BENDING REALITY

BR #88 YOU OWN A PHARMACY

Eleonora Gendelman Season 3 Episode 88

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#BR EP. 88 - YOU OWN A PHARMACY

In this episode, we uncover the profound connection between your thoughts, emotions, and the physical world around you.
Discover how every thought sends signals through your brain, shaping your reality in ways you may not have imagined.
We dive into fascinating scientific studies to explore the brain's ability to change through both real and imagined actions.
Learn how emotions fuel neural pathways, why your body can become addicted to familiar feelings, and how practicing mindful awareness can give you the power to break free from old habits and design the life you truly want.
Packed with insights on neuroplasticity and actionable techniques, this episode is your guide to becoming the architect of your mind.

#BR EP. 88 - YOU OWN A PHARMACY  //  SELF ENQUIRY

1. Reflect on Patterns: What are some emotional or behavioral patterns you’ve noticed in your life that might be running on autopilot?

2. Pause and Observe: Can you recall a recent situation where you paused before reacting? How did it feel to step into that space between stimulus and response?

3. Visualize Change: If you could create one new neural pathway for a positive habit or emotional state, what would it be? How can you imagine and feel it daily to reinforce the change?

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Right now In your brain, billions of neurons are firing, creating patterns that shape your entire reality. Every single thought you have sends electrical signals through your neural networks, releasing specific chemicals that make you feel exactly what you're thinking about. Your brain doesn't know the difference between what's happening in your environment and what you're thinking about. Your nervous system responds to your thoughts as if they're real experiences. When you think about something stressful, your body releases stress hormone. When you think about something joyful, your body produces feel good chemicals. They are electrochemical events that create real physical changes in your body. Think about the last time you watched a scary movie, your heart raced, your palms got sweaty, your muscles tensed up. Nothing was actually threatening you, and you were just sitting safely in a room, but your body responded to those thoughts and images as if the danger was real. The same mechanism works with every thought you have every day of your life. Once you understand this principle, you realize you have far more control over your life than you ever imagined. You're not just passively experiencing reality, you're actively creating it with every thought you choose to think. your brain is the most sophisticated pharmacy in existence, capable of producing exactly the right chemicals to create any emotional state you desire, and you're the pharmacist who gets to decide what to produce. What if you could intentionally create thoughts that produce the exact states you want to experience? What if you could train your brain to automatically fire in new patterns that serve your highest good? 

Scientists have found that your brain doesn't just control your body, it's actually creating your reality moment by moment. Every time you have a thought, your brain releases tiny chemicals. Happy thoughts release happy chemicals. Worried thoughts release stress chemicals. It's like having a tiny pharmacy in your head that's open 24 hours a day, giving you exactly what you order with your thoughts. Scientists did an amazing experiment that proves this. They took two groups of people, one group practiced playing the piano physically, the other group just imagined playing the piano. They never touched a real piano. After eight weeks, guess what? The people who only imagined playing showed almost the same brain changes as the ones who actually played. Their brains couldn't tell the difference between real practice and imagined practice. 

Have you ever felt better just because someone smiled at you? That's because your body is constantly reading your environment, changing itself based on what you see, think and feel, your perception, the way you see things, is literally changing your biology every second. 

You're not just having random thoughts. You're giving instructions to every cell in your body. and the most exciting part, you can learn to use this power on purpose, just like you can learn to play an instrument or drive a car, you can learn to direct your thoughts to create the exact life you want. Your thoughts aren't just thoughts. They're the building blocks of your future. Think about it, if your thoughts are this powerful and you have 1000s of thoughts every day, what could happen if you learn to control them? What if you could direct all that power toward what you actually want in life? 95 percent of what you do every day is exactly the same as what you did yesterday. Same morning routine, same reactions, same feelings, same thoughts. It's like watching the same movie over and over, expecting a different end. Your brain loves routines because they save energy. Think about your morning routine. You probably don't have to think about brushing your teeth or Which shoe goes on first, your body just does it automatically, right? That's your brain running on autopilot. It's like your brain has a playlist of old songs that keeps playing over and over. But here's where it gets tricky. This autopilot isn't just about simple things like brushing teeth. It controls how you feel, how you react to problems, even what you believe is possible for your life. If you felt stressed every morning for the past five years, your brain thinks that's normal. It's actually expecting to feel stressed. Every feeling you have creates chemicals in your body. When you feel happy, your body makes happy chemicals. When you feel sad, it makes the sad chemicals. your body can actually get addicted to these chemicals, just like someone might crave coffee every morning. Your body can crave certain emotions. Have you ever noticed how some people seem to always find something to be angry about, or how some people always end up in the same kind of situation or struggle. That's not bad luck. That's their body craving the familiar emotional chemicals it's used to. It's like being addicted to your own emotions. Think about it like this, if you felt worried most of your life feeling peaceful might actually feel uncomfortable, not because peace is bad, but because it's unfamiliar. Your body is literally saying, Hey, where's my daily dose of worry? But here's the good news. You can break these patterns. Your brain is always changing, always ready to learn new ways of being. It's like a computer that can be reprogrammed, but you have to be the one to press the reset button.

Let me show you how this works in real life, You have to become aware of your unconscious patterns. Every routine, every reaction, every familiar feeling, is just a pattern, and patterns can be changed, but first you have to catch yourself in the act. You have to notice when you're playing those old songs, running those old programs, the first step to change isn't doing something new, it's noticing what you're already doing, awareness. Start paying attention to your automatic reactions. What triggers your stress, what situations always make you feel a certain way? These are your patterns, your emotional habits. And once you can see these patterns clearly, you're ready for creating new ones. Because just like your brain learned these old patterns, it can learn new ones. But first you need to understand something important about the present moment. Let me tell you something amazing about your brain. You can actually watch your own thoughts. We are the only species able to do that, no animal can observe their thoughts, think about the past or plan the future. It's like having a superpower that most people never use. Imagine being able to step back and watch your mind like you're watching a TV show. That's what’s called being aware of your awareness, and it's the key to changing your life. 

When was the last time you caught yourself before reacting? Maybe someone said something that usually makes you angry, but this time you paused. In that tiny pause, is that small space between what happens and how you react, that's where all your power lies. When scientists observe tiny particles, the particles actually behave differently. The same thing happens in your brain. When you start watching your thoughts and feelings, they begin to change just because you're paying attention. Have you ever been in a bad mood and then suddenly realized you're in a bad mood? In that moment of realizing something shifts, you're not just in the bad mood anymore. You're watching yourself being in a bad mood, and that small shift changes everything. Let's try something right now. Take a moment to notice what you're thinking. Don't try to change your thoughts, just notice them. It's like sitting by a river watching leaves float by. The leaves are your thoughts, and you're just watching them pass. that's you being the observer of your own mind. Here's where it gets really interesting. Most people live their whole lives reacting automatically to everything. something happens. They react. No pause, no choice, just reaction like a robot running the same program over and over. But when you learn to observe yourself, you create a gap between what happens and how you react. Viktor Frankl, who survived terrible things in concentration camps, said something powerful - between stimulus and response, There is a space, in that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. That space is what we're talking about.. Next time you feel angry, try this. instead of going straight into anger. Watch the anger. Notice how it feels in your body. Notice the thoughts that come with it. Don't try to change anything. Just watch, like a scientist studying something interesting. what happens when you do this, the anger starts to lose its power over you. Why? Because you're no longer caught up in it. You're observing it. You step back from being the angry person to being the person watching the anger. This is your superpower, the ability to watch your own mind. Every time you catch yourself thinking or feeling something, you're using this power, every time you notice yourself about to react in an old way, you're using this power. And here's the best part, this power grows the more you use it, the more you practice watching your thoughts and feelings, the stronger this ability becomes. It's like building a muscle at first, you might only catch yourself after you've reacted. Then you'll start catching yourself during the reaction. Eventually, you'll catch yourself before reacting, and that's when you become truly free to choose your response. This is where real change begins, because once you can observe yourself, you can start rewiring those neural networks we talked about. Your brain is like a forest with millions of paths through it. Every time you think a thought or feel a feeling, you're walking down one of these paths. The more you use a path, the wider and easier it becomes to walk on. This is how habits form in your brain. But here's the exciting part, you can create new paths anytime you want. Scientists used to think your brain was fixed after childhood, but they discovered something amazing. Your brain can change at any age. It's called neuroplasticity, which is just a fancy word, meaning your brain can be shaped and reshaped by your thoughts.

Let me show you how this works with a simple example. Remember learning to ride a bike. At first, your brain had no pathway for balancing on two wheels. You fell a lot, but each time you tried, your brain created tiny new connections. After enough practice, riding became automatic, your brain built a strong pathway for biking. That's exactly how you can create any new habit or skill. Here's where it gets really interesting. Your brain doesn't just change when you do something, it changes when you think about doing something. Remember the piano players we talked about earlier, the ones who just imagined practicing, their brains created new pathways just by thinking about playing. But there's a secret ingredient that makes this work even better. Emotion. When you add strong, positive feelings to your thoughts. It's like adding rocket fuel to the process. Your brain releases chemicals that help build new pathways faster and stronger. Think about it like this, if you're learning a new language, which way would work better, sitting bored, repeating words or traveling to the country where people speak the language, practicing with friends, laughing and having fun. the second way works better, because positive emotions help your brain learn and change faster. 

Here's how you can use this. pick something you want to change. Maybe you want to be calmer under pressure. every day, spend 15 minutes imagining yourself handling stressful situations calmly, but don't just think about it. Feel it. Feel the peace in your body. Feel how good it feels to stay relaxed when others are stressed. The more real you make it feel, the faster your brain will build new pathways. And here's something most people don't know, your brain builds these new pathways best when you're relaxed and focused. That's why many people practice this first thing in the morning or right before bed. These are times when your brain is more open to change. Remember, every time you practice something in your mind with positive emotion, You're building new neural pathways. You're literally rewiring your brain. It's like being the architect of your own mind, designing and building new circuits for the life you want to live. the best part is, Once these new pathways are built, they become automatic, just like riding a bike. That's when change becomes permanent. That's when new behaviors and feelings become your new normal.

Everything around you, the chair you're sitting on, the air you're breathing, even your own body, is mostly empty space filled with energy and information. It's like we're all swimming in an ocean of possibilities. Think about your phone. It's picking up signals from the air right now, music, messages, videos, they're all floating around us as invisible waves. You can't see them, but you know they're real because your phone can tune into them. Well, your brain works in a similar way. It's constantly picking up and sending out energy patterns.

here's a simple example. Have you ever thought about someone and then they called you ? that's you tuning into this invisible field of energy and information. 

Your thoughts aren't just in your head. They're reaching out and touching everything around you. Everything that could possibly happen to you exists right now as a possibility, like different TV channels all broadcasting at once when you change your thoughts and feelings, it's like changing the channel to tune into a different possibility. Remember a time when everything in your life seemed to go wrong. you got sick, nothing worked out. I remember a time when everything went right. Got unexpected good news, feeling amazing. Everything flowed perfectly. same You same world, but totally different experience. You were tuning into different possibilities. 

Here's how you can use this. Start paying attention to what you're focusing on. Most of the time, your focus is like a magnet drawing those experiences to you. If you constantly focus on what could go wrong, you're tuning into those possibilities. If you focus on what could go right, you're tuning into those possibilities instead. But remember, this isn't about just thinking positive thoughts. It's about changing your entire energy state. When you combine clear intention with elevated emotion like genuine gratitude or excitement, you're sending out a powerful signal into this field of possibilities. Before you start your day tomorrow, take five minutes to feel the feelings of your day going perfectly. Not just think about it, really feel it. Feel the excitement of good things happening. Feel the gratitude for things working out. Feel the joy of everything flowing smoothly. You're not just imagining it. You're actually tuning your brain and body to pick up these possibilities. The quantum field is the invisible reality you're swimming in right now. Every thought you think, every feeling you feel, is interacting with this field.

When you understand this, you realize that changing your life isn't about forcing things to happen. It's about tuning into the possibilities that are already there. And now that you understand this, you're ready to learn how to move from just thinking about these ideas to actually becoming them. There's a big difference between knowing something and being something. It's like the difference between reading about riding a bike and actually riding one. the real magic happens when you stop trying to change and start being the change you want to see. 

most people spend their whole lives trying to get somewhere, always chasing the next thing. But here's the secret. If you want something new in your life, you have to become it first in your mind and body. You have to feel it so deeply that your body believes it's already happened.

an Olympic athlete doesn't just practice their sport. They practice being a champion in their mind. Before they ever win a medal, they've already felt what it feels like to stand on that podium hundreds of times. They're not hoping to become a champion in their mind and body. They already are one. The key is, your body doesn't know the difference between a real experience and one you're vividly imagining. So when you practice being your future self, your body starts changing right now. Your hormones change, your energy changes,  your DNA changes.

Try this right now. Think of one thing you want to become. Maybe it's healthier or more successful or more peaceful. Now, instead of wanting it, how would you feel if you were already that person? How would you breathe? How would you move? How would you talk to others? That feeling that's what you want to practice every day. But You have to stay in that new state even when the outside world hasn't changed yet. That's the real test. Anyone can feel successful when things are going well. The magic happens when you can feel successful even when facing challenges. The universe doesn't give you what you want. It gives you what you are being. When you change your inner state, your outer world has to change to match it. This is why affirmations often don't work. They're just words. But when you combine clear intention with real feeling, when you practice being your future self with your whole body and mind, that's when real change happens. Every time you practice being your future self, you're not pretending. You're actually becoming. every cell in your body is listening to your thoughts and feelings, changing its chemistry to match your new way of being. Your future isn't something that happens to you, it's something you become. And the time to start being that new self isn't when everything's perfect, it's right now in this moment. So here you are with all this knowledge and power, but knowledge without action is just information. Let me show you exactly how to turn everything we've talked about into real change in your life, starting right now. First thing every morning, before you check your phone or start your day, take 15 minutes for yourself. Find a quiet spot where you won't be disturbed. Close your eyes and take three deep breaths. This is your time to become your future self. Start with your body. Sit or stand like the person you want to become. If you're becoming more confident, sit up, straight, shoulders back, chin up. If you're becoming more peaceful, let your body relax and soften. Your body position tells your brain what chemicals to make. Then pick one scene from your future life and step into it fully, see it, hear it, feel it. Maybe it's you feeling healthy and strong or successful in your work or peaceful in your relationships. Don't just watch it like a movie. Be in it. Feel the emotions in your body. Let them fill every cell. Here's the practical part. Do this every single day, no matter what, it's like brushing your teeth, you don't skip brushing because you're tired or busy. Make this practice just as important. Consistency is what builds new neural pathways. throughout your day Catch yourself thinking old thoughts or feeling old feelings. Remember you're not trying to fight the old, just notice it and ask yourself, How would my future self think about this? How would they feel? What would they do? Start small. Maybe you practice being your future self for just five minutes. Maybe you catch yourself once or twice a day in old patterns. That's perfect. Small steps done consistently create lasting change. It's like working out one push up, done every day is better than 100 done once. Keep a small notebook with you. Write down moments when you felt like your future self, even for a second. What triggered it? How did it feel? This trains your brain to notice and strengthen these new patterns. Every time you practice, you're not just imagining you. You're actually becoming, every time you choose a new thought or feeling, you're rewiring your brain, every time you act like your future self, you're changing your genes. You already have everything you need. Your brain is ready to create new pathways. Your body is ready to make new chemicals. The quantum field is ready to bring you new possibilities. All you have to do is practice being the person you want to become. Don't wait for the perfect time. Don't wait until you feel ready. Don't wait for your circumstances to change. Start right now in this moment, because this moment is where all your power lies. You're not broken and you don't need fixing. you’r powerful creator who's learning to use the greatest technology in the universe, your own mind and body.