Tag: courage

In today’s episode I talk about synchronicity, often called meaningful coincidences, plus how to experience more synchronicity and what prevents its occurrence. The main problem is fear and I discuss how to tamp this down.

Highlights

I give some examples of synchronicity and my ongoing question of how we can increase synchronicity happening for us.
Fear is one of the things that keeps you from experiencing synchronicity because when you are fearful, you are usually making up a story in the future that doesn’t exist.
Fear of an immediate danger is different from fear of the future.
If you want more of what you want to show up, you need to control your fear.
Mindfulness or meditation can help you focus on the present.
I share simple meditation techniques for staying focused on the present.
People often talk about accepting what’s happening but don’t think about it in terms of our greater reality.
I ask if peace on earth is possible within our dualistic reality.
In your quiet moment, you can ask if there is something you can do to ameliorate what’s happening.
How can you contribute to solutions?
By letting go of fear, you can contribute to solutions.
Fear blocks creative forces and keeps us in a stagnant place.
I also believe that you need to understand how traumatic childhood experiences are affecting your outcomes.
You have to make a decision to work through your fear

Links
Paul O’Brien interview

My book, The Search for Connection

The podcast episode about Empathetic Detachment

The course Simple Meditation for Busy Entrepreneurs:

For 50% off, use Promo Code smbe50off at checkout.

Daniel Z. Lieberman is the author of The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity―and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race. He is a professor and vice chair for clinical affairs in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at George Washington University,  a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a recipient of the Caron Foundation Research Award. In addition to writing science books, he works with patients, teaches medical students, and does behavioral research.

Highlights

All of our wealth comes from new ideas, so it helps to understand how the brain works.
Lieberman talks about the basics of why dopamine is so important.
Dopamine is so much more than just the pleasure molecule.
Dopamine is not about contentment or satisfaction because those emotions don’t stimulate us to seek more. Dopamine is the transmitter of anticipation.
People who have highly active dopamine systems are more likely to be entrepreneurs, artists, and to suffer from mental illness.
Dopamine leads to pleasure, but not happiness or satisfaction. That comes from other brain chemicals.
We talk about the reward prediction error and how it can lead to disappointment.
Some people go into things with low expectations. With low expectations, you are apt to get more positive feelings when things work out well.
If you always expect the best, you are bound to be disappointed.
Dopamine always pushes towards more.
People have to decide what they want out of life.
People who are highly dopaminergic aren’t happy or satisfied, but the rest of us profit from their dissatisfaction.
Artists are driven more by meaning than happiness.
We talk about entrepreneurs and their constant desire for more.
It’s not true that you can have it all. You have to make choices.
Once we understand how our brains work, we can make better choices.
We talk about addiction, the power of cravings, and how to overcome cravings.
Understanding how brains work helps you understand and tolerate others.

Links
www.DanielZLieberman.com

www.TheMoleculeOfMore.com

The feeling of powerless seems to be spreading as it gets harder to get what we want from companies we have to deal with. In this episode, I talk about some experiences I’ve had that you’ll probably relate to and offer suggestions for taking back your personal power.

Highlights

The online courses platform I was using changed their pricing model, which would have more than doubled my cost. So I found a better solution that will save me money.
You can make decisions that can help you get what you want.
If more people make conscious buying decisions, it will affect change.
Feeling powerless starts when you are a child.
Stop people-pleasing, which only hurts you.
If one of us has to be uncomfortable, it doesn’t have to be me. The corollary to this is, “No is a complete sentence.”
If you aren’t honest with other people, you can’t be honest with yourself.
Do a search for alternatives to whatever software you are using.
Examine your options.
You don’t have to be stuck with what you have.
Value yourself. You really matter.
When you feel you have more control over your life, you will feel empowered.
If you feel powerless, think back to your childhood to times when you felt powerless.
You aren’t a victim. You get to make choices that make you more comfortable.
You always have options.
When you feel powerless, instead of fighting back, ask yourself how you can be an agent of change.
If you make decisions that are right for you, you’ll feel more powerful.

Links
My new courses site: Use the promotional code 50off2

The Intention + Action Coaching Group

Kim Ades is the President and Founder of Frame of Mind Coaching™ and JournalEngine™ Software. Author, speaker, entrepreneur, coach, and mother of five, Kim has 15 years of experience coaching many of North America’s most respected leaders. Recognized as an expert in the area of thought mastery, Kim uses her unique philosophy and quirky coaching style to help her clients deal with core issues and shift their thinking in order to yield extraordinary results.

Highlights

Your beliefs are hard to recognize by yourself so we start with clients finding out what’s happening now in order to bring the beliefs to the surface.
Kim asks me to use my coaching system with her. We do that briefly. She describes what she feels when her money isn’t what she wants to me.
Kim tells me how she would coach a similar situation to help someone change their thoughts and beliefs.
Your habitual thoughts lead to beliefs.
Kim explains the journaling method she uses with clients to help them get better results
We talk about how the journaling helps her understand her clients and her clients understand themselves.
Kim uses an example of a high achieving client who is, in some way, frustrated and wanting to do better. She also talks about how she helped a client with fourth stage cancer move forward.

Links
Kim’s site

The Intention + Action Coaching Group

Todd Maddox, Ph.D. has doctorates in Psychology and Neuroscience and studies the brain basis of learning, memory, and performance. He is interested in the interplay between emotion, cognition, and behavior. In this episode, we have an interesting discussion about dopamine, addiction, the money and sex connection, and more.

Highlights

Todd tells how he got into the combination of psychology and neuroscience.
The answer to every psychological problem lies in the brain.
To deal with addiction, willpower is not the answer. Understanding the brain helps.
We talk a lot about dopamine and addiction.
Behaviors can be influenced by genetics. Behavioral genetics tries to determine the percentage of specific behaviors that can be inherited.
Todd explains why recognizing habits is so difficult.
We talk about how money and sex are connected.
By pairing a memory of when you were satisfied with an experience of dissatisfaction, you can train your brain to have a more positive response.
We talk about the neuroscience explanation of the moving stupids.
In science, the more you know, the more you don’t know.
The more that we learn, the more we’ll be able to understand things, like mysticism, that we don’t understand now.
Todd shares his views about Artificial Intelligence and how to make it closer to how the brain works

Links
Todd Maddox on LinkedIn

For years, I’ve seen the connection between money and sex. These are two topics that people think about most, but don’t talk about them. In this episode, I examine this connection as well as the role that both dopamine and emotions play in our relationship with money and sex.

Highlights

Both money and sex are about how we use our personal energy to interact with the outside world. It’s all about energy flow.
Understanding how your brain works helps you understand why you do what you do and how to make better choices.
In our culture – in the US and some other countries – there is a lot of sexual repression and dysfunction.
I talk about dopamine and how it motivates us.
Dopamine is part of our survival instinct.
Anticipating getting more money causes a release of dopamine.
I talk about how dopamine and disappointment are connected.
Understanding how dopamine works can help you set more realistic expectations and avoid disappointment.
Advertisers understand that they have to stimulate your dopamine in order to stimulate your desire for their product.
You can learn to tame your dopamine response and make pleasure part of conscious living.

Links
The Molecule of More – A book about dopamine