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Lewis HowesLewis Howes

How To Use The Law Of Attraction To MANIFEST ANYTHING In 2023 | Dr. Tara Swart Bieber

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Dr. Tara Swart BieberguestLewis Howeshost
Oct 5, 20221h 23mWatch on YouTube

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Transcript

  1. 0:00 – 4:31

    Manifestation as Goal-Setting and Neuroplasticity

    1. TB

      Once you understand that you can literally change your brain at any stage, any age, any mindset, it's life-changing, isn't it?

    2. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    3. TB

      And you do that through...

    4. LH

      I think you gotta have a dream. The School of Greatness. Really? [laughs] Yeah. Please welcome Lewis Howes. What is manifestation in your mind, and how do you use neuroscience and neuroplasticity to manifest what we want?

    5. TB

      Yeah, so I mean, it's so aligned to a lot of things that you speak about because at its most basic, manifestation is setting a goal and achieving it, right?

    6. LH

      Yes.

    7. TB

      Um, or, you know, what I like to say is it's making into reality in, in the tangible world your dreams and desires.

    8. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    9. TB

      And I'm not the kind of person that, you know, always said I'd like to live forever or, you know, live till I'm super old or whatever, but once I discovered neuroplasticity, I thought, "I wish I'd known about this when I was 18."

    10. LH

      Really?

    11. TB

      You know? It's, it's literally life-changing. I think I was naturally manifesting from about the age of 18 anyway, but I didn't understand the science behind it. Once you understand that you can literally change your brain at any stage, any age, any mindset, that's like... It's life-changing, isn't it?

    12. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    13. TB

      And, and I feel that, you know, one of the things we were sort of chatting about earlier is that just because I'm a scientist and an MD, it doesn't mean that in my real life it's easy for me to just channel neuroplasticity. It's still, it's still hard. You know, I've been through a divorce, I've been through grief, I've been through career change, and those hard times taught me resilience and neuroplasticity, but the hard times were almost the opportunity. I didn't want to go through those things. I don't want, you know, our listeners to go through hard times.

    14. LH

      Pain.

    15. TB

      Yeah, pain.

    16. LH

      Yeah.

    17. TB

      But you can take that as an opportunity, and I think if you really understand neuroplasticity-

    18. LH

      Mm-hmm

    19. TB

      ... then you can make the worst times in your life the start of the best time in your life.

    20. LH

      Mm.

    21. TB

      And that's what I love about neuroplasticity, that it's that ability to change, to grow, to regulate your emotions-

    22. LH

      Yes

    23. TB

      ... which I know you're really into.

    24. LH

      Sure.

    25. TB

      And, and build resilience. I mean, an example of neuroplasticity that I would share with, with, with you, with our listeners, is gratitude lists. So for years in my journaling, I would write 10 things I'm grateful for every day, and they were always external things, friends, family, travel, you know, um, financial freedom, whatever. And I literally just got bored of writing the same things, so I thought, "Okay, what, what else could I write?" So I started writing things like my creativity, my vulnerability, my resilience, internal things, and that was a real game changer.

    26. LH

      Really? What happened when you started doing that?

    27. TB

      It made me think that whatever life throws at me, I've got the tools and resources within me to deal with it. Um, and, and I didn't always have. You know, in my 20s, I wouldn't say I was very emotionally regulated. [laughs] Um, but learning that whatever happens, the, the sort of the pendulum swing for your emotions, the higher it goes, the lower it goes as well, and, and bringing that to, like, parameters that you're comfortable with is-

    28. LH

      Mm-hmm

    29. TB

      ... that gives you sort of autonomy and agency in life.

    30. LH

      Sure.

  2. 4:31 – 10:05

    Defending the Science Against the 'Woo-Woo' Label

    1. LH

      you're starting to sound like the woo woo self-help industry, not a MIT, uh, professor-

    2. TB

      Mm-hmm

    3. LH

      ... medical doctor, scientist.

    4. TB

      Mm-hmm.

    5. LH

      But what I'm hearing you say is that there's real benefits scientifically to these things.

    6. TB

      Yeah, and I think when I wrote my book, The Source, which, which sort of married together science and spirituality, there was a risk element to that.

    7. LH

      Mm.

    8. TB

      Um, a little bit like when I left medicine and started coaching and speaking. I, I look back, and I can genuinely say to you, Lewis, that the biggest risk in my life would have been not leaving medicine and changing my career.

    9. LH

      Really?

    10. TB

      Not kind of merging the spirituality with the science. Those would've been the biggest risks, like not, not doing those things.

    11. LH

      Staying only in the science and in the medicine.

    12. TB

      Yeah.

    13. LH

      Why do you feel like you needed to merge both?

    14. TB

      You mentioned that I'm sort of done with being defined my m- by my job titles and qualifications, and that's a journey I've been on for quite a long time. I would say pre-pandemic, I had a conversation with someone at a dinner party where I said, you know, "Who am I if I'm not a doctor or a neuroscientist?" And she said to me, "'Cause you're so much more."

    15. LH

      Mm.

    16. TB

      And I just burst into tears.

    17. LH

      Wow.

    18. TB

      So that journey, you know, has been quite huge. And, um, I would say that I'm, I'm on a journey of continual reinvention and that neuroplasticity underlies that, so the ability to, to be someone new, to be, to be reborn, but all absolutely based on, absolutely based on science. I know, y- you know, you were right to call me out and say it sounds a bit woo woo. Um...

    19. LH

      Well, I mean, what do your colleagues think about this when you speak, you know, about manifestation, gratitude lists, visualization, meditation? When they're like, "Well, that's just some, like, personal development, self-help talk."

    20. TB

      Mm-hmm.

    21. LH

      Where does the science prove and show evidence that these things are effective in fact?

    22. TB

      I mean, I, I think what I would like to say to you and, and, and have you reply to is in... that it's in the doing.

    23. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    24. TB

      Um, so if I, you know, I've been doing what I call action boards, but they're like vision boards, for, like, 15 years.

    25. LH

      You sound super woo-woo now.

    26. TB

      [laughs] You know, my-

    27. LH

      The dream boards, the vision boards. Yeah

    28. TB

      My-

    29. LH

      I love this stuff.

    30. TB

      [laughs]

  3. 10:05 – 18:18

    Mental Rehearsal, Uncertainty, and Learning New Things

    1. TB

      So, um, you know, having been a professional sports person, you'll understand about mental rehearsal-

    2. LH

      Absolutely

    3. TB

      ... and biofeedback, which is listening to messages from your body, which we sort of touched on with the gut-brain connection. So if your brain has seen something or experienced it through mental rehearsal, then when it comes across something similar in real life, it's less threatening. So uncertainty is the most threatening thing to your brain. Anything new is a huge threat to your brain.

    4. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    5. TB

      Which is kind of counter to neuroplasticity, right? Because with neuroplasticity, I make myself do something new every year. So I've learnt several languages.

    6. LH

      Really?

    7. TB

      Yeah.

    8. LH

      How many languages do you know now?

    9. TB

      Um, I've learnt five in my life. I'm not gonna pretend I've learnt-

    10. LH

      But you're fluent in all of them. Yeah, yeah.

    11. TB

      [laughs]

    12. LH

      Yeah, yeah.

    13. TB

      Um-

    14. LH

      Are you fluent in any?

    15. TB

      Yeah, so I was very lucky. I was brought up bilingual in English and an Indian language.

    16. LH

      Okay.

    17. TB

      And then from the age of nine, I learnt French at school.

    18. LH

      Wow.

    19. TB

      Um, and then as an adult, I learnt three other languages at different times.

    20. LH

      Gotcha.

    21. TB

      Um, probably not so good at those ones, but.

    22. LH

      [laughs]

    23. TB

      Um, yeah, so during the pandemic, I, I actually made a statement in the beginning which was, "Don't put... necessarily put pressure on yourself to, like, start a new career or learn a language."

    24. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    25. TB

      Then it went on for longer than we all thought it would. Um, so I was actually on an Instagram Live saying that I'd always wanted to learn the piano, and somebody sent me a DM and said, "Dr. Tara, you can use the Flowkey app to teach yourself piano."

    26. LH

      Flowkey, huh?

    27. TB

      Yeah. Um-

    28. LH

      Interesting.

    29. TB

      It's a really, really cool app. And, um, I'd been gifted a piano keyboard for Christmas by my husband a, I, I am ashamed to say, a year or two earlier [laughs] and never used it. Um, so in the pandemic, I did, I did use the Flowkey app and teach myself, um-

    30. LH

      Now you know how to play piano? More than Twinkle-

  4. 18:18 – 25:08

    Imagined Weightlifting and Intentional Mind-Wandering

    1. TB

      So the first thing I'd like to say is that I really admire that dedication of doing it for an hour a day.

    2. LH

      Every night I would do this.

    3. TB

      And you know, that's the difference between people who say, "I want to, I want to get X or do X"- But they won't spend an hour a day doing it. And-

    4. LH

      That was just an hour a day rehearsing it.

    5. TB

      I know.

    6. LH

      That wasn't actually-

    7. TB

      Practicing

    8. LH

      ... implementing it.

    9. TB

      Yeah, yeah.

    10. LH

      Then I'd get up at 6:00 AM and train for a few hours.

    11. TB

      Yeah, yeah.

    12. LH

      Yeah.

    13. TB

      And I think, you know, it's really important to say that I was on an Instagram Live with a friend who, you know, owns a huge shoe empire, and said that at some point on her vision board she wanted a house in the Hamptons. And there was so many comments that came up saying, "Yeah, I'd like a house in the Hamptons." But the thing is, you've got to put in the work to earn the money to get the house in the Hamptons. It's not-

    14. LH

      Mm-hmm

    15. TB

      ... you know, sort of it doesn't come. So, so basically, believing that something's possible or having had an experience of, of doing that thing or even imagining that thing, um, makes it more possible in your brain. So there are amazing studies. Um, I, I, I literally don't know where to start. I think I'll probably start with the most exciting one, which is that if you do weightlifting and you separate people into two groups, so the group that actually lift weights, and the research study was on finger weights and elbow weights. Um, I won't get the percentages exactly right.

    16. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    17. TB

      But with, um, two weeks of doing these weights, there was like a 30 to 40% increase in muscle mass with the, you know, the finger or the elbow. But there was a group of people who only imagined lifting weights.

    18. LH

      Come on. What happened?

    19. TB

      About a 15% increase in muscle mass.

    20. LH

      No way.

    21. TB

      Yeah.

    22. LH

      They imagined that they were lifting.

    23. TB

      Yes, yes.

    24. LH

      Were they actually, like, squeezing their muscles?

    25. TB

      No.

    26. LH

      They just thought they were lifting-

    27. TB

      Yeah

    28. LH

      ... without moving.

    29. TB

      Yeah.

    30. LH

      And their muscles grew.

  5. 25:08 – 32:08

    Belief, Aging, and the Retrofitted Homes Study

    1. TB

      I've got so many other stories [laughs] I wanna, like-

    2. LH

      Sure

    3. TB

      ... loop back.

    4. LH

      Give... Yeah, bring 'em.

    5. TB

      So, um, a group of people in their 80s, so there was one group that just lived their life like normal. They were the control group. There was one group that were moved to retrofitted homes that looked like their homes did 20 years ago.

    6. LH

      Mm.

    7. TB

      So when they were in their 60s. They had photographs of themselves when they were s- 60 in the house. They read newspapers from 20 years ago. And so by the end of one week, you're not... Like, you're literally-

    8. LH

      Wow. [laughs]

    9. TB

      I can't wait to hear, like, how you react to this. They were taller.

    10. LH

      Come on. [laughs] No way.

    11. TB

      They had better musculoskeletal coordination.

    12. LH

      Wow.

    13. TB

      They, in before and after photos that were shown to people that didn't know them, they were rated as younger in the after photos. Um, so the tall- the tallness is to do with m- posture rather than-

    14. LH

      Mm. Yeah, yeah

    15. TB

      ... actually, like, growing taller. But, um, just, like, the way that you hold yourself, because you believe that you're younger.

    16. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    17. TB

      And there was a third group that were the reminiscing group. So they didn't live in retrofitted homes.

    18. LH

      They stayed in the same home.

    19. TB

      Stayed in the same home, but they thought about being 20 years younger, and they also got improvements.

    20. LH

      Come on.

    21. TB

      Not as much.

    22. LH

      Wow. I believe it. You know, there's, uh... My mom, she... Man, I'm gonna butcher this. Birthdays were never a thing of mine, so I've never really paid attention to age. Um, she just turned 70. I can't remember if it was a year ago or two years ago. But I think it was two years ago.

    23. TB

      [laughs] With the pandemic, we've all lost-

    24. LH

      I know. It's like-

    25. TB

      ... like, a sense of time

    26. LH

      ... I think it was two, I think it was two years ago. My mom and I were like, "Why don't you say every year moving forward that you're a year back now?" So this year she's 68, I think. Yeah, so she's-

    27. TB

      [laughs] I love it. I'm gonna do that

    28. LH

      ... she's, she's saying she's 68.

    29. TB

      Yeah.

    30. LH

      Next year she's saying she's 67. And there's probably some psychological, emotional, and, you know, neuroplastic, uh, connection to it as well. Just like saying, "No, I am younger," and just believing it, living it-

  6. 32:08 – 35:26

    Stress, Boundaries, and the Body: Lewis's Skin Rash

    1. TB

      and your skin is, it's the physical boundary of your body, obviously, but it's also psychologically very related to boundary transgressions.

    2. LH

      Interesting. Oh, my gosh. That's so fascinating you're saying this, because about two years ago, I was in a different relationship. And I started to get this, like, kinda skin rash right here-

    3. TB

      Mm-hmm

    4. LH

      ... like a little bit, like a little patch of, like, this redness right here. And then I started to also get it right below my belly button, like-

    5. TB

      Mm-hmm

    6. LH

      ... this kind of, like, red rash. And I'm thinking, like, "Something wrong with me? Do I have some, like, disease or something?" And after I ended this relationship, literally that week, it went away.

    7. TB

      Yeah.

    8. LH

      So I was in this relationship that was, it was a challenge for me, and a lot of it was based on my values. I was abandoning myself, and my boundaries were being crossed-

    9. TB

      Mm-hmm

    10. LH

      ... almost daily.

    11. TB

      Mm-hmm.

    12. LH

      And I kept giving in to try to create a peaceful relationship.

    13. TB

      Mm.

    14. LH

      But then me giving into myself was crossing my own boundaries-

    15. TB

      Yes

    16. LH

      ... was abandoning my values, right-

    17. TB

      Yeah

    18. LH

      ... to make someone happy. And so... And I, and I started to do a lot of healing and, and therapy after the, during and after this. And I was like, "Man, this is going away." And she's like, "Well, you're reclaiming yourself. You know, you're, you're creating your boundaries again."

    19. TB

      Mm.

    20. LH

      "And you're not letting someone walk over your boundaries."

    21. TB

      Mm-hmm.

    22. LH

      "And you're not abandoning yourself." So it was like my skin... 'Cause I did all the tests. I did, like, every allergy test. No allergies. No nothing. I go, "What is this, like, little rash thing?" I go, "What's going on?" You know, I cut out foods. I was, like, sleeping the right amount, all these things, but it was like the skin still had this irritation. [lips smack] I don't wear creams. I don't have anything. I changed the shampoos, all that stuff. And it was my internal-

    23. TB

      Yeah

    24. LH

      ... psyche, emotions that was screaming at me. It was literally, like, screaming stress and inflammation.

    25. TB

      Yeah.

    26. LH

      And it was fascinating to see it go into, I guess, remission, or just leave my body as I started to create more peace inside of myself. It's fascinating.

    27. TB

      And, you know, just going back to what you said about as a scientist, as a professor at MIT, how do people view the fact that, you know, you talk about spirituali- I talk-

    28. LH

      Mm-hmm

    29. TB

      ... about spirituality or... The thing about that is if I was your coach, and I would've known that was psychological straight away.

    30. LH

      Right.

  7. 35:26 – 40:15

    Believing It's Possible: Roger Bannister and Negative Self-Talk

    1. TB

      you'll know this story probably, but, you know, Roger Bannister-

    2. LH

      Mm

    3. TB

      ... was the first person that, um, ran a mile in under eight minutes.

    4. LH

      Four minutes.

    5. TB

      Four [laughs] ...

    6. LH

      Four mi- four-minute mile. Amen.

    7. TB

      You said it that [laughs] ...

    8. LH

      Yeah, yeah.

    9. TB

      Four mi- yeah

    10. LH

      Four-minute mile.

    11. TB

      Um, once he did it, several people-

    12. LH

      Right

    13. TB

      ... then did it in the next few months, just because they knew it was possible, because we thought it was impossible before that, right? And so what I sort of say to people is, "If you are embarking on something new, think about your own past successes. The chances are you've done something similar before." So then you can tell your brain, "Okay, I am afraid of this," or, "I am, you know, not sure that I can do this, but I've done it before." If you haven't yourself done whatever it is that you want to do, find somebody preferably like you or just somebody that has done that thing before-

    14. LH

      Yeah

    15. TB

      ... and tell your brain that it's possible.

    16. LH

      Right.

    17. TB

      And then there's two other layers, the science behind, you know, sort of that maximizes that, I would say, and one is your negative self-talk. So, you know, the inevitable voice in your head that might say Who do you think you are? Do you really think you can do that? You can't do that. You know, that's for other people. That's not for you

    18. LH

      What happens to the body and the brain when you put those thoughts in your s- i- inside and you say those things to yourself?

    19. TB

      Um, it's basically your brain's protective mechanism. You know, your brain wants you to survive until you reproduce. It doesn't care about anything else. Your brain isn't here to make you thrive. It's literally here for you to pass your genes on. Um, so, and, and in cave times, that helped us to survive as a species. In modern times, it's, it's no longer helpful, and that's why we talk about positive affirmations. And, you know, you might again say that's, that sounds woo woo, but in, in Buddhism, they say replace any negative thought immediately with a positive thought. And the neuroplasticity says the same thing.

    20. LH

      Wow.

    21. TB

      Because neuroplasticity is amazing, but it can be bad. If you have a breakup and you obsess about the person-

    22. LH

      Oh, you're, yeah

    23. TB

      ... you're wiring that deeply into your brain. Um, so you have to direct your neuroplasticity. And if you do get that voice in your head, which is normal for all of us, you need to, you know, override that with, um, a positive statement. So what, what I say to people-

    24. LH

      An affirmation, a positive statement, yeah

    25. TB

      ... yeah. And, you know, we could do this together. So if you have a recurring doubt or-

    26. LH

      Mm-hmm

    27. TB

      ... negative thought, then go one step below that and ask yourself what the belief is that's driving that thought. What do you believe about yourself?

    28. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    29. TB

      You know, you've mentioned today, and I've heard you speak about this before about being a- abandoned.

    30. LH

      Mm-hmm.

  8. 40:15 – 45:12

    Neuroplasticity as Physical Work: Pathways and Learning Languages

    1. TB

      And I remember when I learnt Danish, which was super hard.

    2. LH

      Oh, gosh.

    3. TB

      Yeah. [laughs] Um, and I, you know, I've mentioned to you that I prefer to eat healthily, but I was literally taking, like, a can of Coke or, like, a bag of Maltesers to the, the Danish lessons. And it was 90 minutes, and a, by about an hour I would feel so tired and so hungry.

    4. LH

      Exhausting, isn't it?

    5. TB

      It's exhausting, yeah.

    6. LH

      I'm learning Spanish right now.

    7. TB

      Are you?

    8. LH

      And I'm trying to change my language around it-

    9. TB

      Mm-hmm

    10. LH

      ... being exhausting-

    11. TB

      Yeah

    12. LH

      ... and being hard.

    13. TB

      Yeah, yeah.

    14. LH

      Because I think the more I say that, it's gonna continue to-

    15. TB

      Yeah

    16. LH

      ... reinforce that it's exhausting and challenging. So I've been trying the last few months to say, "You know what? This is a, a fun experience, you know. This is an experiment. It's, it's challenging, but it's a good challenge, and I'm learning every time. It's hard for me." And it's trying to add a positive reinforcement-

    17. TB

      Mm-hmm

    18. LH

      ... as opposed to, "Man, this is hard."

    19. TB

      Yeah.

    20. LH

      Because I, I ha- it's, it has been challenging up until now-

    21. TB

      Yeah

    22. LH

      ... to learn Spanish fluently, and I also think I have this huge expectation, like, I'm gonna be able to speak like a native, uh, you know, Mexican speaker. But, um, and I think sometimes we forget how far we've come.

    23. TB

      Yeah.

    24. LH

      You know?

    25. TB

      Yeah. Acknowledging that is so important.

    26. LH

      Yeah.

    27. TB

      Can I give you a bit of inspiration?

    28. LH

      Give it to me.

    29. TB

      So I did eight weeks of lessons. I then went to Denmark for summer holidays. And I came back and had a lesson, and at some point she said, "Okay, great. You know, see you. We're done for now. See you next week." And I was like, "Was that 90 minutes?" And so basically, the 90 minutes had got... I hadn't got hungry, I hadn't got tired, I'd got through the lesson, and I realized I've gone past that tipping point of neuroplasticity.

    30. LH

      Mm-hmm.

  9. 45:12 – 49:50

    Overcoming 'I'm Not Smart' and 'I'm Not Creative' Beliefs

    1. LH

      What's interesting, I've never felt like I've had a good memory when it comes to books. Like, things I'm reading in school, or things... Because school was so challenging, and I always... The belief was I always tested poorly, and so it just reaffirmed that I wasn't good at it-

    2. TB

      Mm

    3. LH

      ... right? Um, based on the way that that school was created for, for us. But in sports, I could remember really well, right? So I could remember other things, or if I'd meet someone and they told me some weird thing about them, like, I would remember this, right?

    4. TB

      Mm-hmm.

    5. LH

      And I could remember it 10 years later, something like that. So when it was more physical and active, I felt like I had an incredible m- muscle memory, right?

    6. TB

      Mm.

    7. LH

      And I felt like I had incredible wisdom, but I didn't feel like I was smart.

    8. TB

      Mm.

    9. LH

      Like, I felt like I understood people, but I couldn't remember something I read in a, in a page two seconds ago.

    10. TB

      Yeah.

    11. LH

      Like, I would have to repeat reading something over and over again to be like, "What just happened? What did I just read?" I couldn't comprehend words.

    12. TB

      Mm-hmm.

    13. LH

      But I could connect with people and emotions and, you know, movement and things like that.

    14. TB

      Mm.

    15. LH

      So I'm trying to figure out what's that way to learn Spanish through that way. [laughs] Or anything new. Because I think one of the greatest parts about life, especially, uh, you know, after childhood, is, like, creating new adventures and not staying stuck in the same routine-

    16. TB

      Yeah

    17. LH

      ... but having new experiences, new adventures, and learning new things. I love that you like to learn something new every year. I think that's a secret to keeping you young and youthful-

    18. TB

      Yeah

    19. LH

      ... and looking 31, you know?

    20. TB

      [laughs] Thank you. Um, so two things I'd like to raise about that. One is that you've obviously done the work and become very successful, but there are a lot of people who would be stuck in that, "I'm not smart." And I was stuck in, "I'm not creative," till I was-

    21. LH

      Mm

    22. TB

      ... 35.

    23. LH

      Really?

    24. TB

      Starting to give the numbers away, Lewis. [laughs]

    25. LH

      Like, two years ago, huh?

    26. TB

      [laughs] Um, so I was told at s- at high school, because I wasn't good at art, that I wasn't creative, and I completely believed that I wasn't creative. I didn't think I could do anything but be a doctor for the rest of my life.

    27. LH

      Mm.

    28. TB

      And through a series of events, um, you know, which even probably I am not aware of the complexity of, I woke up one morning and I thought, "I never chose to be a doctor. My parents told me to be a doctor."

    29. LH

      Yeah.

    30. TB

      "I was told at school I was smart. I was so smart that I didn't just do an MD, I did a PhD as well." And I said to myself that morning, "If I'm so effing smart, what do I actually want to do?"

  10. 49:50 – 57:30

    Brain Energy, Building New Defaults, and Forcing Function Immersion

    1. TB

      So what's happening to the brain is that you had a pathway that was established, either from childhood or later in life. And the brain is obviously a small percentage of your, your body weight-

    2. LH

      Mm-hmm

    3. TB

      ... um, like two to 5% for most, you know, generally. But it's a very energy-hungry organ. So it's using up 20 to 30% of what you eat.

    4. LH

      Wow. Wow.

    5. TB

      And again, that's-

    6. LH

      Really?

    7. TB

      Yeah. And so, you know, I think, you know, having been a, a sports man, you would think about what should I eat so I can have big muscles?

    8. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    9. TB

      Or, you know, what should I eat so I have lovely skin or whatever. But actually, you should be thinking, "What should I eat so I can make the best decision today?"

    10. LH

      Wow, interesting.

    11. TB

      Um, so when you're asleep, your brain is using up 20% of the glucose that you have ingested that day.

    12. LH

      Huh.

    13. TB

      When you are focused on a task, it's using up 25% of your dietary intake. When you're stressed, it's using up 30%. So, you know, in terms of, you know, I sort of like to live in a brain first kind of way, 'cause if you're doing that, everything else is gonna fall into place, your cardiovascular system-

    14. LH

      Really?

    15. TB

      ... your gut. Um, so, you know, hydrating foods, good fats, all that kind of thing is, is gonna feed your brain. And so, you know, what's happening in your brain and body is that you are creating the pathway, that dirt road into the paved road, that should become the default pathway for your brain. So your brain is gonna go down the most energy efficient route, because that's, that's easiest and what it knows-

    16. LH

      Right

    17. TB

      ... and what it likes, and it's using up less glucose. So what you have to do is build the pathway so that it's so strong that it's stronger than the pathway that's been there since childhood.

    18. LH

      Mm. How do you do that?

    19. TB

      Okay. You're not gonna do that with Spanish, 'cause you're never gonna be better at Spanish than you are English, right?

    20. LH

      Right, right.

    21. TB

      But in terms of things like emotional regulation, if you were the person, and there's so many people like this, who would cry and yell and slam the door and walk out and then come back, you can actually change that. You can become somebody who's got good boundaries-

    22. LH

      Mm-hmm

    23. TB

      ... who's got self-worth, who feels that they deserve love. Um, and you do that through neuroplasticity and building the pathway-

    24. LH

      Wow

    25. TB

      ... giving yourself the examples, and acting like that in life until you do believe it.

    26. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    27. TB

      Um, and just going back to the two things, I remembered what the other one was, which is what I have found personally is that when you have no choice but to do the thing that you have to do, you do it. So I would say, I would ask you, have you gone to a Spanish-speaking country on your own to a village where nobody speaks English?

    28. LH

      Right.

    29. TB

      [laughs] 'Cause if you did-

    30. LH

      I mean, I, I, I've been... I mean, I have been on my own in Mexico recently, where... Well, my girlfriend speaks Spanish.

  11. 57:30 – 1:05:07

    Reinvention, Creativity, and Doing the Work When Life Is Good

    1. LH

      What is the thing you're learning this year? What's the new thing?

    2. TB

      So yeah, I've been sort of navigating a, a personal journey, and I want to do some different things with work. So you know, I would say I, I had a, a break, and it's so tempting to go back to doing the keynote speeches and taking on the high-net-worth clients. And you know, I've been tempted. I have sort of, like, done a little experiment and gone done a keynote and, you know, sort of met a new coaching client. But I think this, you know, belief that I had for a long time that I'm not creative, it's really important for me now at this stage of my life to, to, to live that dream and be the creative person that I've always-

    3. LH

      Mm

    4. TB

      ... wanted to be. Um, so I've actually co-written a song with s- my, my colleagues in a music studio. [laughs]

    5. LH

      Oh, wow. Look at you. Look at you.

    6. TB

      Um, and the COO of the business said to me, "You know, I need you to sign a document 'cause you're a songwriter now." And that was like, I never, ever thought I would hear those words. You know, when you go to medical school when you're 18 and-

    7. LH

      The arts are not in your cards, yeah

    8. TB

      ... and you know, I get why, and I'm very, very grateful for my education, but my parents were immigrants from India to England, and they wanted me to get an education-

    9. LH

      Mm

    10. TB

      ... and be professional. I never had the luxury of being creative or doing sport. You know, I, I was, like, always in my sports clothes once I was an adult, but that wasn't something that was valued by my parents. It wasn't a big thing for me at school, um, at high school. So yeah, art, creativity, sport. Um, I'm the trustee of a charity for gynecological cancers. That's, you know, again, something that I sort of thought that, you know, you have to be a very privileged person to be able to, to do that.

    11. LH

      Mm.

    12. TB

      So yeah, I think this constant journey of reinvention, of really-

    13. LH

      Right

    14. TB

      ... being, like, the maximum that I can be. And in my book, The Source, I talk about the six ways of thinking, which are logical, emotional, in- intuition, physicality-

    15. LH

      Mm

    16. TB

      ... creativity, and motivation. You know, trying to have, trying to build all of those pathways in my brain and not... And I, I think it really comes back to, like, where we started with you saying about the woo woo, which is that my logical pathway is well-built. I don't need to build that pathway [laughs] anymore.

    17. LH

      Right. You've got that.

    18. TB

      Um, but you know, I really want to explore... I have worked very hard on emotional regulation myself, but um, you know, and I think my motivation is good, but it's kind of, you know, having a strong work ethic was still a part of being a doctor-

    19. LH

      Mm

    20. TB

      ... and being a scientist. And so really taking that opportunity now to not do the things that I could easily do that would, like, make lots of money for my business-

    21. LH

      Mm

    22. TB

      ... but do things that-

    23. LH

      More for fun and creativity

    24. TB

      ... yeah.

    25. LH

      Yeah, things we love.

    26. TB

      Yeah.

    27. LH

      What was the biggest challenge for you, the biggest trigger for you that you had to learn how to overcome and emotionally regulate? Was it that you would get frustrated or angry or triggered in certain ways by things in life, or was there another trigger that kind of blocked you emotionally?

    28. TB

      I would say two things. So I'd say one was being overly defined by my job title. Um-

    29. LH

      That was your identity.

    30. TB

      Yeah. Um, and it, you know, because I went n- the system is a little bit different in the UK, so at the age of 18, I went to medical school. So my whole adult life I was this medical student or a doctor. And, you know, it was sort of, you'd call up and you'd say, "Oh, I'm, you know, I'm Dr. House's, you know, junior do- I'm the junior doctor belonging to him."

  12. 1:05:07 – 1:08:48

    How to Build an Action Board and Her Story of Manifesting

    1. LH

      I'm curious on action boards, mental rehearsal-

    2. TB

      Mm-hmm

    3. LH

      ... visualization-

    4. TB

      Mm-hmm

    5. LH

      ... gratitude lists, practicing just manifestation in general, which of these do you feel like is most crucial for someone to start implementing right now?

    6. TB

      Okay, so there's, there's crucial and then I would say impactful. So they could be different. So if there's one thing that somebody listens to this podcast and goes away and does in the next two days, I would say an action board.

    7. LH

      Really?

    8. TB

      Yeah.

    9. LH

      What would they put on this action board?

    10. TB

      So I prefer to do it by hand, you know, create a collage. You can do it on, you know, digitally, but I think if you've never done one before, it's really good to do it by hand. And to look through magazines. And the reason I say that is that if you go online to look for images that you want, you're limiting yourself to what your brain knows it wants.

    11. LH

      Mm.

    12. TB

      If you are open-

    13. LH

      Discovering

    14. TB

      ... yes.

    15. LH

      Yeah.

    16. TB

      Then you might be drawn to an image that you wouldn't have thought of. Um, I actually leave quite a lot of space on mine because I like to leave room for magic. Like, I...

    17. LH

      That's cool.

    18. TB

      Manifestation is so incredible once you go d- go down that road, and backed by the science, that you start, you s- almost start to think be careful what you wish for because-

    19. LH

      Mm

    20. TB

      ... it's, you know-

    21. LH

      It's gonna happen

    22. TB

      ... it's gonna happen, yeah. And, um, I don't like to limit myself to only things that I can consciously think of, so I like to leave it a bit open as well. Um, so when, after I got divorced, I basically became a workaholic, and my vision boards were all about business and travel and money. And I got to the point where I admitted to myself, I'm using work to run away from letting my heart ever get broken again. And so in 2015, I made a vision board that was business and travel and money with a tiny heart on it. You know, not really kind of-

    23. LH

      Yeah, not open to it

    24. TB

      ... going, no

    25. LH

      Yeah, yeah.

    26. TB

      And, you know, had another successful year, and I was still, you know, single. Um, so for 2016, I thought, "Okay, let... If I believe in this stuff, let's see if I can really do this." So December 2015, I looked through magazines and newspapers, and I found a picture of a massive engagement ring, and I put it on the top left corner of my action board. I saw an advert that said, "Joy comes out of the blue," and I didn't know why, but I just liked it, so I put that in the center. So there, there were some other things there, but they were sort, sort of, like, house things and travel and... Um, so February 2016, I met the person that was going to become my husband on a plane, joy comes out of the blue.

    27. LH

      Wow. Jeez.

    28. TB

      And we were engaged six months later. [laughs]

    29. LH

      My gosh. Wow.

    30. TB

      So that was, that was a big one for me. You, you, you asked, like, what's been, what, you know, what's been the biggest challenge in terms of emotional triggers. I think getting to the point where I re- I remember thinking to myself, "This person could break my heart," and I never thought I would let that happen again, but I'm so proud that I did.

  13. 1:08:48 – 1:14:18

    Why Action Boards Work: Value Tagging and Magnetic Desire

    1. TB

      Yeah. So one of the things about the action board is that it must be visible to you, obviously. I believe, further than that, that it should be in, like, a place that other people can see it because a lot of people gather the images but don't stick them down, or they hide it, you know, inside their wardrobe or somewhere. And I believe that equates to believe- to not believing that you deserve those things. So when I had actual amounts of money on mine, it was in my bathroom, so anybody that came to my apartment and used the bathroom would see it. And-

    2. LH

      Wow

    3. TB

      ... yeah. Obviously, you know, only people that I knew were coming into my apartment.

    4. LH

      Right, right, still.

    5. TB

      But, but still, it, it had an actual amount of money on it. It's very un-English to talk about-

    6. LH

      Right

    7. TB

      ... how much money you want to earn. Um, so it was the boldness of that, and it was repeatedly looking at it obviously has an imprint on your brain. So there's something in your brain called, um, value tagging, which is how your brain prioritizes what's important. Um, so today, if you were to read the LA Times, you would receive more information than somebody would receive in their lifetime 100 years ago.

    8. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    9. TB

      So we are bombarded, overly bombarded with data, and so the brain naturally filters out things that aren't important to us. Like you're not aware of the clothes on your body.

    10. LH

      Mm.

    11. TB

      Um, so... And again, the brain is wired for survival, so it'll, you know, it'll prioritize things that are important to your survival. And it does that in a warm and a cold way, so it does it both emotionally and logically. So if you repeatedly expose your brain to the images of the things that you want, you are more likely to notice things that are related to that in your day-to-day life.

    12. LH

      Mm.

    13. TB

      But because they're more likely to be things that will make you thrive, you might not have noticed them if you weren't intentionally repeatedly exposing yourself to that visual imagery. On the negative side of that, another demonstration of neuroplasticity is that people who repeatedly looked at images of the Twin Towers falling in ni- in 9/11, who had no personal connection to New York, didn't lose a loved one or, you know, anybody that they knew, could get PTSD just by repeatedly-

    14. LH

      Wow

    15. TB

      ... looking at those images, yeah. So the power both for good and bad of neuroplasticity is, is that, you know, is that huge. So if you channel it proactively for the things that you want, then you're more likely to both notice and grasp the opportunities that come up in your life too.

    16. LH

      Interesting.

    17. TB

      Yeah.

    18. LH

      Do you do one once a year or twice a year? How often do you do it?

    19. TB

      I do once a year, yeah.

    20. LH

      Once a year.

    21. TB

      Yeah.

    22. LH

      And do you pretty much manifest and attract everything on that action board every year?

    23. TB

      Um-

    24. LH

      Or are they, or are they so big sometimes, you're like, "Ah, I don't know. Sometimes I don't even want, you don't want to do it."

    25. TB

      So sometimes it's not everything doesn't happen in that year. Um-

    26. LH

      It happens.

    27. TB

      And I re- you know, I do remember in 2015, the same professor of neuroscience that, um, talked about my adult languages, he said, "Well, you said you were gonna find husband number two this year, and you haven't." [laughs] But it just leaked into early 2016.

    28. LH

      Sure, sure.

    29. TB

      It was... And I think when my, when my book came out, the, uh, managing director of Penguin Random House in the UK gave this amazing speech, and he said, "You know, the only thing that's left on her vision board is, um, Netflix." And I remember going like this [laughs] 'cause I was so embarrassed that he told everybody that I wanted to do a TV show. And so that's 2019 when my book came out in the UK. Um, and now it's 2022, but, you know, this year I'm working on a TV show. [laughs]

    30. LH

      Nice. Amazing.

  14. 1:14:18 – 1:18:33

    Gratitude as the Key: Feeling It's Already True

    1. TB

      So I'd say the final piece is create the action board, look at it daily, 'cause that's all the value tagging and the selective filtering of data, and then the final piece is believe that it's already true.

    2. LH

      Feel the exper- and feeling the experience-

    3. TB

      Yeah

    4. LH

      ... of it's happe-

    5. TB

      Yes

    6. LH

      ... it's already happened.

    7. TB

      Exactly.

    8. LH

      There's something to that, you know, and this goes back to gratitude. I just feel like because I'm a grateful person all day.

    9. TB

      Mm.

    10. LH

      I mean, I guess I have challenging moments, but I mean, I'm intentionally in the morning and the evening and throughout the day speaking of gratitude-

    11. TB

      Mm-hmm

    12. LH

      ... to others and to myself. And I think because of that, more good things continue to come into my life.

    13. TB

      Yeah.

    14. LH

      They just happen.

    15. TB

      Yeah.

    16. LH

      And now I'm, I'm actively working to make them happen, but I'm also actively grateful for what I have.

    17. TB

      Mm-hmm.

    18. LH

      And I will think about... With the mental rehearsal, I think it's really powerful when I would do this. I would imagine how I would celebrate when I would win, right?

    19. TB

      Mm-hmm.

    20. LH

      Or I would imagine how I would react when I'd go over the bar at a new height in the n- in the pole vault.

    21. TB

      Mm-hmm.

    22. LH

      I would imagine, like, how I'm gonna compose myself-

    23. TB

      Mm-hmm

    24. LH

      ... as if it already happened. And so I would rehearse these, these feelings and emotions. Amy Cuddy ca- talks about this as well. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Amy Cuddy's work.

    25. TB

      Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

    26. LH

      Um, but she, you know, really talks about the body positioning and also-

    27. TB

      Yes

    28. LH

      ... the body posturing a- and imagining yourself in these, these moments being this certain way, and I think that's really important to do, is to feel the feeling of gratitude, that the thing you want is here. And what is that feeling? Start experiencing it consistently.

    29. TB

      Mm-hmm.

    30. LH

      'Cause you're gonna start to magnetize that thing to you.

  15. 1:18:33 – 1:23:52

    Resources, Three Truths, and Greatness

    1. LH

      We'll have to do another part in the future. Um, I want people to follow you. They can get the book, which is on your website or on Amazon-

    2. TB

      Mm-hmm

    3. LH

      ... uh, or anywhere you wanna get your books. Um, that's called The Source. I think it's really powerful. I think you guys should check that out. You've got... also got a new podcast called Reinvent Yourself with Dr. Tara, and it's a deep dive into your message on self-actualization and transformation. So it's you working with neuroplasticity and working with other celebrities and executives, uh, and everyday individuals on how they can improve as well.

    4. TB

      Mm-hmm.

    5. LH

      So very excited about that Tara Swart.com. Uh, Tara Swart on Instagram, Twitter, and all these different places

    6. TB

      Dr- Dr. Tara Swart on Instagram

    7. LH

      On Instagram

    8. TB

      Yeah

    9. LH

      ... Dr. Tara Swart. Not that titles mean anything anymore

    10. TB

      [laughs]

    11. LH

      But, you know, Dr. Tara [laughs]

    12. TB

      Tara Swart was taken. [laughs]

    13. LH

      [laughs]

    14. TB

      I'll see a new name

    15. LH

      Days ago, days ago. Um, this is powerful. Uh, anything else we can do to be of support to you today, besides checking these things out?

    16. TB

      Oh, that's so kind. Um, you know, just being here with you is really a dream come true. It's something that I've manifested.

    17. LH

      Ah.

    18. TB

      And I definitely changed my language around it from, "I can't believe I'm gonna be on Lewis' podcast" to, "I'm so grateful I'm going to be on Lewis' podcast."

    19. LH

      Mm. Mm.

    20. TB

      And so that's a little example of, um, of, you know, that in action. And I think, I do think of myself a- as, like, on a continual journey of reinvention, based on neuroplasticity.

    21. LH

      Yeah.

    22. TB

      And I am so grateful that that's literally now my podcast [laughs] and my TV show and my work.

    23. LH

      That's cool.

    24. TB

      Yeah.

    25. LH

      It's amazing. Well, t- when, when's the TV show coming out? Is that announcements?

    26. TB

      Um, can't say yet.

    27. LH

      Can't say yet?

    28. TB

      It's in production. [laughs]

    29. LH

      Check, check you out on social media-

    30. TB

      Yes

Episode duration: 1:23:52

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