E08 - Wiring Your Brain for Success: Tools and Tips for a Healthy Mindset

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Welcome to the Mindful Balance Mini Podcast.

If you are a woman over 40,

ready to break free from fad diets

and discover the power of balance and confidence

in your life, then this podcast is for you

and I am so happy that you are here.

I'm your host, I'm Rachel, a nutrition and mindset coach

and I'm going to break down everything you need to know

into bite-sized pieces of sustainable and realistic tips.

I wanna invite you to join me

as we explore practical strategies to stop overeating,

nourish your body, and use the potential

of your amazing brain to achieve your goals.

If you haven't already,

make sure to hit that subscribe button

so you never miss an episode filled with insights

nutrition, mindset and building healthy habits.

Hey there, today I am inviting you to take a tour of your brain. I remember when I first realized

that as humans our brains have the ability to practically think about our own thinking

And I found this to be super cool and fascinating, so I am taking you on this journey with me today.

By definition, metacognition is the awareness and understanding of one's own thought process.

And today, I want to take advantage of this exact ability and share some of the ways

that knowing this can help you if you have really any goal, but particularly if you want

to learn how to use your brain to help you with your weight loss and health goals.

But before we start, I promised you to every so often just give you a quick life update.

It is almost the end of August when I'm recording this episode and that means again, a lot of

of transitions. My oldest son Ben who is 22, he's getting ready to move to his

first real-life apartment in New York City and my second son Guy is about to

start his third year in college and if you can relate to parenting older kids

you know that it includes lots of excitement along with many bags, boxes

everywhere and a very messy garage. My younger two are still around, they have two more weeks before

school starts and I have to admit that as much as I love summer, there is something super exciting

and energizing and the weather changing and all the fresh starts that September brings. I don't

love seeing all the Halloween stuff everywhere, but I am so looking forward to the next season

and that's pretty much what's happening around here.

So now I'm ready and let's get back to today's topic.

There is lots of talk out there about the power of positive thinking and growth mindset,

But before you run away, if you are a skeptical creature like I for sure used to be, I want

to start by saying that there is in fact hard science behind it.

And so today our topic is our thoughts.

How positive thinking can literally rewire your brain and how this might be the secret

sauce to finally be able to live the life that you want, no matter what that means to

you.

Feeling confident in your body, being able to overcome challenges, maybe improve your

relationship with food, overcome emotional eating, etc.

No matter where you are right now, this is one of the most powerful tools to have in

your tool belt.

So the first thing I want to discuss is the basics of brain wiring.

The brain is a maze with billions of neurons communicating through trillions of connections.

Picture that each thought that we have basically shapes these connections, almost like footprints

on a path.

The more you walk a path, the more defined it becomes.

If we continue with this analogy for a second, every thought you have is like you exploring

a path in your brain.

The more you walk on it, the clearer and more accessible it becomes.

Now, the next thing to know is that our brains are not static.

They're ever-changing, adapting and growing, and that's really the best part of it.

This phenomenon has a name, it's called neuroplasticity, and it is at the core of our ability to change

and develop throughout life.

Essentially, we have the power to mold our thinking patterns and to conduct a mentality

that serves us.

Even if one way of thinking has been helpful, as we grow and change, we can let go of certain

thoughts that no longer serve us, which is what we call normally just changing our minds.

And this is where growth mindset comes into play.

The idea of positive thinking isn't just an abstract concept.

It's a tangible, scientific process happening in your brain, even right now, as you are

listening to this, and I personally find it to be so cool.

When you train your mind to recognize the positive, the small wins, you're not just

being optimistic, which isn't a bad thing by itself, but you're physically changing

your brain.

This shift in perception means the creation of new connection and over time, these connections

become those well-worn paths that will guide you and affect your natural thinking process.

Now I want to say what growth mindset isn't.

It isn't about feeling good all the time or embracing struggles.

It's not even about thinking that it's great when things maybe aren't that great.

And that is a very common misconception when it comes to growth mindset.

And I want you to think for a second about someone who you would consider successful.

It doesn't matter in what field.

Whoever that person is, I would bet that they have faced obstacles and failures along the

way.

That is just part of life.

What often sets these people apart in their approach to success is that they are conditioned

to see possibilities instead of limitations.

And this isn't magic.

It's actually, again, back to science.

It's using the inherent potential of the human brain to rise above those challenges until

they reach their goals.

It's doing it over and over and over again until it happens.

So how do we do that?

I'm sure this is one of the questions that come to mind right away.

Because it's not enough to know how positive thinking works.

Let's talk about how you can actively rewire your mind to help you in general and specifically

when it comes to weight loss.

And I'm going to break it down and hopefully one of the strategies will feel doable and

relatable to you.

Let's do it.

First, mindfulness and meditation.

like mindfulness and meditation are often mistaken for being tools for relaxation.

But I want to suggest that they are much, much more powerful and I would even say that

they are tools for mental sculpting.

When you guide your thoughts down intentional pathways, you strengthen them and eventually

make them your brain default.

So you can, for example, choose one positive thought that resonates with you.

It could be something like, "I am learning to eat in a way that feels good."

Or it can be, "I can overcome a challenge or this challenge."

I want you to write it down.

Make it your wallpaper.

Put it on your refrigerator.

Repeat it to yourself.

Because by focusing on this one single thought, you start building that pathway in your brain

that will ultimately become your habitual thinking.

The way we think is part of the habits that we have.

And when you have an intentional thought, you basically send your brain and say, "Go

find evidence.

How can this be true for me?"

Another tool that I want to offer you is affirmation and I will also mention visualization because

it works in a very similar way.

Affirmations are a way to guide your brain to construct a new reality.

I'm going to say it again.

It is a way to guide your brain in a certain direction to build a new reality.

It can be positive, but, and pay attention to this because this is really important,

oftentimes it helps us to even shift into neutral reality.

So let's say that you don't love your body right now.

I'm not suggesting that you have to love it now or start repeating affirmations that don't

really feel authentic to you or that you don't resonate with.

But I do want to offer that even thinking something like "I have a body."

This is super neutral.

This is already progress from the negative way that you may be in the habit of thinking

about yourself.

And I promise to mention visualization or imagining of your success because that works

in a very similar way.

These practices are like blueprints for your mind.

telling it, like I mentioned before, go build the structure. Go find proof that this can be

my reality. Moving on, let's talk about the third tool. This is about the environment that you

cultivate, the information that you consume, like books you read, podcasts you listen to,

and the people really that you surround yourself with. All these influence your thought patterns.

If you have ever felt that social media, for example, is showing you more and more content

with a specific agenda and that kind of influences your view on a certain topic, this is exactly

the example of how it works.

Now, I know that some of you might be thinking, "I can't relate to all this.

It's just too much positivity.

It doesn't feel real."

And that's really a very fair thing to say and one that I believe deserves attention.

So let me ask the questions that you may be wondering right now.

The first one is, is positive thinking just wishful thinking?

If I'm just going to tell myself that I can do this or that I'm learning to eat in a way

that feels good in my body, is it just wishful thinking?

My answer to that is that it's not at all the same.

Positive thinking isn't about denying reality or ignoring the challenges.

It's not about saying, "Yeah, my life is awesome right now, let's say."

It's not wishful thinking that magically makes the problems disappear.

Instead, it's more like, I would say, a deliberate practice of focus on opportunities and solutions.

And again, it's backed by neuroscience.

Reputable studies from institutions like Harvard and Stanford, just to mention two, have shown

that optimistic thinking leads to improved problem solving skills and creativity.

So back to positive thinking isn't just by itself wishful thinking.

Second question that you may have in mind is how do you transition to a new way of thinking

without it feeling fake or untrue?

So if jumping straight to positive thinking feels like unrealistic or any of the feelings

and thoughts that you may have right now, consider using what is often referred to as

"bridging thoughts."

This is a psychological tool that helps you basically move from point A to point B gradually.

Instead of forcing yourself to think "everything will be perfect," you might want to start

with "I can handle this challenge" or "I am open to finding a solution."

It's really like building a bridge from a place of doubt to a place of confidence.

The third question that you may have in mind right now is, "How do I know that this works?

How can this help me? I want to lose weight. How can this positive thinking suggestion actually

help me?" The power of your thoughts has been observed across various domains, from business

to sport and personal development in so many fields. Whether you are a firm believer in

positive thinking or you may still have lots of doubts, and if you do, I want to say that's

completely reasonable. What's clear is that our minds hold incredible power when trying to create

change. And even if positive thinking seems far-fetched at the moment, there are ways to

approach it gradually and slowly and to build it into your life in small steps. Okay, I feel like

we have peeled back many layers of positive thinking, really from the science to the

skepticism and hopefully I'm kind of starting to leave you with something to ponder and explore

and implement. But I'm not going to leave you without actually giving you some tangible,

simple steps to help you put all this theory into actions. If you have a pencil and pen in front of

you, or maybe if you want to go back and I will also put it in the show notes, these are the

things that can help you shift your mindset into growth mindset.

Number 1.

Practice Gratitude Gratitude is a powerful way to cultivate

positive thinking mainly because when you feed your brain with appreciation, it just

has less space for judgment and ruminating and negative self-talk.

A super simple way to do it is every morning when you wake up, I want you to take maybe

one minute and list three things that you are grateful for.

This simple act can really shift your focus from what's lacking to what's abundant in

your life.

Second thing, remember when we talked about the concept of bridging thoughts?

Next time when you catch yourself drowning in negative thinking, try to find that middle

ground.

So instead of saying, "I'll never get this done."

Maybe you can try, "I can figure out a way to make this work."

It's a small step towards positive thinking without denying where your current feelings

are.

And the last one is surrounding yourself with positive influences.

Whether it's a book that inspires you, music that feels good or people who believe in you,

make a conscious effort to surround yourself with positivity.

These influences can really act as constant reminders and reinforcements of your growth

journey.

We're almost done.

And before we say goodbye, if this episode has been helpful for you in any way, would

Would you mind leaving a review for my podcast?

It tells the algorithm gods to push it to more women who can hopefully benefit from

hearing this and it will be so so appreciated.

It is just a small thumbs up that helps me continue to produce this podcast every week

and give as much value as possible on this platform.

Until next time, keep challenging your thoughts, ladies. Keep building those bridges. And remember,

everything you ever want or need is already within you. Lots of love. Bye.

Thank you for tuning in to the Mindful Balance Podcast today. I hope you enjoyed our conversation

and find inspiration to find your unique balance and confidence.

Remember that the journey continues on Instagram.

You can find me @rachelemmanutrition.

That is one word where I share daily nuggets of wisdom

to help you reach your goals with ease.

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your feedback fuels our mission to empower more women on their mindful

balance journey. Until next time, take care and stay mindful. Bye.

Thank you for listening to The Mindful Balance. The Mindful Balance is brought

to you by Rachel Emma Nutrition. Our editing and mixing engineer is Michael

Plawner. Our theme song is Good Feelings by Bo Dlesons. The information in this

podcast does not substitute for medical or psychological advice and is intended

for educational purposes only. Please consult a qualified health professional

regarding health conditions or concerns

before starting a new diet or health program.

Rachel Emma Nutrition LLC and accompanying websites

and social media platforms are not responsible

for adverse reactions, effects, or consequences

resulting from the use of any suggestions herein

or procedures undertaken hereafter.

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