What you believe in has a lot of power in your life. It affects your thoughts, your emotions, and the actions you to take (or not take)!
If a belief has that much power, then it makes sense that believing in an outcome would have just as much of an impact on your thoughts, emotions, and actions. When you believe in the possibility of achieving your goal or dream - it increases the likelihood that you'll follow through with what it's going to take to achieve it.
We get into a little quantum physics in this episode - so buckle up! I did my best to articulate it with the best of my current knowledge!
Download Your Neuroplasticity Roadmap
Follow Stefanie on Instagram and TikTok
What you believe in has a lot of power in your life. It affects your thoughts, your emotions, and the actions you to take (or not take)!
If a belief has that much power, then it makes sense that believing in an outcome would have just as much of an impact on your thoughts, emotions, and actions. When you believe in the possibility of achieving your goal or dream - it increases the likelihood that you'll follow through with what it's going to take to achieve it.
We get into a little quantum physics in this episode - so buckle up! I did my best to articulate it with the best of my current knowledge!
Download Your Neuroplasticity Roadmap
Follow Stefanie on Instagram and TikTok
0:00
Welcome back. It's me, your girl, Stefanie. And I still sound a little bit off with healing from my cold, but I'm here, I'm doing it. And we are on to rule number seven already, I can't believe it. Rule number seven is all about belief. And when we're looking at belief through the lens of neuroscience, it can either serve us or disempower us.
0:28
So when we believe in, let's say, you have a goal or a dream, if you believe in the outcome of your goal or dream, you will naturally have stronger neural networks for the outcome in your brain. And the opposite of that is actually true as well, if you lack a belief, in your goal in the outcome in your ability to achieve the goal or outcome as well, there will be less strength, or maybe even no strength or no neural network for that thing to even take place. So the thoughts, the emotions, and the actions aren't supported by any network in your brain, when you don't have a belief for that thing to actually be in your life.
1:10
And knowing this can be a little overwhelming, because there's this notion that you can just choose to believe it. And I understand that the thought process behind it of "a belief is a choice". But I think it's more nuanced than that. It's more complicated than that. It depends on the state of being that you're in. So say, for example, in the past, if I was trying to do what I'm doing now, from a state of past depression, I would not have been able to choose that it was possible for me to have a podcast or choose it was possible for me to become an EFT tapping practitioner.
1:57
I look at the choice to believe as conditional. Are you in a state of being where the choice to believe is even accessible to you? And if you're not, then your job is to change your state of being so that you can then cultivate that belief in the outcome or in the goal, I wanted to share with you one of the key points out of Shad Helmstetter's book "The Power of Neuroplasticity". And he says that people who believe in the positive outcome of their goals do better than people that don't, they create stronger neural circuits than people who don't believe in the outcome. And this makes so much sense.
2:36
When you look at two different people trying to achieve the same goal. One has the belief that it's already eventually going to be there that's going to come into their existence, it just may not be there now, where the other one believes that they're not good enough, they can't have that thing. And so they don't ever develop the neural circuits needed to then go out and achieve that goal.
2:56
And something that has been really valuable for me, is the idea that me believing something doesn't make it true. So me believing in the past that it wasn't good enough to go after my goals and dreams. Well, that untrue belief kept me there. and nurtured those networks, instead of nurturing something else that would rather be experiencing. So believing that something is true, doesn't actually make it true. But it makes it true for you in your current reality because we filter it to where that's all that we end up experiencing, is what we believe to be true.
3:40
When it comes to our brains. It doesn't matter if it's true or not. What matters is if we believe it, that then begins or adds energy to the neuroplasticity to move in that direction. So when we accept a belief is true, then our neural plasticity naturally moves that way, which affects our emotional states affects our actions. And this applies to so many different areas of our lives. So what do you believe about yourself? What do you believe about your significant other? What do you believe about your kids? If you have kids? Or even if you have a significant other? What do you believe about the world? What do you believe from a religious standpoint? What do you believe about families? What beliefs do you hold based on that cultural upbringing? And that's the same with religion like what?
4:27
And that's obviously on my mind, when I think about belief because of my transition out of Mormonism, then to nothing-ism, or atheism, and then back to this very spiritual place. And each of those stages for me, the beliefs that I held in that certain stage, is what I experienced. It's the way I was directing my brain, sometimes knowingly and sometimes not knowingly. And religious beliefs are inherently bad. I really do believe that there are so many beautiful parts of religion that can be very helpful.
5:03
The problem comes in when we have a religious belief that then we use to harm others around us or to harm society. Because we believe a certain way, so we are judging others because they're living differently than us. And that is all based on beliefs, we believe a certain thing. And then that impacts our thoughts, our emotions, and our actions. And the next little bit I'm going to get into is complicated. And I can't say that I understand it all the way it is in the world of quantum physics. And it is overwhelming. And there's a lot of information, and there's a lot of different interpretations of it. I'm going to be sharing the interpretation that works best for me. That's what I do a lot of the time when I look at the science, like, okay, how can I actually apply that to my life to get a better outcome? Or to experience something different? How can I help my brain with a science that I'm understanding to then direct myself to move forward?
6:03
So quantum physics is showing that the human mind can affect outcomes. I'm gonna do my best to explain this in a way that is understandable. So the first thing they did with this experiment is they had a wall that had two slits in it. And then they had a wall in the background. And they were trying to figure out, well, what will things do as they pass through these two slits on this back wall, and they first did it with light, and the light behaved exactly the way they thought light was going to behave. It went through the two slits and made its pattern on the back wall. And the pattern even though the two slits, were in the center part of the wall, the pattern went all the way from top to bottom of the wall in the back, they behaved like light waves. And then they went to smaller pieces of matter, to see how they behaved in reacted if it was the same, or if it was different than they were sending atoms is, I think it was atoms, I might be wrong. So don't quote me on that.
7:07
But they went, when they were sent sending atoms through these two slits, something really interesting happened. The atoms went through on the back wall, as though they were light waves. So they behave the same as the rays of light did, which they were not expecting that outcome. They were expecting, as they sent those through to then have a similar two slip pattern on the back wall based on what we know about how atoms behave in the world of physics, not quantum physics, but physics.
7:41
And then they wanted to know and understand what the atoms were actually doing between the two walls. Originally, when they were doing this, they weren't actually observing what was happening between the wall that had the two slits, and the back wall. And so they wanted to know, okay, why are these atoms behaving like waves of light instead of like atoms typically do? And so they set a little camera in there, so they could observe what was happening, what was going on. And so they sent the atoms back through, and the atoms behaved as they originally predicted that they would. So they went to the back wall in a very similar pattern to this two slits that were on the entryway.
8:26
So to really sum this up, when they didn't observe between the two walls, the atoms behave like waves of light. When they were observing it, the atoms behaved in the way that they believed they should behave. So what they've taken from this experiment, is the act of observing impacts the outcome. So the scientists that ran this experiment, believed that when they did it, they'll have a similar "two slit" pattern on the back wall. When they observed it, that's what they got, when they didn't observe it, the atoms acted like waves of light, instead of atoms.
9:07
So if I were to zoom out big picture, and hopefully help you understand this, because I know this is complicated, when we observe something, our beliefs about that something has an impact on the outcome. And this is really interesting, because things that are tangible that we can actually see, definitely follow the law of classical physics. They behave like we expect them to behave. But as soon as we get down to very small pieces of matter, all of a sudden, classical physics no longer applies. And we're in the realm of quantum physics, which they are understanding a lot more about, but still so many things that are mysterious about what's happening.
9:54
So if you think about you, your body, your brain. Yes, So we have things that classical physics can explain. We have processes that go on in the brain that classical physics cannot explain. And that's why scientists are turning to quantum physics to help us understand more about how things are actually working. So the bottom line when we're applying it for us, to our goals and our dreams, the things that we are going after, belief has an impact on the outcome. This double slit experiment is a great example of that how observing something with a belief of something happening as a result, can then create that result.
10:43
And this is, this is so mind bending - every time I think I understand this, then I step back and wonder. I'm not sure if I really understand that. And I'm okay with that. I not taking this journey with my podcast expecting to understand everything that I read and go through. But the awesome thing is, is even though I have moments of confusion, as I am going through neuroscience and quantum physics, what I'm finding for myself is that the seven rules of neuroplasticity are a great guideline to help us direct how our brain is changing, and not by accident anymore, not by allowing our environment to dictate where our brain is going. But to actively take more control of that in an internal way.
11:36
We've all we've heard, like the answer isn't outside of you, you need to look inside, go inside, go inside. That's what this is. If we want to create lasting change, we can not rely on our environment to direct us in the way we want. We have to go inside, we have to start asking ourselves questions, and then purposefully direct our thoughts and our emotions and our actions in the direction we want to be going. So for us, that would be our goals, and our dreams.
12:07
And as we do this, we then can actually start building the neural networks in our brains to make that goal, to make that dream, feel more natural for us. And then we start to begin thinking in alignment and feeling in alignment and acting in alignment with that goal and dream. And that leads me beautifully into a quote from Dr. Joe Dispenza. His book, "You are the Placebo". And he's talking about our environment, and our beliefs. And I quote, "Often we accept certain cues from our environment that then prime us to accept certain beliefs, which may or may not be true. Either way, the moment we accept the belief, it has an effect not only on our performance, but also on the choices that we make". And that's the end of that, quote.
13:01
The things that we believe we are giving energy to. So like I shared before, when I was feeling like I wasn't good enough, and giving energy to that, I experienced more of that I strengthened that neural network in my brain of I'm not enough, I'm inferior, I can't do that someone's gonna judge me blah, blah, blah. The more I gave that energy, the stronger that neural network became in my brain. And what I love about marrying EFT tapping with neuroscience is that we get stuck on our journey to our goals, and we have resistance inside of we're really not sure what to do with it. And that's where tapping comes in. Where we can honestly hold space for ourselves to take a look at the resistance and bring some conscious awareness to it. So that then we can create that change.
13:55
And if we think back to rule number one of neuroplasticity, which is mindfulness, when I hear mindfulness I also think awareness. So when we become aware of what's going on, we can use tapping to help us break that energetic tie with the belief of I'm not good enough, I'm inferior, I can't do that, and release it in such a way that then we can move forward through the other rules of neuroplasticity, to actually lead us to our goals and dreams, to help us become the person that naturally attains those things. And it's a process. It is such a process. I am the kind of person who just wants to get there.
14:39
And I want it to be linear. I want it to be from point A to point B and have it just work out that way. But that's not reality. We set a goal we set a dream and there's this process that has to take place. There's things that are happening internally, that actually won't allow us to get there. So instead of a straight line, I have found it incredibly helpful to embrace the messiness of getting there. Where I do have that point A to point B, right? That point B is my guiding coordinates, that's my intention. And then along the way, there are going to be ups and downs, there are going to be maybe some spirals in there.
15:26
But the good news about it is, if you weren't doing the work, you wouldn't feel up and down, you wouldn't feel the spirals, you would just be okay with where you are, and everything stays the same. And it's familiar. And even though there's some pain associated with it, you can know how to exist in that kind of pain. Whereas going after your goal, and the ups and downs and the uncertainty, it's scary to exist and in uncertainty, in the unknown. But what I found for myself, every time that I embrace the unknown, even I'm scared shitless when I do, magic starts to happen. It ain't pretty, it's not clean, it's messy. But in the messiness, there is so much magic and personal growth that happens, when you step into that messy unknown, it begins this process of transformation.
16:20
And if it's too scary, you can always go back, I've done that multiple times where I've stepped into the unknown. I'm like, Oh, shit, this is scary. I'm not sure if I can do this. And I go back to point A, and kind of stay in my comfort zone for a little while. And that's okay. Wherever you are at in your journey, that's okay. You may be in the messy middle, or in the middle of a spiral, you may be almost to point B, you may be back at point A wondering why the fuck did I even try.
16:46
Wherever you're at, it's okay, take a pause, take an inventory of where you are, with curiosity and compassion, and then decide where you want to go next. And then work on bridging that gap and embracing the messiness on your journey there. Because if you don't, if you're not willing to embrace the messiness, then you're not going to change. If I'm not willing to embrace the messiness and the emotional shit that comes up, I won't change, at least not in a purposeful direction away. My environment will then dictate some changes that are happening in my brain. But I won't be purposefully and with intention, creating the change.
17:31
So next week, on next Thursday's episode, I'm going to be going through, beginning to end what it looks like to actually apply these rules with something that you're working on. And I'm going to do it in such a way that I'm hoping to, then that'd be your blueprint to move forward, the scaffolding, if you will, to help you get there. But a word of caution, I would encourage you not to try to do it on your own. To have a supportive friend or a group of people who were doing the similar thing that you are doing, where you're stepping into the unknown. You're figuring shit out as you go. And it's messy, and you support each other through the process, because there will be times as you're going through this, you will want to give up.
18:16
I call that phase, the Fuck-it's, where you're, "Fuck it all. I don't care. I don't know why I even tried. I'm going to go back to what's normal. And what's familiar". If you're doing this on your own, and a phase of the Fuck-it's happen. Oh, baby, it's hard. It is hard. It's easy to give up and throw in the towel. So as you're going through this process, I have support around you. If you resonate with this podcast, and with me and my messaging, that I invite you to get on the earlybird list for the course that I'm launching here. So so soon. This is what it's all about. We're taking concepts of neuroscience, we're taking EFT tapping, we're marrying them together so that you can clear the blocks that are in the way to then start moving forward towards your dreams and your goal in a more purposeful way. That's fulfilling. Is it going to be messy? Yep, it is. And you're going to want to give up. That's why I've created this course.
19:15
It happens one step at a time. You've got this. Talk to you soon.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai