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So in the last 25 years or so we have had much more sophisticated brain scanning technology which shows how the brain works.
Prior to that, we really understood a lot of how the brain works from seeing what happens when it goes wrong.
So if somebody has a stroke or a brain tumor or a brain injury.
Once we could scan healthy brains, we started to learn a lot more about this concept of neuroplasticity, which is that the brain grows and changes throughout life.
Now you've got two little girls, so you will know that from zero to two, they went from being completely vulnerable and helpless to walking talking, being able to control their bladder and bowels.
And, you know, maybe even speaking several languages and having an opinion.
So it's a massive burst of neuroplasticity.
And we see that very visibly in young children.
Around the teenage years there's some pruning of the brain to sophisticate it for adulthood, for sexual behavior, for emotional and social interaction.
And that is quite an active process till we're about 25.
We used to think it stopped when we physically stopped growing around the age of 18.
But the really interesting area for us in manifestation and the laws of attraction is that from 25 to 65, you can do things that keeps your brain more plastic or flexible and you can change the ways that you think, feel and act.
So to me, neuroplasticity underlies manifestation and it's a four-step process.
It starts with raised awareness, so you need to know what you want to bring into your life or how you want your life to look or feel.
Then it's focused attention, which is noticing negative thinking or certain behaviors or relationship patterns that are holding you back from getting what you want, And also noticing opportunities to get the things that you want.
But really just building up your database of okay, that doesn't work for me.
When I do this, then you know good things come into my life.
The third part is deliberate practice.
So that is going out there and doing the things that you need to to manifest the things that you want into your life.
And the fourth part isn't really like a step in the process, but it's accountability, because it's very easy to start, particularly in new year, and say okay, these are all my resolutions and new things that I'm going to do.
And then for most of us, that motivation doesn't remain.
Partly from the neuroscience.
That's because we tend to pick goals that are too big and it's better to break them down into bite-sized chunks.
And that's the same for manifestation.
Take small steps towards the things that you want.
So if there are some things that are more in your control, like getting fit and healthy, then start doing that.
And then if there's something that's less in your control, like getting married or having a baby, then give that a bit longer, but know that you are changing your brain by changing your behaviors.
And you know you have some form of accountability, whether it's a vision board, whether it's your partner, whether it's a therapist.
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So I think the big difference between the way that I've explained it with science is that I've used cognitive science, which is basically psychology and neuroscience, rather than the quantum science that had been used to explain things like manifestation and the laws of attraction before.
And one of the things I like about that and the feedback that I got that people liked about it, was that if you're thinking about the science that explains how your brain works, then what you're basically telling yourself is that you are in control of making these things happen.
If it's the universe and vibrations and quantum science, then you have less agency over that.
So taking it back to inside your skull and understanding how that works is, I just think, much more empowering.
So I'll start with visualization and vision boards.
The science behind them is quite similar.
So it's basically about three processes that happen in the brain, and they are selective filtering, selective attention and value tagging.
So basically, we're bombarded with so much information.
And this has been the case for a long time.
But if you read a copy of the New York Times today, you would receive as much information from that one newspaper as somebody would in their entire lifetime, 100 years ago.
And even then they were overly bombarded with information.
So the brain has a natural filtering mechanism, which is that you don't need to notice things that aren't really relevant to your survival.
So for example, you don't notice your clothes on your body all day.
We need to direct that filtering system, otherwise In a way we're still wired just to survive and reproduce.
So things that will help us to thrive in the modern world may not necessarily be filtered in unless we're presenting visual images to our brain on a daily basis, or sitting down and closing our eyes and visualizing the things that we want in our life or a certain outcome.
If we do those practices, the next process comes in, which is selective attention, which is that you notice the things that you're visualizing or you have on your vision board.
It's like when you buy a new car and then you suddenly see it everywhere.
So it's basically priming your brain to notice opportunities that will take you closer to your goals.
And then value tagging is the brain's system of putting things in order of importance.
And it does this in two ways.
It does it in a cold or logical way and a warm or emotional way.
So the logical things are basically the survival.
You know the basics that we need to survive, like roof over our head, food on the table.
And the warmer things are the ones that we might choose to put on our vision board.
So they're the things you know, our dreams, our desires, goals that show that we're thriving rather than just surviving.
By repeatedly exposing your brain to these images, you're priming it to not just notice, but also grasp the opportunities that will take you closer to what you want.
And that's why I call vision boards action boards, because I don't believe that you can create this fantasy image and sit at home and wait for it to come true.
I believe that you need to be out there networking dating, whatever it is, to get the things that you want.
I would regularly have a picture of somebody doing yoga who's got a toned body on my action board.
That's very obvious.
It doesn't have to be that obvious.
Like you said, if a piece of clothing represents to you that I can fit into that piece of clothing or that's the kind of clothing that fit healthy people wear, then they're basically.
The images can be metaphorical or literal or anywhere in between.
You could either find an image of exactly what you want to look like, or you could have something that represents to you that you've achieved that peak that you want.
There's a psychological phenomenon called the Tetris effect, which says that the thing that you look at, last thing at night, imprints on your subconscious more strongly than anything else during the day.
When we go from being asleep to waking up or being awake to falling asleep.
They're called the hypnopompic and hypnagogic stages.
And they are stages where our subconscious is very susceptible to suggestion.
And so I keep my physical action board next to my bed, so that I see it first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
So there's a few steps to that as well, which is that you find the correct image that really speaks to you.
You look at it every day.
You act on the basis that it has already come true or that it's definitely going to become true.
And you give gratitude for that fact.
So this shifts your brain from a fear or shame state where you think maybe you can't achieve that goal, to a state of love and trust.
And so, rather than having the stress hormone cortisol directing the blood flow around your brain, you have oxytocin, the bonding hormone flourishing in your brain.
That makes you much more likely to maybe take some risks that you wouldn't healthy, risks that you might not have to be more trusting to really believe that this can come true.
And that's the state from which you have to manifest.
If there's any doubt or fear or shame, you're much less likely to manifest.
Because you mentioned abundance already, but it's basically the same as saying you need to be in an abundant mindset rather than a scarcity mindset.
An abundant mindset is one where you feel that you are deserving of the things that you have asked for and that it's okay to go out there and do things that are likely to bring that into your life.
When you have a scarcity mindset, you're much more likely to be thinking negatively, thinking it won't come true.
So the first step is actually to dig below any repeated negative thought patterns and find out what it is that you believe that would be producing that thought pattern, and usually this comes down to things like lack of worthiness or self-esteem or deservingness, or feeling how people will judge you if you ask for too much so.
So we really need to first dig down to the feeling, because if you don't do that first, you can't change your thinking and then you can't change how you behave.
So that's part of raised awareness as well, which is that self-knowledge.
Why have i not been able to manifest the things that i want?
What are the feelings or behavior patterns that you know keep blocking me from getting that?
And then, once you understand that, you create a mantra that is the opposite statement of this low self-worth belief basically, and every time you have negative thoughts you replace it with that mantra.
So you're kind of slowly pushing your brain from scarcity towards abundance more of the time.
Once you have more abundance in your thinking, you're more likely to do some of the things that might get you what you want.
Basically, uncertainty is the biggest threat to the brain.
Actually going for that job interview is never as bad as you think it's going to be.
Actually going on that date well, i was going to say is never as bad as you think it's going to be.
It could be, but you know, the sort of fear of taking that first step is often, so often, what holds us back from action, And so I call it doing little experiments.
I think okay, that's something.
I don't know how that's going to go, but I'll take a, you know, like a low risk version of whatever it is.
I want to try and go and try it and just see how it works out.
And then I'll build up my confidence and I'll try harder and harder things.
So it's really about digging down to the belief that you must hold to have certain thoughts, changing your thought patterns by using mantras or positive affirmations, and then doing experiments in terms of action.
You know small, low risk things that just help you to build up to the things that you actually really need to do to get what you want.
In my experience with coaching people and working with people, there's a certain tendency to achieve a goal and just move straight onto the next one and not acknowledge our accomplishments.
So the more we we raise our awareness of I achieved this thing, or when I do this and you know, good things come into my life, we'll just be more aware of the environment that creates that perfect time of manifestation.
Even yesterday, I was saying to my best friend that, um, so I asked for an opportunity for her.
I was given an opportunity and I thought they might need another consultant.
So I thought I said to her, I'll ask them if they would like to consider you.
And when they said, yes, I said to her, I've been manifesting a lot recently.
And that tells me that this is a good time for me to ask for things, because something about the conditions is right at the moment.
And even I, I'm not manifesting 365 days a year.
There are periods of time where it feels like nothing's happening.
I don't know if you use this phrase in the US, but in the UK we say you know, I was waiting at the bus stop for so long, and then three buses came along at once.
It happens a bit like that.
And so I have learned over the years that when it feels like that's happening, that's a really good time to try to manifest other things.
And i would also go back and say annually with my action boards that i started doing them pretty much when i changed career.
So i was starting up a business and i'd want you know this is another great example lots of people would like to quit their job and, you know, have their own business, and i'm not saying this is right for everyone, but i had been thinking about it for two years and i completely quit my job as a doctor and i had saved up a small amount of money but not enough for what i needed to really get the business going over 18 months.
And people said to me why don't you just go back and do like a shift in the hospital, like you'd earn enough money to, you know, not worry about your bills and things?
But I feel like we can do amazing things when our back is up against the wall and we have no choice.
So for me that is definitely a tactic that I use to try to increase the success of my manifestations.
And I just wanted to make the point that with the vision boards when I started it literally had the amount of money that I need to live this first year of like not having a job and starting up a business.
And then I doubled it every year for a few years.
And like that with everything else.
The things that I ask for on my action boards have become bigger and bigger over time, but it's because I've become more practiced at using the boards, seeing how they work, seeing how long certain things take.
So I have a better idea of what's the likely outcome is to be and how big a thing I can ask for.
And I've also learned over time to leave some space on my board, because there are things that could happen for me that I haven't even imagined yet.
I don't want to be limited by what my brain thinks I'm capable of achieving.
So I like to leave a bit of room for magic.
But equally, on the other hand, I would say, be careful what you wish for, because when the manifestations happen, you know, they accumulate and it's one after the other and it's growing bigger than you ever thought.
So it is about reaching that understanding.
And then I think you can be much more directive in what you ask for and you can keep growing it.
At any age, any stage, any mindset, you can change your brain and reinvent your life.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
I want to say a huge thank you to Dr. Tara Swart for the infinite wisdom and knowledge.
And I also want to say thank you to the MindBodyGreen podcast, from which the audio in this animation came from.
If you want to learn more, please check out the full podcast.
And I'm also very grateful to Strawberry.me for sponsoring this episode.
I got a tremendous value out of their coaching service.
So if you're at a crossroads in your professional life, please check them out.
They provide a really awesome service.
I hope you have a great day.
Much love.
