_01
 And now I'm actively working to make them happen, but I'm also actively grateful for what I have.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I will think about, with the mental rehearsal I think is really powerful when I would do this, I would imagine how I would celebrate when I would win, right?
2
SPEAKER_01
Or I would imagine how I would react when I'd go over the bar at a new height in the pole vault.
2
SPEAKER_01
I would imagine how I'm gonna compose myself as if it already happened.
2
SPEAKER_01
 And so I would rehearse these feelings and emotions.
2
SPEAKER_01
Amy Cuddy talks about this as well.
2
SPEAKER_01
I'm not sure if you're familiar with Amy Cuddy's work.
2
SPEAKER_01
But she really talks about the body positioning and also the body posturing and imagining yourself in these moments being this certain way.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I think that's really important to do is to feel the feeling of gratitude that the thing you want is here.
2
SPEAKER_01
And what is that feeling?
2
SPEAKER_01
Start experiencing it consistently.
2
SPEAKER_01
 It's because you're gonna start to magnetize that thing to you.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think it's really powerful.
2
SPEAKER_00
Interestingly, a friend sent me on Instagram a thing that was exactly about that, which is basically the things that you want will already start being grateful for them.
2
SPEAKER_00
It's exactly what you've just said.
2
SPEAKER_00
I just absolutely loved it as well.
2
SPEAKER_01
How does that connect to the science?
2
SPEAKER_00
 So what I was thinking as you were speaking was that it was similar to that, you know, coaching that I did for happiness or, you know, gratitude is that you notice the good things more.
2
SPEAKER_00
So noticing it is basically reinforcing to your brain that these good things can happen.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so sometimes now I actually do my action board on Pinterest.
2
SPEAKER_00
And what I do is I, when I manifest something, I move it to a separate section called manifested so that I'm actually seeing
2
SPEAKER_00
 but I'm ticking these things off because that makes me more likely to believe that I can tick off the bigger things that might take longer.
2
SPEAKER_00
So it's basically just reinforcing to your brain that good things happen, that you can achieve the things that you wanted, and it's that self-belief, isn't it?
2
SPEAKER_00
That if I've achieved that, then I can achieve the next thing.
2
SPEAKER_01
 The action boards, I love it.
2
SPEAKER_01
Manifestation, gratitude lists, visualization, action boards.
2
SPEAKER_01
And the action board is to create the action board, look at it daily, and then the third thing was to feel the feelings as if that thing is already here now.
2
SPEAKER_00
Well, I feel like we've made up a new thing, which is better, which is be grateful that it's definitely- It's already existing.
2
SPEAKER_01
It's here.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
 being grateful, feeling the feeling, and then being grateful that it has happened, right?
2
SPEAKER_01
And I think it's hard to attract and manifest what you want if you're not already grateful for where you're at, with what you have currently.
2
SPEAKER_01
You may not be satisfied with your life, but you gotta find the things you're grateful for.
2
SPEAKER_01
Why would life bring more goodness into your life if you're not grateful for what you're currently having, right?
2
SPEAKER_01
 So the gratitude I think is key.
2
SPEAKER_01
If you're ungrateful that you're not accomplishing this every day, that you don't have the house or the car or whatever it is you're trying to have, I don't think it's gonna come faster.
2
SPEAKER_00
 No, and remember what we talked about loss aversion or loss avoidance is that the natural gearing of your brain is to focus on the things that you don't have.
2
SPEAKER_00
So overriding that is a really, really healthy and powerful thing to do in modern life because it's more likely to make you get the things because we're trying to thrive, not just survive.
2
SPEAKER_01
Right.
2
SPEAKER_01
 This is powerful.
2
SPEAKER_01
What else do we need to know?
2
SPEAKER_01
Anything else?
2
SPEAKER_01
Any other interesting facts you think would be powerful for us?
2
SPEAKER_01
This has been inspiring so far but is there anything else you think we should share?
2
SPEAKER_00
I think there's so much that I think we could do a part two.
2
SPEAKER_01
We'll have to do another part in the future.
2
SPEAKER_01
I want people to follow you.
2
SPEAKER_01
They can get the book
2
SPEAKER_01
 which is on your website or on Amazon or anywhere you wanna get your books.
2
SPEAKER_01
That's called The Source.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think it's really powerful.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think you guys should check that out.
2
SPEAKER_01
You've also got a new podcast called Reinvent Yourself with Dr. Tara.
2
SPEAKER_01
 And it's a deep dive into your message on self-actualization and transformation.
2
SPEAKER_01
So it's you working with neuroplasticity and working with other celebrities and executives and everyday individuals on how they can improve as well.
2
SPEAKER_01
So very excited about that.
2
SPEAKER_01
Taraswart.com.
2
SPEAKER_01
Taraswart on Instagram, Twitter, and all these different places.
2
SPEAKER_00
Dr. Taraswart on Instagram.
2
SPEAKER_01
On Instagram, Dr. Taraswart.
2
SPEAKER_01
 Not that titles mean anything anymore, but you know, Dr. Thompson.
2
SPEAKER_01
This is powerful.
2
SPEAKER_01
Anything else we can do to be of support to you today besides checking these things out?
2
SPEAKER_00
Oh, that's so kind.
2
SPEAKER_00
You know, just being here with you is really a dream come true.
2
SPEAKER_00
It's something that I've manifested.
2
SPEAKER_00
 I definitely changed my language around it from, I can't believe I'm going to be on Lewis's podcast to, I'm so grateful I'm going to be on Lewis's podcast.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so that's a little example of that in action.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I think I do think of myself as like on a continual journey of reinvention based on neuroplasticity.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I am so grateful that that's literally now my podcast and my TV show and my work.
2
SPEAKER_00
It's cool.
2
SPEAKER_01
It's amazing.
2
SPEAKER_01
 We'll have to, when's the TV show coming out?
2
SPEAKER_01
Is that announcing?
2
SPEAKER_00
Can't say yet.
2
SPEAKER_00
Can't say yet.
2
SPEAKER_01
Check you out on social media.
2
SPEAKER_01
We'll see, we'll follow along there.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you'll be the first one.
2
SPEAKER_01
Just a question I ask everyone towards the end called the three truths.
2
SPEAKER_01
So imagine you've accomplished everything on every action board for the rest of your life.
2
SPEAKER_01
 And you have lived the life of your dreams, it's all happened.
2
SPEAKER_01
But for whatever reason, it's the last day and you gotta take all of your message and your work and your knowledge with you to the next place.
2
SPEAKER_01
So we don't have access to anything that you've shared before.
2
SPEAKER_01
Your book, this interview, it's all gone for whatever reason.
2
SPEAKER_01
But you get to leave behind three truths to the world, three things you know to be true or lessons you would share with the world and this is all we would have to remember you by.
2
SPEAKER_01
What would those three truths be for you?
2
SPEAKER_00
 The first one jumps to mind immediately is you are so much more amazing and powerful than you believe you are.
2
SPEAKER_00
The second one would be about sort of resilience and internal tools that that's that, you know, who you are inside and what resources you
2
SPEAKER_00
 have gained through wisdom are more important than any qualification or job title or amount of money.
2
SPEAKER_00
And then one thing, I've been following your podcast and I know the particular message that you are trying to point out about romantic love, but I would say that love, true love, like living,
2
SPEAKER_00
 with love as your primary motivator is the most important thing.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it's beautiful.
2
SPEAKER_01
Well, Dr. Tara, I want to acknowledge you for the incredible transformation you've had.
2
SPEAKER_01
You went into your life with your parents wanting you to be a certain thing, and you did it to the perfection, I'm assuming, of what they wanted you to be, the standard, and then some, right?
2
SPEAKER_01
 And you had lots of different challenges that you've overcome and you keep reinventing yourself to learn new things, to tap into your creativity, and to be more expressive, which I think is a beautiful thing.
2
SPEAKER_01
So I really acknowledge you for not being stuck in a box that you felt like you were supposed to be in, transforming, even at the young age of 37.
2
SPEAKER_01
And overcoming a lot of personal challenges as well in your life.
2
SPEAKER_01
You've gone through a lot of personal loss and grief and challenges.
2
SPEAKER_01
 And it's hard to leave an identity as a doctor, as a professor, all these different things.
2
SPEAKER_01
It's hard to have these big titles and say, I'm gonna walk away and do something to try to reach more people.
2
SPEAKER_01
So I really am inspired by your work, your message, and how you keep showing up to be of service.
2
SPEAKER_01
So thank you so much for your gift.
2
SPEAKER_01
Final question, what's your definition of greatness?
2
SPEAKER_00
 Neuroplasticity, totally.
2
SPEAKER_00
I mean, it is, it literally is the definition of greatness, which is that you have the power at any age, at any stage, with any mindset to change, to train your brain and become everything that you want to be.
2
SPEAKER_00
That's greatness and it's in everyone.
2
SPEAKER_01
 Yeah, there you go, Dr. Tom.
2
SPEAKER_01
Thank you so much.
2
SPEAKER_01
Appreciate it.
2
SPEAKER_01
 I really love hearing feedback from you guys, so share a review over on Apple and let me know what part of this episode resonated with you the most.
2
SPEAKER_01
And if no one's told you lately, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.
2
SPEAKER_01
And now it's time to go out there and do something great.