Podcasts about words can change your brain

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3567: Sabrina explores how seemingly harmless phrases like “why me” and “if only” subtly erode our happiness by reinforcing feelings of helplessness and dissatisfaction. Through her own experiences with serious illness, she illustrates how acceptance and a shift in mindset can reclaim peace and power in our lives. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://buddingoptimist.com/power-of-words/ Quotes to ponder: "Words can comfort, energize, and encourage. They can also provoke, stifle, and frustrate." "So don't ask 'why me?' It is an unanswerable question." "The biggest problem with the phrase 'if only' is that it describes a scenario that does not exist." Episode references: Words Can Change Your Brain: https://www.amazon.com/Words-Can-Change-Your-Brain/dp/0142196770 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3567: Sabrina explores how seemingly harmless phrases like “why me” and “if only” subtly erode our happiness by reinforcing feelings of helplessness and dissatisfaction. Through her own experiences with serious illness, she illustrates how acceptance and a shift in mindset can reclaim peace and power in our lives. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://buddingoptimist.com/power-of-words/ Quotes to ponder: "Words can comfort, energize, and encourage. They can also provoke, stifle, and frustrate." "So don't ask 'why me?' It is an unanswerable question." "The biggest problem with the phrase 'if only' is that it describes a scenario that does not exist." Episode references: Words Can Change Your Brain: https://www.amazon.com/Words-Can-Change-Your-Brain/dp/0142196770 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3567: Sabrina explores how seemingly harmless phrases like “why me” and “if only” subtly erode our happiness by reinforcing feelings of helplessness and dissatisfaction. Through her own experiences with serious illness, she illustrates how acceptance and a shift in mindset can reclaim peace and power in our lives. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://buddingoptimist.com/power-of-words/ Quotes to ponder: "Words can comfort, energize, and encourage. They can also provoke, stifle, and frustrate." "So don't ask 'why me?' It is an unanswerable question." "The biggest problem with the phrase 'if only' is that it describes a scenario that does not exist." Episode references: Words Can Change Your Brain: https://www.amazon.com/Words-Can-Change-Your-Brain/dp/0142196770 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're in for a good time today as Alisa takes you through a REVING the Word as you move your body and hear some good news and some good science as she unpacks Proverbs 16:24. Alisa's here to challenge you with a question: What's your self-talk? Are you speaking words of life or words that are critical?  In this REVING the Word, you'll learn why: Gracious words are healing Our cells are listening and receiving information How you're creating the environment inside of you Links mentioned: Words Can Change Your Brain by Dr. Adam Newberg Dr. Bruce Lipton on How Our Genes Listen to Our Beliefs Try a Be Still and Be Loved  Check out the playlist for this episode on Spotify! #924 Are you ready to show up to your life without shame and experience deeper freedom? Are you ready to learn how to live whole in a messy world? LiveWell and RevFit training is enrolling now! Download a packet here! Our Move in Love 21-Day Challenge is kicking off soon! Head over to our RW+ Membership to learn how to get started today with us! Become a Revelation Wellness Donor today! Click here to donate! Your generosity helps make podcasts like these possible!  We love our Rev community and think you will, too! Be sure to get connected with us at: The Official Revelation Wellness Facebook / Instagram / RevWell TV / Youtube   Your reviews matter to us and help spread the good news, so please leave us one where you listen to your podcast! If we read your review on our show, we'll send you a gift from the Revelation Wellness Store!   We'd also love to hear from you! So please leave us a VOICE MESSAGE here!  Tell us what you thought about this episode!

You're in for a good time today as Alisa takes you through a REVING the Word as you move your body and hear some good news and some good science as she unpacks Proverbs 16:24. Alisa's here to challenge you with a question: What's your self-talk? Are you speaking words of life or words that are critical?  In this REVING the Word, you'll learn why: Gracious words are healing Our cells are listening and receiving information How you're creating the environment inside of you Links mentioned: Words Can Change Your Brain by Dr. Adam Newberg Dr. Bruce Lipton on How Our Genes Listen to Our Beliefs Try a Be Still and Be Loved  Check out the playlist for this episode on Spotify! #924 Are you ready to show up to your life without shame and experience deeper freedom? Are you ready to learn how to live whole in a messy world? LiveWell and RevFit training is enrolling now! Download a packet here! Our Move in Love 21-Day Challenge is kicking off soon! Head over to our RW+ Membership to learn how to get started today with us! Become a Revelation Wellness Donor today! Click here to donate! Your generosity helps make podcasts like these possible!  We love our Rev community and think you will, too! Be sure to get connected with us at: The Official Revelation Wellness Facebook / Instagram / RevWell TV / Youtube   Your reviews matter to us and help spread the good news, so please leave us one where you listen to your podcast! If we read your review on our show, we'll send you a gift from the Revelation Wellness Store!   We'd also love to hear from you! So please leave us a VOICE MESSAGE here!  Tell us what you thought about this episode!

Welcome back to Season 11 of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence training for improved well-being, achievement, productivity, and results using practical neuroscience. In today's episode, number 336, we continue our 18-week Self-Leadership Series based on Grant Bosnick's tailored approaches to self-leadership. We delve into Chapter 10, exploring the neural science of persuasion and influence. This topic emerged as a key focus area for 2024, providing insights into why understanding persuasion and influence is essential for long-term success. We revisit past episodes and notable works like Jack Carew's You'll Never Get No for an Answer and Mark Waldman's Words Can Change Your Brain. Learn about the three modes of persuasion—logos, pathos, and ethos—as well as practical strategies for improving your persuasive approach. Discover how to apply six scientifically validated principles of persuasion by Dr. Robert Cialdini, focusing on reciprocity, scarcity, and authority. These principles can help you build lasting influence and effectively communicate your ideas. Join us as we explore the difference between persuasion and influence and how to use these skills to achieve your goals while helping others. This episode is dedicated to Monica Gilfillan, a highly influential figure in education, whose support and inspiration remind us of the power of helping others first. Don't miss out on these valuable insights to enhance your self-leadership journey. Subscribe, review, and rate our podcast to stay updated with new episodes! On today's EPISODE #336 we will cover: ✔ The difference between persuasion and influence. ✔ Strategies to improve our persuasion muscles and ways to become more influential for longer lasting relationships and impact. ✔ 3 Tips to Put the Science of Persuasion and Influence into Practice in our Daily Lives. ✔ Dedicated to Monica Gilliflan, a highly influential figure in education, whose support and inspiration remind us of the power of helping others first. On today's episode #336 we continue with our 18-Week Self-Leadership Series based on Grant Bosnick's “Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership: A Bite Size Approach Using Psychology and Neuroscience” that we first dove into with our interview on EP #321[i] the end of January.  The goal was that each week, we focused on learning something new, (from Grant's book) that builds off the prior week, to help take us to greater heights in 2024. For Today, EPISODE #336, we are moving on to Chapter 10, covering “The Neuroscience of Persuasion and Influence” which came as a surprise to me that Pathway Two, showed up as my highest area of focus for 2024. When I looked at the topics that are listed in this pathway, I can see why this area is a work in progress for me, and this self-assessment picked up that I need to make these 3 areas listed in this pathway, a priority in 2024. I'm paying attention to what neuroscience says about persuade and influence, in addition to inspiration, motivation that we covered on EP 324[ii] and presence, that's the last chapter in this book, and I think the most important. (at least for me). If you've taken the leadership self-assessment[iii], look to see if Persuade and Influence is of a low, medium or high priority for you to focus on this year. Thinking back on past episodes, I know we have not yet covered this topic entirely, except for the time I was asked to review Jack Carew's classic book from 1987 called You'll Never Get No For an Answer that was covered on EP176.[iv] We explored “Why Our Brains Don't Like the Word No” and revisited Mark Waldman's book from 2013 Words Can Change Your Brain where we were reminded that  “Words can heal, or hurt—if you were in an fMRI scanner (that can take a video of the neural changes happening in your brain) (and you were told a firm NO! for something) we could record, in less than a second, a substantial increase of activity in your amygdala and the release of dozens of stress-producing hormones and neurotransmitters…that immediately interrupt the normal functioning of your brain, especially those that are involved with logic, reason, language processing, and communication. And the more you stay focused on negative words and thoughts, the more you can damage key structures that regulate your memory, feelings, and emotions. This may disrupt your sleep, your appetite, and the way your brain regulates happiness, longevity and health.”[v] In this episode, we looked at 5/10 of Jack Carew's unique strategies that American Author and Salesman Og Mandino encouraged us all to read to improve our communication and influence with others and I noticed that Strategy 2 was to stop looking out for number one and always look for how you can help others first. So, after noticing this, I went straight to Chapter 10 of Grant Bosnick's book, on “Persuade and Influence” to see what he had to say on this topic. Right off the bat, in the opening of this chapter, Bosnick asks us to think about how we would persuade someone else to do something, like give you a pen you would like to have, for example, or ask for a promotion, or ask someone to buy something you are selling. Then he differentiates the word persuade that he says “we can think of as quick, more direct, more for short-term or immediate gain” (Chapter 10, Bosnick, Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership) while influence he says “is softer, more subtle, much more for longer term and lasting gain.” (Chapter 10, Bosnick, Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership) Persuasion Bosnick says is “more tactical, whereas influence is strategic.”  He gives us the history of persuasion, explaining its origin from the early Greek Philosophers, and that Aristotle wrote about three modes of persuasion: logos (that's about logic and reason), pathos (that's about emotion and inspiration) and ethos (that's about the speaker's own character and credibility). Thinking of Jack Carew's second tip in his book to improve our influence with others (by putting other people first) I think is a good example of a strategy that builds this concept for long-lasting gain (influence) versus persuading someone to give me something that I need for short-term, or immediate gain (like, to pass me their pen, so I can write down something important that I'll need to remember). Bosnick provides a list of strategies to improve our persuasive approach, that includes giving people a sense of ownership, or automony to persuade them to take action with something, or by praising them, and making them feel good for taking action. He offers an exercise to further build our persuasive skills by asking us to complete a sentence: I would like to persuade x to do the following. Then he brings in Jack Carew's strategy for becoming more influential and asks us to think about “what's important to them: their goals, concerns, passions and values.” (Chapter 10, Bosnick, Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership, Page 109). Bosnick goes on to explain how to build influence and his exercise reminded me of a networking event I attended in 2014 called Ceospace.[vi] This was an organization where many leaders came up with an idea, and took their idea out into the world, with the help of a larger, more influential network. Author Adam Markel wrote that “it was one of the most magnificent places for entrepreneurs and business owners to come together to seek guidance, insights, inspiration, collaboration, and support.” It's where Jack Canfield[vii] came up with the idea for his Chicken Soup for the Soul book series, where Lisa Nichols[viii] first began public speaking, and where countless thousands of others launched their ideas into the world. The CEO of this organization passed away in 2020, and from what I can see, this organization didn't thrive without his presence. This CEO, Berny Dohrman, had quite a life story. I felt a connection to Berny because of his passion to make an impact on our educational system. He wrote a book called Super Change[ix]  that was about the tools and strategies needed to survive and thrive in an uncertain future. What I think Berny Dohrmann had that was special, was that he used his influence, to create long lasting change in others. He did not persuade anyone to come to his events for short term results, but was able to influence others easily, with a vision for a better future. It all stemmed around his networking event, where participants would do speed rounds, to meet as many people as possible, asking the other person “What are you working on, and how can I help you.” At the end of the event, participants would have access to high level connections, all who were willing to share the strategies for success that worked for them. It was a brilliant idea, and I know this event took many leaders to new heights. The Science of Persuasion and Influence What was so special about how Berny Dohrmann influenced others? Why was Jack Carew's book from the 1980s still being taught in sales training classes today? I had to look up the Science of Persuasion and Influence and found “6 Scientifically Validated Principles of Persuasion and Influence” that came from Dr. Robert Cialdini.[x] (Chald-ini) I picked the first three to highlight here. Reciprocity. We are obliged to give if we have been given something. This was the whole idea behind Berny's networking events. Participants didn't ask for what they wanted FIRST, they offered to help someone else first, and after you had helped them, they would be more open to helping you. This was also Jack Carew's second strategy. Stop looking out for number one. Always think of how you can help others first, and you will naturally draw them to want to help you back. Scarcity. If it's scarce, we want it more. Use this by highlighting the Benefits, Uniqueness and Possible Loss. Berny did this with his networking events by holding them twice a year. If you missed the event, you missed the chance to network with these brilliant minds. Jack Carew picked this as his 10th strategy for becoming more influential. He called his last chapter in the book “Become the Only Choice.” What if you missed the event that would change your future? Carew explains this concept like “the fear of loss.” No one want to miss an opportunity. There is a science to persuading and influencing others and it's all about showing others how you (or what you offer) is unique and something that no one else (other than you) can offer. Authority. We are more likely to comply with a request if it is coming from a perceived authority/expert. Dr. Cialdini explains this one on the home page of his website, Influence at Work: Proven Science for Business Success. He says that “it's important to signal to others what makes you credible before you attempt to influence them.”[xi] It's better if you don't do this yourself, and have someone else introduce you, with your credentials, first. This is what made Berny Dohrmann's networking events successful as each participant was introduced to another person with their credentials and experience, that gave that person instant authority to help, or influence others. REVIEW AND CONCLUSION To review and conclude this week's episode #336 on Chapter 10 on “The Neuroscience of Persuading and Influencing” DID YOU KNOW: “There are 6 short cuts to increase the chances that someone will be persuaded?” (Robert Cialdini) We covered the first three: Reciprocity. We are obliged to give if we have been given something. Use the neuroscience of influence and persuasion, and think of ways to help others first, (just like Berny Dohrmann's networking events), instead of thinking what you can gain from other people, think of what you can give to them. Always be the first to give and take the time to make sure what you are giving is personalized and useful to that person. This way, what you will give will have more meaning to that person. Scarcity. If it's scarce, we want it more. Use this by highlighting the Benefits, Uniqueness and Possible Loss. Take the time to find out how what you are offering to someone else, will help them. You will need to find out what they are looking for to do this, by asking questions, and listening. Then you can “frame what you are saying/offering, so others will find it to be valuable.”[xii] Authority. We are more likely to comply with a request if it is coming from a perceived authority/expert. Being introduced by others is a fast way to have others learn about your expertise, making you instantly more influential and persuasive. We looked at Chapter 10 from Grant Bosnick's Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership where Bosnick explained the difference between the word persuade that he says “we can think of as quick, more direct, more for short-term or immediate gain” (Chapter 10, Bosnick, Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership) while influence he says “is softer, more subtle, much more for longer term and lasting gain.” (Chapter 10, Bosnick, Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership). We looked at a past episode on this topic, taking us back to Mark Waldman's book from 2013 Words Can Change Your Brain reminding us to be careful of the words we choose to speak to others. My take-away from this chapter: If I want to improve my influence, it begins with understanding the wants and needs of my audience first (how can I help them) and then being able to say what I mean, and mean what I say. The words I speak do matter when I'm working on gaining influence.  If I'm speaking with someone, and not being completely honest, or not meaning what I say, I know that this can be felt by the other person, and it will hurt my ability to gain trust, rapport and influence. Our brains can detect “benefits and threats”[xiii] and I want to be sure that I'm drawing those I want to interact with towards me, not away from me. Once I have gained influence with someone I am speaking with, then I can take my persuasion skills to the next level, and we can begin to work together on our common goals. For example, if someone is asking me in a sales situation if I can offer them a discount. When I've build rapport and trust with this person, I can say “yes, I can give you 5% off this order, if you would be able to guarantee the order will come in by the end of this month.” We can begin to use our persuasion and influencing skills to not only give others what they need, but also negotiate with them, for what we need. I hope this episode has helped to give you some ideas on ways to practice the neuroscience of persuading and influencing, to help others with their goals first, and then in turn, allow you to move yourself forward in this process, with these skills. I also want to end this episode, with a mention to someone I ran into recently, who I had not seen about 10 years. I ran into Monica Gilfillan[xiv] an avid listener of this podcast, and I had no idea, until we spoke recently and she shared how these episodes were helping her with new ideas. This made me feel proud and grateful (coming from a peer) and did infuse me with some extra energy to keep going with these episodes. If there is someone I would list as highly influential, who knows how to persuade others, it's Monica Gilfillan. Over the years, I noticed as I connected with a new person in the field of education, they were always connected to her. After she shared how the podcast was helping her, she went straight to ask me how she could help, and what I needed. We all need people in our network who are wired to help others, and I highly suggest connecting with Monica, especially if you are in the field of education. She is an influencer who everyone can benefit from knowing. I thought it was fitting to dedicate The Neuroscience of Persuasion and Influence to Monica Gilfillan and to thank her (and all of you who tune in) for listening. CONNECT with Monica Gilfillan https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicagilfillan/ And with that, we will close out this episode. We'll see you next with Chapter 11 on Time Management. REVIEW In this 18-week Series that we began in the beginning of February, (after I was inspired to cover Grant's book after our interview the end of January) we are covering: ✔ Powerful tactics from this Grant Bosnick's award-winning book that illustrates how change and achievement are truly achievable both from internal ('inside out') and external ('outside in') perspectives. ✔Listeners will grasp the immense power of self-leadership and its transformative effect on personal growth and success by applying the neuroscience Grant has uncovered in each chapter. ✔Explore practical strategies for habit formation and the impact of a self-assessment system. ✔Gain insights from Grant's expert advice on maintaining a balance between strengths and weaknesses while chasing after your goals. ✔Embark on an intellectual journey that has the power to elevate personal achievement and self-awareness to uncharted levels while we map out our journey over this 18-week course. REFERENCES: [i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #321 with Grant ‘Upbeat' Bosnick  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/insights-from-grant-upbeat-bosnick/   [ii]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #324 on “The Neuroscience of Inspiration and Motivation”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/a-self-leadership-series/   [iii] Self-Assessment for Grant Bosnick's book https://www.selfleadershipassessment.com/   [iv]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #176 https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-neuroscience-of-communication-why-our-brain-doesn-t-like-the-word-no/   [v] Words Can Change Your Brain by Andrew Newberg, MD and Mark Robert Waldman, Published July 30, 2013 https://www.amazon.com/s?k=words+can+change+your+brain&gclid=CjwKCAjwoP6LBhBlEiwAvCcthCiCJCWZ-n3nMbmllmxcYj7pY9p3EGBjIT1liFGTzVVBlYWdxCBg6hoC3DMQAvD_BwE&hvadid=241598338504&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9030091&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=2910883915011355196&hvtargid=kwd-36327312367&hydadcr=15527_10340956&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_2ixec66yv3_e   [vi] https://ceospacemembers.com/   [vii] https://jackcanfield.com/   [viii] https://motivatingthemasses.com/   [ix] Super Change by Berny Dohrmann October 31, 2019  https://www.amazon.com/Super-Change-Survive-Thrive-Uncertain/dp/1949003906   [x] https://www.influenceatwork.com/7-principles-of-persuasion/   [xi] The Science of Persuasion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdCzN7RYbw   [xii] The Neuroscience of Influence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-5CZ2AXT1o   [xiii] The Neuroscience of Influence Leadership Coaching by Dean Newlund https://mfileadership.com/2021/01/27/the-neuroscience-of-influence/   [xiv] Monica Gilfillan https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicagilfillan/    

The Word is Our New DNA (audio) David Eells – 4/14/24 Is God your Father? If so you have His DNA. Jesus is the Word made flesh as we must be. His Word manifested in you to the extent you are ruled by it is His DNA. Scientists say, “DNA contains the instructions necessary for life.” Sound familiar? Our Fathers Word is His spiritual DNA. Below are Notes by Deb Horton of an article which reports that science has finally acknowledged that words have physical power. After removing all the New Age gobbledygook, the article acknowledges that Russian scientists have discovered that spoken words alone can and do reprogram DNA. So, the tongue conquers the curse or the tongue can bring the curse. Key points quoted from the article, which is translated from German, so the terminology will sound a little strange in English (Deborah's comments in parentheses) (David's in red): DNA can be influenced and reprogrammed by words and frequencies WITHOUT cutting out and replacing single genes. (Father didn't use this method of man.) The Russian linguists found that the genetic code, especially in the apparently useless 90% (which has been (falsely) called "junk DNA"), follows the same rules as all our human languages...(and that) human languages ... are a reflection of our inherent DNA. (So changing our Words changes our DNA. At Babel languages were confused which separated people by DNA.) One can simply use words and sentences of the human language ... to influence genetic information! This, too, was experimentally proven! Living DNA substance (in living tissue, not in vitro) will always react to language-modulated laser rays and even to radio waves, if the proper frequencies are being used. This finally and scientifically explains why affirmations ... (can) repair genetic defects. (Changing our affirmations to agree with the Word changes our DNA.) ...our body is programmable by language, words and thought. This has now been scientifically proven and explained....The individual person must work on the inner processes (i.e., casting down every thought and imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of God) and maturity in order to establish a conscious communication with the DNA. The Russian scientists also found out that our (fallen Adamic) DNA can cause disturbing patterns ....Stress, worries or a hyperactive intellect prevent (or) distort the communication (and) make it useless. (Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.) An ordered group consciousness creates order in its whole surroundings! When a great number of people get together very closely, potentials of violence also dissolve. (Who can be closer than the true church? We are a “chosen generation”) Researchers think that if humans with full individuality would regain group consciousness (We are one in Christ if we abide in Him.), they would have a god-like power to create, alter and shape things on Earth! (That would be when two or more of you agree on the Words of Christ it shall be done by our Father. One will chase a thousand and two ten thousand.) AND humanity is collectively moving toward such a group consciousness of the new kind. (This part is new age nonsense. Little do they know that the beginning of such a movement in our time will be the corporate Man-child Body of believers and then the corporate Bride body who follows them.) They said that when "healers" were photographed during healing sessions, they appeared as fields of light. (The Word said, He was the Light that lighteth every man.) The Neuroscience Behind Our Words OPINION Posted August 8th, 2019 | Category: BRM Capability, Business Relationship Management Research, Professional Development | Contributed by Lindsey Horton     Sticks and Stones “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” This phrase is reminiscent of childhood recess when we didn't want others to know how hurtful their words truly were. However, the belief that physical injury is more painful than psychological or emotional injury is not necessarily true. Scientific studies actually show that positive and negative words not only affect us on a deep psychological level, but they have a significant impact on the outcome of our lives.     Words Can Hurt Me In their neuroscience experiment, “Do Words Hurt?”, Maria Richter and collaborating scientists monitored subjects' brain responses to auditory and imagined negative words. During this process, they discovered painful or negative words increase Implicit Processing (IMP) within the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sACC). Put frankly, their study proved that negative words release stress and anxiety-inducing hormones in subjects. Additionally, a study found increased levels of anxiety in children associated with higher rates of negative self-talk. According to the study's abstract. (Speak the promises to your children to put faith in them.) “These results suggest negative self-talk plays a role in the generation or maintenance of anxiety in normal children.” Ultimately, negative words, whether spoken, heard, or thought, not only cause situational stress, but also contribute to long-term anxiety. (And health problems.) Naturally, the recognition that holding negative thoughts in our mind is enough to induce stress and anxiety hormones begs the question, “What effect do positive thoughts have?” In their jointly written book, Words Can Change Your Brain, Dr. Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at Thomas Jefferson University, and Mark Robert Waldman, a communications expert state, “a single word has the power to influence the expression of genes that regulate physical and emotional stress.” Furthermore, according to these two experts in their field, exercising positive thoughts can quite literally change one's reality. “By holding a positive and optimistic [word] in your mind, you stimulate frontal lobe activity. This area includes specific language centers that connect directly to the motor cortex responsible for moving you into action. And as our research has shown, the longer you concentrate on positive words, the more you begin to affect other areas of the brain.”     ~Newburg, Waldman Over time, given sustained positive thought, functions in the parietal lobe start to change. Consequently, this changes our perception of the self and those around us. (For instance Rejection is passed on to spouses and children when one is critical and judgmental of them.) Essentially, holding a positive view of ourselves helps train our brain to see the good in others. Thus, by exercising consistent positive thoughts and speech, we not only change our self-perception, but how we perceive the world around us. Ultimately, this grants us the ability to shape our reality and change the world for the better. Evidently, as humans, our thought patterns directly shape our perception of the world and those around us. Our thoughts become our words, and therefore our language. This holds true for humans individually, as well as organizationally. A strong company culture is one derived from a shared positive language based on organizational core values. As BRMs, we know that relationships lie at the core of our role, and that language shapes our human interactions. So, how can we make a shift in the language we use in our daily work lives to reduce the negative associations with traditional “corporate lingo”? (This is true of a business or Church or individuals.)     David's Teaching When we concentrate on the Good News of the promises our DNA is changed. This happens when we think those words, hear them, or speak them. Rom 1:16-17  For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  17  For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith. Faith has a positive effect in turning our DNA into His. That puts the power of creation in our minds and mouth. Jesus gave us the inheritance of His DNA. He is called the “Father of Eternity”. Isa. 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Everlasting Father is also translated “Father of Eternity.”) The seed He sows makes us eternal for we receive His DNA. In the parable of the sower in Mat. 13, Jesus sowed the seed of His Word in the hearts of men. In some places in the larger text the word seed is translated from “sperma”. So, we see that it is His life's blood that He is sowing in us and He is our spiritual Father. Since this is true, we have inherited His DNA. We see in that text how many fall short of this regeneration through distractions and polutions of the seed of the Word, Jesus' DNA. Mat 13:19-25  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the evil one, and snatcheth away that which hath been sown in his heart. This is he that was sown by the way side.  20  And he that was sown upon the rocky places, this is he that heareth the word, and straightway with joy receiveth it;  21  yet hath he not root in himself, but endureth for a while; and when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, straightway he stumbleth.  22  And he that was sown among the thorns, this is he that heareth the word; and the care of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.  23  And he that was sown upon the good ground, this is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; who verily beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  24  Another parable set he before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man that sowed good seed (Greek: Sperma) in his field:  25  but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away. What scientists have discovered is being changed by the man-made plague is the DNA by creating an extra helix. This is creating trans-humans. Part beast and part human are like the mixed multitude who came out of Egypt with the Jews. The people who stay this way are definitely lukewarm members of the Beast body to be spewed out of Christ's body. Those who believe the Gospel will be delivered as their beastly flesh is being crucified. Through faith in God's Word we are delivered from this curse and that is what the positive affirmation in Gal. 3:13 tells us. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. So, in effect, He exchanged our cursed life for His blessed life through us affirming His Word / DNA. This exchange is called reconciliation, translated from the Greek word, “Katallasso”. In context, this means the exchange of Christ's life (DNA) for ours. Col. 1:21-23  And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, 22 yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him (with Jesus' DNA): 23 if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister. This reconciliation is made possible when we like Paul believe and confess the promise that we don't live anymore Christ lives in us. Gal. 2:20  I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me (Jesus' DNA): and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. So, since it is Christ living in us, we have His DNA.  Paul explains how enlightened saints exchange their DNA for the Lord's through thinking, believing and speaking 2Co. 3:18  But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory (Jesus' DNA), even as from the Lord the Spirit. When we partake of the bread and wine at the Lord's supper, we, by faith, are partaking of His body and blood and we have His life in ourselves, which incorporates His DNA. Since Jesus is the “Word made flesh”, when we spiritually digest His Word, so that it becomes a part of our thinking and speech, we are partaking of His DNA.  Joh. 6:53-57 Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life (Jesus' DNA) in yourselves. 54 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath (His DNA) eternal life: and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he that eateth me, he also shall live because of me. (Notice, eating His flesh and drinking His blood gives us His life, which incorporates His DNA.) The life of the flesh is in the blood of Jesus and His body.  Lev. 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood (Jesus' DNA); and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life (Jesus' DNA). When we were born of the flesh of our fallen parents, our DNA was corrupt and became more so as we grew in sin. When we partake of Christ's DNA through faith we begin to reverse this process. This begins with a born again spirit and continues to take over the soul through our obedience to the truth. We were told that the Lord would return in these last days as the latter rain on this morning of the third day. Hos. 6:1-3 Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up (Jesus' DNA) and we shall live (Jesus' DNA) before him. 3 And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth. (He will on the morning of the third thousand year day from the advent of Jesus. We were promised in these last days, when the former and latter rain of the Spirit of God is poured out, there will be a restoration of all the years of degeneration. Joel 2:23-26 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in Jehovah your God; for he giveth you the former rain in just measure, and he causeth to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, in the first month.  24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. 25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you (Representing the curse which Jesus bore). 26 And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and shall praise the name of Jehovah your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you; and my people shall never be put to shame. We had a wonderful dream that Tiannah shared with us about restored DNA. In the dream she visited us (She is coming now) and said that, “David looked so very young. ...His skin was completely clear, no wrinkles or blemishes and everything was physically perfect…I turned and looked to my other side and I saw Vanessa Weeks …she too, looked so young and ageless, with perfect skin. Her skin was more beautiful than any skin I have ever seen…Eve also looked so young and ageless. There were no wrinkles or anything, and her skin was just pure.”  The angels also told us about our DNA restoration when David asked, “What does the coming restoration involve personally? 30 years younger?” The angel Jeruel said, “Restoration on a DNA cellular level. Faith and power will be imputed to receive healing and restoration. It will be complete restoration not partial. The first fruits are first. They will be the trail blazers. There will be a mighty supernatural outpouring of spiritual restoration; of closeness to God through His Holy Spirit.” When we look in the mirror, and by faith see Jesus' reflection, we are expecting His DNA to be manifested in our bodies.  So, it's ours NOW by faith and we know that there is coming a wonderful manifestation of Christ in us. But we need to believe it now and when we realize this, it can go a long way towards overcoming the temptations to act on the symptoms of sickness that we experience. God is preparing us to be immune to the judgments of this world by filling us with His promises and renewing our minds with His Word (Jesus' DNA). (Rom. 12:2) And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  Jesus told us in, (Luk. 21:25) And there shall be signs in the sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows. You can see the “roaring of the sea and the billows” as being the anger of the nations against one another, because the Bible tells us in Revelation 17:15 that the “waters” represent peoples, nations, and tongues.  Obviously, the things that nations are exporting around the world, such as terrorism and anarchy and so on, are making a lot of people fearful. (26) Men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world: for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.  What is this “expectation”? Depopulation by war, disease, famine, The approach of Planet X/Nibiru will be seen. It's also in general, believing in the curse. It's believing these things are all a threat to you, and seeing in your imagination all the terrible things that could happen to you because of them. That's why we're told to cast down vain imaginations. The devil prepares us to fail through our fallen imaginations.  Again, people aren't dying because of the curse. The Lord bore the curse. Gal 3:13  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:  They're dying because of unbelief in the sacrifice and fear, which looses the curse. Faith in the promises binds the curse. In every instance where you're put into a position of being threatened, remember that the devil and his army, his angels, see in both the spirit realm and in the physical realm. They coordinate their attacks on you to coincide with the things that you see with your eyes or the things you hear with your ears or, especially, the imaginations in your mind about the things that could happen. They will pounce on you so that you are struck, suddenly, with this temptation to fear.  You know, we think in pictures and the devil will take you over with those pictures. He will put fear in you exactly as this verse is talking about here. You need to stop immediately and make war on him when he attacks you with these things or he will just take you away, and then you will be at the mercy of the judgments that are around you. We've seen from the Scriptures, very plainly, that Jesus bore the whole curse upon Himself when He was upon the Cross (Galatians 3:13). We've also seen in, (Rom.10:10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  We need to confess Psalm 91 in the midst of the trouble, when there's an opportunity for us to give the devil authority to take us away, the Gospel is the power of God to save the one who believes it (Romans 1:16). In the midst of the trouble, you make your confession because faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Whenever your actions are totally contrary to faith, the devil takes that as his authority. Jesus told us, (Mat.18:18) Verily I say unto you, what things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  So, the devil is going to make war on the saints with the judgments that are coming upon the world. And most people don't know that those judgments are coming upon the world, not to hurt the saints, but to deliver the saints, because these judgments are going to separate the wheat from the tares. They will be a Passover of those with the blood, Jesus' DNA, to destroy the wicked as it was with the Egyptians. I want to share with you a revelation from Dimitru Duduman that fits exactly what we're talking about here. This vision was given to Dimitru in May of 1993 when he was living in Oregon. It describes our rights in Christ and how the Blood of Jesus' DNA is applied through casting down fear and doubt and speaking the promise, which is, of course, our Sword of the Spirit.  He said, “It was getting dark. Then, suddenly, it turned pitch black. It's interesting that we can look around us right now and see that it's starting to get dark. People are mentioning to me that they're seeing many things that they've never seen before. They're seeing Christians, lukewarm Christians, turn toward darkness, and governments that have been taken over by the beast. He said, It was as if the whole world had gone dark at that moment. We are on the verge of that darkness coming. It will be great tribulation and we need to be ready for it. We need to not waste our time and dilute or corrupt the Word as Jesus' DNA. We need to have our armor on.  Dumitru went on to say, All the people were in a frenzy. They became disoriented, and some were even screaming. That sounds exactly like the verse we just read in Luke 21. These are the recorded symptoms of the effects on the minds of those experiencing Planet X. He said, After some time, we heard the sound of an army approaching. This is talking about the devil's army, multitudes of demon spirits that make war on the saints and also inhabit men, who physically make war on the saints. We call that body the “beast.”  He said, Soon, we saw them coming out of the black mist. All were dressed in black, except for one. That one seemed to be their leader. He was dressed in a red robe with a thick, black belt over his waist. On his head, he had a sign. As I looked, I saw that in his hand, he held the same kind of sharp spear as everyone else in his army. He exclaimed, “I am Lucifer, I am the king of this world. I've come to make war against the Christians.” This war is about to start. The darkness is covering the earth.  It looked as though all the Christians were huddled together in one big group. Some began to cry when they heard this. Others began to tremble, while some just stood, without saying anything. What is this that's already happening to God's people in this revelation? It's Satan's warfare against them. They're crying, they're trembling, they're fearful because of the threat they can see. What is the devil's army? It's those spirits that attack your mind, spirits such as fear and doubt and grief and condemnation and lust and hatred and unforgiveness and rejection and addictions of different kinds and occultic things and thefts and lying and on and on… Everybody has trials with these spirits making war against them as the spirits seek to bring them under their control to destroy them.  Praise the Lord that we've been delivered of this by Jesus Christ! All the promises that are given to us in the Word of God are what we can use as our Sword to set each other free. Well, when they saw Satan's army coming in great force, many people trembled and were fearful, but some didn't do anything because they weren't moved by what they saw.  Lucifer continued to speak. “All of those that want to fight against my army, and think they can be victorious, go to the right…” Obviously, that's where Jesus put the sheep; on His right. If you're not convinced that you can be victorious against Satan's army, it's because you don't have enough of the Word of God in your mind to really do warfare with him. We have to have on that “helmet of salvation” which protects our mind in the battle (Ephesians 6:17). We have to have the knowledge of the fact that we are protected, we are delivered, it is finished, Jesus has overcome the world, and the only thing left is for us to enter into those works that were finished from the foundation of the world (Hebrews chapters 3 and 4).  How do we do that? We enter into those works by faith. Everything that Jesus did, the body of Christ is going to do. Joh 14:12-13  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father.  13  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Jesus had victory, He knew he could conquer Satan. Satan trembled before Him, because Jesus knew Who He was. He was a Son of God. He is the only begotten Son of God, in Whom we, too, are sons through rebirth. Jesus said, (Joh. 20:21) … Peace be unto you: as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you. If you know who you are, and you know what God says about you, the devil trembles before you, but he can convince a lot of people who justify themselves and are not really believers of the Word of God.  So the devil said, “All of those that want to fight against my army, and think they can be victorious, go to the right, and those that fear me, go to the left.” Why does God permit this war? He is permitting this war to separate the sheep from the goats. In these end times, the Lord says that He is going to spew the lukewarm out of his mouth (Revelation 3:16). He's not going to have any fence riders; you're going to be in either one camp or the other. This warfare of the devil against the Church is going to bring the separation, and notice what he says next. Only about a quarter of the group stepped to the right. That means three-quarters of what were called “Christians” in this revelation were no threat to the devil, and he was going to conquer them.  All the others went to the left. That was three-quarters of them went to the left because of fear. Those of them who knew they would be victorious over Satan were only a quarter of the Christians, and I don't think that is really a stretch at all. Even today, there are very few people that are actually chasing Satan, and the rest are all being chased by him, which is exactly what the Bible tells us. (Luk. 11:21) When the strong [man] (Satan) fully armed guardeth his own court, his goods are in peace: (22) but when a stronger than he (Jesus) shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him his whole armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. (23) He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. So to those who know the truth Satan is a wimp. To those who don't know it he is their lord. Then, Lucifer ordered his army, “Destroy those on the right.” The army began to advance and quickly surround the Christians on the right. (Remember that's the smaller group, the one-quarter who are not afraid.) And as they began to close in on us, a powerful light appeared, and encircled us. Then, the angel of the Lord spoke, “Take out your Swords and fight! Defend yourselves! Be victorious over the enemy.” “What swords?” a man in the group asked. “The Word of the Lord is your Sword,” the angel answered. Yes, take out your Sword and fight and be victorious over the enemy. The devil can do nothing against it; there is no weapon that he can use to defend against your Sword, which is the Word of God in your heart, the DNA of Jesus. It is the true Word of God. It cannot be denied. It will fulfill the purpose that God sent it for, but we have to use our sword. Luk 1:37  For no word from God shall be void of power. Here is a word just below this one that gives power over the enemy. Luk 1:67-75 ASV  And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying,  68  Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; For he hath visited and wrought redemption for his people,  69  And hath raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of his servant David  70  (As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old),  71  Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;  72  To show mercy towards our fathers, And to remember his holy covenant;  73  The oath which he sware unto Abraham our father,  74  To grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies Should serve him without fear,  75  In holiness and righteousness before him all our days. You may have all the knowledge that you need but you won't be able to even hear it in the midst of this emotion of fear that has come upon you. So stop and make war. The devil can't stand before you if you use your Sword. You don't necessarily have to quote the Word of God to conquer the devil, but you do have to agree with the Word of God to conquer the devil. You have to know what the Word of God says in order to speak in agreement with the Word of God, so if you're not sure about what the Scriptures say, you need to spend more time in the Word.)  Let's continue with Dumitru's revelation. When we understood what the angel meant, we began to quote verses from the Bible. Then, suddenly, as if we were one voice, we began to sing a song. (That's the thing about songs; they bring people into one accord, and there's power in agreement. Jesus promised us, (Mat. 18:19) Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven. (20) For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.  What happens when there are more than two or three of you in agreement? (Deu. 32:30) How should one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Except their Rock had sold them, And the Lord had delivered them up? One will chase a thousand and two will chase ten thousand; that's multiplied power, so it's a blessing for us to be in agreement with each other and with the Word of God. That's why God has given us His Word. Of course, it does no good if you're in agreement with a lot of apostates because no matter how large a group they might be, you still will have no power.  The devil is going to show us this in Dumitru's revelation. He's going to conquer these people. The devil wants to make war, and he wants to take out the people who are a threat to him. He'd like to take out their physical life and he'd like to take out their spiritual life, because they're doing him damage. He will make war on you but he's not able to do anything that God doesn't permit him to do. You see, God permits the devil to come try us in order to build our faith. Faith is like a muscle. If your faith isn't tried, it's not going to get stronger. We go through things to try our faith, and in the process, we also learn how to quickly pull out our Sword and use it to conquer the enemy.)  Back to Dimitru: So the smaller group began to quote verses from the Bible and they began to sing a song. Our voices thundered so loudly that the dark army began to retreat. (These are the people on the right. These are the sheep with Jesus' DNA.) The enemy did not have the courage to come against us anymore. Lucifer, filled with rage, turned to those on the left. (Those on the left are the three-quarters majority of the Christians.) “You, who all of your life have been trying to please two masters, because you could not stand against me, I have the power to destroy you.” That is true. He's been given that power to destroy people who are in unbelief and, in these end times, we have very little time left to learn to walk in the Kingdom of God.  Satan's going to be cast down. He knows he has a short time left (Revelation 12:9,12). He's going to fight furiously. He and his army and the people whom they inhabit are going to come against us with great fury, but we have a weapon that they can't resist. The problem is that far too many of God's people don't use that weapon; they don't use the promises of the Word of God. The Word is our Sword and the demons cannot stand up to that. We see here that those people who, all their life, tried to serve two masters, had no protection. They tried to serve both self and the Lord; they were double-minded (James 1:7-8). They were found to be lukewarm and there was no protection for these people (Revelation 3:16).  We need to get our armor on, we need to be on fire for God, and we need to learn to fight. (Eph. 6:10) Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. (11) Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (12) For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual [hosts] of wickedness in the heavenly [places].  (13) Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. (14) Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, (15) and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; (16) withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil [one]. (17) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, Jesus' DNA. In this revelation, when Lucifer said, “I have the power to destroy you,” who gave him that power? The back slidden Church did. They are the ones who have been given authority on earth to bind or to loose, and here they have loosed Satan because of their unbelief, their double-mindedness, and their lukewarmness.) He then ordered his army to attack. It was a total massacre. The ones on the left could not defend themselves. (Could you imagine that three-quarters of Christianity could not defend themselves right now? It seems fairly obvious. “Many are called but few are chosen.”  One by one, they all fell. This killing seemed to go on for a long time (I believe that this killing is not just physical, but spiritual, because many of these people are going to lose their eternal life like the faction who lost both.), and after a while, we could actually smell the stench of the dead. “Why could they not be protected also?” someone asked. The angel answered, “Because all their lives, they have been lukewarm. Because of their hypocrisy, the true church has been blasphemed.” (Speaking, of course, of the quarter who went to the right, the sheep. They have been blasphemed. They have been accused by the world because of the hypocrisy of the false church, the three-quarters of the people who went to the left.) “They have brought disrespect to the Word of God.” (It's true; today we see people just scoff at the Word of God. Even “Christians” scoff at the Word of God.  In the midst of a trial, you may share the Word of God with them but they'll choose to cling to the idol, the stronghold in their mind. They'll choose their idol instead of (2Co. 10:5) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Satan has been able to set-up a stronghold in their mind because they're worshiping false gods. They have a false Jesus, as Paul said. (2Co. 11:4) For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if ye receive a different spirit, which ye did not receive, or a different gospel, which ye did not accept, ye do well to bear with [him]. That false Jesus can't save you because he's not the Word of God.  The true Jesus is the Word of God; the true Jesus is our Sword. He can save. He will save all those who respect Him. All through the Old Testament, God warns us about the danger of worshiping idols, like religions and their preachers. It's sad that so many Christians today worship a Jesus that does not exist. Their “Jesus” is nothing more than demons (Leviticus 17:7; Deuteronomy 32:17; 1 Corinthians 10:20) that they have set up as their idols and they will not save. Satan does not cast out Satan, as Jesus told the Pharisees. (Mat. 12:26) … Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: (26) and if Satan casteth out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?  If you are following, worshiping, and putting your faith in a false Jesus, he will not save you. “Anti-Christ” means not only “against Christ,” but also “in the place of Christ.” The devil likes to replace the real Jesus with a false Jesus because that way, when you put your trust in him, he will fail you. And this is what's going to happen in the days to come, according to Dimitru's dream. Three-quarters of the church is going to have their false “Jesus” fail them.  God explained to me that He does not answer when you trust in a false Jesus because then you would be giving credit to your false Jesus, and other people would trust in him too. When that happens, and when their false Jesus fails to save them, people blame God. They complain, “But I believed!” No, they didn't believe because their faith was in a false Jesus who couldn't save. Satan will never cast out Satan.  The angel went on to say of those who were killed by Lucifer's army, “They were not clean.” You have no authority to swing the Sword unless you're “clean,” unless your conscience is not condemning you. (1Jn. 3:21) Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God; (22) and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.  The devil conquers those people who are walking in sin and rebellion and defilement. Even though they intellectually know all about faith and how it works, they're not able to use faith. It takes faith to swing the Sword. If you are unholy, the devil will pick that point of uncleanness to jump on you and condemn you so that you can't have faith. You will have fear instead. This is faith in reverse and an invitation to Satan to take you down. You can give-in to the temptations of fear and doubt that the devil fires at you in the midst of the fiery trial, or you can fight. Be sure to confess your sins so that the devil can't use condemnation against you. 1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Then you can swing your Sword with bold faith and you will win. 1Jn 3:21-22  Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God;  22  and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. 2Ti. 1:7 For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline.  The word translated as “discipline” comes from the Greek sóphrón meaning “of sound mind; self-controlled; balanced.” Any fear that comes against you is from the devil; it's not from God. Jesus told us that we should fear only God (Matthew 10:28). The fear of the Lord is good, because every child should fear that their father will spank them if they're going in the wrong direction. In that way, we should always fear God, but the Lord isn't going to lead you by fear all the time, and if you feel that way, you're probably being moved by the devil.  Scripture tells us, (Rom.8:15) For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Since God's method of leading His children is not fear, whenever fear comes upon you, you need to make war against it immediately. You need to stop whatever you're doing and cast down the thoughts that the devil is putting in your mind. Cast down those pictures that the devil is putting in your mind, and make war against that spirit, because otherwise he will conquer you.  Back to Dimitru: As we continued to look, we saw the sun coming over the horizon. I think that represents the coming of the Lord. The black clouds began to break up, then they disappeared. Only one was left, the one on which Lucifer and his army stood. Lucifer looked at me, shaking his fist, and said, “I will destroy you, even if I have to throw my spear at you from here.” Then that cloud disappeared. …The first thought that came to my mind as I awoke was that this had been the last fight of the devil against the church. If we remain faithful, we will be victorious. Yes! Amen.  So get ready, saints! Put on your armor, because this battle, the last war against the Church, is coming at us right now. (Rev. 13:1) … And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns, and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. (7) And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. The “beast” that's warring with the saints here is made up of all the fleshly vessels whom this army from the pit is going to inhabit.  This awesome revelation from Dimitru shows us very clearly that if you don't walk holy before God, your faith is going to fail you. (1Jn. 3:19) Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before him (You have to have this assurance in your heart if you're going to do battle with the devil. He knows everything about you.): (20) because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. If you're condemned by what you know about yourself, just think what God knows about you (Psalm 139:1-24). However, if you're walking with the Lord by faith, it's only the things that you know about, but don't do, that He holds against you. It's not the things that you don't know. (Jas. 4:17) To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.  Of course, if you're walking in rebellion against the Lord then your sins are not covered. (Heb. 10:26) For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, (27) but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries. In that case, you have no assurance in your heart, so the first time you get into trouble and you try to swing your Sword, the devil's going to jump on you like a mad dog. He's going to remind you of all of your sins and then you're not going to have any faith. (1Jn. 3:21) Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God; (22) and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.  You know, we all have people who depend upon us: friends, relatives, people for whom we've prayed, children who are our responsibility. Scripture says, (Rom. 14:7) For none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself. The Lord wants to use us to save others and the day is coming when God is going to need you as a vessel of honor in the midst of many people. He is going to need you to save, to deliver, to bring the Gospel, and so on.  Now, more than ever before in history, we need to repent and be sanctified. We need to walk holy before the Lord. The Bible says, (Rom. 6:11) Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. You see, the Lord has already delivered us by faith, and He uses our faith to manifestly deliver us. He uses the Word of God in our mouth (Jesus' DNA), which is our confession, to manifestly deliver us and others from the power of sin.  God is the One (Col. 1:13) who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love. It happened at the Cross, and we need to confess it, but we won't be able to confess it in the midst of the fiery trial if we're walking in willful disobedience. We won't have any faith to swing our Swords. (Psa. 91:7) A thousand shall fall at thy side, And ten thousand at thy right hand; [But] it shall not come nigh thee.  He's talking about the person who is not afraid, the person who is in the secret place of the Most High because of their faith. He's talking about the person who is confessing that faith, the faith of Psalm 91. When He says, “A thousand shall fall at thy side, And ten thousand at thy right hand,” do you suppose that some of those are Christians? Yes, I guarantee at least some of these people are what we call “Christians,” and it's sad. The Lord cries when this happens, and we do, too. A multitude of people, obviously, are not prepared for what's about to come, but God can use your witness to them. You can share the true Gospel with many people who don't know the true, full Gospel. Other people have rejected the full Gospel and they are not prepared to swing their Sword at all. Pray for them. Remember that someone in the revelation had to ask, “What swords?” Before you go to battle, you ought to know what your Sword is, you ought to know how to swing it, and you ought to be experienced in using it, because (Rom. 1:17) … the righteous shall live by faith. We don't have any choice. The devil's not going to ask us if we want to make war with him; he's already making war with us. The people who are abiding in the secret place of the Most High, which is Jesus Christ, are full of Jesus' DNA and are ready to swing the Sword. They have repented of and confessed their sins, therefore they can be bold in their faith.  I've heard people say, usually from among the non-Spirit-filled groups, that Psalm 91 is for the Millennium or something silly like that, as if it's not true for us right now. Well, if you believe that, you have no Sword. You're going to be in the three-quarters group that goes to the left and is whipped by Satan in the end times. If you don't believe in the full Gospel and the power of the Spirit of God, how can you escape?  If you don't believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the promises of the Word of God, how can you escape? How can you escape “the pestilence that walketh in darkness” or “the destruction that wasteth at noonday”? Do you know enough of the Word of God, having Jesus' DNA, to know that it's your right to escape these things? If you don't, you're not going to escape.  Jesus said, (Mat.9:29) … According to your faith be it done unto you, and (Mat.8:13) … As thou hast believed, [so] be it done unto thee. Jesus saw the faith. (Mat.9:2) And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven. (3) And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. (4) And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? (5) For which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and walk? (6) But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, and take up thy bed, and go up unto thy house. (7) And he arose, and departed to his house. (8) But when the multitudes saw it, they were afraid, and glorified God, who had given such authority unto men.  He had the authority to administer the blessing when He saw the faith. The faith He saw was in actions, it wasn't just words, it wasn't just theology in somebody's head. He saw the actions, (Rom. 10:10) for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Get prepared, saints. The war is coming. It's not going to wait on you. It's not going to wait on me. It's coming. It will be on time.  If, as Joshua and Caleb, you don't believe the bad report but speak in agreement with the Word of God (Numbers 14:6-8), you will be like those people who did not worry about the giants. (Num. 14:9) Only rebel not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land (This is speaking of the giants in the Promised Land.); for they are bread for us: their defense is removed from over them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. You'll be among those people who make it through the wilderness. You'll be among those people who enter into the Promised Land in your body. That's what they did.  (Num.14:30) Surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. The rest did not; they died out there in that wilderness because of their murmuring, their complaining, and their unbelief (Numbers 14:28-32).  They were constantly being tried by the devil. They constantly heard his horror stories in their head about what would happen to them because they couldn't see any water or other supply around them. The devil was constantly making war in their minds and he was beating them up badly. We're going to the same place. The Lord calls it the “wilderness” but it's also called the “Tribulation.” That's where war is going to be made on the saints, and that's where a separation is going to be made.  That's where a separation of the hot from the lukewarm and the cold, the sheep from the goats, and the wheat from the tares, is going to be made. (Psa.91:7) A thousand shall fall at thy side, And ten thousand at thy right hand; [But] it shall not (Let me repeat that in case you missed what it says, it shall not. And here it is again, just to be sure you read it correctly, it shall not come nigh thee.)  What makes the difference between those who are taken out and those who remain? Well, it's something that we shouldn't leave out. (Heb. 4:1) Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. The Lord is telling us to fear that we're not appropriating all the promises of God, all of the Word of God, because God created this DNA to be our defense. (2) For indeed we have had good tidings preached unto us… Not just “good tidings” but awesome tidings! There are promises for any problem, and there are even promises that cover everything, such as (Mar. 11:24) Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them.  So, if you can't remember one that fits your particular problem, Jesus gave us those “catch-all” promises you can use. (Heb. 4:2) For indeed we have had good tidings (That's the Gospel, the Good News.) preached unto us, even as also they: but the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united by faith with them that heard.  It does you no good to go to Sunday school; it does you no good to read your Bible unless you're going to exercise faith in what you're reading, and it doesn't matter if your church is in agreement or not. Don't leave out one promise as your promise; take each promise as if it's been made personally to you because any promise you leave out is a Sword you're not using and its part of the DNA. That's “sitting” on your Sword. (Heb.4:3) For we who have believed do enter into that rest; even as he hath said, As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.  The works of God have already been finished. Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). As soon as God spoke it, it was so. He spoke the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). He ordained a Savior before Adam ever fell. The whole plan was spoken into existence and nothing could stop it. It was so, just because God said it, and everything that we see now that's coming to pass, is coming to pass because God said it. “The works were finished from the foundation of the world.”  Whose works do you want to enter into? You can enter into God's works through faith in His promises. You can be a vessel of honor. You can be a vessel who is in that one-quarter of Christians that knows they can conquer Satan. Or, you can be in the three-quarters of Christians that are lukewarm, that have their idolatrous religion but no Sword. They don't believe in the full Gospel, which you're going to need to make it through what's coming upon the earth. They don't believe in the in-filling of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of the gifts (Romans 11:29,12:6; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11,27-29; 1 Corinthians 14:1) so they're not empowered to walk as He walked with His DNA where they need to go.  You know, when we enter into His rest, we enter into a rest from our enemies because they're dead; Jesus gave us total victory over them. Jesus said, (Mat.28:18) … All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. That doesn't leave any authority for the devil. Then He turned to His disciples and He delegated that authority to them. (Mat.18:18) Verily I say unto you, what things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (19) Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven. (Joh.20:21) Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be unto you: as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you.  Jesus had authority, and He spoke it, and the devils trembled. That same Jesus lives in you. To the extent that you humble yourself to the Word of God, and you believe the Word, and you're becoming the Word made flesh, to that extent Jesus' DNA lives in you. All you have to do is cooperate with Him. (Amo.3:3) Shall two walk together, except they have agreed? If you want that same Jesus to live in you, to conquer your enemies, to speak out of you, to swing the Sword and to do the works, then you have to come into agreement with Him. When you read the Word of God, repent, change your mind and believe what it says. We have to agree with it so that we don't restrain it from coming out of us.  If you're uncomfortable confessing anything that's in the Word of God, if you're uncomfortable repeating it, this is how you know you've been taken captive by false religion and false doctrine. If some of the Word of God is not comfortable in your mouth, then naturally you're not going to let it flow out of you, for how “shall two walk together, except they have agreed?” God warned His people about bringing forth “strange children” that don't look like their Father (Hosea 5:7).  The problem is with us, it's not with God. Being a Christian is being very peculiar, very contrary, to the world. They're total opposites. If you want to please the world, you can't be a Christian. If you don't want to be sanctified from the ways of the world, you can't be a Christian. You can call yourself a “Christian,” but you can't be one, because “Christian” means “Christ-like” and they crucified Him. We have to be willing to lose our life in order to gain our life (Luke 17:33). We have to be willing to be seen as different, even “peculiar.” (1Pe. 2:9 KJV) But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Jesus said there are just two men in the earth: Christ and anti-Christ (Matthew 24:40-41). There are only two corporate bodies in this earth. There's not going to be anyone left in the middle because God calls that being “lukewarm.” (Rev. 3:16) So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth. You have to make up your mind. Are you going to lose your life in order to gain your life? (2Co. 4:16) Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. As you lose ground to the old man of self, you give ground to the spiritual man, (Col. 1:27) … Christ in you, the hope of glory.  Jesus is not going to have any trouble with this warfare that's coming, and Jesus in you by His DNA is not going to have any trouble, either, but how “Shall two walk together, except they have agreed?” We have to come into agreement with Him. We have to read the Word, and when we read the Word, we have to decide, “I don't care what some man says; I agree with what this says.” Then it becomes comfortable for you to speak all of the Word of God, but there are so many people, so many who can't do that. They may read the Word of God, but instead of coming into agreement, they deliberately jump over anything that makes them uncomfortable. They've been taken captive and they need to repent.  When you read the Word of God, as the Lord told me many years ago, “Don't eat like a hog; eat like a cow.” Cows are ruminants. That means a cow chews its food, then brings it back up and chews it again, brings it back up and chews it again. With a hog, it just goes right in one end and right out the other end. It doesn't even get digested. This Word has to be a part of us. We must meditate on it. (Psa.1:2) But his delight is in the law of the Lord; And on his law doth he meditate day and night. We want to be disciples of Jesus. We want to learn to walk in His steps. When that Word just comes flowing out of you like a river of living water, look out devil! There isn't anything he can do against that.  Jesus told His disciples, (Joh. 14:12) Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father. And, (Joh. 7:38) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. (39) But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet [given]; because Jesus was not yet glorified. He also said in (Joh. 6:63) It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life.  When your words agree with His words, your words are His Spirit. The Lord recreates in us His Spirit by His Words, and we're able to recreate Jesus by speaking His words. We're supposed to sow the same seed that He sowed, that His disciples sowed, that His apostles sowed because He is the Father of eternity. We're supposed to sow the Word of God. Never depart from the Word of God. God's people must learn that religion crumbles in the face of adversity. Religion is no defense against what's coming. Satan laughs at it. The leaders of it in Jesus day were from beneath and of their father the devil. Throughout history, the merely religious have crumbled before the advances of the devil. There is no defense but the Word of God. No helmet, no sword, no shield, but the Word of God. Use Psalm 91 like a Helmet, Sword, and Shield because it's a defense. It's called “The Soldier's Psalm” because so many soldiers have been saved by claiming it. You are a soldier for the Lord, so don't let anybody talk you out of Psalm 91. It's saved many lives and it's for today. It's a part of the blessings of God for the faithful.  The demons administer the curse of sin and death. (Luk. 10:17) And the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject unto us in thy name. (Wouldn't it be great if all Christians learned that lesson?) (18) And he said unto them, I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from the heaven. He was talking about exactly what they were doing. He and His disciples were casting Satan down. (19) Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you. (20) Nevertheless in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.  Some people think Jesus used “over all the power of the enemy” a little too loosely but no, He means exactly what He says, and we have to learn to exercise this authority. “Authority” is “the right to use God's power or restrain the devil's power.” I'd rather have that kind of authority than personal fleshly power. In fact, you can even have authority to use the devil's power.  The apostle Paul did that several times (1 Corinthians 5:3-5; 1 Timothy 1:18-20). He turned people over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh so that the spirit would be saved in the day of the Lord. He used the devil's power, and the devil couldn't resist him. The devil had to do what Paul told him to do. It's the same today. Jesus said, “All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth … Go ye, therefore…” He delegated that authority to His disciples to go and to use His power. You have the authority to use God's power. That's what the Word is all about.  You can be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2), but someone whose mind is not renewed is not trustworthy. If they had power, they would do foolish things. However, when we repent and we accept the Word of God as our Word, our thought, our belief, that puts us in agreement with Jesus. When we're in agreement with Jesus, then we can walk together and Jesus can do works through us. (Mat. 11:29) Take my yoke (That's the Greek word zugos derived from zygós and it's “something that unites or joins two elements to work together as one unit.”) upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. “Take my yoke,”  Jesus said to yoke yourself to Him. And so He says in, (Luk. 10:19) Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you. Nothing shall hurt you. Oh, praise God! Believe that! Meditate on that! Rejoice in that!

Listen in NOW for encouraging deep questions that will positively impact your life. We are excited to embark on this journey with you! Thank you for tuning into “Answers and Solutions with Jess & Mary” Our monthly podcast has a new look, a new format and a short 15-minute listen! In a world filled with distractions, where everyone seems to be managing two (or more) things at once, it's easy to forget the art of truly listening. But here… in this 15 minute space… we invite you to pause, to breathe, and to listen. What if you took a deeper interest in uncovering the secrets, struggles, and triumphs of intentionally hearing what is said around you? Deep listening is bigger than your eye contact, body language and focus. Good listeners create a safe environment, positive intention, and focus on understanding. You will naturally function better when you are a reliable active listener! In this episode Jess & Mary uncover secrets that you can apply in your own life. So, tune in and join us as we embark on this journey of discovery and the transformative power of listening! Please be with us in future monthly upcoming episodes! We would love to hear from you. Please rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast for more empowering content. Share with those who might benefit! Connect with us through social media! Contact: Jessica Hartwig: jessica@livinsion.net https://maryamarkham.com Podcast Resources: 1. Words Can Change Your Brain, neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Newberg and researcher Mark Robert Waldman write: 2. Betterafter50.com 3. Very Wealth Health, Joel Selinas MD Suggested Additional Resources: These books cover a range of perspectives on listening skills, from interpersonal relationships to professional settings and personal growth. "The Lost Art of Listening: How Learning to Listen Can Improve Relationships" by Michael P. Nichols: This book explores the importance of listening in building strong relationships and offers practical advice on how to become a better listener. "You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters" by Kate Murphy: Kate Murphy delves into the science and art of listening, exploring the reasons why people often fail to listen effectively and providing strategies for improving listening skills. "Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone" by Mark Goulston: This book offers insights into the power of listening and provides practical techniques for improving communication and building rapport with others. "The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music" by W.A. Mathieu: While not specifically focused on interpersonal communication, this book explores listening as a form of mindfulness and self-discovery, offering exercises and insights to deepen your appreciation for the act of listening. "Power Listening: Mastering the Most Critical Business Skill of All" by Bernard T. Ferrari: Geared towards professionals, this book provides strategies for becoming a more effective listener in business contexts, including tips for active listening, and overcoming common barriers to effective communication. "The Zen of Listening: Mindful Communication in the Age of Distraction" by Rebecca Z. Shafir: Drawing on principles of mindfulness and Zen philosophy, this book offers practical advice for cultivating deep listening skills in our modern, distraction-filled world. "Listening: Attitudes, Principles, and Skills" by Judi Brownell: This comprehensive guide covers the fundamentals of effective listening, including attitudes, principles, and practical skills for improving listening in various contexts. "Listening Well: The Art of Empathetic Understanding" by William R. Miller and Teresa A. Moyers: Focused on the therapeutic context, this book explores the role of listening in counseling and offers insights and techniques for enhancing empathetic understanding through active listening.

Listen in NOW for encouraging deep questions that will positively impact your life. We are excited to embark on this journey with you! Thank you for tuning into “Answers and Solutions with Jess & Mary” Our monthly podcast has a new look, a new format and a short 15-minute listen! In a world filled with distractions, where everyone seems to be managing two (or more) things at once, it's easy to forget the art of truly listening. But here… in this 15 minute space… we invite you to pause, to breathe, and to listen. What if you took a deeper interest in uncovering the secrets, struggles, and triumphs of intentionally hearing what is said around you? Deep listening is bigger than your eye contact, body language and focus. Good listeners create a safe environment, positive intention, and focus on understanding. You will naturally function better when you are a reliable active listener! In this episode Jess & Mary uncover secrets that you can apply in your own life. So, tune in and join us as we embark on this journey of discovery and the transformative power of listening! Please be with us in future monthly upcoming episodes! We would love to hear from you. Please rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast for more empowering content. Share with those who might benefit! Connect with us through social media! Contact: Jessica Hartwig: jessica@livinsion.net https://maryamarkham.com Podcast Resources: 1. Words Can Change Your Brain, neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Newberg and researcher Mark Robert Waldman write: 2. Betterafter50.com 3. Very Wealth Health, Joel Selinas MD Suggested Additional Resources: These books cover a range of perspectives on listening skills, from interpersonal relationships to professional settings and personal growth. "The Lost Art of Listening: How Learning to Listen Can Improve Relationships" by Michael P. Nichols: This book explores the importance of listening in building strong relationships and offers practical advice on how to become a better listener. "You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters" by Kate Murphy: Kate Murphy delves into the science and art of listening, exploring the reasons why people often fail to listen effectively and providing strategies for improving listening skills. "Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone" by Mark Goulston: This book offers insights into the power of listening and provides practical techniques for improving communication and building rapport with others. "The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music" by W.A. Mathieu: While not specifically focused on interpersonal communication, this book explores listening as a form of mindfulness and self-discovery, offering exercises and insights to deepen your appreciation for the act of listening. "Power Listening: Mastering the Most Critical Business Skill of All" by Bernard T. Ferrari: Geared towards professionals, this book provides strategies for becoming a more effective listener in business contexts, including tips for active listening, and overcoming common barriers to effective communication. "The Zen of Listening: Mindful Communication in the Age of Distraction" by Rebecca Z. Shafir: Drawing on principles of mindfulness and Zen philosophy, this book offers practical advice for cultivating deep listening skills in our modern, distraction-filled world. "Listening: Attitudes, Principles, and Skills" by Judi Brownell: This comprehensive guide covers the fundamentals of effective listening, including attitudes, principles, and practical skills for improving listening in various contexts. "Listening Well: The Art of Empathetic Understanding" by William R. Miller and Teresa A. Moyers: Focused on the therapeutic context, this book explores the role of listening in counseling and offers insights and techniques for enhancing empathetic understanding through active listening.

December 18, 2023 Discussion on the book "Words Can Change Your Brain," Good Fighting by Dr. Farid Holakouee

Speak these 6 Words and Get Exactly What You Want | Law of Attraction

Saya membahas buku Words Can Change Your Brain karya Andrew Newberg dan Mark Robert Waldman. Buku ini membahas kalau kata-kata itu memiliki kekuatan yang luar biasa. Anehnya, terkadang kita merasa kalau semakin banyak kita bicara, kita justru semakin tidak didengar. Mungkin hal ini terjadi karena masing-masing dari kita sibuk berbicara, tapi tidak siap untuk mendengarkan. Alhasil, kita jadi saling tidak memahami satu sama lain. Padahal, jika kita belajar soal komunikasi yang baik, hal ini sangat membantu kita dalam menjalani kehidupan sehari-hari. Entah saat bernegosisasi dengan atasan, berdebat dengan pasangan, atau menghadapi anak kecil yang rewel, kita bisa belajar untuk menciptakan kondisi yang win-win dan mencegah pembicaraan yang sulit menjadi situasi yang tegang dan meledak-ledak.

Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast and PART 4, our FINAL part, of our Review of Jose Silva's Mind Control Program. I'm Andrea Samadi an author and an educator, who like many of you listening, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind ANY high-performance strategy proven to increase our results in our schools, sports, or modern workplaces. If there's something NEW that I come across that can help us in any way, I'll investigate it, connect it with the most current research, and then share what I learn with you here. My goal with this 4 PART review of the popular program from the 1980s and 1990s, The Silva Method[i], is to help all of us to learn something new to refine our current meditation practice whether we are working in our schools to improve learning, in our sports environments for improved results towards a specific goal, or in the corporate workplace to generate new ideas. I wouldn't have picked this book to review if it hadn't made such an impact on the world, like Napoleon Hills' Think and Grow Rich book that currently sits as our most downloaded episode of 2022 after we reviewed it last January to kick off our New Year. Before starting this review, that I hoped would give us a running start to 2023, I had no idea the concepts I would learn each week, would be so powerful, deep, and life-changing requiring more thought than usual while writing each episode. I began this 4 PART book review the end of November, around Thanksgiving in the United States, and shortly after releasing the first episode, I began receiving emails from around the world from people who were interested to learn more about The Silva Method. Some were remembering it from the 80s/90s when Jose Silva ran this program globally, and others were asking me where they could find a live seminar. It was Dr. Hasan Ibne Akram, EPISODE #260[ii] who held up an old copy of The Silva Mind Control Method book, sharing how it had impacted his life, jogging my memory of Jose Silva, who I had heard of years ago, while selling seminars in the motivational speaking industry. Then my good friend Hans Ajay from the UK, urged me to sign up for the full program through MindValley[iii], where the course sits today after Vishen Lakhiani (the founder) revised and improved it in this current version. Hans wrote “It'll be transformative” and little did I know just how transformative it would be. As I'm writing this episode now, and the final part of this review, I'm nearing the end of Vishen Lakhiani's Silva UltraMind Course[iv] through the MindValley website. I can now see that this is a program that you never really complete, like I noticed with Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich[v] book, for Hill intended the book to be read more than one time for the concepts to be mastered in one's lifetime.  Jose Silva's book is exactly the same way, and his online UltraMind Course, the experiential side of the program (that consists of the lessons from his book, mixed with meditations) bring the pages of The Silva Method to life in a way I never imagined just by reading the book. I've got to say, this course has really blown my mind, and expanded my thinking in a way I hadn't imagined at the start of this review. REMEMBER: “When a person learns to function mentally at this deeper level, creativity is enhanced. Memory is improved and a person is better able to solve problems.” (Jose Silva). Today I plan finish the review of The Silva Method, and while I won't be going into every chapter, I've picked the ones that I think are relevant to help all of us with “The Basics” of what Jose Silva intended us to learn. Then we will take these basic concepts that Jose Silva found to be transformative, (like my friend Hans Ajay noticed) and APPLY them to our daily life, connecting the science to our creativity and innovation, using Dr. Andrew Huberman's most recent podcast episode on “The Science of Creativity: How to Enhance Creative Innovation.”[vi] Finally, I will provide clear examples of innovation and creativity from three of our past guests; one in each of the sectors we study here, our schools, sports environments and corporate workplaces with the goal to inspire YOU to enhance your own creativity for improved results in 2023, using the Silva Method. I just wish Jose Silva could have seen the mounds of research that prove what he knew to be true with his Meditation Method, and that he wouldn't have to disguise it as “bio-feedback” in the corporate world today. DISCLAIMER: I want to mention that while I'm enjoying the Online UltraMind Course, I am not at all affiliated with Mind Valley, or the CEO Vishen Lakhiani, but I did hear my mentor Bob Proctor talking about his organization over the years, knowing he supported their work, but I had no idea that Jose Silva's program would end up there. While I'm only reviewing the book here, (and not what I'm learning in the online course-I might do this at a later date after implementing the concepts) I do think it's important to include some of the meditations I found online in PART 3 of this review, to show you what they consist of. I've listed them in the resource section below for you to use.  I've also put a snapshot of the topics covered over the 28 day online program, and while I'm currently at DAY 21/28, I can say that mastering the ideas in the book are a good place to start if you would like to improve your current meditation practice and then I will show you how this will enhance your creativity and ability for innovation.  I think this 4 PART review could be used to jumpstart us all on the right foot for 2023. If you would like to go deeper into The Silva Method, I do suggest taking the online Silva UltraMind System, but caution that to get the most out of the program, that daily practice will be required. This is a course that you would want to carve out some time for. PUTTING THE 4 PARTS of THE SILVA METHOD TOGETHER: TO REVIEW PART 1 of THE SILVA METHOD EPISODE #261: We covered: ✔ CH 1- Using More of Our Mind in Special Ways: An Introduction to the Silva Mind Control Method. If you have begun using your mind to create a mental screen for heightened visualization, you could end this book review here and still be miles ahead in 2023. Central to Jose's Silva Method of Mind Control is with the power of visualization, and he says “right from the beginning, from the very moment you reach your meditative level (what he calls accessing the Alpha State), you must learn to practice visualization. The better you learn to visualize, the more powerful will be your experience with Mind Control.” With time and practice, it will be this screen that you will learn how to help yourself and others. You begin with creating simple things, until you are ready to solve small problems in your daily life, from work, to health, and improve learning/creativity. As you progress through this program, you can learn to use the screen of your mind to for more advanced innovative and creative ideas. There is no limit to what you could create here. ✔ What this program has done for others. The late Dr. Wayne Dyer has said that anything with the name Jose Silva as the author has his vote before I open to page one. He said “Read it with a pen for underlining.” Jose Silva himself noted that: ✔A marketing company used it to create 18 new products. ✔14 Chicago White Socks players used it to boost their scores. ✔ Celebrities have used it and credit Jose Silva for improving their focus and creativity. ✔ Colleges and universities have used it to help students study less, but learn more. And during the Silva UltraMind course, (the online program I joined while doing this book review) I had the chance to participate on a training call one evening with all the new students who had recently come on board with MindValley, (that has over 10 million students worldwide, studying over 200 speakers and authors on the site), and the moderator asked what course people were studying, and people started chiming into the chat from the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and remote countries around the world…that they were ALL here to study The Silva Method. I was floored! Mostly because I had thought this training call would have just a handful of people coming on board. I didn't expect so many participants globally, and ALL of them were there to study the same course I was there for. It took mind-boggling to a whole new level when I started to put together that this program was something that people are still very interested in learning about. ✔ Ch 2- Meet Jose Silva and learned about his passion for helping others to improve their ability to learn. He was a humble man who worked very hard to develop the ideas within his program, and was very careful about how he presented his ideas as visualization was not something that was widely accepted in the corporate world in the 80s and 90s. In his live events, he was smart to introduce his concepts as bio-feedback (that had more credibility at the time) and were more readily accepted, before introducing business executives to more advanced concepts of the mind (like using visualization) on the second day of the training. ✔ Ch 3- How to Meditate: A review of the brain states (BETA,ALPHA,THETA,DELTA). He learned that we spend most of our waking time at the BETA brain state, where we can feel the stress and anxiousness of daily life, so finding ways to relax (that he calls going to the Alpha State) can be helpful. His online program does cover how to access the Theta level of mind for increased intuition, and offers a strategy for solving problems in your sleep at the Delta level. ✔ We were Introduced to Using A Mental Screen in Your Mind for Heightened Visualization. It Will Be This Screen That We Will Use to Help Yourself and Others in Future Chapters. *** I would say developing the use of this screen is the KEY to the entire program. It's where your goals will begin to form, or where you will work with NEW ideas that come into your mind. I've heard it be called “your workshop” or where you create something new in your mind, and with time and practice, what you put on this screen becomes clearer and clearer. TO REVIEW PART 2 of THE SILVA METHOD EPISODE #262: We covered: ✔ Ch 4- Dynamic Meditation (where we actually DO something while meditating, instead of it being a passive practice). We learn how to be more in control of our life using visualization.  Dr. Andrew Huberman's research does tie in the importance of using meditation to improve our creativity, and I will expand on this at the end of this episode. ✔ The 4 Laws that must be in place BEFORE we visualize a goal. (We must desire the event to take place that we want, we must believe the event we want will take place, we must EXPECT the event to take place, and we must ONLY be working with something that will benefit ourselves and others. ✔ I noticed How these 4 Laws mirror Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich book and wondered if Jose Silva did this intentionally. ✔ 3 STEPS to SOLVE ANY PROBLEM Using the Silva Method on the Screen that We Build in Our Mind. ✔ Ch 5- Improving Memory ✔ Where Silva's Memory Hacks have been seen on previous episodes and in the motivational speaking industry. TO REVIEW PART 3 of THE SILVA METHOD EPISODE #263: We covered: ✔ Chapter 6 on Speed Learning: Using the mental screen paired with the 3-finger technique if you want to learn something quickly, using the Alpha Brain State. Silva also covered recording your voice, or creating what I knew of as the “loop tape” of whatever it is that you want to remember. You would record what you want to remember in the BETA State, and then listen to it in the Alpha state (using the 3 finger technique or counting backwards). ✔ Chapter 7 on Creative Dreams where we covered 4 strategies for remembering our dreams, and taking them seriously like Jose Silva himself did. For PART 4 and today's episode, of the SILVA METHOD, Episode #265 we will finish looking at the book, and will cover: ✔ Ch 8-Your Words Have Power ✔ Ch 9-The Power of Imagination ✔ Ch 10-Using Your Mind to Improve Your Health ✔  We will connect the most current neuroscience research to Jose Silva's program, using Dr. Andrew Huberman's podcast on "The Science of Creativity" ✔  The 3 Parts to Your Creative Brain (Central Executive Network, Default Mode Network, Salience Network). ✔ 2 Types of Thinking Involved with Creativity (Divergent and Convergent) ✔ Putting Creativity to Practice with an example from our schools, sports and modern workplace environments.  with some clear examples and next steps for all of us to APPLY the Silva Method for improved Intuition, Creativity and Focus…right in time for a New Year. Chapter 8: Your Words Have Power I'm sure we've all heard of the importance of thinking and speaking positive words over negative ones, and Jose Silva would agree with this.  In this chapter, he talks about a nurse-anesthetist (and one of his eventual lecturers) from Oklahoma, Mrs. Jean Mabrey, who puts this knowledge of the mind to use to help her patients. As soon as they are “under”—in deep anesthesia—she would whisper in their ears instructions that would speed their recovery, and in some cases save their lives. Jose Silva would say “First, words have special power at deep levels of mind; second, the mind has much firmer command over the body than it is given credit for; and third, as I noted in Chapter 5, we are always conscious.” Here's another one if Silva's principles that I learned from the speaking industry. Bob Proctor used to tell a story on stage, of how he would whisper success secrets into the ears of his children when they were little. While they are grown now, this story stuck with me, as we want the best for our own kids. So when I had children, this is the first thing I did. I would drop into my child's room just before they were about to drift off to sleep and tell them something that would go deep into their subconscious mind. I'd say something like “you'll do whatever it is you want. Whatever you can dream you'll do it!” I did this almost every night with my first…and with my second, not as often. She needed it more…. Now to think about it, I even spoke to my girls before they were born, letting them know how excited we were to meet them and how much fun we would have when they arrived. Be very careful about the words we use and how they trigger our brains. We are always conscious. Since this concept was drilled into my head early on in the speaking industry, I learned early on to be careful of everything I say, and everything I think. If someone says “How are you?” and I'm not feeling 100%, the best way to answer this question is with a positive angle like “Getting better and better every day” to move myself in that direction. An answer like “not bad” would according to Silva, hit the brain in a negative way, as it would only hear “bad” instead of “good.” I can tie the research to this as well, with my mentor Mark Robert Waldman who wrote Words Can Change Your Brain with Andrew Newberg, MD[vii]. In this book, they explain that “the more you stay focused on negative words and thoughts, the more you can actually damage key structures that regulate your memory, feelings, and emotions.You may disrupt your sleep, your appetite, and the way your brain regulates happiness, longevity, and health. That's how powerful a single negative word or phrase can be. And if you vocalize your negativity, even more stress chemicals will be released, not only in your brain, but in the listener's brain as well. You'll both experience increased anxiety and irritability, and it will generate mutual distrust, thereby undermining the ability to build empathy and cooperation. The same thing happens in your brain when you listen to arguments on the radio or see a violent scene in a movie. The brain, it turns out, doesn't distinguish between fantasies and facts when it perceives a negative event. Instead it assumes that a real danger exists in the world.” Words Can Change Your Brain Jose Silva had it right when he said  “Words have special power at deep levels of mind, the mind has a firmer command over the body than it's given credit for, and third, we are always conscious.” Jose Silva Be careful with every word that you think, and speak. Words do have power. Chapter 9: The Power of Your Imagination We dove deep into this concept in part 3 of our review of Think and Grow Rich[viii] earlier this year that I can now see was of high interest to listeners as it had over 1400 downloads. On this episode, we looked at the fact that our lives reflect how well we use our imagination, because when we hit one plateau of success, it will be our imagination that will take us to what's next. Author Earl Nightingale said that “imagination is everything” and as we will see with the Silva Method, all great inventions are created in two separate places: the mind of the inventor, and the physical world when the inventor creates it. There is no doubt in my mind that Silva was influenced by Hill's Think and Grow Rich book. He says it himself in this chapter that “imagination seizes directly on the goal; it gets what it wants” and elaborates by saying this is why he “placed so much emphasis on your learning true-to-life visualization at the deep levels of mind. If you spur your imagination with belief, desire and expectancy, and train to visualize your goals so that you see, feel, hear, taste and touch them, you will get what you want.” (Ch9, The Silva Method). This is why mastering your mental screen for visualization is so important. If there is ONE part of the Silva Method that I think we could all benefit from, it's this one. Learning to use the mental screen on our mind. It's this mental screen where you will solve small and larger problems, and learn to help yourself and others in many different ways. It's the starting block that must be mastered over time, and not rushed. Chapter 10-Using Your Mind to Improve Your Health We've covered this topic in a few places on this podcast, on EPISODE #234[ix] with Ashok Gupta on “Health and Happiness: Getting to the Root of Chronic Pain and Illness” where Ashok Gupta showed us how chronic pain or illness occurs in the brain with a vicious loop of inflammation/irritation that he has successfully been treating with patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Long-Haul Covid, Fibromyalgia, Chemical or Mold Sensitivities, Gut Issues, Anxiety, Lyme Disease and many more, with a meditation program he designed called The Gupta Program that combines brain-training in conjunction with working with a medical doctor for healing. Then physician and neurologist Dr. Phillippe Douyon shared his story of overcoming illness on EPISODE #241[x] with positive thinking at the root of his recovery. Jose Silva was far ahead of his time with his understanding of using mind control for self-healing. This chapter is near the end of the book, and is mastered by students with time and practice, and I have to say that I had heard of using the mind for healing when my Mom was undergoing treatment for Cancer in the late 1990s. I told Dr. Douyon about her strategy for healing, and he said he had heard of many patients of his, successfully overcoming serious health challenges, and that positive thinking and visualizing health were at the very root of their healing, like Silva believed. In this chapter, Silva talks about cancer specialist, O. Carl Simonton, who Simonton who was trained by Silva and his Mind Control techniques was featured in Prevention Magazine in an article called “Mind Over Cancer” where he shared that the patients who recovered all had something in common. He said they were “often positive, optimistic, determined people.” (Ch 10, The Silva Method). In this chapter Silva talks about the idea of self-healing using your mental screen, but he also touches on something that goes a bit beyond our usual level of thinking, in Chapter 12 that Silva called “ESP” or Extra Sensory Perception that he believed we all had. He worked closely with J.B Rhine at Duke University to understand this subject, and bring his experiments into his understanding, but it's important to note that Silva believed this concept could be developed and strengthened over time to help his students improve self-healing, healing of others, improve their intuition, and strengthen their mental screen practice. He touches on this in the book, and his online program goes into great detail of how exactly this is done with activities using the screen of our mind, to psychometry, and is something I've been fascinated with since I first heard about this over 20 years ago. I'll be sure to cover this topic again in the future, as it one I'm still learning and exploring. I'm sure you can see now what Silva meant when he said “Once we learn to use our minds to train it, it will do some astounding things for us, as you will soon see.” This brings me to the end of PART 4 and our REVIEW of The Silva Method: To conclude this 4 PART REVIEW of The Silva Method, I want to look at how we can use what we've learned throughout this review of the Silva Method, to improve our Creativity in 2023 for Innovation in your specific line of work. This is where I'll take the research, and tie it to The Silva Method, showing us that we all have the ability to be creative, and how to improve this area of our life in the New Year. This is a deep topic, requiring some thought, that goes along with just how comprehensive Silva's Method is. To make this applicable for all of us, I'll be using concepts from Dr. Andrew Huberman's most recent podcast on “The Science of Creativity and How to Enhance Creative Innovation” tying in Jose Silva's Method to bring these 4 PARTS of our book review applicable to all of us, whether we are educators working in our classrooms, working in the sports industry, or in our modern workplaces. WE CONNECT DR. HUBERMAN'S RESEARCH TO THIS EPISODE FROM HIS EPISODE ON ENHANCING YOUR CREATIVITY. HOW CAN WE USE THE SILVA METHOD TO ENHANCE CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IN 2023? To close out this episode, let go straight to the research. Did you know that according to American neuroscientist and associate professor at Stanford School of Medicine, Dr. Andrew Huberman “the ability to be creative resides in everybody? We know that because the neural circuits that underlie creativity have been somewhat defined and the steps and processes in the brain that lead to creativity are well known.” What Makes Something Creative? Jose Silva would have loved this research, especially when Dr. Huberman ties many studies to meditation and the brain/creativity, but let's begin with the idea of defining creativity. What makes something creative? Dr. Huberman spent over 2 hours on his podcast diving thoroughly and deeply into this topic, that I will narrow down for this episode. He explains that “most people don't know how to access creativity” or “they do it in a limited manner” and I'll agree with him here. As you will see, coming up with an idea that's creative, and innovative takes time, effort and years of work, making connections, using your executive functions in your brain to cross off what's not relevant and then testing these connections, to see what's left over that you will keep, hoping they are creative and relevant to others. Dr. Huberman explains that “when we see something that's truly creative, it reveals something to us about the natural world and about how our brains work….It must reveal something that surprises us” for it to be truly creative. Then, “something pops out at us” he says, “we hear something in the words with music, or if we see something, feel, or experience something” “and something pops out to us as exciting….this reveals something about our brain/our auditory system, creating NEW meaning for us.” AND “when we see, hear, feel or experience something that's truly creative, the way our neural circuits function is changed. When our neural circuits are changed simply by what comes into our eyes, ears of the way we experience our feelings, there's a release of chemicals like dopamine that make us feel surprised, delighted or excited in anticipation that we will see it again.” (Dr. Huberman) So when I say that “the ability to be creative resides in everyone” it does, since we ALL have the same structures in our brain, but some people have learned to use certain parts of their brain to foster creativity in ways that others have not.  This is where practicing the Silva Method comes in. THE 3 NETWORKS TO YOUR CREATIVE BRAIN: Dr. Huberman went on to explain that there are 3 networks in the brain that are involved in coming up with a CREATIVE idea, and we've covered these 3 parts of the brain extensively on EPISODE #48[xi] on “Brain Network Theory.” It was here where we covered The Default Mode Network, The Central Executive Network, and the Salience Network that are all involved with coming up a truly creative idea. While I'm not going to dive into each part of the brain and what it's doing (you can review episode 48 where we show how these 3 parts of the brain must work together to improve our imagination and creativity), I just want to point out that coming up with a creative idea takes some brain power. When you are working with the screen of your mind in the Silva Method, you will be using all three of these parts of your brain to come up with new ideas. Your CEN (Central Executive Network) will help you to suppress ideas, actions or choices, your DMN (Default Mode Network) will help you to access your library of previous memories that you will be using to create your NOVEL idea, and your SN (Salience Network) will help you to make choices of what's most relevant to you. You will use your brain to create something NEW and USEFUL by rearranging existing elements (from your memory bank) into new combinations that reveals something fundamental about how we and the world works. 2 TYPES OF THINKING ARE INVOLVED: The final part of creating something CREATIVE and INNOVATIVE is that it's done by going back and forth between two types of thinking: Divergent Thinking: Where we take a known object in the world, and expand upon this idea, the more ideas the better, wandering through your ideas that you already know (from your memory bank) with the hopes that the connections you make reveals something new to others. Convergent Thinking: That's the opposite of divergent thinking, but it's where we use focus and persistence to narrow in on an idea that makes sense in the real world. If you want to dive deeper into Dr. Andrew Huberman's thorough explanation of Creativity and the Brain[xii], he takes things much deeper than I will here, in his recent episode that goes well over 2 hours. He doesn't miss anything and even goes on to show us the parts of the brain that light up when we are involved in divergent vs convergent thinking, and the 2 types of meditation that are proven to improve each of these ways of thinking. He says that “open monitored meditation” (like just closing your eyes and paying attention to your thoughts without judgement) is well documented to improve our divergent thinking capability, and focused attention meditation (like staring at a flame of light) is a way to improve our convergent thinking capabilities. PUTTING CREATIVITY INTO PRACTICE: When thinking about how to close out this 4 PART review, and make it applicable to all of us, I had to spend some time thinking hard about this one. I didn't want to just end this review without some solid research backing up the validity of The Silva Method, with some clear examples of those who have shown innovation and creativity who we've come across on this podcast. It wasn't difficult to find someone in each of the three sectors we cover, and now that I've tied the research to creative thinking, I'm sure you will agree with me that the examples I will share here all show true innovation and creativity, and that coming up with a creative idea like each of these, took years of experience, work and thought. It wasn't like I remember the commercial for the guy who invented peanut butter cups who just tripped and his chocolate bar fell into the jar of peanut butter and bam, he had a new invention. These are 3 examples that I hope will inspire you to put some of your own thought into how you can use the Silva Method, and come up creative and innovative ideas of your own. For Schools: I chose our guests from episode #215[xiii] who have shown innovation in the field of education by launching a podcast to elevate student and teacher voice. Remember, To Show Creativity—It must Reveal something new to us (entertaining, thrilling or useful) and it changes the way we access the world—acting as portals into the world and ourselves. I couldn't have found a clearer example that these two Canadian podcasters who published a book called The Magnificent Microphone[xiv] that when a student connected to it, it opened up a whole new world of confidence, creativity and success. These two leaders in education have discovered true creativity and innovation in the podcasting space, bringing student-led podcasts to the field of education. For Sports: I chose a forward-thinking coach from an early EPISODE #38[xv] who has shown innovation with his sports team when he redesigned their locker room and uniforms with a vision beyond what has typically been done before. Remember, To Show Creativity—It must Reveal something new to us (entertaining, thrilling or useful) and it changes the way we access the world—acting as portals into the world and ourselves. This one you'll see more if you watch the 30 second snapshot of their locker reveal[xvi] that takes the team on a journey from the minute they walk into the new room, where the players are taking in the many visual cues they see, making connections to past players, where they are today, and their future. For the Workplace: I chose our recent EPISODE #264[xvii] where our guest was able to look at ways to create breakthroughs in the workplace, bringing to light something that was left off the table in the past. He looked at EQ and IQ and found that experience was left off, and coined the term “XQ” for Experiential Intelligence. This guest also mentioned his love of “making connections” which is something he noticed I do intentionally on this podcast, and now after hearing Dr. Huberman's explanation, he talks about the fact that true creativity or innovation could not occur without let's say an architect coming up with incredible plans for buildings without a thorough understanding of how buildings are put together in the first place. Remember, To Show Creativity—It must Reveal something new to us (entertaining, thrilling or useful) and it changes the way we access the world—acting as portals into the world and ourselves. Once we know what novelty/creativity and innovation looks in the brain, you can only imagine what's happening at the brain level with each of these examples. Just like the complexity of the reading brain, with 4 parts of the brain working together as a student learns how to read, someone coming up with a creative, innovative idea, has specific (Dr. Huberman lists 3 networks in the brain) working together to create what the rest of the world will come to see as novel, or innovative. This is what makes some things go “viral” online. The NEW experience actually changes the circuits in the brain with whatever it is a person sees, feels, hears or experiences. Dopamine is released (with the surprise and delight) with whatever it is they make connections to, and there's the hope or anticipation that they will experience it again. I hope all 3 of these examples have given you a glance into the world of innovation that's possible for you, as a product of going through the simple steps in the Silva Method. To conclude this episode, and PART 4 of our Review of the Silva Method, we looked at ✔ A Review of all 3 PARTS of The Silva Method Review. ✔ Today, in PART 4, we looked at Ch 8-Your Words Have Power Ch 9-The Power of Imagination Ch 10-Using Your Mind to Improve Your Health ✔ We connected The Silva Method to the Dr. Andrew Huberman's Neuroscience Research on Creativity and Innovation. ✔ We gave an example of innovation from our past guests in the fields of education, sports and the modern workplace. The goal of this 4 PART review of Jose Silva's Program, was to encourage all of us to see if we could learn something new, to take our results to new heights in 2023. I had no idea just how deep the book and program would go, and I know I'll review the online course at a later time, but for now, this review has given me some new ideas for how to improve my visualization/mental screen method to help me with my short term and long term goals. I'd love to hear from you what you have thought of this episode, where we tied in the most current research to Jose Silva's work, reminding me that “once we learn to use our minds to train it, it will do some astounding things for us, as you will soon see.” I do want to add something before we close about the importance of honoring other people's creative and innovative ideas. Now that we've seen what's involved at the brain level with coming up with an idea that's truly novel, I'm sure you'll agree with me that while we all have this ability to create something new, that this comes naturally to some, and is more difficult for others. If you see someone else's creative or innovative idea, please never approach it as your own. PLAGIARISM CAUTION[xviii]: CAN WORDS OR IDEAS REALLY BE STOLEN? When you are the creator of an idea, I can tell you first hand, as someone who worked very hard on something, and then saw it pasted on a reputable company's website the day after I shared my “new ideas” with them. I was very disappointed, mostly as they had taken something I had permission to use from someone else who wasn't referenced, because they stole the quote from me! If you see something from someone else that you like, and want to use it somewhere, always credit the source where it originated from using the proper format with quotation marks. If it's something that's more than a quote, or it's an idea, I would contact the creator first hand, and see what they think about what you would like to do. I wanted to use an assessment based on American Psychologist Howard Gardener's Theory of Multiple Intelligences in my first book, The Secret for Teens Revealed[xix], and emailed him directly at Harvard to ask him. He was shocked I even asked, and said that most people don't. He told me he didn't mind if I used it, but wanted me to be sure I portrayed the Intelligences in a way that showed that we can develop them all with effort, not that we are inclined for some and not others. I never forgot this. If you ask the creator directly, you can find out what they would prefer to keep original, and what they don't mind sharing, with their name attached to it as the originator. With this in mind now, I'd love to hear what you CREATE this year.  I've put the meditations that I found online, that are a good place for all of us to begin this process, in the show notes below, and I'll see you next week with our REVIEW of the TOP 10 EPISODES from 2022, and some surprise interviews that I had to squeeze in before the end of the year. RESOURCES: MEDITATION  1: How to Enter the Alpha Level of Mind, Step by Step Process, The Silva Method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpMJWT6EsNs MEDITATION 2: Jose Silva Method Alpha Exercises by Sommer Leigh Published on YouTube June 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SY0kajVITA MEDITATION 3: 20 Minute Silva Centering Exercise with Vishen Lakhiani https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_4GDXWBPCk   REFERENCES: [i] The Silva Mind Control Method https://silvamethod.com/ [ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #260 with Dr. Hasan Ibne Akram on “Breaking Down the Mindset of the Million Dollar Monk” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/serial-entrepreneur-and-computer-scientist-hasan-ibne-akram-pd-d-on-breaking-down-the-mindset-of-the-million-dollar-monk/ [iii] www.mindvalley.com [iv] Mind Valley the Silva UltraMind System https://home.mindvalley.com/quests/en/ultramind [v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #190 PART 1 “Making 2022 Your Best Year Ever”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/think-and-grow-rich-book-review-part-1-how-to-make-2022-your-best-year-ever/ [vi] Dr. Andrew Huberman, “The Science of Creativity: How to Enhance Creative Innovation.”   https://hubermanlab.com/the-science-of-creativity-and-how-to-enhance-creative-innovation/ [vii] Andrew Newberg, MD and Mark Robert Waldman Words Can Change Your Brain Published June 14, 2012 https://www.amazon.com/Words-Can-Change-Your-Brain-ebook/dp/B0074VTHMA/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=CjwKCAiAnZCdBhBmEiwA8nDQxYXGNQeXA7fr8xVxnL3ns3s4ViPL46_aU6zL-rULfnX1cn9mSSD8ARoCENQQAvD_BwE&hvadid=281463219015&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9030068&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=5072060704672722834&hvtargid=kwd-337464396698&hydadcr=22593_10356183&keywords=words+can+change+your+brain+book&qid=1671724020&sr=8-1 [viii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #193 PART 3 on “Putting Our Goals on Autopilot with Autosuggestion and Our Imagination”    https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/think-and-grow-rich-book-review-part-3-using-autosuggestion-and-your-imagination-to-put-your-goals-on-autopilot/ [ix] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #234 with Ashok Gupta on “Health and Happiness: Getting to the Root of Chronic Pain and Illness” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/ashok-gupta-on-heath-and-happiness-getting-to-the-root-of-chronic-pain-and-illness-long-covid-fibromyalgia-chronic-fatigue-and-others/ [x]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #241 with Dr. Philippe Douyon on “How to Rewire Our Brain for Health and Happiness”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/physician-and-neurologist-philippe-douyon-md-on-how-to-rewire-our-brain-for-health-and-happiness/ [xi]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #48 on Brain Network Theory “Using Neuroscience to Stay Productive During Times of Change and Chaos” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-network-theory-using-neuroscience-to-stay-productive-during-times-of-change-and-chaos/ [xii] Dr. Andrew Huberman, “The Science of Creativity: How to Enhance Creative Innovation.”   https://hubermanlab.com/the-science-of-creativity-and-how-to-enhance-creative-innovation/ [xiii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #215 on “Chey Cheney and Pav Wander from the Chey and Pav Show” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/chey-cheney-and-pav-wander-from-the-chey-and-pav-show-on-their-vision-to-identify-and-amplify-the-voices-often-left-behind/ [xiv] Chey and Pav Podcast https://publish.twitter.com/?query=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FStaffPodcast%2Fstatus%2F1575644124396789760&widget=Tweet [xv]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #38 with Todd Woodcroft on “The Daily Grind in the NHL”   https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/assistant-coach-to-the-winnipeg-jets-todd-woodcroft-on-the-daily-grind-in-the-nhl/ [xvi] UVM Men's Hockey New Locker Reveal   https://twitter.com/UVMmhockey/status/1564327008775151617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1564327008775151617%7Ctwgr%5E1a6ca076211cde6d14d4567e7c32bc7d54ac2002%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2FUVMmhockey2Fstatus2F1564327008775151617widget%3DTweet [xvii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #264 with Soren Kaplan on “Experiential Intelligence: The Power of Experience for Personal and Business Breakthroughs” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/innovation-author-and-speaker-soren-kaplan-phd-on-experiential-intelligence-the-power-of-experience-for-personal-and-business-breakthroughs/ [xviii] What is Plagarism? https://healthsciences.nova.edu/studentaffairs/success/forms/apa-what-is-plagiarism.pdf [xix] The Secret for Teens Revealed by Andrea Samadi https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Teens-Revealed-Teenagers-Leadership/dp/1604940336  

SHOW NOTES: Link to extended episode notes (hope it works!) - Season 2 Ep. 8: The Gift of Listening In this episode we discuss the role of listening in our lives and how it can transform conflict. Highlights of this episode include: · The benefits of robust listening skills · Definitions of listening and empathy · When it's not a good time to listen · Considering your intentions before listening · Active or Attentive listening · Empathic listening o Includes cautions for empathic listening James 1:19 provides some guidance including being quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. References Bolton, R. P. (1979). People Skills: How to assert yourself, listen to others, and resolve conflicts. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc. Leal, B. I. (2017). 4 Essential keys to effective communication in love, life, work-anywhere! . Newberg, A. M., & Waldman, M. R. (2013). Words Can Change Your Brain. New York: Avery an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC. Rogers, C. (1980). A Way of Being. Houghton Mifflin Company. Sande, K. (2004). The Peace Maker. Grand Rapids: Baker Books. How to Improve Your Empathic Listening Skills: 7 Techniques article https://positivepsychology.com/empathic-listening/ Contact me at - Iheartresolution@gmail.com My website: www.Iheartresolution.com

Metaphysical/Spiritual Podcast: cent book by Dr. Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at Jefferson University, and Mark Robert Waldman, a communication expert, who have published a book called “Words Can Change Your Brain.” The post 2022-08: Words Can Change Your Brain-Part 1; Absolute Word-Inspiration first appeared on Metaphysical Romp 2 Podcast.

Our words have the power to change mindsets which in turn affect behavior. "A single word has power to influence the expression of genes that regulate physical and emotional stress." That is from the book, Words Can Change Your Brain, by Dr. Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman. We want to help students change the way they think so that they can do their best in school and be their best always. It starts with positive words!   GET YOUR FREE PRINTABLE RESOURCE! 6 Evidence Based Strategies     https://bit.ly/6forfree If you found today's episode valuable, please take time to subscribe and leave me a review in Apple Podcasts.. I would love to hear from you! You are appreciated! Here's the link for the Pinterest Masterclass for FREE marketing! http://bit.ly/behaviorpin4u Here's the link for Podcast Pro University. Have some more influence of your own! http://bit.ly/behaviorPPU4u   “EVERY KID IS ONE CARING ADULT AWAY FROM BEING A SUCCESS STORY!” Josh Shipp

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for Brain Fact Friday and EPISODE #176 on “The Neuroscience of Communication: Why Our Brain Doesn't Like the Word No!” I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of you listening, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies that we can use to improve our own productivity in our schools, our sports, and workplace environments. We can achieve outstanding and predictable outcomes with whatever it is we are working towards, when we act intentionally, with our brain in mind. This week's Brain Fact Friday hit me this weekend when I was handed a book and asked what I thought of it. It was Jack Carew's You'll Never Get No for an Answer[i] with a copyright date of 1987! I looked at the cover of the book, and it was clearly written in the 1980s. The author was on the cover, dressed in a suit and pointing at you, the reader with the intention of making a connection. My gut reaction was far from what the author intended. I thought, “oh no, I can't see how there's anything relevant in this book, for today's workplace” feeling that sense of neural dissonance or conflict at the brain level, but if this book wasn't exceptional, I don't think large sales organizations would still be using it, around the world, over 3 decades after it was written. I usually read books through Kindle on my iPhone, so when I have a physical copy, I love to flip through and see what I notice from the pages. We all have our styles of what we are looking for, and I noticed the interior looked “old” and I thought old-school, when I saw that the print wasn't crisp or modern looking. And there weren't many testimonials, just a couple, but the one on the front cover stood out. It was by Og Mandino, American author of the best-selling book, The Greatest Salesman in the World.[ii] Og is the most widely read inspirational and self-help author in the world. He was the former president of Success Unlimited magazine, the first recipient of the Napoleon Hill Gold Medal for literary achievement, a member of the International Speakers Hall of Fame and honored with the Masters of Influence by the National Speakers Association. Og Mandino sadly passed away in 1996 but his books continue to inspire thousands of people all over the world. So if a pro like Og Mandino said this book was “one of the most powerful and helpful books on salesmanship” that he had ever read, my brain went directly to Confirmation Bias, and I thought I had better not judge a book by its cover, and read it right away! I was shocked to see how Jack's 10 strategies, written over 34 years ago, were timeless and relevant for anyone who wants to get their point across to someone else, not just those who are in sales. We all need to be able to persuade others whether it's coming to a consensus in your personal life, or in the workplace, there is a power behind being able to naturally influence someone, without the use of force, which we all know negates. As I was reading his book, I wondered how his strategies could be connected to simple neuroscience, just like The Neuroscience of Personal Change, EPISODE #68[iii] where we took Stephen Covey's 7 Habits book and connected each habit to brain science. I thought about the 10 unique strategies that Jack used to show us how to position ourselves to never receive that dreaded “no, I'm not interested” in whatever it is you are selling, or whatever idea you are trying to convey, and this thought inspired this week's brain fact Friday on “The Neuroscience of Communication: Why Our Brain Doesn't Like the Word No!” and with this I mean not just with the word no,  but looking at how the words you choose, and how exactly you say them can influence someone, or not.  I know Chris Gargano mentioned this in episode #166 when he was taking about leadership in the workplace. In a world where time is money, and most of us never have enough time, what we say really matters. In personal relationships, poor listening and speaking skills are major causes of disagreements and in the business world, can ruin an entire corporation. So for this week's Brain Fact Friday, we will look at Jack Carew's book through a neuroscientific lens, and I hope to prove that he was years ahead of his time with this book, that was written 24 years BEFORE the first fMRI scan machine was introduced, changing the world forever as we began to learn the power held within our brain[iv] with the words we say, and with how we say them. For this week's Brain Fact Friday: DID YOU KNOW: that “Words can heal, or hurt—if you were in an fMRI scanner (that can take a video of the neural changes happening in your brain) (and you were told a firm NO! for something) we could record, in less than a second, a substantial increase of activity in your amygdala and the release of dozens of stress-producing hormones and neurotransmitters…that immediately interrupt the normal functioning of your brain, especially those that are involved with logic, reason, language processing, and communication. And the more you stay focused on negative words and thoughts, the more you can damage key structures that regulate your memory, feelings, and emotions. You may disrupt your sleep, your appetite, and the way your brain regulates happiness, longevity and health.”[v] If I were leading a sales training, using Jack Carew's book in 2021, I would open up the session with a section that shows how important it is that we understand how our words impact our brain—for our health, well-being and productivity as well as the importance of keeping communication quick and to the point for the sake of workplace effectiveness.  Twitter really does have it right when it has you limit your characters (spaces included) to 280 characters or less. If you have something to say, see if you can say it, in 10 words or less. This is an interesting activity to try, especially if you are the type that thinks you have to explain your point (like I've been guilty of).  Before saying anything, use your fingers and count out 10 words, and then stop. Can you convey your ideas in 10 words or less? It takes practice, but is a good practice to learn, when communicating with the brain in mind. “Extreme brevity keeps the emotional centers of the brain from sabotaging a conversation. Anger is averted before it begins…Neuroscience supports this premise…the moment a person expresses even the slightest degree of negativity, it increases negativity in both the speaker's and listener's brains. Instead of getting rid of the anger, we increase it, and this can, over time, cause irreparable damage, not only to the relationship, but to the brain as well…so any strategy that can teach a person to speak with clarity, brevity, calmness, kindness and sincerity will increase interpersonal stability in the workplace and at home.”[vi] I'm sure you are well aware that negative words can hurt our effectiveness and health as well as the flipside where positive words and images can “decrease depression and anxiety” (Words Can Change Your Brain, page 391) but I'm not suggesting to avoid difficult situations, or shrink during adversity, as they can build mental strength, and resilience, but they can also stop you in your tracks. Do you know how your brain responds to the word “no”, or anything negative at all? When difficult situations come up, do you lean towards them, looking for a solution, or back away? Or do you just completely zone out? Try this experiential activity to find out. You'll  actually have to do this activity to see what you notice, and each person, with a brain that's wired differently, will have a completely different experience. I remember doing this activity a few years ago, but it was one of those things you'll never forget. If you do try it, please do let me know the results of what was learned. Experiential Activity: Testing Your Mental Toughness You can try this with your class, or sales team, or in your workplace, but split everyone up into groups of 3. One person is the participant and the other 2 are either the negative chatter that surrounds them daily or the positive feedback. INSTRUCTIONS: Participant: listens and notices what they hear, while the negative person shouts out negative comments into their ear,(on one side)  and the positive person's job is to combat the negative feedback with positive feedback (in the other ear). Once everyone understands their role, you say go…and the positive and negative feedback people need to go right next to the participants ear and speak loudly with either negative things like “you're worthless, a total failure, you're not good at anything” over and over again, while the other person combats these phrases in the other ear with positives like “you're a Rockstar, everything you do turns to gold” something like that…and keep going giving enough time for the participant to notice what they hear.  Let this activity run for a good 2-3 minutes and then debrief. DEBRIEF THE ACTIVITY: ASK THE PARTICIPANT: What was more noticeable (louder, or easier to hear)—the positive or negative feedback? Could the participant get to the point where they didn't hear the negativity at all, showing their ability to block out the noise? Could they remember the negative phrases? Could they remember the positive phrases? What did the participant notice the most? Psychologist Dr. Rick Hanson, Ph.D. reminds us of the Negativity Bias where “the brain is like Velcro for negative experiences, but Teflon for positive ones”[vii] so it will take practice to build our brain to be wired to hear the positives, and block out the negatives, improving our mental toughness. Each person is different and will have a different experience with this activity because our brains are all wired differently but the purpose is to see how our brain deals with negativity. Can we see past it, overcome it, or does it shut you down?  This is a really good experiential activity for self-awareness. It was at least 20 years ago when I did this for the first time, but I'll never forget my experience. In the beginning, I could hear the negative comments, and wasn't aware of the positives at all, until I shifted, and thought of what I was working on, and something in my brain blocked out all the negative comments, and although they were shouting in my ear, I could only hear the positive person, shouting encouragement for what I was working on. It's a good lesson for the mental strength needed to rewire our brain to pay attention to whatever it is we are working on and ignore everything else that doesn't support this goal. This understanding can take our focus to a new level. REVIEW and CONCLUSION: To close out this week's Brain Fact Friday, on “The Neuroscience of Communication” we are reminded of the importance of speaking with brevity, calmness and kindness, being mindful with the words we choose, and staying focused on our goals, by blocking out all the negative chatter and noise around us. Before writing this conclusion, I took a quick break on Instagram and saw a post from Assistant Professor at Butler University, Dr. Lori Desautels[viii], from EPISODE #16[ix] and EPISODE #56[x] and she had posted the image of her book How May I Serve You [xi] that was published 10 years ago. The cover caught my attention, as I was thinking of how our words impact our brain and what could I possibly say that would be impactful and memorable for us all to think about at the end of this episode. When I saw the image of  her book cover, I thought, this is it! A picture says a million words. I had no idea that her book cover, and original image, was created by Lena Reifinger at Indiana University and 10 years later, we are still looking and thinking about solutions to better serve our students or those we work for by improving our communication skills and being mindful that words really can change our brain. Leading me back to Jack Carew's 10 unique strategies that Og Mandino encouraged us all to read to improve our communication and influence with others. I've picked the first five, with some thoughts that tie back to past episodes on the podcast, and I'm sure you will agree with me, just how important these strategies are for us to think about whether we are in the classroom, or workplace. Og Mandino was right. These principles are timeless and relevant, 34 years later. Strategy 1: Take the Lead  It's your job to please those you serve and how you see yourself is critical. You decide how successful you will be. If you think self-defeating thoughts about yourself, your product/what you are selling, or how you are trying to influence others, it will come through. We covered Self-Awareness[xii] in one of our very first episodes, and it's important enough to have made it to one of Jack's TOP STRATEGIES. REMEMBER: With self-image (what you think about yourself and what you are selling) can be felt. When we connect with someone, it's called neural resonance in the brain, and when something conflicts, it's called cognitive dissonance. Take the lead with confidence and it will be noticed. Everyone loves a confident leader. Strategy 2: Stop Looking Out for Number One  Of course, it's natural for us to be self-interested, but to experience long term success, we must put others ahead of our own wants and needs.   You've got to know your customer or who you are serving, what's important to them, and what they want.  In the business world, we create avatars for our customers and it's important that everything we do is for them. It should be in the back of our head all of the time.  REMEMBER: What they (or those we serve) want is more important than anything, so we must align our solutions (or what we offer) to their needs (whatever they might be). Setting our own thoughts aside, we must uncover what it is that  those we serve want and need, and then solve it. Strategy 3: Invest in the Relationship  We covered “Building Relationships” with Greg Wolcott on EPISODE #7[xiii] and again on EPISODE #9[xiv]  and it's important to note that when we have taken the time to invest in relationships with those we serve, we can easily overcome those difficult challenges that will come our way. REMEMBER: Jack wrote “invest” in the relationship, as that investment is what it will take to overcome times of challenge or difficulty. A solid foundation must be built first and then anything is possible. Strategy 4: Bring Your Energy to the Customer  This is my favorite one of Jack's strategies because when you've got this one, anything is possible. I know you've seen it and felt it—that electric energy that shows up when you connect to someone at the brain level.  It's what will make you memorable and why I think you'll never get a no when you've got this level of connection with another person. I covered the valuable lesson I learned from the Legendary Bob Proctor on episode #66[xv] where Bob taught me about the importance of generating energy from within and reminded me to never show, or say that I'm tired, even when I was. This lesson stuck with me to this day and it's impossible to miss when you see it. REMEMBER: This strategy takes some work on your part. Through diet, exercise, and plenty of sleep, that we talk about on the Bonus Episode “A Deep Dive into the Top 5 Health Staples”[xvi] we will be able to operate at a higher level to make this connection with those we serve. When it's there, you'll notice a magic that makes work more enjoyable, less stressful and fun. Strategy 5: Get Organized  Organization shows up, whether it's in your home, how you keep your car, to your desk, and computer. It's something that can be noticed right away. I love Q4 or year end, as I have always joined my good friend Jim Bunch on his yearly calls where he walks us through a way to clean up our year and prepare to move into the next year. Listen to episode #103[xvii] for some ideas to close out this year, prepare for a new year, and get organized, with your brain in mind. REMEMBER: Getting organized sets you ahead of the game and creates order and space for the New Year for whatever it is that you want to create. Getting organized translates to getting ahead, and can transform your workplace, with significant advantages in sales, like knowing and planning where your sales will come from, having a solid pipeline, and setting the tone for the rest of the year, much like the sports team who gets that first point early in the game, there's a competitive advantage to this sense of organization that builds momentum. I'll let you read Jack's book for the other 5 strategies, but sure you can see how an understanding of our brain can improve our communication and influence, taking our results to greater heights. This closes out this week's Brain Fact Friday! Will see you next week with our first Panel Interview with Dr. Howard Rankin, Dr. Jon Lieff, Horacio Sanchez and Tom Beakbane  as well as with Dr. Brian Stenzler on the importance of mental health for our next generation. We also have a fascinating interview coming up with the CEO of Rewire, a human performance company that provides evidence-based solutions for tracking athlete readiness, building mental resilience, and improving mind/body recovery.  Wishing you a productive weekend, and see you next week. FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI:  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi   Website https://www.achieveit360.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/  Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com   Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697   Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/  REFERENCES: [i] You'll Never Get No for an Answer by Jack Carew Published in 1987 https://www.amazon.com/Youll-Never-Get-No-Answer/dp/0671736493 [ii] The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino Published  https://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Salesman-World-Og-Mandino-ebook/dp/B004G8PIQ8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2J4RPTOZXEU0I&dchild=1&keywords=the+greatest+salesman+in+the+world+og+mandino&qid=1635795564&s=books&sprefix=the+greatest+sal%2Cstripbooks%2C137&sr=1-1 [iii]  Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #68 “The Neuroscience of Personal Change with Stephen R. Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-neuroscience-of-personal-change/ [iv] A History of fMRI https://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/history-fMRI [v] Words Can Change Your Brain by Andrew Newberg, MD and Mark Robert Waldman, Published July 30, 2013 https://www.amazon.com/s?k=words+can+change+your+brain&gclid=CjwKCAjwoP6LBhBlEiwAvCcthCiCJCWZ-n3nMbmllmxcYj7pY9p3EGBjIT1liFGTzVVBlYWdxCBg6hoC3DMQAvD_BwE&hvadid=241598338504&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9030091&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=2910883915011355196&hvtargid=kwd-36327312367&hydadcr=15527_10340956&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_2ixec66yv3_e [vi] Words Can Change Your Brain by Andrew Newberg, MD and Mark Robert Waldman, Published July 30, 2013 https://www.amazon.com/s?k=words+can+change+your+brain&gclid=CjwKCAjwoP6LBhBlEiwAvCcthCiCJCWZ-n3nMbmllmxcYj7pY9p3EGBjIT1liFGTzVVBlYWdxCBg6hoC3DMQAvD_BwE&hvadid=241598338504&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9030091&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=2910883915011355196&hvtargid=kwd-36327312367&hydadcr=15527_10340956&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_2ixec66yv3_e [vii] Take in the Good by Dr. Rick Hanson https://www.rickhanson.net/take-in-the-good/ [viii] www.Revelationsineducation.com   [ix]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #16 with Dr. Lori Desautels and Michael McKnight on “The Future of Educational Neuroscience in Our Schools”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/lori-desautels-and-michael-mcknight-on-the-future-of-educational-neuroscience-in-our-schools-and-communities/ [x] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #56 with Dr. Lori Desautels on “Connections Over Compliance” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/educational-neuroscience-pioneer-dr-lori-desautels-on-her-new-book-about-connections-over-compliance-rewiring-our-perceptions-of-discipline/ [xi] How May I Serve You by Dr. Lori Desautels Published Feb. 7, 2012  https://www.amazon.com/How-May-Serve-Revelations-Education/dp/146995818X [xii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #2 on “Self-Awareness: Know Thyself” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/self-awareness-know-thyself/ [xiii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #7 “Building Relationships in Today's Classrooms” with Greg Wolcott  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/greg-wolcott-on-building-relationships-in-todays-classrooms/ [xiv]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #9 “Using Your Brain to Build and Sustain Effective Relationships” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/how-to-build-and-sustain-effective-relationships/ [xv]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #66 “The Legendary Bob Proctor” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-legendary-bob-proctor-on/   [xvi]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast BONUS EPISODE on “ A Deep Dive into the Top 5 Health Staples” and Review of Seasons 1-4  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/bonus-episode-a-deep-dive-into-the-top-5-health-staples-and-review-of-seasons-1-4/ Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #103 on “The Neuroscience of Leadership: 3 Ways to Reset, Recharge and Refuel Your Brain for Your Best Year Ever.[xvii] https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-neuroscience-of-leadership-3-ways-to-reset-recharge-and-refuel-your-brain-for-your-best-year-ever/

In this episode we discuss fear-based thoughts and how they can morph into self-sabotage and more ideas on where fear-based thoughts come from. Finally, I'll propose solutions for overcoming self-sabotaging behaviors. Bible verse: 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Skill for today: Self-awareness – the gift that keeps on giving Fear Not—God Is for You! BY RICK WARREN — MARCH 21, 2021 https://pastorrick.com/fear-not-god-is-for-you-2/ Works Cited: Boss, K. (. (2020, June 29 ). Purposeful Social Selling Podcast. Retrieved from Episode 3: Sneaky Types of Self-Sabotage (Audio podcast): https://open.spotify.com/episode/4mSvHPpGonDb7ekpIq4dKX?si=yXZ_5-Y-Q9GDY7e1aFX_fA&nd=1 Kross, E. (2021). Chatter. New York: Penguin Random House LLC. Leaf, C. P. (2009). Who Switched Off my Brain. Southlake: Improv, Ltd>. Newberg, A. M., & Waldman, M. R. (2012). Words Can Change Your Brain. New York: Avery an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.

On this episode of BIG Intuition, I am sharing 4 reasons why I think Marketing is magical. The book mentioned was “Words Can Change Your Brain: 12 Conversation Strategies to Build Trust, Resolve Conflict, and Increase Intimacy.” by Andrew Newberg, M.D. and Mark Robert Waldman. Special podcast listener discount code = BIG25 to save 25% off of your purchases on my website (not including the Visionary Monthly subscription program). To learn more about me, find me on Instagram at @bgintuitivemarketing or www.BrittanyGash.com. About Me: My name is Brittany Gash and I am an Intuitive Marketing pro and Tarot Reader, working to build a bridge between the mystical and the logical. I've been working in marketing since 2006 and have been reading tarot since 2001. My goal is to empower you to create soul-aligned, intuitive marketing strategies that are authentic and effective so that you can reach your business goals. Our intuitive gifts and spiritual tools/rituals can be connected to pro marketing strategies - bridging our personal and spiritual lives and allowing us to have soul-centered businesses.

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #88 with Dr. Andrew Newberg, M.D[i]. an American neuroscientist who is the Director of Research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital,[1]  and the author of ten books (translated into 6 languages), and over 200 articles on neuroimaging in neuropsychiatric disorders and also on neuroscience and religion.Watch the interview on YouTube here. I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to speak with Andrew, as he has been exploring the topic of neurotheology, which addresses the relationship between the brain and religious experiences, since his teenage years.Andrew is the co-author of the bestselling book, How God Changes Your Brain[ii] (2009) which was chosen by Oprah for her book club that same year[iii] and Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief (2001)[iv] which both explore the relationship between neuroscience and spiritual experience. He has also co-authored Words Can Change Your Brain (2013)[v] Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality and Truth (2008)[vi] and The Mystical Mind: Probing the Biology of Belief (1999). The latter book received the 2000 award for Outstanding Books in Theology and the Natural Sciences presented by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences[vii] which is an organization that focuses on building bridges between theology and science.I’ve got some powerful, insightful, thought provoking questions for Andy, and I know you will find this topic interesting, especially with his ability to share his insights and years of research, from the point of view of pure science.My name is Andrea Samadi,  and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are an educator, or in the corporate space, to take your results to the next level. If we want to improve our social, emotional and cognitive abilities, it all starts with an understanding of our brain.Welcome Andy and thank you so much for sharing your knowledge of this fascinating topic on the podcast today.For anyone who knows your schedule, this is a rare opportunity, and I’m grateful for Mark Waldman[viii] for connecting us after the webinar you did last week where you addressed many powerful and mind-boggling questions that connect theology and neuroscience that I know will benefit those who listen to this podcast in different part of the world.Q1: Andy, I have had so much interest in this podcast, even before we had booked our time to speak today. I just put up a graphic with your book cover “How God Changes Your Brain” and the messages started coming in on all social media accounts. Then I quoted something you say in the book “the more you think about God, the more you alter the neural circuitry of in specific parts of the brain”...and then you say with the utmost confidence that “God can change your brain.” (Andrew Newberg M.D. and Mark Robert Waldman, How God Changes Your Brain).Can we begin here?  Where did your interest in religion and the human brain begin? What is Neurotheology? What does neuroscience say about whether there is a God or not? Q2: I have to ask it. I grew up going to church every Sunday, (Presbyterian), read and studied the Bible, and really do believe in the 10 Commandments but I still don’t really know how I would explain God, other than the fact that I just believe he exists and I do feel more connected to God/spirit when I’m in nature. I know that you have scanned the brains of Franciscan nuns and charted the neurological changes that happen in the brain.  What is God? Is God the same as consciousness? What does your research show about religion and the human brain? Is there a certain area you would look at that connects my religious beliefs to my brain?Q3: You covered this on the training you did for Mark Waldman’s group last week, but I think it’s so important to talk about today. It’s about the power of intercessory prayer (praying on behalf of others).  It’s a component of the Dr. Daniel Siegel’s “Wheel of Awareness[ix]” Meditation where we are asked to focus on those who we are close to and send loving/kindness to those in our communities, cities, state, country and expanding to the world. What does your research say about praying for someone far away? Is it possible to measure one person who might not put the focused attention towards the person they are praying for verses someone else who focuses with intent, loving, and kindness? Can prayer really impact those close or far from us?Q4: You mentioned on that call you did last week, that you did a brain scan, an MRI, where they measured your brain, and your memory, by asking you to remember 10 words. This caught my attention, because I just had my brain scanned using a SPECT SCAN and, the results showed I scored low (1/10) on recall memory which I feel was accurate. For the life I me, I couldn’t remember random words during the test.  But I can remember things word for word, from over 30 years ago (conversations with people, or speeches from 12 years ago). From the brain scans that you have done, what are some strategies that you have seen for people like me, looking to improve memory recall? How did YOU do on that MRI test?  What other techniques have you seen people use to improve their memory? Q5: I just finished watching Dr. David Perlmutter’s Alzheimer’s, the Science of Prevention Series[x] that focuses on the staple things we should all be doing to prevent this debilitating disease that has he mentions no known or meaningful cure. We all know that sleep, diet and exercise and important for protecting the aging brain, but what else have you found to be an important practice to preserve our brain health? What do you do?Q6: We’ve covered belief or paradigms on this podcast, with different episodes and speakers. What do you think from your experience working with the brain? What are beliefs, how do they form, where are they stored, and how can we change old/outdated beliefs? Q7: In closing, is there anything that’s important to this topic, that we haven’t discussed today?RESOURCES:The Principles of Neurotheology by Andrew Newberg, M.D.  http://www.andrewnewberg.com/books/principles-of-neurotheologyKirtan Kriya Meditation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfKEAiwrgeY REFERENCES:[i] www.andrewnewberg.com[ii] How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist, Andrew Newberg, M.D. and Mark Robert Waldman (March 20, 2009) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001Y35GDS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1[iii] Oprah’s Book Club http://www.oprah.com/book/How-God-Changes-Your-Brain-by-Andrew-Newberg-MD-and-Mark-Waldman?editors_pick_id=35314[iv] Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief by Andrew Newberg M.D., Eugene D’Aquili, and Vince Rause (2001) https://www.amazon.com/Why-God-Wont-Go-Away-ebook/dp/B001NJUP7U/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=why+god+wont+go+away&qid=1601599952&sr=8-1[v] Words Can Change Your Brain: 12 Conversation Strategies to Build Trust, Resolve Conflict, and Increase Intimacy by Andrew Newberg M.D. and Mark Robert Waldman  https://www.amazon.com/Words-Can-Change-Your-Brain-ebook/dp/B0074VTHMA/ref=sr_1_1?crid=21MDUEAMV1M7U&dchild=1&keywords=words+can+change+your+brain&qid=1601600126&s=digital-text&sprefix=words+can+chan%2Cdigital-text%2C191&sr=1-1[vi] Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering Our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality and Truth by Andrew Newberg M.D. https://www.amazon.com/Why-Believe-What-Uncovering-Spirituality/dp/0743274970/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=why+we+believe+what+we+believe+newberg&qid=1601600285&s=digital-text&sr=1-1-catcorr[vii] Center for Theology and Natural Sciences https://www.ctns.org/[viii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #30 with Mark Robert Waldman on “12 Brain-Based Experiential Learning and Living Practices” https://www.achieveit360.com/neuroscience-researcher-mark-robert-waldman-on-12-brain-based-experiential-learning-and-living-principles/[ix] Dan Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness Meditation https://www.drdansiegel.com/resources/wheel_of_awareness/[x] Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention Series with Dr. David Perlmutter https://scienceofprevention.com/ 

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #84. This is PART 3 of our past 2 episodes on “How Looking at Your Brain Can Change Your Life” with a deeper dive into What We Learned from Getting a SPECT Image Brain Scan at Dr. Amen’s Clinic in Costa Mesa, CA. The results are in (or at least mine are). My husband’s results won’t be in until next week. The reason I’m sharing my findings is so that you can see how important it is to look at your brain. It’s not important to know my results specifically, but  how someone can be doing all the right things, and still have the ability to take their results to the next level with what they learn from looking at their brain. I hope that you can take away some new insights that open your eyes to why brain-health is so important, and consider looking at your brain, if you can.Read this episode here for larger images:https://www.achieveit360.com/how-a-spect-scan-can-change-your-life-part-3-with-andrea-samadi/Just a quick update for those who are new here, my name is Andrea Samadi,  I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring awareness, ideas and strategies to our most pressing issues facing educators in their workplace, or parents working from home or in the corporate space, to keep us all working at our highest levels of productivity. The goal is to bring the most current brain research and practical neuroscience, connected to our social and emotional skills, to take our results to the next level. We can do this when we do everything with our brain in mind, since our brain controls pretty much everything that we do.This episode, we are looking at How a Brain Scan can change your life. I mentioned the results of my brain scan are here, but first, just to review, PART 1 of this Brain Scan Series, we spoke with my friend Doug Sutton[i], who had a SPECT image brain scan a few years ago when he was noticing low energy and brain fog. He went to Dr. Amen’s Clinics, one of the most respected psychiatrists in the country, who began looking at the brain, taking his practice to a whole new level. Dr. Amen believes that “when your brain works right, you work right” and his work is focused on helping people improve their lives by improving their brains. The decision to get a brain scan completely changed Doug’s life and gave him an entirely new perspective of this organ that controls pretty much everything that he does. His scan showed him that he had been exposed to toxic mold that might have been contributing to some of the health issues he was having, and he learned about things that could have harmed his brain (competitive kickboxing that he did in his early 20s) that gave him a new perspective of this organ he had not thought twice about in the past. He kept up with his treatment plan and has never been happier, and sharper, mentioning the experience to be life changing.PART 2, was about my husband and I’s visit to Amen Clinics[ii] in CA. We made the decision to get a brain scan after interviewing Dr. Shane Creado from EPISODE #72[iii] on sleep strategies. It was Dr. Creado who suggested “why don’t you just go and get your brain scanned” when I asked him specific questions to help optimize my brain after our interview. In PART 2, I did review what a SPECT image brain scan is, what it can detect, and the main thing that we are looking for, is to see what type of brain we have based on the amount of blood flow going to the Prefrontal Cortex that controls our Executive Functions, as well as anything that he could see that would be important for us to know now, (Dementia and Alzheimer’s can be seen years before symptoms show up) so we could work on optimizing our brain for improved results.The scan could tell us that we have the perfect amount of blood flow to our brain (which I don’t think is the case or we probably wouldn’t have gone), too little—that Dr. Amen calls hypofrontality) since “hypo” is a prefix that means “less” like hypothermia means being too cold, and frontality meaning the frontal lobes of our brain (the prefrontal cortex where all of our thinking and planning takes place) or too much blood flow, that he would say is hyperfrontality. I made a prediction that I think my husband has a lower blood flow, or a sleepier brain, and that I have more blood flow activity to the PFC, or what he calls a busy brain. I made this guess by following Dr. Amen’s courses, Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast and from reading his most recent books.  I’m curious to see how accurate my prediction is.If you remember from the last episode, I mentioned actress Laura Clery getting a SPECT scan, and she had cameras follow her from start to finish. Her results are also in[iv], and you can watch her meeting with Dr. Amen to see what she learned.  There were some incredible Aha! Moments for me watching Laura’s results prior to hearing mine, starting with the fact that the X test we had to take was designed to identify whether someone has ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) or not. If you watched Laura’s test, she swore a lot and found it very difficult. My husband said the exact same thing—that the test drove him crazy.  Another interesting fact—this test that drove my husband and Laura crazy, is sold by Pearson Assessments[v], the sister company where my husband and I both worked, 15 years ago. Back then we didn’t know anything about the importance of looking at our brain, and it never crossed our minds to take an assessment ourselves to test our own cognitive abilities.Dr. Amen also went over with Laura a second test that was designed to measure attention span, and he does think from her results that she has ADD and Laura agrees that it makes sense to her, so they created a treatment plan that can take her results to a whole new level once her brain is working at it’s best.  Here are my results:BRAIN HEALTH SCORES: Thinking (3.3/10), Emotion (7.3/10) Feeling (6.7/10) and Self-Regulation (9.3/10) If I didn’t score so high on the emotional part of my brain, (emotion, feeling and self-regulation) I probably would have cried when I saw the results. I’m fully aware of the fact that a brain with holes shows an increase of at least 45% drop in blood flow and I saw a bunch of holes at first glance.  But my overall score showed I can control my emotions, so I didn’t, especially not in front of Dr. Creado.  He said my resilience levels were higher than many of the elite athletes that he’s tested, explaining to me that backbone of persistence I know I have of never giving up and pushing forward when things are difficult.  I can handle pretty stressful situations and can bounce back. We did cover resilience with brain-science and resiliency expert Horatio Sanchez on episode 74[vi] where he dove really deep into what exactly resilience is, how we can develop it in ourselves and our children and why it’s such an important life skill. This was a powerful episode to revisit because resiliency is one of those life skills we want for ourselves and our children. What Needs Help:The difficult part to see was my thinking brain, where all my executive functions occur. These scores were low, specifically recall memory (we were asked to recall a list of words, and after remembering 5 or 6 words, I just gave up). I think I did this because I know that the brain can only hold a certain amount of information. Dr. Creado reminded me that my belief is important here and I agree. Where does this skill show up in my life? There have been times my husband has asked me to pick him up somewhere, and instead of just telling me the address, he’s given me a list of directions and I know I’ve lost what he’s saying after the 7th turn and stop listening, saying “just send me the address.” So we have all learned life hacks to compensate for areas of cognitive weakness, but now that I am aware of it, I can strengthen this skill. I am reminded again, how would I have known, if I didn’t look.Processing speed (the amount of times I could hit a key on the keyboard) was also low. I’m still learning about where this skill shows up in my life but will take Dr. Creado’s suggestions seriously. Motor Coordination, controlled attention, flexibility, inhibition, and working memory were all at the expected range.He could see a lot about my personality and how I work by looking at these scores. Doug Sutton mentioned in his interview #82 that he thinks getting a SPECT image brain scan should be a mandatory part of the hiring process in the corporate world since it reveals so much about a person. There’s no way you can hide with this snapshot of your brain. Dr. Creado saw that “I like things done my way, and that I don’t like a sudden change of plans” and having a high degree of structure in my life (which is what I need) helps me to achieve what I’m doing and is indicative of the high scores of the emotional brain. I wouldn’t operate at the level I am without these high scores.The X TestFor the X test or the Connor’s Continuous Performance Test scores, a lower score is better and Dr. Creado let me know that my scores showed that when I wanted to perform on this test, I had the ability to focus and do well. After doing many of these brain scans, he has noticed that people who have weaker executive functions in their brain can develop life hacks to help them to focus and concentrate when they need to. But the problem is, that with time, and not working on brain health, it will just be more difficult to keep up with these life hacks. Eventually, the brain will not be able to keep up with the hack which is why it’s so important to look and see what’s happening in your brain. You won’t know any of this, without looking.Surface Area of My BrainNow let’s go to the surface area of the brain. Dr. Creado is looking for smoothness, symmetry and shape.There are a lot of areas that are functioning well, and other areas that are not. The holes show at least 45% drop in blood flow to that area, not meaning there are physical holes, but that neurons are not firing in those areas. The temporal lobes, frontal lobes, top part and bottom part all show a hole, or reduced blood flow to that area. Traumatic Brain Injury, Toxic Chemicals and SleepI do have the pattern of a traumatic brain injury and I described that I hit my head on a pool deck in the late 1990s while competing in a triathlon.  Head injuries typically have this pattern, but other things (my brain looks similar to my friend Doug’s who had toxic mold exposure which got me thinking about the cleaning products I use to clean my house with) can also affect these areas. This area can be affected by lack of regular exercise (not an issue for me), lack of meditation (not an issue for me), or inadequate sleep or sleep apnea (aha—not sure if this is it, but we will do a sleep study and see if I am getting enough oxygen to the brain at night). Dr. Creado thinks I am doing a lot of things right, but he doesn’t like how my brain looks, so we will be doing a bit more investigation around what is happening to this part of the brain. He also suggests sleeping longer than 6.5 hours, that I might need 7.5 hours (to get 5 sleep cycles), so I will take his advice and work on a change in schedule to see if I notice any improvements. With someone doing a lot of things right, he didn’t expect to see this pattern in my PFC.  The good news is that he didn’t see the pattern of Alzheimer’s or dementia that can show up years before symptoms occur.Dr. Creado showed me that this is the typical pattern of a traumatic brain injury. The Emotional BrainMy emotional brain showed to be really underactive. He wonders if it’s from the TBI, or from chronic neck pain I’ve always had, or sleep apnea (that we will check). He wants me to do balance exercises to stimulate activity in the cerebellum. I do hike and jump often from rock to rock without any difficulty, so have not noticed any issue with balance or coordination. He sees a lack of dopamine to the frontal lobes, and would prescribe medicine for this, but I prefer going the natural route, which makes sense why I know I need daily intensive exercise before I can sit at my desk and work.  It’s like I know the neurotransmitter that my body needs (dopamine) and I’ve learned to find ways to create it naturally.The deep limbic system is the brightest part of my emotional brain, which explains why I can easily control my mood. He sees this area overactive in people who hold themselves to high standards and can see the work I am doing that I need this area to work this way, or be a bit of a perfectionist, so this area is working as it should. He just cautions me to watch that if this area is too overactive, that I could go down the path of self-doubt, shame and guilt. There are great supplements that I had started taking about a year ago that can help balance this area of the brain (5HTP that boosts serotonin) can help with this, so I will see if he recommends me taking more than I was taking before.Brain Scan Conclusion:Dr.Creado thought that this evaluation was going to be smooth sailing for him when he saw the work I am doing, and the fact that I am doing a lot of things right, but he thinks that my brain still needs some work. I will get to work now on what he suggests I do to optimize my brain health to improve blood flow to the executive functions of my brain. After thinking about some of Dr. Creado’s questions and comments (that my brain looks similar to someone with a sleep deprived brain) I’ll take his advice seriously and work on an extra hour of sleep. I also thought about how much my brain looks like my friend Doug’s, (with toxic mold/chemical exposure)  and I do spend a lot of time cleaning my house, so I will re-think how I am cleaning and the products I am using.If you want to learn more about your own brain type, or want to optimize your brain like we did, just look up the number and call Amen Clinics. If a SPECT scan is not for you, you can take Dr. Amen’s Thrive by 25 Course[vii] that dives deeper into different parts of the brain where you can see if you recognize yourself and your own behaviors, which is what I did before we actually looked at our brain. I was accurate with the fact that I have a busy brain, and my we will find out my husband’s results next week. You can also read Dr. Amen’s most recent book The End of Mental Illness[viii] where he takes a deeper dive into different brain types, along with their SPECT scans, with strategies he recommends for each type.Why is Optimizing the Prefrontal Cortex So Important?I learned that there are strategies that create more brain reserve, or energy, and the more brain reserve we have, the more resilient we are and the better our brain can handle the aging process to keep “mental health” disorders at bay. There are many different factors for how one person can have more brain reserve than another, but it stems from family history, or what types of injuries or trauma you’ve experienced in your past. After looking at my results, you can see there were many different factors that contributed to what Dr. Creado saw, and we still have some work to do on pinpointing ways to further optimize my prefrontal cortex or thinking brain.The decisions we make and the habits we engage in on a daily basis are either boosting or stealing our brain’s reserve and are either accelerating the aging process or rejuvenating our brain. When we can grasp this concept, we realize that we have a lot of influence on the health and age of our brain, as well as on our own mental and physical health.Especially during this time where we don’t yet know exactly how the coronavirus can impact the brain, and our future, I think it is important to learn more about our brain, protect it better, and take our seriousness towards our health to a new level.Improving the Prefrontal Cortex or Executive Functions of the Brain:Keep in mind that we want to protect the most important part of our brain, the prefrontal cortex, since it is that part of the brain that controls our focus, forethought, judgement, impulse control, organization, planning, and empathy.  It’s this part of our brain that we want to strengthen to improve our future and the part of my brain that I know I need to work on.Dr. Amen was the principal investigator on the first and largest brain imaging study on active and retired NFL players who showed high levels of damage but who also had a high chance of recovery using the strategies he suggests after a brain scan. He did notice that many football players had a similar pattern on their brain after years of damage. Their brains were all flattened on the top, right where their executive functions were housed due to the consistent and repetitive motion of hitting the athletes head in a forward motion. We did cover tips to strengthen your brain and cognition in EPISODE #23 on “Understanding the Difference Between our Mind and Our Brain”[ix] but here’s a review.Let’s say you are ready to make some changes with your brain health. When you are curious and interested, you will be ready to put in the effort needed to work hard and concentrate on new information. You must also be relaxed in order to consolidate this new information that you will be learning. In his book Words Can Change Your Brain[x]  Mark Robert Waldman outlines his brain-scan research suggesting that “the strategies incorporated in mindfulness could strengthen the neural circuits associated with empathy, compassion and moral decision making.” This demonstrates just how powerful it can be to stop and think and incorporate a daily meditation practice. Exercise and meditation did help my emotional response scores. Take some time to stop and think about these tips of how to improve your brain and life.We all want to have a better brain and life and getting a SPECT scan was a first step towards this. After the results, I was able to look at the what Dr. Amen calls the 4 Circles of Brain Health[xi] where he reminds us that 51% of the population will struggle with a mental health challenge at some point in their life. He suggests you think about these four areas when looking at making changes to improve our life.Biological: How your brain and body works. Are you eating right, exercising and taking the right supplements? What genetic vulnerabilities do you have? Do you know what they are?Spiritual: Why are you here? Do you know your purpose and vision beyond yourself, how can you can contribute to the community or world?Psychological: How Your Mind Works. What makes you who you are (self-talk, body image, sense of self-worth, hope, and power over your own life).Social: Who Else is in Your Life? What is the quality of your life, relationships, and how do you give back to the world with your talents/skills?This experience really did open my eyes to what Dr. Amen says all the time.  “We don’t know know, unless we look” and I’m glad I looked at my brain. I wasn’t expecting to see it looking like it did, but it did answer some questions for me. I know now why meditation and exercise are so important, because my brain works best with this boost in dopamine. I can either create it myself, and also find other natural, healthy ways to keep my dopamine levels higher, including working on sleep, taking the right balance of supplements, and keeping up with the activities that have been working for me in the past. I will keep you posted as how the work begins when I receive some strategies to improve and optimize my brain. I know they will involve some sessions of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, (many of NHL and NFL players have been treated successfully for head injuries at Amen Clinics with this type of therapy), supplements, a sleep study, and interactive metronome activities to increase blood flow to my cerebellum.The older we get, the more serious we need to be about the health of our brain. This experience showed me the reality of looking at this organ that controls everything that I do, and in order to optimize it, I need to know exactly what is happening with it. I hope you found this 3-part brain scan series helpful, and that it has lit a fire for you to take your brain health to the next level. I know it lit a fire under me to make some changes, and scared me enough to be grateful that we did take the time to look at our brains, so that we can focus on brain optimization and health with true understanding of what’s really happening at the brain level. How would you ever know, unless you look.See you next week!REFERENCES:[i] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #82 with Doug Sutton on “How a Brain Scan Changed my Life.” PART 1 https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/how-a-brain-scan-changed-my-brain-and-life-with-doug-sutton/[ii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPSIODE #83 with Andrea Samadi on “What is a SPECT Brain Scan and How Can it Change Your Life?” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/how-exactly-can-a-spect-imaging-brain-scan-change-your-life-with-andrea-samadi-part-2/[iii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #72 with Dr. Shane Creado on “Sleep Strategies that Will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage.” https://www.achieveit360.com/dr-shane-creado-on-sleep-strategies-that-will-guarantee-a-competitive-advantage/[iv] Actress Laura Clery SPECT Scan Results with Dr. Amen https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3472842882747938 (start video at 4 minutes where she arrives at Dr. Amen’s Clinic).[v] Conners Continuous Performance Test https://www.pearsonclinical.co.uk/Psychology/ChildMentalHealth/ChildADDADHDBehaviour/ConnersContinuousPerformanceTestIIVersion5forWindows(CPTIIV5)/ConnersContinuousPerformanceTestIIVersion5forWindows(CPTIIV5).aspx[vi] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #74 with brain-science and resiliency expert Horatio Sanchez https://www.achieveit360.com/leading-brain-science-and-resiliency-expert-horatio-sanchez-on-how-to-apply-brain-science-to-improve-instruction-and-school-climate/[vii] Thrive by 25 Online Course https://brainmd.com/brain-thrive-by-25[viii] Dr. Daniel Amen, The End of Mental Illness (March 2020) https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming-ebook/dp/B07T6C3CWH/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=[ix] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #23 “Understanding the Difference Between Your Mind and Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/understanding-your-brain-and-mind-for-increased-results/[x] Andrew Newburg M .D and Mark Robert Waldman, “Words Can Change Your Brain,” (The Penguin Group, New York, New York) Page 12https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0074VTHMA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1[xi] Dr. Daniel Amen, The End of Mental Illness (March 2020) https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming-ebook/dp/B07T6C3CWH/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= 

How do we communicate well? Do the same principles apply to settings like one-on-one, preaching, writing, or posting online? We talk with communication expert Dr. Heather Thompson Day about all of that and more! (Communication is really about listening! Why should we tell stories? What about ‘platform building’?)Things we mention in this episode/other resources:- Words Can Change Your Brain: 12 Conversation Strategies to Build Trust, Resolve Conflict, and Increase Intimacy by Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman- America's Four Gods: What We Say About God--And What That Says About Us by Paul Froese and Christopher BaderConnect with Heather on her website, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Buy her books on Amazon.Quotes:- “Communication is so much more about listening than it is about speaking.” (tweet)- “The greatest contributor to your happiness is your relationships with other people.” (tweet)- “Communication is the vehicle by which we engage with relationships with one another.” (tweet)- “Competent communicators have the ability to change their message to fit their audience.” (tweet)- “You really can’t communicate well unless you’ve taken the time to know who your audience is.” (tweet)- “So much of what we say, we’re actually saying out of anxiety or fear.” (tweet)- “We value the product, but God values the process.” (tweet)- “Even when you’re not where you want to be going, wholeness exists for you right here.” (tweet)Join the Cxmhunity on Facebook!Connect with Robert on his website, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.Connect with Holly on her website or Twitter, or Instagram.Connect more with CXMH on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest.Ways to support CXMH:- make a pledge on Patreon and get rewards like submitting questions for upcoming interviews, a mug, sticker, t-shirt, or more!- give a one-time gift using PayPal- Do your Amazon shopping through this link- Leave us a rating & review on iTunes or Google Play- Check out our CXMH merchandise to show off your support- Listen to the Cxmhunity Spotify playlist here- Check out other episodes and find your favorites guests on our website.Intro/Outro music for this episode is ‘Fall Down’ by Rivers & Robots.

If I were to ask you what are the qualities that you most want for your children, students, employees, or even for yourself so that you can reach those optimal levels of health, well-being and happiness, (no matter what part of the world you are listening from),  the answer would probably sound something like this.  “I want to them to develop a healthy mind, to pursue excellence, to have the skills needed to excel independently, to have compassion and empathy for others, to acquire the skills needed in this ever-changing world, or to adopt the mindset of lifelong learning that’s needed to thrive not just survive in this world” –something along those lines that focuses on developing the minds of our next generation with social and emotional skills.In order to bridge this gap between knowing and actually implementing these skills, we must first of all have a clear understanding of what they are. If social and emotional skills are skills that we could say are of the developed mind, and we are moving into cognitive skills of the brain, it leads us to question what is the difference between the mind and the brain before we continue further? Once we have a clear definition of each of these, it’s much easier to continue to develop and implement these strategies needed for improved results. Have you ever thought about what your mind is? What about your brain? And how are they different?Dr. Dan Siegel, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA, (who I’m so excited to share will be coming on the podcast later next month) has spent a considerable amount of time defining the mind.[i] He was shocked when he first started to study the mind and began surveying mental health professionals around the world who should know about the mind that “95% of them had never even been given a lecture on the mind, and probably couldn’t even tell you what the definition of the mind was”[ii] so he wondered how can we expect  to develop it, without this understanding? He explores the concept of the mind in his book, Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation[iii] where he proves that you can define what a healthy mind is, not just describe it. His book allows that Mindsight “is the potent skill that is the basis for both emotional and social intelligence.”[iv] He explains that psychology means the study of the mind and behavior and elaborates that “when a parent senses the inner mental life of their child, (their mind) their child does really well in life. This ability to see the mind actually changes the structure of their brain. It’s called neural integration.”[v] Siegel further explains that when we can adopt this practice of “seeing the inner-life” or the minds of our students, children, friends or family members, it makes a considerable difference in the results and well-being that they achieve. Even developing our own practice of being more mindfully present of our own inner mind can “change the ends of the chromosomes in your cells”[vi] proving that what you do with your mind, makes a difference for the health of your body and your relationships.Dan Siegel explains that a neuroscientist would define the mind “as the activity of the brain”[vii] but he could not settle on this definition as a therapist since this would mean our brain would control everything that we do. He came up with a definition in the mid-1990s that made the most sense  to him and his colleagues and it was that the mind “is an embodied and relational process—since it’s in the body and it’s in our relationships with one another—that regulates the flow of energy and information.”[viii]  This definition really got me thinking. I probably listened to it for a good week.It got me thinking about the flow of energy and information and how it comes into our body through our senses, and what we do with this information to cause the results in our life. One of my first mentors studied the mind intensively and came up with a picture diagram that he called the stickperson[ix] that originated from the work of the late Dr. Thurman Fleet from San Antonio, Texas, who was the founder of Concept Therapy. Dr. Fleet’s diagram of the mind included the conscious mind that included how we perceive the outside world with our five senses, our (sight, touch, taste, hearing and smell) which is how we take in information from the outside world, along with the six higher faculties of our mind, our (perception, reasoning, will, memory, imagination and intuition) that give us a deeper perspective of the information we receive. The diagram also shows the sub-conscious (or non-conscious mind as it is more commonly called today) where information comes in automatically, and the fact that what we think about with our mind, shows up with our thoughts, feelings and actions, and causes the results in our life as our conditions, circumstances and environment change based on the actions that we take.[x]  Dr. Fleet’s diagram shows how important it is that we understand how our mind operates in order to reach our highest levels of potential.In our last interview with the Founding Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of the book Permission to Feel,[xi] Marc Brackett reminded us that “people don’t lose their jobs because of a lack of ability in the cognitive areas, it’s usually because of social skills—someone who just doesn’t fit into the organization for some reason, or who can’t seem to get along with the team.”[xii]  Developing these social skills of the mind is what we all want. These are the universal skills that we want for ourselves and for others and it’s interesting that it’s taken so long for our schools to put an emphasis on developing the minds of our next generation of students.The benefits of learning these skills does take time to be seen, but the research is evident.  Casel (the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning) has clear research that proves that implementing these SEL skills will improve students’ academic abilities. Casel’s meta-analysis of 213 studies involving 270,000+ students showed that “SEL interventions that address CASEL’s five core competencies (that we have covered in our social and emotional track) increased students’ academic performance by 11 percentile points, compared to students who did not participate in such SEL programs. Students also showed improved classroom behavior, an increased ability to manage stress and depression, and better attitudes about themselves, others, and school.[xiii]   The research also showed that we as parents, educators, coaches and counselors must first of all practice these concepts ourselves, before we teach others because if we haven’t developed a practice ourselves, our students will pick up on the lack of authenticity and won’t take the concept seriously either.Marc Brackett also shared with us that the social and emotional competencies were harder to learn and implement than the cognitive strategies. He reminded us in episode 22 that “we can’t be sure that once we have learned a strategy (for example like one for improving our mindset) that we will then be able to implement that strategy while under stress whereas memorization of our times tables, a cognitive skill, is much easier to learn, use and remember.”[xiv] It’s a lifelong commitment to understanding ourselves, our emotions and continuing to apply the strategies to regulate us. We should refer back to the strategies in the social and emotional lessons to be sure that we are continuing to “sharpen the saw”[xv] and implementing these ideas for continual improved results. Once we have a solid practice for developing our social and emotional mindset, (understanding ourselves and our emotions) it makes sense to move onto the cognitive strategies which are the processes of thinking and include the ability to focus and pay attention, set goals, plan and organize, persevere and problem solve.[xvi] If cognition is the realm of thinking, then metacognition involves thinking about our thinking, reflecting on your own thinking process and the ability to monitor and manage your learning. This is where we must begin to create a plan to improve what we would like to learn.  It is possible to learn anything with the right study habits, the ability to practice and refine the skills needed, with a positive growth mindset, we can create those “Aha Moments” of learning that come when we persist through something we are working on.What Slows Down Our Learning?Stress and anxiety make it difficult for learning to occur. When you feel threatened or anxious, the brain releases chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol. These chemicals quickly alter the way that you think, feel and behave and shut down the oldest part of the brain that are designed to keep us safe when we feel stress. It’s smart to learn quick and simple relaxation strategies that you can use immediately when you feel stressed or anxious. Taking some deep, long breaths can fuel your brain for focused attention and learning and prevent your emotions from taking control. If you are looking for a longer term solution, research does show that those who consistently practice mindfulness and mediation strategies, decrease the size of the amygdala, (the part of the brain that highjacks our emotions) and improves our ability to handle stressful situations so that we possess more equanimity, a mental calmness, composure and evenness of temper, especially during difficult situations.What Strengthens Our Brain and Cognition?When you are curious and interested, you will be ready to put in the effort needed to work hard and concentrate on new information. You must also be happy and relaxed in order to consolidate this new information. In his book Words Can Change Your Brain[xvii], Mark Robert Waldman outlines his brain-scan research suggesting that “the strategies incorporated in mindfulness could strengthen the neural circuits associated with empathy, compassion and moral decision making .”[xviii] This demonstrates just how powerful it can be to stop and think . Incorporating mindfulness into your daily routine can enable you to be more observant, creative, and ready to see the opportunity within your daily obstacles and challenges.Here are Three Tips to Strengthen Your Brain and Cognition That You Can Implement Immediately:Take brief relaxation breaks to maintain focus and improve your ability to problem solve. We must find a way to relax our brain and body. It’s during these “resting states” that remarkable activity takes place, allowing the brain to creatively solve problems. Dr. Srini Pillay, an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, wrote a book about the importance of this resting period in his book, Tinker, Dabble, Doodle, Try: Unlock the Power of the Unfocused Mind.[xix] In this book Pillay explains that too much focus depletes your brain of glucose and depletes you. Be mindful of ways to eliminate decision fatigue and allow those times for your mind to become unfocused. He shared that Einstein discovered his Theory of Relativity by using his intuition, and then used logic to explain it. Unfocused time can take you to places and insights where focus cannot.Improve the circuits of your brain by learning to look within for answers. In his book, “Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation” Dr . Siegel shares that teachers introduced to “mindsight or the ability to focus on the inner life of their student or child” teach with the brain in mind and are reaching students in deeper and more lasting ways .”[xx] The research shows that developing the ability to make sense of your own life and past experiences, translates into the development of your students and children. Dr. Siegel is an expert on Attachment Research and discusses the fact that having Mindsight ourselves, will help develop securely attached children who will learn resilience.Create a plan for persistence. If your first plan does not succeed, what will you try next. Map out strategies for your plan b and be ready to pivot or try something new if the first plan fails. Those who fail, often attribute their failure to lack of inspiration, ability, talent or lack of time, but most often it’s due to insufficient application of strategies towards a goal and lack of persistence. I hope you have found these tips and further study of the mind vs the brain to be helpful as we move into the cognitive track and dive deeper into how we can use our brain to facilitate and improve our ability to learn and create lasting results. I’m excited to speak with Dr. Siegel the start of November. His work has inspired a lot of my early research into the brain and there’s no one like him who can explain such complex concepts in a way that anyone can understand them.  I look forward to bringing in new experts to inspire new ways of thinking around the power and purpose of our brain in our cognitive track.  See you next time. RESOURCES:Integrating Social, Emotional and Academic Development (SEAD) March 2019 The Aspen Institute https://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/integrating-social-emotional-and-academic-development-sead-an-action-guide-for-school-leadership-teams/“How to Reach the Aha Moment of Learning” Diagram adapted by Andrea Samadi with permission https://www.dropbox.com/s/lktxwm2u130vllr/18-Metacognition.jpg?dl=0REFERENCES:[i] Dr. Dan Siegel Defines The Mind Published Feb. 11, 2010 on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEdq04xbHAs[ii] TEDx Sunset Park Dr. Dan Siegel “What is the Mind?” YouTube Published July 4, 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak5GCyBFY4E[iii] Mindsight: The New Science of Transformation Dr. Dan Siegel https://www.drdansiegel.com/about/mindsight/[iv] Mindsight: The New Science of Transformation Dr. Dan Siegel https://www.drdansiegel.com/about/mindsight/[v] TEDx Sunset Park Dr. Dan Siegel “What is the Mind?” YouTube Published July 4, 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak5GCyBFY4E[vi] TEDx Sunset Park Dr. Dan Siegel “What is the Mind?” YouTube Published July 4, 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak5GCyBFY4E[vii] Dr. Dan Siegel Defines The Mind Published Feb. 11, 2010 on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEdq04xbHAs[viii] Dr. Dan Siegel Defines The Mind Published Feb. 11, 2010 on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEdq04xbHAs[ix] How Your Mind Works Proctor Gallagher Institute, idea originally from Dr. Thurman Fleet  https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/25593/how-your-mind-works[x] How Your Mind Works Proctor Gallagher Institute, idea originally from Dr. Thurman Fleet  https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/25593/how-your-mind-works[xi] Marc Brackett “Permission to Feel” https://www.marcbrackett.com/[xii] Marc Brackett on the Importance of Emotional Intelligence https://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/video/marc-brackett-on-the-importance-of-emotional-intelligence/[xiii] The Impact of SEL https://casel.org/impact/[xiv] EPISODE #22 Interview with Marc Brackett, Founding Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/founding-director-yale-center-for-emotional-intelligence/id1469683141?i=1000450933434[xv] Sharpen the Saw 7th Habit of Highly Effective People Stephen Covey https://www.franklincovey.com/the-7-habits/habit-7.html[xvi] Integrating Social, Emotional and Academic Development (SEAD) March 2019 The Aspen Institute https://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/integrating-social-emotional-and-academic-development-sead-an-action-guide-for-school-leadership-teams/[xvii] Andrew Newburg M .D . and Mark Robert Waldman, “Words Can Change Your Brain,” (The Penguin Group, New York, New York) Page 12https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0074VTHMA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1[xviii] Andrew Newburg M .D . and Mark Robert Waldman, “Words Can Change Your Brain,” (The Penguin Group, New York, New York) Page 12https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0074VTHMA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1[xix] Dr. Srini Pillay Tinker, Dabble, Doodle, Try: Unlok the Power of the Unfocused Mind https://www.amazon.com/Tinker-Dabble-Doodle-Try-Unfocused-ebook/dp/B01JWDZ7SK/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=pillay+tinker&qid=1570042219&s=digital-text&sr=1-1[xx] Dan Siegel, Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation, (New York: Bantam, 2010) Kindle Edition Location 133 https://www.amazon.com/Mindsight-New-Science-Personal-Transformation-ebook/dp/B002XHNONS/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=mindsight&qid=1570042869&s=digital-text&sr=1-1 

Whether you're a devout believer or a staunch atheist, the research is clear: prayer works. Here's what also works: introspective time, mindfulness, positive focus, and big ideas. Science has proven that your brain physically changes through the regular practice of prayer, meditation, and mindfulness, and the changes can happen in as little as six to eight weeks. Our guest on this week's show has dedicated his life to the study of positive neural changes through prayer and spiritual practices, and his discoveries will surprise you.  Listen & Learn:  The three-yawn technique for instant mindfulness How prayer, meditation, and mindfulness can change your brain Why these positive benefits have nothing to do with the existence (or inexistence) of God How chanting, singing, and spiritual experiences are only valuable if there is time afterward to integrate and reflect on the experience  Links & Resources:   Mark's books on Amazon Mark's Site ABOUT OUR GUEST Mark Robert Waldman is Executive MBA Faculty at Loyola Marymount University. He teaches the NeuroLeadership program. He is the author of 14 books including Words Can Change Your Brain and How God Changes Your Brain. He has been featured on PBS, National Public Radio, Canadian National Television, Oprah and Friends, and in dozens of national magazines. He is also on the faculty of Holmes Institute. Nutritional Tip of the Week: Artificial Sweeteners Any Good Got Questions? Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question Or write to us: podcast@yogabody.com  Like the Show? Leave us a Review on iTunes 

Author & radio show Mari Frank interviews author Mark Waldman on this week's Fighting for Love segment. Mark Waldman is one of the world's leading experts on communication, spirituality, and the brain. He is on the faculty at Loyola Marymount University's College of Business and the Holmes Institute. He was a founding member and Associate Fellow at the Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania. Mark has authored 12 books, including the national bestseller, How God Changes Your Brain, which Oprah selected as one of the nine "Must Read" books for 2012. His research has been published in peer-reviewed journals throughout the world and his work has been featured in Time Magazine, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Investor's Business Weekly, and Oprah Magazine. He has appeared on PBS Television and NPR Radio and he received the Distinguished Speaker award from the Mind Science Foundation. Mark's latest book, Words Can Change Your Brain, teaches readers how to rapidly build trust and intimacy with others, and to resolve conflicts before they even begin. The Compassionate Communication strategies are part of Loyola Marymount University's Executive MBA program and have been taught to schools and organizations throughout the world.

Andrew Newberg, MD, is author or coauthor of Born To Believe, Kundalini Rising: Exploring the Energy of Awakening, How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain, How God Changes Your Brain, Neurotheology, Principles of Neurotheology, The Metaphysical Mind, The Rabbi’s Brain, Why God Won’t Go Away, and Words Can Change Your Brain. Here he applies his neurotheological approach … Continue reading "The Neurotheology of Judaism with Andrew Newberg"

Dr Andrew Newberg is a Neurotheologian - a Neurologist who specializes in how faith affects the brain and how the brain affects faith. He is the author of many books including Words Can Change Your Brain, which he recommends for people of faith.   

Surprise! We're still on summer break, but we're popping in with this episode. I get the chance to talk to award-winning author Jonathan Merritt about why people are using sacred language less, why that matters, and what we can do about it. We'll see you in a few weeks for Season 3, kicking off in September!Things we mention in this episode/other resources:- Studies in Words by C. S. Lewis- If you're interested more in the connection between our language and the way we view the world, I (Robert) recommend Words Can Change Your Brain by Andrew Newberg & Mark Robert Waldman- Psychology Today article: 'How the Language You Speak Influences the Way You Think'Connect with Jonathan on his website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or buy his new book Learning to Speak God from Scratch: Why Sacred Words are Vanishing - and How We Can Revive Them on Amazon. You can also listen to Jonathan on The Faith Angle or Seekers & Speakers.Quotes:- “The vast majority of Americans, despite widespread religiosity, do not feel comfortable having spiritual conversations." (tweet)- “The words that we speak reveal something about what we believe and then shape what we believe.” (tweet)- “Language is not just expressive, it is also formative. The language that we use actually shapes what is inside of us.” (tweet)- “You cannot pretend you use language in a vacuum. It’s always attached to our experiences.” (tweet)Connect with Robert on his website, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.Connect more with CXMH on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest.Ways to support CXMH:- make a pledge on Patreon and get rewards like an exclusive Facebook group, a mug, sticker, t-shirt, or more!- Do your Amazon shopping through this link- Leave us a rating & review on iTunes or Google Play- Check out our CXMH merchandise to show off your support- Listen to the Cxmhunity Spotify playlist here- Check out other episodes and find your favorites guests on our website.Intro/Outro music for this episode is ‘Fall Down’ by Rivers & Robots.

Who do you think you are? Everyone who works for themselves has wrestled some point over what title to use. Many start by using the title "freelance _______"—designer, writer, software developer, or whatever the case may be. The words you use influence others’ perception of you.' Today's links:  https://www.fastcompany.com/3054141/lessons-learned/why-i-stopped-calling-myself-a-freelancer  https://www.amazon.com/Words-Can-Change-Your-Brain/dp/B00D9T9ULY/?tag=psychcentral -- According to Andrew Newberg, M.D. and Mark Robert Waldman, words can literally change your brain. They argue that a single negative word can increase the activity in our amygdala (the fear center of the brain). This releases dozens of stress-producing hormones and neurotransmitters, which in turn interrupts our brains’ functioning. In other words, “angry words send alarm messages through the brain, and they partially shut down the logic-and-reasoning centers located in the frontal lobes." Meanwhile, a positive word can strengthen areas in frontal lobes and promote cognitive function. They write "as our research has shown, the longer you concentrate on positive words, the more you begin to affect other areas of the brain. Functions in the parietal lobe start to change, which changes your perception of yourself and the people you interact with. A positive view of yourself will bias you toward seeing the good in others, whereas a negative self-image will include you toward suspicion and doubt. Over time the structure of your thalamus will also change in response to your conscious words, thoughts, and feelings, and we believe that the thalamic changes affect the way in which you perceive reality." So what does that mean for us? What’s your first thought when you hear the word "freelancer"? Do you picture a college kid working out of her parent’s basement? Most people perceive freelancers as in the lurch, between unemployment and their next ‘real’ job. Many people who call themselves freelancers don’t exactly think of what they do as a business. But they should. Clients too often see freelance arrangements as low-cost line items rather than strategic partnerships. And that creates a power imbalance, with the client in charge—hardly an ideal situation for independent workers, especially those trying to start a business with the express purpose of gaining more freedom over their work. When he first started out, Tim Dietrich described himself as a "freelance database consultant." But he soon realized that the "freelance" tag said more to clients about the structure of his business (process) than what he could actually do for them (results). Tim now introduces himself with this simple line, "I develop custom apps for businesses." Who would you want to work with more: Someone who tells you how they file their taxes or explains what they can do for your balance sheet? Your livelihood doesn't depend on your own self-perception, but on how potential clients see you and your work. Freelancers don't always see themselves as business owners because businesses have quarterly targets, revenue streams, and brand images to preserve. And clients expect that other businesses have systems and processes leading to consistent results. Don’t worry if you’re still working on systems and processes. It’s still okay to call yourself a business—which can in turn push you to build a workflow for yourself, set firmer goals, and increase your margins—just like an actual business.   -- This episode is sponsored by AND.CO, the freelancer's resource! They offer great tools for freelancers, including curated job lists, time tracking and invoicing software, contracts, free guides and more!  -- Want to support the show? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or recommend us to a friend. It helps immensely. Also: do you love the podcast? Is there anything you'd like to see us change about it? Let us know by filling out this short survey!

Today, we are joined by author, neuroscientific researcher, therapist, and the world's leading expert on spirituality and the brain, Mark Robert Waldman. Mark is faculty at Loyola Marymount University and author of 13 books, including Words Can Change Your Brain and How God Changes Your Brain, the latter of which was nominated as a “must read” by Oprah Winfrey. He's also just published a new book on January 31st, called Neurowisdom. Mark's body of work is a formidable cornucopia of knowledge on the brain, and how we can influence it's development and behavior with something as simple as thoughts and beliefs. But don't worry, this isn't going to be another episode where I go off into energies and woo-woo… Mark is a very respected researcher in the field of neuroscience, having had his work published in peer-reviewed journals worldwide, and publications ranging from Time Magazine to Forbes and The New York Times. In this episode, we talk about… god, neuroscience, psychedelics, spirituality, yawning, communications, guided meditations.

Todd and Cathy discuss the book Words Can Change Your Brain and process why “compassionate communication” supports healthy relationships and the brain development of our children. They also discuss the impact of an all-female Ghostbusters cast and how a female presidential nominee shapes the way boys and girls see each other.

Todd and Cathy discuss the book Words Can Change Your Brain and process why “compassionate communication” supports healthy relationships and the brain development of our children. They also discuss the impact of an all-female Ghostbusters cast and how a female presidential nominee shapes the way boys and girls see each other.

If you’re digging what we’re doing here consider making a small donation. Maintaining a podcast isn’t cheap and every dollar donated helps us to keep this thing going. (as well as buy us a drink) https://squareup.com/store/thedeconstructionists This week we speak with Dr. Andrew Newberg. Dr. Newberg is a neuroscientist who studies the relationship between brain function and various mental states. He is a pioneer in the neurological study of religious and spiritual experiences, a field known as “neurotheology.” His research includes taking brain scans of people in prayer, meditation, rituals, and trance states, in an attempt to better understand the nature of religious and spiritual practices and attitudes. Dr. Andrew Newberg is the director of research at the Jefferson Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine and a physician at Jefferson University Hospital. He is board certified in internal medicine and nuclear medicine. Andrew has been asking questions about reality, truth, and God since he was very young, and he has long been fascinated by the human mind and its complex workings. While a medical student, he met Dr. Eugene d’Aquili, who was studying religious experiences. Combining their interests with Andrew’s background in neuroscience and brain imaging, they were able to break new theoretical and empirical ground on the relationship between the brain and religion. Andrew’s research now largely focuses on how brain function is associated with various mental states – in particular, religious and mystical experiences. His research has included brain scans of people in prayer, mediation, rituals, and trance states, as well as surveys of people’s spiritual experiences and attitudes. He has also evaluated the relationship between religious or spiritual phenomena and health, and the effect of mediation on memory. He believes that it is important to keep science rigorous and religion religious. Andrew has also used neuroimaging research projects to study aging and dementia, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, depression, and other neurological and psychiatric disorders. Guest Published Works: Dr. Newberg is the author of the books: The Mystical Mind: Probing the Biology of Religious Experience, Brain Science & The Biology of Belief: Why God Won’t Go Away, Why We Believe What We Believe, How God Changes Your Brain, Principles of Neurotheology, The Metaphysical Mind: Probing the Biology of Philosophical Thought, The New Science of Transformation: How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain, and Words Can Change Your Brain: 12 Conversation Strategies to Build Trust, Resolve Conflicts, and Increase Intimacy. Check out Dr. Newberg’s website for links to videos, journal publications, and articles he’s written for publications such as USA Today. Guest Website/Social Media: www.andrewnewberg.com Special guest music on this episode provided by: Atlas Genius www.atlasgenius.com Instagram: @atlasgenius Twitter: @atlasgenius Facebook: atlasgenius snapchat: atlasgenius Enjoy the songs? Songs featured on this episode were: The Stone Mill, Where I Belong, Balladino, Levitate, & Molecules from the album Inanimate Objects Atlas Genius music is available on iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, & Soundcloud The Deconstructionist’s Podcast is mixed and edited by Nicholas Rowe at National Audio Preservation Society: A full service recording studio and creative habitat, located in Heath, Ohio. Find them on Facebook and Twitter or visit their website for more information. www.nationalaudiopreservationsociety.weebly.com www.facebook.com/nationalaudiopreservationsociety Twitter: @napsrecording Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-deconstructionists/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Effective communication is a crucial aspect to success in relationships with others and often one of the most difficult things to learn. Dr. Andrew Newberg, co-author of Words Can Change Your Brain, joins Jason Hartman to talk about the effects of positive and negative words on our own and others' well-being. Talking to people in a positive, relaxed, compassionate and loving way creates a more intimate and positive experience, while talking to others in a hostile or negative way triggers stress, defensiveness and poor outcomes. Dr. Andrew highlights some of the ways that the brain works with regard to interaction with others, such as working memory, emotions, relaxed vs. reactive behavior, etc., and provides suggestions for framing a positive experience. For details, listen at:  www.HolisticSurvival.com. Andrew B. Newberg, M.D. is currently the Director of Research at the Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital in Philadelphia. He is also a Professor in the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Radiology at Thomas Jefferson University. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Nuclear Medicine. He has actively pursued a number of neuroimaging research projects, which have included the study of aging and dementia, epilepsy, and other neurological and psychiatric disorders. Dr.Newberg has been particularly involved in the study of mystical and religious experiences, as well as the more general mind/body relationship in both the clinical and research aspects of his career. He has published numerous articles and chapters on brain function, brain imaging, and the study of religious and mystical experiences, and has authored several books.  He is the co-author of the new book entitled, “Words Can Change Your Brain: 12 Conversation Strategies to Build Trust, Resolve Conflicts, and Increase Intimacy” (Hudson Street Press). He has appeared on Good Morning America, Nightline, CNN, ABC World News Tonight, as well as in a number of media articles, including Newsweek, Time, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Readers Digest. More about Dr. Andrew Newberg can be found on his website at www.andrewnewberg.com.

In this interview Mark discusses his new book "Words Can Change Your Brain" and guides us through the most important elements of effective communication. This interview is filled with helpful hints for self empowerment and scientific findings on how our brain works and the effects of different types of thoughts on the brain. Mark Waldman is one of the world's leading experts on communication, spirituality, and the brain. He is on the faculty at Loyola Marymount University's College of Business and the Holmes Institute. He was a founding member and Associate Fellow at the Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania. His research has been published in peer-reviewed journals throughout the world and his work has been featured in Time Magazine, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Investor's Business Weekly, and Oprah Magazine. He has appeared on PBS Television and NPR Radio and he received the Distinguished Speaker award from the Mind Science Foundation. Mark has authored 12 books, including the national bestseller, How God Changes Your Brain, which Oprah selected as one of the nine "Must Read" books for 2012. His new book, Words Can Change Your Brain, teaches readers how to rapidly build trust and intimacy with others, and to resolve conflicts before they even begin. The Compassionate Communication strategies are part of Loyola Marymount University's Executive MBA program and have been taught to schools and organizations throughout the world. Mark's Website: www.MarkRobertWaldman.com Listen to "Ultrasounds" Radio Show http://www.wmnf.org/programs/ultrasounds ~Live on air weekly, Every Thursday Night 11pm-1am EST or Online anytime Eluv's Website: http://www.radiantsol.com Eluv on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/musicbyeluv