Latest / Impact Ready / 197. 70,000 Thoughts: How to Rewire Your Brain and Start Growing

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197. 70,000 Thoughts: How to Rewire Your Brain and Start Growing · Impact Ready

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Welcome to Impact Ready, a show dedicated to helping you elevate
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your impact in the world. I'm Steph Safra, your host.
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Let's explore the power of showing up with intention and
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energy each day. This is for those who seek to
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make life truly meaningful. Get ready for impact.
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Hi there, and welcome to the Impact Ready podcast.
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I don't know if in your life you've ever had the experience
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of somebody helping you out in some way, showing up for you big
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time in sort of an unexpected way, doing some sort of act of
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kindness that came out of the blue.
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If you've ever had an experience like that, that is the kind of
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story that I'm looking for in my new project.
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It's called Proof of Light and it's basically a collection of
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stories like that from people like you about moments when
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someone made a difference in their life.
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It could be really small or it could be a big act of kindness.
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It could be the life changing kind of act of light, somebody
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showing up at the right time, or just something that reminded you
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of the good in people. Regardless, I'm starting to
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collect those stories under this project name Proof of Light so
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that I can start sharing them because when you start looking
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for the light, you begin to see more of it.
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And you also start to realize how even the smallest actions
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that we do in this world can create really powerful ripple
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effects. And honestly, I think we need to
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see more of that. So if you have a story like
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that, send it to me, send me your proof of light.
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You can send me that story through my website.
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You can use the link on my Instagram page.
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It's basically a form that you can fill out really simply.
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It's in my bio or you can e-mail me directly at
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steph@stephsaffer.com. And I will be sharing these
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stories here on the podcast. I will be putting them on social
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media channels. They're all anonymous.
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You are welcome to attach your name if you would like, but for
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the most part these will be anonymous stories and the
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purpose is simply to start shifting what we notice and
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remembering how much impact a single person or moment can have
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in our lives. Getting on to the episode here.
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In this episode we're going to talk about the power of the mind
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and our thoughts. I also want to talk about the
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necessity to consciously and intentionally create change and
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bring in new experiences for the the purpose of strengthening the
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mind. But there's this statistic that
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I think about all the time. It gets thrown out in self
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development quite a bit. And it's that we have 60, maybe
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70,000 thoughts a day. 70,000 thoughts a day is a big stat in
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self development. And the idea is that most of
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those thoughts are the same thoughts that we had the day
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before. Something like 85 to 90% is the
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number that gets thrown around. And I've heard this put out
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there quite a bit by, you know, some of the people that I really
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respect, people like Joe Dispenza.
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I think there's actually a lot to that.
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I've done a deep dive on the numbers on this because I was
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curious if this was proven to be true or if this was based on
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individual studies. And the reality is that I
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haven't been able to find one specific study that corroborates
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those numbers. The number of thoughts that we
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have in a day can range from 40 to 60,000 in some studies and
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then 4 to 8000 in other studies. But the criteria is all
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different for everything. And so I don't have a clear
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context of which studies most accurate and what number is most
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accurate. But all that to say, we're
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having thousands of thoughts a day.
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I know that that makes sense to us.
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And again, I haven't been able to corroborate how many of those
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thoughts repeat each day, whether it's 85 or 90%, whether
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it's 50%, I haven't been able to find the clear number on that.
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But, but regardless, what researchers have been able to
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show is that we have thousands of thoughts per day.
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And we can assume based on our knowledge of the subconscious
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mind, that the majority of our thoughts are similar to the days
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before because our brain likes to categorize things in systems
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and patterns. It likes to automate things, so
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it's more efficient by nature. Many of our thoughts are going
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to be similar to the days before and even the years before.
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And this is really important because a lot of people feel
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like they can't change, especially when it comes to the
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coaching world. One of the things that people
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say the most to me is, well, that person's just the way they
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are, or I'm wired this way, or I'm not sure that I can create a
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change in my life. And I want to show why that
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couldn't be further from the truth.
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What those people are probably experiencing is the sameness of
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the thoughts that they're having over and over again.
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Your brain is built for efficiency.
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It wants to conserve energy, so it runs patterns.
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It has the same interpretations and the same reactions, the same
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internal dialogue. We like efficiency in our brain
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so that we don't have to use too much energy.
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And so we automate things and we put things on loop, which is I
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think another reason why people feel they can't change is
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because they're lacking this awareness.
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They don't understand that the brain is built to create systems
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and to run in loops and patterns.
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And if we aren't intentionally choosing something different, it
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will just automatically run those programs.
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Another idea that I want to address that is really pretty
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common, and it's this understanding that the majority
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of how our brain operates and functions is run by the
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subconscious. And that by the time we get into
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our 20s and our early 30s, most of our behaviors and beliefs and
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emotional responses are kind of running on autopilot because
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they've become part of the subconscious operating system.
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This idea gets into people's heads and they start to think,
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well, if I'm not conscious of these things, then I can't ever
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change them, which means I can't ever change.
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And it gives people this false belief that therapy or coaching
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or any type of self development is sort of a futile task.
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Just because the majority of things that are happening in our
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brain are operated by the subconscious and running on
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autopilot, it does not mean that these beliefs or patterns are
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fixed by any means. It means they're deeply
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conditioned, but it doesn't mean that they're fixed.
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A huge portion of what you do everyday is automatic.
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Yes. Your reactions, your habits, the
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way you interpret situations, the thoughts that show up
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without you choosing them. That's all true.
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And a lot of those patterns didn't start last week or even
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last year. They started early when your
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brain is wiring rapidly in childhood.
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We've talked about how beliefs and stories are formed primarily
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from the ages of 6 or 7 to 15. Well, here you go again.
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You're forming beliefs about who you are, how the world works,
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what's safe, what's possible. And that's all part of our
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subconscious mind. But it doesn't mean that you
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can't create change or create shifts in your ways of thinking.
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It just means that the ways that we live our life reinforce a lot
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of these patterns. And that's kind of what we're
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dealing with when we do the same things everyday, when we think a
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lot of the same things, when the stories that we have about our
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life go uninterrupted for years and years.
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Those patterns will get reinforced through repetition,
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through our lived experiences in relationships or schooling or,
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you know, how we were raised as children, through just the
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environments that we stay in. All of that stuff reinforces
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patterns so that by the time we reach adulthood, we're not
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really starting fresh each day with our thinking.
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We're running programs. And there's nothing wrong with
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that. There's nothing wrong with you
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because your brain is doing exactly what it was designed to
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do is to conserve energy, to be efficient, and to be running
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programs. But here's the catch.
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If you keep running the same mental and emotional programs
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and patterns, what's going to happen?
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You're going to keep creating the same experiences, the same
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results and the same life. And I've experienced this
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personally in my own life. If you keep running the same
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programs and patterns, you're going to keep creating the same
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experiences in the same life. Nothing changes unless something
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interrupts the pattern. There was a client one time who
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was asking me about coaching. And this was somebody a long
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time ago who was just saying, oh, I'm not really ready.
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I'm not, you know, I'm not sure that I'm in the right place to
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be devoting time and energy to this.
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And I said, I totally get it. I just want you to be able to
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avoid living out the same six months over and over again.
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And he stopped and he said, how did you know?
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I've been feeling that way. How did you know that?
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I've been feeling like I've been living the same six months over
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and over again for the past five years.
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I keep wanting something to change.
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I keep hoping that it does and trying to do things to create
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it, and nothing ever does. And I was like, that is exactly
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what people face. That's where those subconscious
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programs and patterns start stepping in and creating the
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same experience, the same results, the same life.
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And that's also where coaching and self development and
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intentional growth come in. It's so awesome because when
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you're in a place where you're open minded and where you are
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expecting to challenge the beliefs that you have a place
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like coaching, it just it provides a scenario where you're
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introducing new information to people and they are curious
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about it. They're ready to accept it.
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Most coaching clients want this. They're here, they're looking
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for a change, and so they're operating under this new belief
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that something will shift. They're open hearted, they're
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open minded, and it sets the stage for that evolution to
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occur. Coaching is not the only way you
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can do this. Anything novel will create that
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same scenario. You know the experience of when
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you're traveling. Say you're on a trip to Europe
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and it seems like the trip lasted forever.
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You were there for seven days, but you can remember every
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moment of every single day. You remember what the food
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tasted like and where you were every part of the day and what
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things smelled like. Whereas in your day-to-day life,
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you can barely remember what you did yesterday, let alone 2 days
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ago, or who you talked to or what you ate.
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Because it all just kind of runs together.
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That's because of this concept of novelty.
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It forces presence when you are creating new thoughts and new
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neural pathways. Like when you're traveling to a
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new place, your brain is being asked to take in and process
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information that it maybe wasn't exposed to before.
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Especially when you're in a country with foreign food or a
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foreign language that you don't necessarily speak.
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That is so much novelty. And this is a beautiful
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experience for the brain because it puts its neuroplasticity to
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the test, meaning it has the brain flexing the muscles, so to
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speak, of building new neural pathways and new ways to
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classify memories and information.
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And that's why you remember all of it.
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That's why it lives so vividly in your brain now.
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The same thing can happen to a lesser degree, anytime you do
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something new or novel. Just learning new information is
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going to ask your brain to start processing and creating new
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neural pathways in a different way.
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And I find this especially true with mindset.
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We always talk about perspective, the way that we see
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the world, and we also talk about stories, the inner critic,
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voices in our head, the saboteurs, or even just the
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stories that we tell about who we are, where we live, or our
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life circumstances. Until we ask the brain to shift
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or change, it will continue to repeat the same patterns and
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thoughts on loop for years and years.
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With mindset work introducing new ideas, new perspectives, new
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beliefs or stories, your brain has the ability to shift and
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create new ways of thinking. It's just what we said earlier.
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The brain might be deeply conditioned, but it is not
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fixed. We always have the ability to
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change. I think we forget that
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sometimes. One of the things clients will
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say to me often is something along the lines of God, I didn't
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realize how simple this was, or man, this is so simple.
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How did I not think of this before?
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Or I feel so silly. This seems so obvious.
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I have people say that all the time because it really isn't
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rocket science. It's just new and it's asking
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your brain to break the pattern, break the loop and think
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differently. It's a perfect example of how
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without new stimulus, we'll just go along thinking, saying,
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feeling the same things over and over again, just like we did the
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day before. It's why I love to think about
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new ways to stimulate the brain. Learning something new, going to
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a new place, taking a different route, playing a different
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sport, learning a language, or honestly just having some good
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old fashioned great conversation with people that aren't
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necessarily the same people you talk to everyday are your oldest
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friends. Essentially, if you don't
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introduce something new, new inputs, new thoughts, new
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environments, new ways of thinking, your brain will
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default to what it already knows Now.
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We couldn't have a conversation about beliefs and thoughts
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looping and thinking without acknowledging that little area
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of the brain called the reticular activating system.
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It's that area that filters information.
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Remember, there are thousands of pieces of information coming at
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you every second. And it's the brain's job to
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filter out what's most important for survival and well-being.
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And of course, it has a system for that.
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But often our brain filter is based on old beliefs and values
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that we associate with our self concept, our sense of identity.
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And in really simple terms, the research shows that your brain
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filters reality to match what you expect.
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Whether this is the same old feelings or thoughts, everyday
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familiar patterns, predictable outcomes, whatever it might be,
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your brain filters reality to match what you expect.
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So again, here's the importance of having exposure to new
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experiences. The moment you introduce
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novelty, something shifts you createspace and you get to
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disrupt the the thinking loop. You give yourself a chance to
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act differently and ultimately become someone different.
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And that's what my coaching clients are always exclaiming
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about. That's the sentiment behind man.
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I can't believe how simple this stuff really is.
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And that's really what Impact Ready is all about.
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It's not waiting for life to change, but instead you're
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deciding on purpose to change the way that you show up within
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your life. It's all about bringing
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awareness to what's been running in the background for so many
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years, sometimes decades, and then choosing consciously what
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stays and what goes. So even though I don't know the
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exact number, whether it's 10,000 or 70,000 thoughts per
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day, the point remains the same for me in this episode.
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In order to be sure that we're not repeating our same reality
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every single day based on our same thoughts and feelings and
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perspectives, we must intentionally introduce change
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and novel new experiences. We have to choose growth.
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I really believe that that's a big part of being able to create
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a life by our own design and not just fall into a life that's not
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even of our own choosing. So I hope this spurred on some
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thoughts for you and I hope that you have an incredible week.
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I appreciate you being here. Send me your proof of light
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stories and thank you for being ready to impact.
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Thanks for listening to Impact Ready.
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I hope today's episode inspired you to own your impact and
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recognize that you are powerful. By elevating our energy and
16:19
awareness, we can create exponential change in this life.
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If you enjoyed today's insights, share them with a friend and
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subscribe to the show for more. I truly appreciate you.
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Thanks again for being here.