Latest / Dr. Derek H. Suite MD - The SuiteSpot / Gratitude Unlocked 5/7: Your Brain On Friday Is A Drama Queen, Gratitude Is The Quiet “Not Today.” #FinishStrongFriday

Transcript

Gratitude Unlocked 5/7: Your Brain On Friday Is A Drama Queen, Gratitude Is The Quiet “Not Today.” #FinishStrongFriday · Dr. Derek H. Suite MD - The SuiteSpot

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: You did it.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's Finish Strong Friday.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Finish Strong Friday, and you are in the sweet spot.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Dr.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Derek Sweet.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: As you know, I'm a board certified psychiatrist.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I work in high performance.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: But more than that, I enjoy our time together.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Us working together, speaking with each other, having this conversation that we're having this week on gratitude.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we've been unlocking gratitude.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: And man, have we been getting insight after insight.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you missed Making Moves Monday, or didn't catch Take Action Tuesday, Win It All Wednesday, or you somehow did not get to listen to Trust Yourself Thursday, go back and listen.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna love all the insights that we unpacked about gratitude.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: But listen, here we are, Friday.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Friday on the sweet spot.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Fridays, oh, Fridays hit different, don't they?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know that feeling.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: You open your laptop, or your brain starts to just say, Oh my god, I gotta go another rep.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta go into the office, I gotta take care of this business.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Your brain just starts sighing before you sigh.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Your body's tired, your mind gets a little scattered, and your energy, it feels like it's leaking out in like three different directions.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's Friday for you.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: T G I F.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: You're halfway in the workday and you're halfway thinking about the weekend.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's Friday.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why it's important to listen to Finish Strong Friday because it gives us the boost.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because how you finish, my friend, says something about who you are and who you're gonna become.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Finishing strong is the key, and that's what we do around these parts.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the science, here's behind the scenes, truth.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Your brain is actually more vulnerable on Fridays.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Real talk.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's been running like mad.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's been running high effort, high alert, high pressure all week long.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Your attention circuits, whether you know it or not, are probably a little tired on Friday.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Your stress systems are a little overworked.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like all of us.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And the mental battery, sometimes it's not fully charged on Friday.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: So you know what happens to the brain?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Your attention networks, the ones that we've been talking about, your ACC, for example, the anterior cinglet cortex, remember that one?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's the brain's conflict and error detector.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Every one of us has one.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Some of us have it too good.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: We can find every little error and every little conflict.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: We have an overactive ACC.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: But listen, when you're tired, when you're a little overworked, the anterior cinglet cortex can get a little jumpy.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it starts picking up things, getting a little edgy.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: You've been there, I know I have.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then remember the default mode network, the DMN, we talked about that.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's your mental autopilot, remember?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's the one that sort of can easily pull up a distraction.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: It loves to look at worries and old conversations and replay them.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: These are your attention networks.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: And uh boy, when you're tired on a Friday, the ACC and DMN, they're in full gear.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you could be a little bit jumpy, you could be a little bit anxious, you could actually be a little bit edgy too, like I said.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: And your motivation circuits are also whispering, hey man, can we wrap things up?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of tired right now.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: You get a little impatient.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Don't want to listen to things go on and on.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: You just want to grime through whatever you have to do.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do you finish strong when your brain is drifting, when your body is a little bit tired, when you're feeling a little bit overwhelmed, like you're just pushing through, just like an auto auto, like an automaton, like a robot.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is where gratitude shows up.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: We've been talking about it all week.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: The power of gratitude when you unlock it, when you choose to consciously use it.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not talking about the vague kind of gratitude, not the be grateful and sort of have a slogan thing.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's nice.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about the practice of gratitude, intentional practice of being grateful, something that you choose and you apply intentionally.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let me show you what that looks like.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude steps in when you pause for 10 seconds and you say, I've already made it through some of the toughest parts of this week.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Or you say something like, I'm grateful I still have the strength in me, even though I'm really tired.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you say it like this, I'm thankful that I get to finish.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Not that I have to finish, that I get to finish.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not starting this thing, I'm finishing it.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it's tough, but you know what?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm grateful.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thankful.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: My friend, the moment that you consciously acknowledge something to be grateful for, you are practicing gratitude, even at the smallest, most subtle levels.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Just one little thing, and it's powerful.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: The science is showing it.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're understanding it now as a performance enhancer, as a stress interrupter, as a resilience multiplier.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: And here's how you make sure you seal it in.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever you take a moment to slow down and become grateful for something, just that one thing, take a deep breath, one slow breath in when you notice something good.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Nice breath in, and then slowly let it out as you're grateful with the gratitude that you're thinking about.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's how gratitude begins its work and it changes your nervous system.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Inside your brain, things will start shifting.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Remember the insula?
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about that, the part that's sort of looking inside of you.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Your insula in the brain stops confusing your fatigue with danger when you practice gratitude.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: You see, without the gratitude, you can misinterpret or interpret what's happening outside as danger when it may not be.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Your ACC, the anterior cinglicortex, it'll settle down because it's gonna say, hey, she found something to be grateful about.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: He found something to be grateful about.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's not that bad.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And remember the hippocampus that we talked about, another brain structure, the one that's into memories, it pulls the receipts, and it could pull up some bad ones too.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: The hippocampus, when you practice gratitude, those receipts will remind you of how many Fridays you have survived and finished before.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: You've been through a whole lot of Fridays, my friend.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Me too.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't even think about it.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I'm grateful that I got through last Friday.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know what I did, but I'm grateful because I'm getting ready to do this Friday.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: And the last structure I'd like to talk about, the last two structures, are your vagus nerve.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that's your 10th cranial nerve, it's in your parasympathetic nervous system, and it's the uh nerve that is really tied into relaxation.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: When you have good vagal tone, your uh and the vagal break is working, your heart rate slows down, your breathing slows down, you're digesting your food better, you're feeling more relaxed.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it quiets the DMN, it quiets the default mode network in your brain.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Your DMN, your default mode network, the warrior, quiets, and even the amygdala.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Remember our good friend the amygdala, the alarm bell?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, they quiet down because gratitude gives your mind something real to land on instead of spinning stories.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you spin a story and I spin a story in our heads, we can get pretty anxious.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: So why not shift that to be grateful about something and interrupt the process so that your motor circuits and your follow-through centers get to re-engage?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: That, my friend, is a whole mouthful on why gratitude is so important to practice.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't need you to remember the hippocampus or the anterior cingular cortex, that's not what this is about.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's still about a neurological lecture, but I want you to know that your brain will respond to the practice of gratitude in real life.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not talking about just forcing a little smile and saying, yay, thank you, thank you.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's not it.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's only a part of it.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about just journaling, oh, I'm thankful.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm talking about intentional practice of finding something to be really grateful about and using it.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Just a brief intentional moment where you anchor to something steady.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: And let your system, your nervous system, reset itself around that.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, and if you're listening to me and you're on your way home, or you're going into work or you're between tasks, yeah, this part's for you too, wherever you are.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: And spiritually, this thing makes sense too.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: The race, it says in the ancient wisdom, is not for the swift, but for the one that endures, the one that can see it through.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, guess what?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's another reason to be grateful.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: You've endured, you've persevered.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you didn't come first.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: We can work on that, but you always can reward and be grateful for your effort, for the fact that you stuck it out, that you didn't back down.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Endurance is a spiritual muscle.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: And gratitude helps you feel strong.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: And know that you had something in you that has already carried you through.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: So here's your Friday reminder, my friend, as we close.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Finish strong not because it's easy, not because you feel perfect.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Finish strong because you know what's steady in you.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know you have done this before.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know that you've got this.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: You're not waiting to become someone who can close out the week.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: You already are that, my friend.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Intentional gratitude just clears the noise, it steadies your body, it brings your real strength back into view so that you can finish whatever you got in front of you with confidence, not just be confused.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the beauty of it is that gratitude doesn't remove the pressure, it just reinterprets it.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that's free.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: You ain't got to pay nobody for that.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: You could just reinterpret things, it could reshape obstacles, it could reframe the challenge that you're feeling, it can give you a fresh lens so you can end the week on a positive note.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Alright now, thank you so much for listening to me.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Say this with me.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: I finish strong because gratitude brings my strength back into focus.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do that one more time.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Take a deep breath.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Let it out.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: I finish strong because gratitude brings my strength back into focus.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Alright now.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is Dr.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Derek Sweet.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to the Sweet Spot.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that you found this exhilarating and that you're ready to go strong and finish whatever you got going on this Friday, and that you'll join me tomorrow for self care saturday.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you like what you heard, share it with a friend, and I'll see you tomorrow.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Be blessed.