How To Completely Change Your Life In 2025 - 5 Habits You'll Actually Use | Dr Rangan Chatterjee

1. 0:00 – 0:31

   Emotional stress as the hidden driver of habits

   1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee0:00

      "Don't be overheard complaining, not even to yourself," Marcus Aurelius. I love that quote because I think it speaks to one of the most important and overlooked aspects when it comes to changing our life, emotional stress. We generate emotional stress by the way we interact with the world, and then we try and neutralize that emotional stress with our behaviors. So in this video, I'm gonna share with you five life-changing habits that you can implement immediately

2. 0:31 – 3:04

   Habit 1: Take less offense—why offense is generated internally

   1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee0:31

      that will help you tackle your emotional stress and therefore improve the quality of your life. Habit one, take less offense. When you heard that, what did you think? Did you think, "What do you mean take less offense? Why should I? Some things are offensive, and I should take offense to them." But is that really true? Well, I would argue that nothing is inherently offensive. It can't be. If something was inherently offensive, let's say a comment. If the comment was offensive, it means that everyone reading that comment would find it offensive. But if not everyone who reads that comment finds it offensive, it can't be the comment that's the problem. It can't be the comment that is causing the offense. It's something inside of us that is being activated. Now, it's a really key point to understand because once you understand that you are the one who's generating the offense inside of you, you've suddenly been empowered. Instead of blaming the external world for our internal responses, we start to take control. Now, if you can learn to take less offense, I guarantee that it's gonna start improving the quality of your life in a variety of different ways. I'll give you a very simple example. If you are someone who walks around and is taking offense to everything, you know, everyone's got it wrong. Everyone's got the wrong take on the world. People are posting in a derogatory fashion on social media, right? If that's how you perceive the world, in some ways you're making yourself a victim because those things which are frankly out of your control are negatively affecting your internal state. And what that will do is drive you to certain behaviors like sugar, like alcohol, like three hours doom scrolling Instagram in the evening, like online pornography or gambling, whatever it might be. Because often those behaviors are there to neutralize the internal stress, the emotional stress that we have actually generated ourselves. That's the key point. You can train yourself to not take offense. Now, I wanna make something really clear. I'm not saying that some people's

3. 3:04 – 5:36

   Taking less offense through empathy and context

   1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee3:04

      actions or words aren't problematic. I'm not saying that those things couldn't have been said in a better way or a different way. I'm saying that if you can learn to not take offense to other people's words, actions, comments, you're going to be healthier. And I would argue that if you can train yourself to be more emotionally neutral, then if you do wanna change the view of that other person, or let's say a family member you disagree with, you're much better able to do that when you haven't been emotionally triggered. Now, it's important to understand if you are regularly taking offense, you are stressing yourself out, and we know that chronic stress is responsible for maybe 80 to 90% of what doctors like me see in any given day, right? We think about stress, and we're thinking about our workloads and all the things we have on our to-do list. And yes, they can be sources of stress for sure. But the way we interact with the world, the way we perceive things is also a massive source of stress, and it's something that we can change with regular practice. Now, I think it's important to realize that on one level, taking offense regularly is arguably a little bit arrogant, right? What do I mean by that? What I mean is we live in a world of eight billion people, right? Do we honestly believe that no one else in the world is gonna see it differently to us? Of course, people are. Everyone's had a different life experience. They consume different bits of media. They've had different bosses, different parents, right? All these things. And if you've watched any of my videos before, you might have heard me say that one of the most helpful phrases in my life has been, "If I was that other person, I'd be behaving in exactly the same way as them." That's been such a powerful phrase for me individually and for many of the people I've shared it with because what that phrase really means at its core is if I was that person with their childhood, with their bullying, with their parents, with the first toxic boss they had when they were 17 or whatever it might be, I'd probably see the world in the same way as them. It doesn't mean you have to

4. 5:36 – 8:40

   A story that reshaped his perspective: ‘If I was that person, I’d act the same’

   1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee5:36

      agree with them, but you start to understand where they're coming from. And the truth is, I had a conversation four years ago on my podcast with this incredible individual called John McAvoy, who really taught me this. A few years ago, he was one of Britain's most wanted men. He had been convicted for armed robbery. He had two life sentences, and he was locked up in Europe's highest security prison. Today, he's a free man who's- Inspiring youngsters and adults all around the world about the power of physical activity and movement to change your life. He came to my studio a few years ago, and we sat there for two hours talking about his life, and I'm not kidding you, at the end of that conversation when he left my studio, I said to my wife, "You know what, babe? If I was John McAvoy and I had his childhood, I'm pretty sure I'd be in jail right now." I really understood that. Once you understand his life, you understand the choices that he made. And let's bring that back to taking less offense. Next time you see a comment that you wanna take offense to, either in the moment if you can, or maybe you can't do it in the moment and it's something you reflect on in the evening, ask yourself why. Why did you take offense? What would happen if you asked yourself, "Hmm, I wonder why that person sees the world so differently to me? I wonder why they have that view that is so different from my view?" We can talk about this through the lens of offense, but we can also talk about it through the lens of disagreement. Statistics say that one in six people in America at the moment are not talking to a family member because of a political disagreement. Now, I get it, people have strong views about the way that they view the world. But what does it really say about you if you're unable to engage with a family member who perhaps you really liked in the past and did some great things for you because you see the world in a different way to them? What might happen if you were them? Put yourself in their shoes for a minute and go, "Wow, why do they have such a different view of the world to me? What might have gone on in their life that led to that?" I promise you, it is a much softer way of engaging with the world, and it is a way that will absolutely help you. I've done it myself. I've been doing this for the last five years. Very little triggers me now in the outside world unless I'm overworked and stressed or sleep deprived, in which case it's a sign to me, oh, wow, you're falling into old patterns. Right? But you can train yourself to do this. So I've got a little exercise here I wanna share with you that's gonna help you do that. Remember, what I'm talking about here

5. 8:40 – 11:14

   Exercise: ‘Widen the Gap’ to interrupt offense and reinterpret situations

   1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee8:40

      is how can you take less offense? And I'm making the case for you that if you learn to take less offense, your life will be better. So in my new book, Make Change That Lasts, I have an exercise called Widen the Gap, right? So I'm just gonna walk you through it now. Okay. Next time you find yourself wanting to take offense at something, see if you can just take a pause. Ideally, you would do that right there in the moment, but if you can't, like I said, do it at the end of the day in a journaling exercise. Right. So go through this step-by-step process to try and gain a bit of clarity on the situation and your emotions surrounding it. Number one, what is it that is causing you to want to take offense? Two, what is it that is specifically bothering you? Three, is there another way to look at the situation? Four, is it the intention of that person to offend you? Five, what story about the situation could you write in your mind that would add compassion and understanding? Six, can you imagine a scenario whereby you would understand why that person has that point of view? For example, their childhood upbringing, parents, early life experience, friends. Does this now change how you feel about them? Seven, and this is a good one, I think, a really important one. Is there any possibility that you might have misinterpreted things and got the wrong end of the stick? Okay? And just on that one, how many times have you misinterpreted an email? The email itself was neutral, but because of your internal state, overworked, chronically stressed, you interpreted that email as a threat. I know I've done that before, and I've had to learn from that. Like, I know the way that we see the world is heavily influenced by the state of our nervous system, okay? That's point seven. Point eight, and the final one is, what would happen if you did not choose to take offense here? And honestly, with regular practice, you will find that you feel offended less often and are able to take a different, more empowering perspective in many situations. Okay? This habit will

6. 11:14 – 13:49

   Habit 2: Complain less—monitor it and reduce self-generated stress

   1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee11:14

      change your life, I promise you. I've experienced it myself. I've seen it in my patients. Take less offense. Try that exercise and see what happens to how you feel and see what also happens to those downstream behaviors. Habit number two, complain less. Okay. How much do you think you actually complain? Have you ever monitored it? It's a really, really powerful exercise to do. Monitor how much you complain. And once you've done it yourself, maybe ask someone close to you, like your partner, about their perspective because they may have a different perspective to you. You may think you see the world a certain way, and your partner or your friend or your flatmate or your parent might have a different view. Now, why is this important? Remember, in this video, I'm saying to you That you not being aware of the emotional stress that you are generating yourself by the way you interact with the world is causing you problems. It's causing you problems in the way that you feel, but it's also leading to a lot of those downstream behaviors like alcohol and sugar that many people are trying to avoid. So what's complaining got to do with consuming sugar? Well, if you are someone who complains a lot, you're basically saying you're constantly being surprised by the natural order of the world. What does that mean? Well, the natural order of the world is that basically things are always gonna happen, things are gonna go wrong. Things are always gonna happen in a way that you didn't expect and in a way that you didn't want. So if you're complaining regularly, and I accept there are probably some things that it's okay to complain about, I'm talking about how much do you complain? Because if you are complaining a lot, you are generating emotional stress. You're basically saying that the world is not dancing to your tune. Now, how arrogant is that? Is the world always gonna dance to your tune, or is the reality not that things are gonna go wrong? I don't think that means we have a negative outlook on the world. I think it means we have a realistic outlook on the world. So I'll give you an example, right? In

7. 13:49 – 19:23

   Expect adversity: reframing setbacks with examples from medicine and caregiving

   1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee13:49

      the UK at the moment, a medical doctor who goes through a forty-year career is on average going to be sued four times. If you see enough patients, if you practice for enough of a period of time, you're gonna get sued. It's just the way it is. That's what the statistics say. It's a bit like if you drive enough miles and for enough years, you're probably gonna be involved in some form of prang or crash at some point, even if you're a fantastic driver. So statistically, things are going to go wrong despite our best efforts. So let's just take that medical example for a moment. A friend of mine a few years ago was sued, okay? She was a fantastic doctor, and there was a case with a patient of a misdiagnosis of cancer. Now, first of all, I wanna say that must have been very, very hard for that patient. I understand why they wanted to take it further and get some answers. But actually, it had nothing to do with my friend. She just got dragged into this wide-ranging complaint at the last moment. But for the two years whilst that complaint was going on, it broke her. She would drink heavily weekdays, weekends. She wouldn't sleep. She was stressed. Her relationships fell by the wayside. That adversity really, really affected her. Now, you might say, "Yeah, that's reasonable. That's a pretty hard thing to go through," and yes it is, but I'm trying to illustrate a point which is statistically we know it's gonna happen on four occasions. So the mindset of someone who wants to complain less, or as I call it in my book, expect adversity, is the one that says, "I'm going to get sued four times. It's gonna happen. This is one of them. Okay, three left after this one." You may think that that's over-trivializing something very, very challenging, but I don't think it is. I think it's a mindset you can apply to the world with regular practice, and I'm gonna give you a practical exercise in just a moment. I'm gonna perhaps give you a more relatable example from my own life, which I hope helps you understand how important it is to complain less and expect adversity. So for many years, I have helped to care for my elderly mother, and I remember a few years ago, Mum lived in her house about five minutes away from me, and she had an emergency alarm around her neck in case she fell. And I was asleep in my house in my bed. I was fast asleep, and suddenly my phone rang. Picked it up, and it was basically the call center saying, "Your mom has activated her alarm. Um, she's fallen. She can't get up. We've spoken to her on the intercom. She's asking if you're able to go round and help her." I said, "Yeah, just tell her on the intercom I'll be there as quick as I can." So I quickly rushed down the stairs in my pajamas, went into my car, drove round to my mom's house, checked she was okay, helped her back up into her bed. I was there for maybe an hour. Once I was happy that she was settled and that she was safe, I said, "Okay, Mum, I'll come back tomorrow morning to check on you. Give me a call if anything, uh, worries you overnight. I'm gonna go home." Now, I left my mom's house maybe at eleven PM in the evening. I went into my car, and I reversed out of the drive straight into a parked car on the opposite side of the street. Now, the older version of me, who perhaps would have complained a lot more and not expected adversity, would have done this. "I can't believe this has happened to me. Typical. I've got so much work to do. On top of all that work, I now need to get this car sorted, phone insurance tomorrow, which may take me two or three hours when I've got other work to do. Oh, poor old me." Now, I'm not blaming anyone for taking that approach. That is the approach I would have taken in the past, and that self-pity that I generated myself by the way I chose to interact with that situation creates emotional stress, and that emotional stress needs to be neutralized. So that kind of approach results in more caffeine, more alcohol, a few extra chocolate bars or a few extra sweets, a bit of mindless scrolling that instead of being ten minutes ends up being two hours. Those things are a consequence of the emotional stress that you have generated by the way you interacted with that situation. But because I've been practicing for a few years on complaining less and expecting adversity, what I actually did in real time, which I was really pleased about because it was a real-life situation that taught me, wow, things are starting to change automatically. Initially, you have to consciously change your responses, but then over time they become automatic. What I did in that moment, I pranged the car, and I remember just sitting there going, "Okay, no harm done. No one else is hurt. I'm not hurt. I've got insurance. And you know what? If you're gonna keep coming round to your mum's at 11:00 PM, half asleep, to pick her up off the floor, it's only a matter of time before you're gonna have an accident." And with that simple

8. 19:23 – 21:25

   Exercise: Turn complaints into action or gratitude

   1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee19:23

      reframe, I then have a positive effect on the rest of my life. I don't start to generate self-pity, okay, which I could have done. I don't then need to engage in all of those behaviors to compensate for the emotional stress because there wasn't any, right? So a simple exercise that will help you with this is to do with complaining, okay? Every time you catch yourself complaining, I want you to either turn that complaint into an action or into a moment of gratitude. Okay, it's a really simple exercise, but it is really, really powerful. I've done it for years, right? You catch yourself complaining, and then you go, "Can I do something about this?" Turn it into an action. Great. If you can't, turn it into a moment of gratitude, something that you're happy about in your life, something that you're grateful for. I promise you, do this exercise regularly, and you will change your relationship with complaining, and you will learn to expect adversity, the adversity that is coming whether you want it to come or not. And another way to think about this exercise is that when you reframe that complaint into a moment of gratitude, you stop thinking like a victim, and when you turn it into an action, you stop acting like a victim, okay? It's very simple but very powerful. To make sure you're taking action after watching this video, I've created a free guide to help you build healthy habits. We can all make short-term change, but can those changes become a fundamental part of our life? Often they don't, and that's why in this free guide, I share with you the six crucial steps you need to take. They're really, really effective. If you wanna get hold of that free guide right now, all you have to do is click the link in the description box below. Habit

9. 21:25 – 25:00

   Habit 3: The ‘Three Fs’ to uncover what behaviors are really doing for you

   1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee21:25

      three is a practical exercise that I call the three Fs that will help you understand the root cause of your behaviors. Okay. What are the three Fs? Feel, feed, and find. Now, this is a very simple exercise, but it's very, very powerful, and it will have multiple positive effects in your life, your health, your happiness, and your relationships. So let me explain it through the lens of what I think is a very, very common scenario. Have you ever found yourself on your sofa at maybe 9:00 PM in the evening craving something sweet, like some ice cream or sugar? Well, now I know that's very, very common. So many patients over the years have come in to see me saying, "Doc, I'm really good in the day. You know, I eat well, I don't have sugar, but I just can't stop in the evening sometimes." And that's why I created this three F exercise that you can apply with sugar, but frankly, you can use for any other behavior you're trying to reset your relationship with, whether it be alcohol, gambling, or spending three hours on Instagram. Okay, so here it is. Let's imagine you're on the sofa, and you feel that urge to have something sweet. Okay. I want you to pause before you get up and go to the kitchen and get the ice cream out or the sugar. Let's take a quick pause and ask yourself the first F, feel. What am I feeling? Is it physical hunger or is it emotional hunger? Okay, it's a really important question. We eat for many reasons, and this is, I think, one of the big things we miss when we're talking about foods. We eat when we're lonely, when we're stressed, when we're upset, when we're sad. We eat for all kinds of different reasons that have nothing to do with physical hunger. So ask yourself, "Am I really physically hungry or am I emotionally hungry?" And then go ahead and eat it if you want, okay? What you're doing by simply asking yourself that first F is that you're building a little bit of space there between the feeling and the behavior, and once you start creating a bit of space, that's where the magic starts to happen because for so many of us, we have the feeling and we act on the behavior, right? There's no space. But there is a space there, and the more you do this exercise, the more you'll start to expand that space and the more you'll understand your own behaviors. Okay, so you've gone ahead and eaten it. Let's say a few days later, you're back on the sofa again, and you're feeling that urge. Okay. Go to the first F. What am I really feeling? And then ask yourself the second F, which is feed. Okay, now that I know the feeling, how does this ice cream feed the feeling? Oh, okay. So I was feeling stressed. Whenever I scream, at least in the short term, I feel less stressed. Oh, that's the role this behavior is playing in my life. Or maybe you're feeling lonely. Maybe you've been by yourself all day, or you live by yourself. You don't have anyone. And maybe that's why you've gone to sugar. Okay, at least you're understanding it now. That's the key. You're understanding

10. 25:00 – 27:33

    Applying the Three Fs: alternatives that match the underlying need

    1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee25:00

       what feeling you've actually got and how sugar is addressing that feeling. And then you go to the third F, either that time or the next time you're back on the sofa, you work through them. What am I feeling? How does food feed the feeling? And then the third F is finds. Now that I know the feeling, now that I know how food feeds the feeling, now can I find an alternative behavior to feed that feeling? Okay, so very simply, if I was feeling stressed and then sugar helps me to feel less stressed, can I find a different behavior to sugar to help me feel less stressed? So, for example, if you like movement or you like yoga, perhaps you can go on YouTube and do a 10-minute yoga sequence. That will also help you feel less stressed, but maybe in a more helpful way than using sugar regularly to help you feel less stressed. If you're feeling lonely and that's why you want the ice cream, well maybe instead of going to the ice cream, you could get your phone out and phone a friend. Or, you know, maybe phone one of your parents if they're still alive, or a work colleague you're friendly with, whoever, because that's really what you want help with, the feeling of isolation. So that's a much better way of addressing that. If, for example, you've been on Zoom calls all day, you've not had any time to yourself, and that sweet treat on the sofa is your way of nourishing yourself, well, how else could you nourish yourself in a way that doesn't involve ice cream? Well, you can maybe run yourself a bath, light a candle, you know, nourish your whole body and mind by having a relaxing bath for 15 minutes or something else. This is a very powerful exercise that you can use for all kinds of things, and it will really help you understand the role your behaviors play in your life. And in my experience, the only way you can make changes that actually last is by understanding the role that these behaviors play in our life. Now, there's three F's there. I would argue that although all three are important, the first one is the most important one. If all you do is the first F and ask yourself, "What am I really feeling here?" you will start to change your life, because that awareness changes your relationship with that

11. 27:33 – 31:36

    Habit 4: Make one small promise daily—and keep it to build self-trust

    1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee27:33

       behavior. I've seen it over and over again. I've done this for years with my patients. Once they have a deep awareness of why they are really going for sugar or junk food or alcohol or whatever it might be, that's when things start to change. Habit number four, make one small promise to yourself each day and keep it. This is one of my favorite habits. It's something I do myself, and it's something I've been recommending to patients for years. Every single day, you are asking yourself two questions. Can I trust myself? Can I rely on myself? Okay? It's what you do when you meet a new person for the first time. Every time you meet a new person, you are subconsciously asking yourself, "Can I trust them? Can I rely on them?" Humans are social animals, right? So we're always sizing up the people around us. But we're also asking ourself those two questions every single day. And that's why I believe one of the most toxic things you can do for your health and wellbeing is to say you're going to do something and not do it. Because you show yourself, you-- in your mind, "I said I was gonna do it," but you then don't go and take action. So you know internally that you can't trust yourself and that you can't rely on yourself. And that's why this habit is so powerful. One thing that you say you're gonna do, and you do it. Now, this could be different every day, for sure, but I think it's much more powerful to make it the same thing every day. If you are already an existing subscriber to my YouTube channel, you've probably seen me already talk about my five-minute strength workout that I do every morning while my coffee brews. It's a very simple thing that follows the principles of behavior change. But by doing it every morning, just like I brush my teeth every morning for two minutes, I do a five-minute strength workout every morning for five minutes. It shows me every day that no matter how busy I am, no matter how many things I have to do at work, for my wife, for my children, for my mother, whatever it might be, I still made five minutes a day for me. And that is one of the most powerful things that you can do. So I really want you to think about what promise would you make that you could keep? And if you have a moment to let me know in the comments below, I'd really appreciate it. First of all, I love reading what kinds of things that you're going to do. But also what I'm trying to do here on YouTube is create a community, an uplifting, positive community where we can all help each other make positive change. I know there's a lot of negativity online. We talk about the negatives of social media. But I'm thinking, "Well, why can't we on this channel create a positive space where you can go in the comments and say what you're going to do and inspire other people to also do the same?" So if you can, please let me know. And this five-minute action could be anything. It could be 10 press-ups. It could be journaling. It could be the anti-business question that I mentioned several times on this channel already. What's the most important thing I have to do today? You ask yourself that every morning, you answer it, and you do it. It doesn't matter what it is. You gotta find what works for you. Now, why this is so powerful is because if you start doing this regularly, you change the way that you view yourself. Right? It's really important. Hey, guys. I really hope you're finding this useful. If you are and you want more content like it, please do check out my book, Make Change That Lasts: Nine Simple Ways to Break Free from the Habits That Are Holding You Back. It's in all the usual

12. 31:36 – 33:38

    Why kept promises build momentum—and can help in very dark times

    1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee31:36

       places as a paperback, e-book, and as an audiobook, which I'm narrating. Now, back to the video. One of the themes underpinning this entire video is this concept of emotional stress, that internal stress that we can't see but is often dictating a lot of our behaviors. One of the biggest sources of emotional stress is a negative view of ourselves. All right? So when you say you're gonna do something and you don't do it, we start to build up this negative picture of ourselves that we can't rely on ourself, we can't trust ourselves. We can't say we're gonna do something and then do it. This exercise helps to change that, so please pick one thing and do it. Now, I have seen this kind of thing transform the lives of people in the darkest of places. I have had patients before who had suicidal thoughts, who had no motivation. They felt that they couldn't do anything, and I helped them make one small promise each day and keep it. It has saved people's lives because what happens when you're in a dark place and you feel that you can't do anything, just showing yourself that you can do something small and do it, it changes how you view yourself. You start to become someone who says they're gonna do something and then does it. It builds up your self-esteem. You feel more positive about yourself, and it also builds what is arguably the most important force in any change, and that's momentum. Right? You build momentum, and once that momentum builds, it's very, very hard to stop. So give that a go, guys. Make one small promise to yourself every day and keep it, and let me know below what that promise is. The fifth habit

13. 33:38 – 38:43

    Habit 5: Seek out nature to lower stress and widen perspective

    1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee33:38

       is to seek out nature. Now, look, let's be honest. Human beings have evolved in nature. We haven't evolved living indoors in these houses and flats with all this shelter. We just haven't. But it's staggering how little time most of us spend outside these days. But it's so important for so many aspects of our health, including our circadian biology. I mean, seeing natural light in the morning is very important for us to set what's called our circadian rhythm. Right? So that's the rhythm on which every single cell in our body operates, so it's really, really important. So I could give a whole video on why nature is so important, but in the context of this video, which in many ways is about this internal emotional stress that we're generating, I think nature has some quite profound effects. We know that simply being in nature reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol. And remember what I said earlier, 80 to 90% of what a doctor like me sees in any given day is in some way related to stress. Stress affects our brain, our gut, our mood, our sleep, our behaviors. Right? So stress is absolutely massive. Simply going out in nature can help reduce levels of stress. So why is that? Well, there's many possible reasons for that, but one of the reasons is because of fractals. Now, fractals are these geometric shapes that you do not get in manmade surfaces but you do get in nature. You get fractals in rivers, oceans, trees, coastlines. And we know from the scientific research that when a human eye sees a fractal, levels of the stress hormone cortisol start to go down. Right? So I want you to think about how can you get into nature as often as you can. It doesn't need to be this big 90-minute hike once a week in nature. That's fantastic. I'm really encouraging you to see if you can get a daily dose of nature. Right? So now some of you may be thinking, "Well, I don't live somewhere nearby. You know, it takes me an hour's drive to go to somewhere where I could go and enjoy nature." But nature's everywhere. We know from the scientific research that even if you can't get into nature, simply looking at a picture of nature can also reduce cortisol levels, but not to the same degree. And I'm sure this must be one of the reasons why Apple and Microsoft on their screensavers usually have a gorgeous picture of nature, because it makes us feel good and it lowers our stress levels. So where can you get nature in your daily life? Do you have any pot plants at home, in your house, in your apartment? Could you even stare at a tree outside your office window? Because there are fractals in that leaf and it will have a physiological impact on you. Right, so these are some of the reasons why I want you to think about seeking out nature every day. And I guess another broader, more philosophical reason that perhaps counteracts some of the things I've already spoken about is because of what nature does to our perspective. You know, earlier on in this video, I was talking about taking less offense, understanding that different people see the world in different ways, right? What happens when you go out in nature? You're less narrowly focused. You're more outwardly focused, right? You kind of get a sense of who you are and how small you are in the context of the world. I think that can really help. We know that as populations get more urbanized, their health declines. There's many reasons for that, of course. But I think one of the reasons is that many of these urban populations, you're surrounded by buildings, you don't have green space around, so your entire view of the world becomes narrow as well. You respond to your environment. When you go out in nature or you go to a coast, and you can see the horizon, and your vision, instead of being concentric and narrow focused, which is actually a stress state for the body. You know, when you're running away from a tiger, your vision's inward. You're stressed, you're focusing on the threat at hand. But when you go out and your vision is more soft and more peripheral, you quite literally change your perspective on the world. We know that peripheral vision compared to that narrow vision lowers your stress response, which is really, really interesting, which is why that's such a good practice. In between Zoom calls, can you go outside and just broaden and soften your vision? That helps to lower stress. But I think it also helps us take a different

14. 38:43 – 39:35

    Wrap-up: choose one or two habits and start immediately

    1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee38:43

       perspective, and with that different perspective means that we're actually gonna also take less offense and take things less personally. So guys, I hope you enjoyed that video. You don't have to do all five. Perhaps just pick one or two that you think you can start implementing immediately. If you have a moment, let me know in the comments which ones you plan on doing. If you've got any other things you'd like me to cover in future videos, also let me know. I'm gonna take a look and start making more and more solo videos like this. And if you enjoyed this video, I think you're gonna really enjoy this one. I would say that this is one of the most useful concepts that I talk about with my patients. Like time and time again, they'll feed back to me and say, "Oh, I get it now. Oh, I totally get it now

Episode duration: 39:35