The Science of Self

Hear it Here - adbl.co/3To6NDu Expressing what you want isn’t selfish, it’s prioritizing yourself. Do you have that habit? You don’t have to be “nice” to everyone if it means being mean to yourself. Learn to prioritize yourself and finally do only what you want to do. The need to please is powerful, but it causes anxiety, stress, and resentment. Time to change your patterns. Stand Up For Yourself...

• Seneca famously said, “luck is where preparation meets opportunity.” There is plenty we can do to prepare ourselves so that we are ready to notice and seize new opportunities that emerge, and make ourselves more “lucky.” • There are three main traits associated with being a lucky person. The first is extroversion, which leads us to engage with others socially, speak out, make connections and win...

• The Stoics, like the Buddhists, understood that pain is just a part of life, and taught that we need to retain quiet, dignified serenity in the face of adversity, focusing on what we can control, while accepting what we can’t. One way to practice the Stoic philosophy is to carefully consider your zone of control or, as Byron Katie suggests, identify what is your business, the other person’s busi...

• Change the way you think about failure. Challenge and adversity are the best teachers you will ever have in life. Instead of getting upset when things don’t go your way, become curious about what happened and why, then try again, but this time do it better! • Forget about things like genius or innate talent. They’re nice to have, but the people who get ahead are simply those who are willing to w...

• There are two popular ideas worth exploring when it comes to the concept of luck: the law of attraction, and the idea of a self-fulfilling prophesy. Research into the effectiveness of the law of attraction (or wishful thinking) yields no support, and indicates that fantasy can actually undermine success by making us less likely to take useful action. • A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction...

• Once we can properly identify suffering for what it is and become aware of it in ourselves, we can begin to manage it better. • Suffering takes all different forms for each of us, but according to the four noble truths, there is a way to ease and reduce our suffering, by letting go of attachment. • One way to do this is to practice distinguishing between pain and suffering, first and second dart...

• Live large. Take your mission seriously and choose to be a hero in your own epic saga of triumph and overcoming. • Endless resilience is possible when you tap into your deepest convictions and beliefs. Find that thing you are most passionate and resolute about and allow it to animate all your efforts. That way, any obstacle is perceived as a minor inconvenience, just a trifle on the bigger, more...

• Humans have an innate need to live in a world that makes sense to them, and which they feel they can control and influence. We want to predict, model and manage the world, but this combined with our tendency to find patterns where there are none, can make our perceptions of probability very different from the reality. • The way we experience and explain random events, and the cause to which we a...

• In the Buddhist tradition, the four noble truths explain what suffering is, its cause, and how to deal with it. The first truth is that suffering exists and is unavoidable, and the second is that the cause of suffering is our desire, craving or attachment. The third is that suffering can be released if we renounce this attachment, and the fourth truth is that we practice this way of being by fol...

• Dig deep and connect to your overarching life’s purpose. What matters most to you? What do you care about achieving here on earth more than anything else? Allow this conviction to give you strength to weather any obstacles on the way. • Be true to yourself. Beethoven really did things his way. This wasn’t always easy, but his commitment to his own authentic artistic vision gave him the courage t...

• Luck may play a bigger role in our success than we think. By examining what we consider lucky breaks, serendipity and fortuitous events, we can better handle the invisible forces that favor some and not others. • Research has made surprising findings, i.e., that it may be better to be mediocre in skills but lucky than to be highly talented yet unlucky. Mathematical models have tended to show the...

• There are countless theoretical approaches to understanding the universal problem of suffering. We start with the Buddhist conception, which sees pain as an inevitable and natural part of life, which is transient and always changing. Therefore if we attach to what is impermeant, we will suffer when it changes. • The parable of the farmer and the Buddha shows that our biggest problem is that we b...

Shackleton’s lessons: • Find purpose. Seek a deeper meaning and significance in your life, and, if it strengthens you, anchor yourself in religion or spirituality. Shackleton never felt alone during his most arduous challenges, and that’s because he was a man of faith. • When times are challenging, keep sane and even-keeled by engrossing yourself in the details of day to day life. Keep a routine,...

• The final major biological difference is the level of background noise that is inside the introvert’s or extrovert’s mind. To put it plainly, introverts have perpetual static and chatter in their mind, which makes them more liable to overwhelm, analysis, rumination, and retreating to solitude. Hans Eysenck proved a corollary of this with his lemon juice test, in which he found that introverts we...

   • Get into the reading habit to increase your empathy and communication skills, as well as relax. Anything goes, but literary fiction is best for strengthening perspective and “theory of mind” ability.    • Journaling or keeping a diary can make you happier and help you modulate and regulate your emotions. Try whatever form works best for you. Hear it Here - https:...

A few of the most well-known and dangerous cognitive distortions are all-or-nothing thinking, personalizing, overgeneralizing, catastrophizing, and jumping to conclusions. An especially notable cognitive distortion that robs us of resilience is emotional reasoning. This is when reality is defined by the emotions we feel at that very moment. Comparisons are not necessarily a cognitive distortion, b...

Dopamine and acetylcholine are at the heart of another difference in how introverts and extroverts process external stimuli. Extroverts have blunted dopamine receptors, so they need more stimulation to feel pleasure. Introverts have heightened dopamine receptors, so they feel overwhelmed more easily. This leads them to seek out activities and behaviors that generate acetylcholine, which creates fe...

Try self-affirmation, but focus on affirmations that are value-based, rather than those dealing with your traits or performance as a person. #Affirmations #Cascio #ChristopherCascio #Meditation #MentalChatter #Neurohappiness #PositiveThoughts #Selfaffirmations #Self-TalkingYourselfToHappiness #RussellNewton #NewtonMG #NeuroHappiness

• Even after we take care of our physical selves, we can still feel like a piece of pudding: unable to move on our own free will, and generally without strength of structure. As the energy pyramid demonstrates, physical fitness is a requirement but not a guarantee of energy. Mental and emotional energy tend to be far more powerful than basic physical energy, and mostly, this works against us. Sure...

Show notes and/or episode transcripts are available at https://bit.ly/self-growth-home Peter Hollins is a bestselling author, human psychology researcher, and a dedicated student of the human condition. Visit https://bit.ly/peterhollins to pick up your FREE human nature cheat sheet: 7 surprising psychology studies that will change the way you think. #Depue #Extroverts #Introverts #IvanPavlov #Rich...

Gratitude is strongly associated with feelings of wellbeing. Say thank you, or simply dwell on all the things you have to be thankful for. Try meditation, but remember to approach it without grasping at goals or desired outcomes. Hear it Here - https://bit.ly/ Show notes and/or episode transcripts are available Learn more or get a free mini-book #CaliforniaSanFranciscoMedicalCentre #DrPrathikKini...

In addition to eating for glucose, we must ensure that we are consuming enough essential vitamins and minerals. We shouldn’t be deficient in anything, and we can enhance our energy through specific nootropics, or compounds that give a boost to our physiological states. Water is important. Drink more water, hydrate your brain, and keep your energy up. Get the audiobook on Audible at http://bit.ly/M...

• This chapter is a look at the different biological differences that place people where they are on the introvert/extrovert spectrum. No matter what someone’s behavior is, it will always start from a baseline that their biology has set. • The first biological difference is that introverts have denser brain matter in the prefrontal cortex, which is where analysis, ruminating, decision- making, and...

• Happiness can be tricky to define, but it all starts in the brain. We can turn to scientific peer-reviewed studies to learn the daily habits and mindsets most associated with wellbeing. • Though routines are important, so is novelty; make efforts to mix things up now and again and try something new every day. #NickTrenton #DailyHabitsForHappiness #RussellNewton #NewtonMG #NeuroHappiness

Naps can be useful but only when done correctly. Nap for no longer than twenty minutes, and avoid napping if it compromises your sleep quality that night. • Next, we turn to the literal fuel for our bodies, our diets. There is plenty of literature on eating for health, but what about eating for energy? This concerns something that is lesser known: glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL). We wan...