Latest / Dr. Derek H. Suite MD - The SuiteSpot / Gratitude Unlocked 3/7: Your Brain Under Fire (And How to Keep It Sharp) #WinItAllWednesday

Transcript

Gratitude Unlocked 3/7: Your Brain Under Fire (And How to Keep It Sharp) #WinItAllWednesday · Dr. Derek H. Suite MD - The SuiteSpot

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, everyone wants to win.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: But pressure.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Pressure has a way of making even the strongest forget what they already have.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's what today is all about.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're learning how to win here on Win It All Wednesday at the Sweet Spot from a place of calm and not chaos.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, welcome, welcome to Win It All Wednesday, my friend.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: You're on the sweet spot, and I'm Dr.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Derek Sweet, your board-certified psychiatrist, performance strategist, and lifelong student of that amazing intersection between the science, the soul, and the success we all want.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: This week we're exploring one of the oldest and most misunderstood forms of real strength in this world.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Not the polite, kind version that we kind of all have become accustomed to hearing, like saying just thank you and that kind of stuff.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: No, we're talking about a powerful force, the real power of gratitude, the kind that steadies your mind when the world is moving fast.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, as we said from the ancient Egyptians who gave daily thanks for balance and harmony way back when, to the indigenous peoples of the Americas, who greeted every morning by giving thanks and honoring the sun, the water, and the land, to our stoic philosophers who used thankfulness as a mental armor against the chaos of life.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: To the monks and mystics who turned appreciation into a daily discipline of peace.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: This practice of gratitude has always been there throughout the ages.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: It has always been the quiet power that keeps strength from turning into pride.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: And now, now that we're in the twenty-first century, modern science, modern neuroscience is proving why gratitude is one of the biggest powers you can cultivate in your life.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: When we engage in gratitude, when we practice it deliberately, when we're deliberately thankful, the prefrontal cortex, the CEO of our brain, as we've been saying, lights up.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's your brain's command center for focus, timing, and perspective.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Believe me, it exists.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's there.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: You have one.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: You have a prefrontal cortex, my friend.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, that's something to be grateful for.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: When you practice gratitude, the fear center of the brain.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: The quick quiz is gonna be given to you right now.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: What is the fear center of the brain?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because you've been listening to the sweet spot, you know that the amygdala is the alarm that screams danger and floods you with adrenaline and anxiety and stress.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that, my friend, that part of the brain quiets down when we're practicing gratitude.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so people are gonna ask me, okay, doc, all right, Dr.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Sweet, what's going on here?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Nice to keep saying gratitude, but what does that look like?
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: You keep saying it, but what does it look like?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, let's break it down.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: You're an athlete.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's that moment right before the game when you stop chasing perfection and you say, I get to do this.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: And your shoulders drop, and the gratitude fills you, and that tiny shift slows the heart, centers your breathing, and lets your body move and sink.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: You're an executive, you're a business person.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's 10 silent seconds before the meeting just to notice what's working, just to have some gratitude.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude for the team, for the mission, for the chance to lead, for the chance to speak, for the chance to participate in this.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: That pause, that 10-second, silent 10-second pause, reboots your decision network in your brain and it lowers the stress hormone cortisol.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is all proven in the research.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: You're a first responder.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's the breath you take after the storm of action.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: When you think, whoa, I did it, everyone is safe.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still here, and I made a difference today.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you breathe.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: That message you're telling yourself is a message you're sending to your nervous system when you stand down and you take a moment just to be grateful.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're a mom, a caregiver.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's the single inhale in the middle of all the chaos, and the single little whisper you tell yourself, Lord, thank you for the strength so that I could keep doing this, so I could keep showing up.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's the moment when the fatigue turns into endurance, and you have some extra fuel in the tank to keep going.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you to every mom and every caregiver out there, and every dad too, is doing the right thing.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude gives you the fuel in the empty tank.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's the extra fuel that you need.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: And for anyone facing loss, anyone under tremendous stress right now, maybe you're just dealing with a whole lot of uncertainty.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know what gratitude is?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's about noticing the one thing, the one person, the one truth, the one item in all of this that's still good.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And saying thank you.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: That awareness is enough to shift your body and your mind from just being in survival mode and stressed with high blood pressure to growth mode, relaxed, taking deeper breaths, getting more oxygen into your system.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Physically, your body listens to you when you practice gratitude.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Your heart rate steadies, your muscles release, your focus sharpens, you think clearer, you react slower, and you recover faster.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: This is the biology of gratitude under stress.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why we teach it.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we actually have something called the gratitude questionnaire that we give to athletes and performers to see who has gratitude, who's practicing it, because those that practice it, their biology responds, and that's available to you right now.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: You're a winner right now.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's Win It All Wednesday, and you're winning.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know why you're winning?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're listening to this, and you, my friend, are gonna take a deep breath, you're gonna exhale, and you're gonna say thank you.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being here, thank you for what's working, what's still working, and that makes you a winner here on Win It All Wednesday.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Life is full of pressure, and the pressure exposes what's real.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Some people crumble, others lock in.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: The difference isn't always talent or toughness, it's their perspective.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: When you enter pressure moments with the presence instead of panic, your brain sees what's going on, it sees data and not danger.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: You shift from reaction to response.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: You are in control because you can be thankful.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: I tell players and executives this all the time: pressure isn't the enemy, it's the invitation.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: And gratitude, awareness, that's how you answer the invitation.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: My favorite author, Melanie Beattie, said, Gratitude turns what we have into enough.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: I got that as a poster for my mom this summer.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, it was so good.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude turns what we have into enough.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let that sink in for a minute.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Let it land.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's the heart of today.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because when pressure hits, it's easy to obsess over what's missing.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: I do it all the time.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: But the extra second, the extra hand, the extra chance, the extra moment you take to be grateful, you remind yourself that you still have some power.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: You already have enough.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: What you have is enough to execute this moment, and you'll handle the next moment when it comes.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: You have enough strength, you have enough time, you have enough breath, you have enough trust, you have enough faith, you have enough.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: And breathe.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the science of how that awareness will protect you when you take a beat, a moment to recognize what's working, what's solid, and your prefrontal cortex is engaged.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: You are ready.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Your alarm system, your amygdala is in a quiet state.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: You're ready, you're balanced.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Your energy shifts from proving yourself to expressing yourself with confidence.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when your best game, your best leadership, your best decision making, your best answer for the problem or the question shows up.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: So the next time your inner voice whispers, not enough, you interrupt it.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: You say, I'm here, I'm ready, I'm grateful.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's not denial, that's neurochemistry.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: You're ready.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: You just flip your brain in from survival to performance.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: And from this place, you are already a winner.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for accepting that gratitude is the piece that's missing from your life right now.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is what you have to do every day.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Find something to be grateful for.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: The minute you start walking in gratitude, the minute you start being grateful, you automatically step into the place of being a winner.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so proud of you for doing it.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm proud of you.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm with you.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let's both be winners.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let's all be winners today.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because we are gratitude in motion.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is not sentimental, it's scientific.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: When pressure hits, don't try to escape it.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Engage it.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Engage it with awareness, with gratitude.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Say it in your way.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for this test, it means I'm trusted.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for this challenge, it means I'm capable.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for this moment, it means I'm alive and I'm here to play, I'm here to win.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's how gratitude turns what you have into enough.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't erase the pressure, transforms it.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Trains your brain how to find power in perspective and not be looking out there for other people to give you power.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Once you've mastered it, you don't just handle pressure, you harness it.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, whatever your life looks like today, my friend, the court, the office, the classroom, the kitchen, I don't know, wherever you are, wherever you function, wherever you're performing, breathe, focus, and remember that you already have enough.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude turns what you have into enough and more.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna win this thing.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna win it.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Amen and amen.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Alright now, if this worked for you as we unlock gratitude this week, I want you to not just take it in, but share it with someone who could use this message and you stay amazing.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Love and blessings.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is Dr.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Sweet.