Life Lessons That Will Fix 90% Of Your Problems - End Feeling Lost, Unhappy, Stressed | Bruce Lipton

Dr. Bruce Lipton 0:00 80 to 90% of all people will not test positive for the belief, "I love myself," and that's because we've become self-critical of ourselves. Where do we get the critical assessment? Our parents. Parents act like a coach. I say, "What does that mean?" I say, "There, there's a player on the team that's not performing well. The coach doesn't go, 'Oh, please do better.' No, the coach goes up and says, 'That's not good enough. Who do you think you are? You don't deserve to be on this team.'" I go, "What's the coach doing? Needling, you know, s- pushing on the, on the kid to play better. And the kid, being conscious and older, is aware, saying, 'Oh, the coach wants me to work harder. The coach wants me to do better.'" I go, "That's cool, and that's what makes the player do better." But when parents act as coaches and the kid is under seven, they're not conscious. They're in record. So I say, "What does that mean?" Well, the parent says, uh, you know, uh... The, the, the child's crying at the store 'cause they want the toy, and the parent wants to get out, so the parent just says, "You don't deserve that toy," and pushes them out of the store. I said, "What did the child learn from that? Download. What was the download? 'I do not deserve.'"

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:10 Mm-hmm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:10 Uh, or, "That's not good enough. Who do you think you are?"

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:13 Exactly.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:13 "You're not lovable." And I go, "If a child is under seven, they're not consciously understanding what the parent's saying. They're recording what the parent's saying."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:23 Uh, yeah, and if you, if you feel that you're not deserving and you're not lovable, well, of course you're going to engage in self-sabotaging behaviors.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:32 100%.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:33 Right?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:33 100%.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:33 You're gonna make change for a bit in January, New Year. You're gonna get on your new plan, but you are gonna go back at some point because you haven't changed the program. And going back to what I was saying before, Bruce, once you truly get to the point of liking who you are, dare I say it, loving who you are, well, someone who loves themself treats themself well.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:57 And, and others.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:57 So it's, so your behaviors are naturally going to change because your belief system is, "I am someone who is deserving. I do like who I am. I want to nourish my body, my mind, my soul, so of course I'm gonna engage in behaviors that do that."

Dr. Bruce Lipton 2:11 Yeah.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 2:12 And, and I know it sounds so obvious when you hear it like that, but I think it really is. I think that's why so many people struggle.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 2:20 100%. That's why I said 80 to 90% of people will not test positive for, "I love myself," because they were so criticized by parents who thought they were doing a, y- like the coach. If I criticize you, you're gonna do better. Uh, but they didn't realize if the kid is under seven, they're, they're not consciously putting it all together that, oh, I'm supposed to do better. They're just recording, "I'm not good enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm not lovable. I'm not deserving." I say, "That's a program." And I go, "And then what? 95% of your life's coming from the program." If you don't love yourself, here's the problem, nobody else can love you. I go, what do you mean? Well, if somebody says, "Oh, I love you, Bruce," and my program is, "I'm not lovable," I would look at them and go, well, you know, my conscious or subconscious mind would go, "Hey, they have no quality control. They can s- they can't see I'm not lovable? I know I'm not lovable. What's wrong with them?"

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 3:14 Mm-hmm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 3:14 And then you will push them away, and then they're not there, and guess what you're gonna say? "See? I'm not lovable. Nobody's here." And I say, "Your own behavior pushed them away because you couldn't accept the love that they were trying to give you." And this is why 50% of these marriages end up in divorce, because if you don't love yourself, then somebody can't say, "I love you," and you buy it.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 3:40 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 3:40 You can't buy it.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 3:42 Okay, so belief one, which I think you've tackled really well, was this idea that my conscious mind determines what happens in my life. You've just explained why that is not the case.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 3:51 Right.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 3:51 Okay. A second cultural belief-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 3:54 Yes

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 3:55 ... that I think is really common is this. I am not in control of what happens in my life. How it plays out is down to external circumstances. What do you make of that?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 4:09 Well, this is exactly what we just talked about. If you do not see you are participating in your own failure, then w- where did the failure come from? Just, you know, logically. Oh, I wouldn't have sabotaged myself. Then who sabotaged me? Ah, now we look outside and we start to look at, oh, that person did this to me, and that person wasn't nice, and this person did that. And all of a sudden you're not, [laughs] you're not giving yourself, uh, the credit of I was creating this, because you don't want to acknowledge, I created garbage in my life. I created this? No.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 4:44 Bruce, I think some people at this point may be wanting to push back and going, "Okay, well, I, I get it, right? I get what you're saying about conscious mind versus subconscious mind. But you don't understand my life, right? You don't understand what my boss is like, what my partner is like, what the strains and struggles are in my life. I am a victim to those external circumstances. If those external circumstances changed, I would be different." What do you say to them?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 5:13 I say, no, you're just like the person who divorces one, one person and then marries a, [laughs] the joke, marry another person, the same but with different colored hair. Uh, e- essentially, you're gonna repeat the same thing over and over and over again. And, and, and the idea about it is this. You're not acknowledging your own role in the unfolding of your life if you say, "I'm not responsible. Those people did it." And I go, "No, you didn't even hear what you were saying or behaving that they were responding to. They responded to your output, and you're the one that didn't even see the output because when you were thinking, the program was playing."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 5:55 So hold on. Let's really dive in here. Clearly, in life there are some things that happen that- ... are not that great, right? Let's, for example, if we have a boss that's quite pushy and domineering, that's not a nice place to be in, right?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 6:17 Right.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 6:17 So let's say, let's, let's use that as an example. Someone's in that situation and they're hearing you say that they're not a victim to that. They don't have to be on the receiving end of that. I, I guess what I'm, what I'm trying to understand from you is this idea that there can be circumstances in life that are not ideal-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 6:40 Yes

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 6:40 ... that have an impact on us. But at the same time, you're saying that, yes, but it doesn't have to define us. How would you put that?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 6:49 Well, I, I would say the exact same thing. As I, I look at my life and I say, "Geez, I really wanted to be successful here, and look at this boss who's interfering with my life and doing all that." And I go, "How'd you end up there? How did you end up with this boss, a boss who is not supporting you, a boss who's giving you a... How did you end up there? You got the job. You applied for it. You pr- you know, you were the one that got yourself into this position." Then you're in this position, you're going, "Oh, I don't wanna be here." I go, "Yeah, but you were the one that installed yourself in that position." You didn't just get it by accident, and all of a sudden, like, a lottery. "Oh, okay, here's today's your boss." No, that didn't how it... That's not how it worked, okay? You have to own that you're a participant in everything that's unfolding. You are a creator in everything that's unfolding. And if you don't like the creation, then we blame the creation for the problem without recognizing we are the creator.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 7:43 Yeah. Th- this I've seen very often around the subject of boundaries, right? So people who don't have good boundaries, and I absolutely used to be one of these people, by not being able to put up your own boundaries, you can often find yourself being resentful at other people who you then perceive that, "They're, they're asking too much of me. Like, you know, they're asking me to do this again. They shouldn't be asking me to. They should know." But the problem isn't them. The problem is that we never were able to put up our boundary in the first place that would've then taught that person, "This is what I'm prepared to do. This is what I'm not prepared to do." So we, we blame outside. I guess, for me, the key message from this myth and, and through the lens of your teachings is that even if there are external circumstances that we don't like, that we would ideally change, we have to also acknowledge that in some form we have also played a role here.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 8:44 Please, that is the most important thing. Do not take yourself out of the program that, "I'm just a total victim and everything happened to me." I go, "No, you are a participant in what's going on. Uh, uh, and why are you working this job? You don't like it." And then because let's put it maybe in your own mind. "Well, what if I don't have this job? Then where am I? Oh my God, you know, I won't have anything. So what am I gonna do? I'm gonna put up with this." Well, that was your choice. Because of the fear of not having the job, you will take on [laughs] all the problems that you're taking on because, "What's the alternative if I'm not here? What's the alternative if I find this job sucks? I, boss, I hate that boss." I say, "What are you gonna do? You have another job? No. What are you, what are you gonna do? Go, go with no job? Walk out? No, I, I have to take care of myself. I got responsibilities. I got a family. I gotta pay for things. I, I, I stay." I say, "You stay knowing this isn't working right." I go, "Why?" Because your fear of getting out of it is greater than staying in it, okay? And this is what the problem is. And it's interesting because I faced this. I fa- I was a tenured faculty member in a, a medical school. A tenured member means a person who has a job for a lifetime. But I found there was conflict between me and my other fellow researchers because I was off on this new tangent, epigenetics. They weren't there. And at some point I realized, boy, I'm just spinning my wheels. They don't even pay attention to what I'm talking about. And, uh, one day I just said, "That's it." I wa- I went into the chairman's office, gave a letter of resi- resignation. I'm walking out. The fear hit me only about, uh, a minute after [laughs] I walked out of the office where I realized, oh my God, I just threw away my job. And, and I... You know, that moment just hit me 'cause I felt so, like, yeah, I don't want this job.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 10:42 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 10:43 The, a minute later it's like, oh my God, I don't have a job. And, and it was psychologically very depressing at that moment, but the result was what? I ultimately found what I wanted to do.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 10:56 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 10:56 I found a better way of life. I live a much better life than if I stayed on that job. And, in today's world where jobs are falling apart in a lot of places and a lot of people are losing their jobs, guess what? A lot of those people are actually finding work that they want to do versus the one they had to do, and their lives are better-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 11:17 Mm

Dr. Bruce Lipton 11:17 ... because they, they found a job that they didn't compromise themselves with.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 11:22 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 11:22 That's a true story. A lot of people are happier after they lost their job because they found something they'd rather do than put up with the situation.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 11:31 I, I've seen that with so many people as well, and they never would've had the courage to leave the job. But they can then look back and go, "That was the best thing that ever happened."

Dr. Bruce Lipton 11:40 Right.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 11:40 Because, because if I hadn't been fired, I would never have found this thing which now nourishes me. I guess another way we can look at it is this idea that things happen to us. There are things that happen to us that we may not like, that may not be ideal Yeah. You know what? That is life. That is the way things are. What we do with that is our responsibility

Dr. Bruce Lipton 12:05 Oh my God, you used the, you used the magic word, responsibility. Because people don't want to have responsibility. Why? Because responsibility says then you have to own what's going on, and most people would rather say, "No, I'm a victim of what's going on." Responsibility is a very tough word. You don't wanna use that easily because people will, will look at you like, uh, you know, "Wait, go away."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 12:28 You see, for me it's the only way to live if you want to thrive in life, if you wanna be happy, if you wanna be healthy. Because you can't actually control external circumstances. All you can actually control is your response to them. So even if you had a rough upbringing, right? Even if your parents didn't do what you would ideally have liked them to do for you, I get it, it's hard. It's difficult, right? But that happened, right? Your only option if you want a better life is to go, "Right from this moment on, I'm gonna take responsibility. I can't change the past, but I can change how I view the future and how I want my life to continue."

Dr. Bruce Lipton 13:16 100%. That's really what it's all about. I mean, this is why... Look, I, I had a job for a lifetime, and I said-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 13:22 When you were the tenured professor

Dr. Bruce Lipton 13:24 ... When I was a tenured professor. And I go, "Yeah, but I'm, my life isn't that good when I'm being a tenured professor. I have to deal with people I don't wanna deal with, and I have to put up with the so-called whatever the BS of the system might be at that moment"

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 13:38 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 13:38 And it was a choice. "Well, how much do I wanna put up with this?" And there's a point that said, "No more," and that was a commitment. That was my responsibility to say, "I do not want to, uh, give up the power over my life to be in this situation." And it's very hard because the alternative thing is, well, if you're not in a situation, then where are you? Uh, and then all of a sudden you realize, "My God, well, maybe I'll just be out in the wild, so therefore I better stay where I am and put up with this, because out in the wild's a little more scary than putting up with the aggravation that I have in this particular job." Uh, and I say, yeah, but when are you gonna make that decision? When are you gonna finally say, "I've had it. I don't want this anymore"? When... You know? Uh, that's where, where marriages finally get to the point of divorce. "I put up with this, I put up with this, I can't do it anymore," and then a divorce. Now the question is, now that you've left, [laughs] did you change who you are or you just got out of that particular relationship? If you didn't change who you are, you will find yourself back in the same relationship again.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 14:46 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 14:46 And this is what we need to do. Uh, and it's not easy for a lot of people. If you're... Like you said, you got fired. Well, then now it's like, "Okay, now I'm out here. I gotta do something." But if you have a job and you don't want it, then all of a sudden you're gonna say, "I don't want this job," and walk off the job? You're gonna have a lot of thoughts about that. It's like, "Well, what happens if I don't have a job? How am I gonna pay for this? Where it's gonna... What's this gonna happen? What..." And the unknowns of that say, "No, okay, I'll just stay here on the job. I'll put up with it." I go, "Well, that was your choice." That was a choice, because the fear can override the choice, and then you live your life in fear. And I go, "Well, that's no way to live on this planet, because you're not living who you are. You're living what I have to be according to the fear. That's not what I want to be. It's what I have to be." I go, "That's a different life." I live today what I want to be. I create what I want. And if it doesn't work, I'm not there. [laughs] I have choices, and I realize over the time I have such a good life because I don't have to put up with things I don't want. And most people put up with it because they don't see how are they gonna survive if they didn't put up with what they don't want, okay? Uh, uh, and that is the fear. The fear is, is the unknown, you know, potentially better or not? If I leave this and I'm in the unknown world, what are my chances? Is it gonna get better or is it gonna get worse? The fear it gets worse, that keeps you in the same position because you don't wanna let go of what you have-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 16:23 Mm

Dr. Bruce Lipton 16:24 ... at that point.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 16:26 Another cultural belief which I think plays into this is this idea that I think many people hold these days, they certainly behave in a way that is consistent with this, and that belief is this idea that busyness equals success.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 16:44 [laughs]

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 16:45 Right?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 16:46 No.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 16:46 I think... I mean, if you... 'Cause if you hold that belief, of course you're gonna overwork, get stressed out, neglect your health, neglect your happiness because you believe that success means that you're busy. So what do you think about that? Is it true?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 17:02 Not for me it's not true. It's, success is about am I happy? Am I enjoying my life? Do I feel healthy? Do I feel loved? Am I in a community where I live and the, and, and my community is helping and supporting me and I feel safe and secure in this world? And the answer is no. [laughs] Most people don't have that. They just say, uh, uh, "If I work harder I'll get what I need." Well, this is a, you know, a Darwinian belief that, uh, uh, if you summarize the theory of evolution which is simply this, uh, uh, uh, survival of the fittest in the struggle for life. I say, what does that mean, survival of the fittest? That means competition. Who's the fittest? How do I know if I'm the fittest? How do I know if I'm in a good place or not? And then the answer turns out, well, how successful are you? Meaning, do you have money? Do you have a bank account? Do you own things? Why? Because that's a reflection of the more I own, the more I'm successful. So I'm gonna keep working on this job. Why? Because I'm gonna get more, and as I get more, then my life is gonna get better. And that was the whole belief, that if I work harder and longer and I make more money, then my life is better. And I go, "No, it's not." [laughs] It didn't make your life better. Oh, yeah, I got great money, but I'm sick from the job. [laughs] You know, I've lost my relationship from the job. And I go, "Then what was the value of the job?" Oh, well, that's what determine if I'm fit [laughs] and s- will survive. I go, "Nah, nah." You know, it, it's interesting. I, what just came into my mind was, uh, when I was first married, I, I was way too young. It was m- I, I wasn't in the right place, okay? And I remember talking to my father, who came from Russia in 19- [laughs] '18 or '19, and I said to him, "I, I, I'm, I'm gonna get a divorce," and he looked at me like, "What?" Uh, and I go, "What do you mean?" He said, "Marriage is a business." I go, "What?" Well, he came from Russia at that time. If you were not married, you didn't have a partner. You didn't have a partner, you wouldn't survive. So a partner, a marriage wasn't based on love.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 19:07 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 19:07 It was based on survival. And so his vision of marriage was, "Yeah, I have a partner. We're working together, okay?" Was there love? Not necessarily, but that's a business. And I thought, "Oh my God, this is not my worldview," because love to me was the whole vision, whether it was self-love, which was first important, which I didn't have and had to acquire.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 19:31 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 19:31 Uh, a- and then it's the love of a partner. Why? Because there's the, the nature of community. The foundation of community is first a partner, and then you can expand your community. And evolution is based on community. Evolution is based on support in a community of people or things around you, okay? So all of a sudden I said, "Wait a minute, love becomes the most important aspect of our lives." Love is harmony. Love is, huh, the honeymoon. Love is heaven on earth, all that, when you're really expressing love. Uh, a- and this is what we seek. We seek this out because nature wants us to seek it out. Nature is saying, "Life is based on community, not competition." Uh, and then when you let go of community because I'm competing, I'm gonna do better, I'm gonna get more, I'm gonna have a lot more, I go, "That wasn't the destination. That was a misperception." That's a Darwinian belief that is false. We didn't come here to make more and more. We came here to feel love, to experience love. Love the planet, love yourself, love your community. Love is another word for harmony. Are you living in harmony? Are you not living in harmony?

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 20:47 Mm-hmm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 20:47 That's the basic understanding. If you think, "If I work harder and get more money, then harmony will show up," I go, "Nah, that's not true at all." You could waste your whole life. You can make all the money and die a sick person at the end because you n- never even enjoyed your life at that point.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 21:03 Ma- many of us think that, don't we? We, we think life is about survival and competition rather than cooperation and collective harmony. And it's, it, it's pretty profound, this, because they're almost two different energy states.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 21:20 Yes.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 21:21 Right? So for the last few years, I've been really thinking a lot about the idea that it's not our behavior that's important. It's the energy behind the behavior, right? What is the drive? What is the need that's being met by that behavior? And I think it really, it really speaks beautifully to, to what we've just been talking about, so what you've just been talking about. Like, if the energy behind all your daily actions is that it's about competition, it's about survival, it's about dog eat dog, it's, um, a zero-sum game, right?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 22:03 Yeah.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 22:03 If, if someone else is doing well, it means I'm failing. So I can't have other people doing well. I have to be doing well, right? Sure, you can do the same behaviors, but it's not a helpful energy, right? There's a negativity behind it. There's a constantly looking around your shoulder. What are other people doing? How are they behaving? Whereas once you change and you're able to think about life differently and you start to think about, well, what's good for everyone? How can we cooperate here? How can I be of service? How can I help others? How can I lift people up? You just feel great. Do you know what I mean? You feel great. You don't wanna sabotage yourself with negative behaviors. You just, you look at life differently.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 22:46 Uh, this is 100% because the idea is this. We call ourselves humans. I said, "Where does the term humans come from?" Uh, and it came from the fact that we're compassionate. Compassionate about what? Uh, not just our own survival, but helping all those around us, helping the world around us, doing something that is bigger than you to help make a bigger world and a better world. And if you're working from compassion, then you're a, a, a humanitarian. You're a real human. Uh, but if you're working from aggression and competition, that's not helping other people. That's me. I'm here for me. I'm not here for you. This i- this is a disconnect from what is called humanity. Humanity is, by its definition, i- is to, uh, nurture and help the rest of the people and the world at the same time. We are not coming from there. We're coming from, "I, uh, need to be more than you have. I need it. I want it more than you, and I, I need more, and I need more." And I go, "For what?" [laughs] Because there's some belief that having more is making your life better. When I go, [laughs] "Having more, you could compromise every aspect of humanity," [laughs] you know, "Step on the person next to you." Why? Because then I can get more. Where's humanity there? I say, "It doesn't exist anymore." And I say Mammals, by the character of the different pla- you know, we have reptiles, amphibians, and birds, and mammals. Mammals, by definition, are called nurturers. Nurturers. Are you nurturing the world? Are you nurturing your family? Are you nurturing the community that you live in? If you are, that's mammalian, and then we're doing what we're supposed to do.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 24:31 Yeah. Do you then fundamentally disagree with the idea of survival of the fittest? Do you think that's wrong?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 24:41 Yes, because survival of the fittest says, "Who's the fittest?" I go, "What's the fittest mean? Well, the one with the most toys? The one with the most money? Does that make them better?" I go, "No." [laughs] As a matter of fact, th- they're sucking the life out of everything else to enhance their particular life. We have 1% of the, of the population with all the money. What about the 99%? Well, then they're the losers because they're not the fittest. I go, "Losers?" It's completely wrong. W- we're each, w- should be winners. Do you need $100 million? Do you need a billion dollars? No, not at all, you know? And especially when I walked out of the university and I had no money, did that mean all of a sudden I was, like, in fear and scared and... Uh, uh, I said, "No." I f- I never felt freer than when I walked out the job because all of a sudden I realized now I'm creating. Now I'm doing this. I'm not conforming to what people expected me to be in that particular job. I get to be what I want to be. And then guess what? There's a community of people just like me. I'm now in this other community of what? The community of people sharing and being, you know, supportive of each other and, and loving each other. I'm, I'm finding, my God, the people I associate with today are not the people I associated with 30 or so years ago. I don't even know those people anymore.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 26:08 Mm-hmm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 26:08 I'm in a world, a different community, and the word community is the emphasis what I'm writing about. And our world has lost community because I don't care about you, I care about me. That means no community exists at that moment when people say that.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 26:23 So many people do struggle with negative thought patterns, and they then get stuck in a vicious-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 26:29 I was there

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 26:30 ... negative cycle. And you've basically explained how you were there. Again, the key thing being were there.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 26:36 Yes.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 26:37 But many people feel stuck, right? And are you able to share anything that people may find helpful? I know we're talking about reprogramming. We've mentioned two of the three methods so far.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 26:48 Yeah.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 26:48 Number one, hypnosis. Number two, repetition and changing those habits. Um, we'll get to the third one shortly, but in terms of, I don't know if this is a good point or not for you to share anything practical when someone is really, really struggling.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 27:04 Well, I, I, I, I guess it was as simple as I just said.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 27:08 Right.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 27:08 You, y- if you can get consciousness to step in for one second and say, "Do you wanna do this?" Uh, you know, that's all you need to have that question, "Do you wanna do this?" And if the answer is no, then all of a sudden, guess what? It was a moment of choice. Go do something else. Just do something else.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 27:24 So I guess the lesson is that we've always got a choice-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 27:27 Yes

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 27:28 ... over our thoughts.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 27:29 Yes.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 27:29 So what we're trying to help people do is cultivate that self-awareness, first of all. Oh, man, there's that record playing. Why don't I take that record off and put a new one on?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 27:42 Uh, that, uh, you know, it's... You say, "Well, that sounds simple." I say, "But that's what it is." Uh, you know-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 27:46 [laughs]

Dr. Bruce Lipton 27:46 ... let's don't make complexity out of this. A thought is something you can perpetuate. You can keep these thoughts going, and that's the unfortunate part because if your programming doesn't give you really positive thoughts, once these negative thoughts keep running, they just run on like that record-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 28:00 Mm

Dr. Bruce Lipton 28:00 ... just keeps playing and playing, and it'll take you downhill all the time. And as you just said, how simple is it? Stop. [laughs] I remember there was a show, uh, Bob Newhart, the comedian, uh, uh, and he was a psychologist. Uh- uh, and somebody started, you know, in his office, uh, you know, a patient. Uh, and then he, he just looked at me and said, "Stop that. [laughs] Stop that." And that, that was actually what the whole idea was.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 28:24 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 28:24 Stop it. Uh, but we have a tendency just to keep, keep the record going, keep the record going. And I say, "Is this record gonna take you up?" And I say, "Hell no, this is the downhill record." Just, uh, when's it gonna get better? It's not gonna get better. So what are you gonna do? Stop. Just stop. [laughs]

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 28:42 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 28:42 Bob Newhart, just stop. [laughs]

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 28:46 Yeah. And, and this, this idea that the first seven years of our life are crucial.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 28:53 Yes.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 28:53 Okay. But presumably, even if we've made an active decision to change and go, "Okay. All right, Bruce. All right, Rangan. I'm hearing you guys. I am being driven by my unconscious patterns. I'm gonna get with the program and start changing this." What I'm thinking about is if you're still being exposed to ideas and negative thoughts and fear-based messaging, it's gonna make it harder for you, presumably, to make those changes. And I guess where I'm coming at this from is a couple of things. One is I don't watch the news anymore. I haven't done for many years.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 29:44 Smart. Smart.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 29:45 And I know to some people that's a very controversial idea. I mean, what does it mean to be an informed citizen of the world? I kind of, you know, I welcome that discussion at some point if someone wants to have it, but I genuinely don't see how my life is enhanced in any way... Sorry to interrupt. If you're enjoying this video and you want to learn more, then do check out my free special guide, which contains the six crucial steps you need to take in your life to not only build healthy habits, but also to make them stick. If you wanna get ahold of this free guide, all you have to do is click on the link in the description box below. ... by watching the news. It doesn't make you feel good. It doesn't help you be more loving, more collaborative. It's intentionally, and I don't mean this necessarily in a manipulative way, but just by virtue of the fact that it's competing with other news channels, they've gotta make it scarier, they've gotta make it more fear-based to grab your attention.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 30:45 Yes.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 30:45 Right? So the news is, is one thing which I think many people are addicted to watching the news. They watch it and consume it regularly, don't realize what it's doing for their passing. I'd, I'd, I'd welcome your view on that. And then I guess the follow-on on that for me also is that if we're constantly consuming information from outside, news, social media, whatever it might be, it's kind of hard to know who we are. Like, what do we think? Is, is the way we think really us, or is it simply a reflection of what we've been consuming?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 31:22 Uh, well, basically, uh, let's take one step back 'cause here's the very important part. People say it, but most people don't understand it, but from a biomedical physics point of view, life is energy. Uh, energy in our body is what fuels us, keeps us moving. Uh, and I talk to people and I say, "You know, how much of your energy are you giving away every day?" And they say, "What do you mean?" I say, "You're putting out energy. Are you getting anything back from this? Are you making any changes out there with your energy?" You can go into a bar, you can have a political argument with somebody, get heated up, which is wasting energy. You get all riled up and you got this argument, and you ah, ah, and then you walk out of the bar and say, "What changed? Did you change anything here?" And I go, "Absolutely not." I say, "Did you get heated up?" "Yeah." "Did you spend all that energy?" "Yeah." "Did you get anything out of it?" "Absolutely not." I come up with the idea of, you know, uh, we have a checkbook with our account in the bank. I said that, "Money in the bank is energy. That's what it is, uh, that you can do things with." I said, "You don't just write checks for nothing. You don't give s- 'Oh, wow, what a nice smile you have. Here's $50 for you,' or 50 pounds or whatever." And I go, "You don't just pass out this money." I say, "Why not? Because you know if you write this check, you're taking it out of your resource and you're not getting anything from it." I say, "What if I gave you an energy checkbook?" They say, "What does that mean?" I say, "Well, if you're gonna use your life energy, uh, and you're gonna write a check here, are you getting anything back from that energy you just spent?" I say, "Can you change something?" "No." "Then why the hell are you putting your energy into it, you know?" I put my energy into things that enhance my life or enhance the life of my community. That's where I put my energy. And why? Because that's giving me something productive with my energy. Most people s- waste their energy with arguments and all kinds of stuff like that. You're not changing anything. You're just using your life, because energy is life. A- and so it's basically I say, "Well, if I give you that energy checkbook, I bet you'd be very much more cautious about how you're using your life energy during the day. Because if you're just wasting it, you didn't get nothing out of it. You changed nothing." That, so that's how I look at it. I say, "If I'm gonna put my time into this, uh, uh, do I get something or does my community get something? If not, I disconnect." Why? Because what, what am I gonna... That's my life. [laughs] Why do I wanna give energy to this when I have no influence over what's gonna happen? You can get in all the political arguments you want. You're not gonna change politics, you know? You can watch the news, and that's the part, uh, because then you get caught up in the story. And I say, "Yeah, you're caught up in a story. What do, what can you change here? Nothing? Why are you getting caught up in the story? Because you have no influence over the story, except it can eat your energy up, and you can't... A- and there's nothing that that energy that you just used will do to help any of that stuff you just saw-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 34:20 Yeah

Dr. Bruce Lipton 34:20 ... on that news." And, but, and people, if they actually had to write a, a check for spending their life energy, all of a sudden you're gonna see how quickly lives are gonna improve, because what they're gonna do is now keep that energy for their life instead of giving it away.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 34:36 Yeah. I wanna talk about relationships, Bruce. We've spoken a little bit about how our subconscious programming can negatively impact our health and our mood and our, I guess, our day-to-day sense of wellbeing. Our relationships with other people are a huge source of wellbeing. They're a huge source of stress, but they can also be a huge stress reliever if we have these close, nourishing relationships.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 35:10 Right.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 35:13 And where, in your view, do these unconscious patterns play out in our relationships with other people?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 35:20 Oh, well, I, I could give you best example, me. [laughs] Because I said, "Look, you get programmed in that first seven years." And I say, "How do you get programmed? You watch your parents, family, and community." So in that seven years, how do I know about relationships? Well, I watched my mother and father, because that's the example of relationships that I'm downloading. Well, they were dysfunctional. And I say, "So what was the result?" I acquired a dysfunctional understanding about relationships by observing them and downloading those kind of programs. For 40-plus years, I could never get a relationship off the ground. Why? Because if I start all of a sudden playing these programs, uh, th- then potential relationships would disappear because they, nobody wanted to do that. You know, I didn't... My parents didn't wanna do that, but they did it, but I downloaded it. Uh, uh, and that's when I started to realize, "My God, I, I have to change this whole thing about relationships." And I, I, I rewrote this, the, the, my own programming to understand, look, that, that I, what I downloaded from my family, th- this is not gonna get me what I want in this life. And, and it comes down, what do I want? [laughs] Oh, now I have an idea of what I can program A- and the joy about this is I didn't have any really good relationships. I, I, I met my, my partner now, Margaret, when I was 50 years old. And guess what? We've been on a relationship over 25 years of a honeymoon. A honeymoon. 25 years, wake up every day, go, "Oh my God, I'm still here. Here's my beautiful partner," and we share and we love and we work together and we do all these things. And it never would have happened because my programming from being in my family would never have provided a happy relationship with anybody. Uh, and it's interesting because I wrote the book called The Honeymoon Effect. I say, uh, "What's the honeymoon effect?" I say, "Well, every day your life is blah, blah, blah, blah. Then you meet someone, you fall in love, and 24 hours later it's like, 'Oh my God, life is beautiful. Everything is wonderful, the music, the food, even the job that... It's just, the crummy job, it doesn't, doesn't bother me.'" And I go, "Why? Because you're in love." And, and then I go, "Well, that's called the honeymoon." And then I say, "But then here's a problem," I say, "But the honeymoon is usually short-lived. Could be, uh, for some as short as a week or a month or a year, uh, and, and then it wears out and then you come back to regular life." And I go, "What's that all about?" And the answer is simply this. Remember we have a conscious creative mind with wishes and desires, and a subconscious mind with program. Science has recognized when people fall in love, they stop thinking. And I say, "What do you mean they stop thinking?" They, they stay what is called mindful. They stay present. I go, "Why? You've been looking for this person your whole life. If you're thinking, you're disconnecting. So when you first fall in love, you stay present. You wanna be there. You're taking in the love, the joy. Everything is great." And, and I say, "Well, what does that mean?" Well, if you stay in the conscious mind, then you're not playing the program. I go, "Oh, conscious mind's creative." I go, "What happens if two people come together and are only playing creative?" Well, then they create heaven on earth. And I said, "But then why does it disappear?" Because inevitably you start thinking [laughs] again because you have a job, responsibilities, whatever it is. And I say the moment you start thinking, then the behavior that you're playing is not you, it's the program. And your partner that you fell in love with never saw your program because during the honeymoon you never played your programs. And then all of a sudden you're thinking, your partner comes in and asks you some little simple thing, and then you go, "Blah, blah, blah," and your partner looks at you and goes, "Who are you?" And you're go- like, "What are you talking about?" And the answer is, what happened? My loving, creative mind, conscious, was not engaged with, with my partner at that moment. My subconscious, what, what did I do? I just played my father. My God, [laughs] you know, that's a g- My partner looks at me like, "Who are you? Where did that come from?" And it's like, and then you gotta remember, when you're playing your subconscious programs, you're the one that doesn't know you're playing it, so it's like, "What are you talking about?" I say to her. And she said, "Well, bl- you said this." I said, "That's not me." Uh, uh yeah, but it wasn't me, it was a program. And when more programs come back into the relationship from both sides, we didn't get together on our honeymoon because of our programs. We got together because of our conscious wishes and desires mind. But once the programs from our family history and all that start to play into this thing, it disrupts the relationship.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 39:52 I love these examples. Let me just clarify one thing. Um, so conscious mind, thinking mind. Uh, subconscious mind, these kind of preexisting patterns and behaviors.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 40:04 Yes.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 40:05 Right. Now, I get it. When you're in love in the first few weeks, months, years, whatever of a relationship, everything's great, right? You don't see, uh, negative patterns. Maybe they're not there, maybe you're just opting not to see them, right? So you're totally present. So when you're in that moment, you're in love, you're fully present, you're not being led by your subconscious patterns then, are you? Like your parents' relationship. What-- But it's, you're not thinking too much either. What, what, what's going on there?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 40:42 When you're not thinking, that means your conscious mind's not looking inside, and if your conscious mind is now looking outside, it's engaging with the world. And I say, "Yeah, but what is the conscious mind? Wishes, desires, aspirations, what you want, creative."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 40:56 Ah, so got it. So the conscious mind at that moment is engaging with the world, but when you've stopped being present and engaging with your partner and the world and you go back to the job stresses and things, your conscious mind then goes inward. Is that right?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 41:11 That right. And now, but then, well, who's controlling the behavior while you're having these thoughts? I go, that's when the subconscious kicks in-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 41:18 Got it

Dr. Bruce Lipton 41:18 ... and plays the program. But is that you? And I go, "No, the subconscious is not you, the subconscious is the programming you downloaded."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 41:27 Yeah, and with relationships, I think this is a huge problem because I think many people jump from relationship to relationship thinking the problem was the other person.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 41:39 Exactly.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 41:40 Right now, of course, sometimes a relationship is not meant to be there, and it's probably not the right thing to continue, right?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 41:46 Yeah.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 41:46 I get that.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 41:47 Yeah.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 41:48 But a lot of the time we go from relationship to relationship trying to find the right person without realizing that everywhere you go, the same problem, the same [laughs] behaviors are following you around.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 42:01 [laughs]

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 42:01 So, right, what's the pattern? And I, I, I think relationships is where this really plays out. So I think if any of us think about, um, niggles or, or disagreements we've had with our partners in the past, like most of the time it's these unconscious patterns, isn't it?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 42:18 Almo- not most of the time. Virtually-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 42:20 Yeah

Dr. Bruce Lipton 42:20 ... all of the time it's these unconscious patterns. Uh, uh, uh, and so-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 42:24 And you can see it clearly in your partner which parent they're playing out-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 42:29 Right

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 42:29 ... but you probably can't see it as well in yourself.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 42:30 That's, that, we go right back to the story. Subconscious. You didn't even see you said that.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 42:34 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 42:35 That's the story, uh, you know, like I said, Bill, you're just like your dad, and he denies that he's like his dad because when he plays those programs, he's the only one that can't see it.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 42:45 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 42:45 So when we play subconscious programs, by definition, why are we playing these programs? The answer is because your conscious mind's engaged and it's not paying attention to what you just said.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 42:56 What's this third method of reprogramming our subconscious minds?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 43:01 It's new. It's very new. Uh, and it's, there's an old saying, uh, "Necessity is the mother of invention." And I say, "Well, what's the necessity?" I say, "Human behavior, science has recognized as a fact, human behavior is precipitating what is called the sixth mass extinction of life on this planet." And the first little thing it implies, "Well, there must've been five mass extinctions [laughs] before." And I go, "Yes, there was." Life was thriving on this planet five different times, and something happened that upended the whole, the, the whole planet to some degree. Uh, uh, some, in some of the five times, 90% of life disappeared.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 43:36 Mm-hmm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 43:36 Uh, the last mass extinction was 66 million years ago. That's when there were dinosaurs here. Planet was flush. There were forests and everything. It was just thriving, and a comet, big giant comet, hit near, uh, in Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula. The comet was so big, it upended the web of life. And the web of life, as it collapsed, the dinosaurs... 75% of life disappeared, including all the dinosaurs disappeared. And then evolution st- we started all over again. And today we're at a point where we're now losing species a thousand times faster than background, and it's estimated that human behavior is gonna cause the loss of another one or two million species on this planet because we're, we're not living in harmony with nature, okay? We're upsetting a balance. We're facing this. So it's, it's human behavior [laughs] that is causing this problem. So it's interesting because we have to change our behavior faster. We can't just keep on the same behavior because that's, we're creating the problem with this behavior. So I said, "Well, what happened?" A new form of psychology has come about called energy psychology. It's not typical cognitive therapy where you talk about, "Oh, this person did that, my mom did this, my friend did that, and this is why I'm here," and you cry and you got tissues and you review your life. And I go, "Uh, it works for some, but it's not that really good because when you do cognitive therapy, you are replaying all the [laughs] problems that you had, so you're just, like, pushing the button every time, like, you know? And that's why all the tissues [laughs] are there at the... Because you, you cry all over this." I say the, the, the new version's called energy psychology. I don't have to go backwards to find out how I got a program. I have the program. I don't have to go back and say, "Who, who created that program in me? What incidents created that? Who was responsible?" That's more the cognitive end. And I go, "It's irrelevant." Why? You have the program now. They're not here anymore. "So do I have to go back?" And the answer is no, you have to deal with the program. And I said, "Well, what's the program?" Well, we talked about that. I said, "Just look at your life. Wherever you're struggling, it's, it's not because the universe wants you to struggle. You're struggling because your program." So now the thing is, "Do I have to go back?" I say, "No. What is it you want versus what you have?" And there's a process called super learning. And you go, what's super learning? Well, I can tell you some people how they, they, they go into a bookstore and they can move their finger down the page of a book. As fast as they move that finger down, just like foom, like a second or two, they read every word on, on that page. That's super learning. You could read a book in 15 minutes or something like that. If you can engage the super learning process, then you can get a reprogramming, not in days, weeks, or whatever. You can get a reprogramming of your programs in 15, 20 minutes, walk away a completely different after that. Uh, and that's because we've got to change our behaviors really quickly in order to sustain us on this planet right now. So energy psychology is a number of modalities that engage the super learning process. And in the, in that process, then you can rewrite a program and walk away 15, 20 minutes later with, with a different life experience. It's like miracle magic I've experienced. I wouldn't have been able to write my books if I didn't do a reprogram my subconscious. Uh, and, and all of a sudden I said, "Well, where are these?" Let me just help people very quickly is my website is simple, brucelipton.com, okay? On there I have a, a description of about 25 different energy psychology modalities, a little description on the website. And, and if you're interested, and then just look these up, and if you find one that appeals to you, uh, then check out their website and see what's going on. But to me, having experienced this, having understanding all of this, and then experiencing it is like, oh my God, to me, that's like a miracle in today's world because habituation, repeating things, it takes many times to repeat, repeat, repeat. Or even, uh, uh, earphones on at night, self-hypnosis, uh, because theta's only a short period. You have to repeat that over a night, overnight, or, you know, or for many times. Uh, energy psychology, you can, uh, have an experience and walk away 15, 20 minutes later.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 47:58 Well, I definitely would love to learn more about these different energy psychology modalities. W- as you were describing, um, the, the benefits and that you can potentially reprogram patterns in 15, 20 minutes, right?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 48:16 Yes.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 48:16 What, what, what I like about that, 'cause we, we haven't really mentioned specifically trauma yet by name, and there are clearly a lot of therapies where people can go back in and look at their childhood trauma, their previous experiences, and they can try and go in and change them.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 48:38 Yes.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 48:39 Now, on a personal note, the one that I found life-changing was something called IFS, internal family systems. I'm not sure if you're familiar with it or not.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 48:51 No, I don't, I'm not familiar with that one.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 48:52 Dr. Richard Schwartz, and what I love about it is that you can go back into a childhood moment in the, in this sort of process with, um, the IFS therapist And you can literally rewrite the script in that moment. You go back in, let's say as your four-year-old self, you go back to an instant that you can remember when you were seven, and you then go in and reframe the entire thing. Like, it's your four-year-old self talking to your six-year-old self, being, understanding the situation, explaining it from both sides. And they've got some really good research on this.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 49:29 Yes.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 49:29 And it's when you go to sleep, a new memory gets laid down. And I've experienced this whereby instead of keep talking about it, keep talking about it, keep talking about it, oh, that's what happened, that's what happened, actually, you can go back in, almost write a new script about what was a traumatic experience, and then you just start playing out a new pattern because you've rewritten that script. And I, I appreciate it may not be the same thing as energy psychology. I, I, I, and I don't wanna-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 50:01 I, I would list it as energy psychology.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 50:03 Would you?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 50:04 Yeah, because, uh, uh, it, it's not going through that repetition of let's go over it and over and over again and-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 50:10 'Cause you think people can get-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 50:11 ... try to talk you out of it. It's like that-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 50:12 Do you think people can get locked sometimes in a pattern of looking at their trauma and just stay looking and say... I'm not criticizing anyone for that, I'm just, I just wonder sometimes, can we stay there too long?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 50:25 Well, yeah, because, uh, when you go back and you play it over and over again, you're just repeating the same trauma over and over and over again. So you're, you're, you're making a habit to continue [laughs] the trauma by, by experiencing it again and again and again. You're, you're, you're, you're, you know, just repetition. It's, that's what we talked about, habituation. Now you're just taking an old pattern and habituating it to even make it stronger than it was before. [laughs]

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 50:51 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 50:52 So yeah, uh, there's so many different ways. So the, like y- the program you just said, these are ways that how can I shortcut the system? Uh, uh, and how can I get in touch to, with that subconscious to do this? Uh, uh, and this is really... We wanna, we wanna fix our, our, ourselves up, but we always think it will change the world. The world is causing the problem. Look, you wake up in the morning, you wake up and you say, "Today, I'm gonna get healthier. Today, I'm gonna find that relationship or a better job," and you go out all day, and you come home at night, and it didn't work. And I said, "Well, what does the average person think about in that regard?" They got up in the morning, "Today, I'm gonna be successful." They came home not being successful. I said, "What, what do they think about at that moment?" They go, "Oh, man. Well, that person interfered with me, and this thing interfered, and that thing happened," and all of a sudden, the, what are they saying? "I'm a victim of these things out there that interfere with my destination." And then I go, "Well, here's, here's the, the joke part. You didn't realize all [laughs] day long you were playing the programs that manifested those things all day long." So that disempowers us because it says, "I'm, I'm not responsible for this problem. All these other people are responsible for this problem," because you did not see your own participation-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 52:13 Yeah

Dr. Bruce Lipton 52:13 ... in this thing.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 52:16 What can we do as parents in those first seven years of life? If we've struggled, if we've overcome them, if we've tried to reprogram, maybe we've successfully reprograms. But of course, you know, all parents would try their best to, uh, ensure or increase the likelihood that their kids don't have to go through the same struggles. Have you got any advice for parents of young kids?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 52:41 Simple. They're downloading whatever you tell them. If you start telling them the story that you want them to be, "You're smart, you're intelligent, you're beautiful, you're powerful," repeating this because remember, they're downloading these behaviors, okay? And so when they, uh, uh, are operating 95% of their life, uh, and they're defaulting to these subconscious programs, what are these programs? "I'm powerful, I'm capable, I can do anything, I'm smart." Because most of us are defaulting to the criticisms, "Not good enough. Who do you think you are? You don't deserve this." I go, "Well, [laughs] both situations are right. Whatever program you put in, you're gonna manifest." So if I'm gonna be a parent, then I want my child to start off with, "You're, you know, l- we love you. You are a won-," you know, giving every positive statement to that child as an infant, even just after they're born. [laughs] And I go, people think, oh, they start talking baby talk. I say, "This kid is downloading your words [laughs] right now because the subconscious-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 53:46 Yeah

Dr. Bruce Lipton 53:46 ... is a download." And I say, "So what are you saying to this child?" Uh, uh, uh, and that becomes critical because then that, whatever you're programming at this point, will activate 95% of the life of that child later.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 53:59 And if the child's gone past seven, because of course these seven years are critical-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 54:03 Yeah

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 54:03 ... I, I don't wanna put words in your mouth, so let me just ask the question. Is it still worth, um, changing these patterns and trying to help them download the same programs, let's say they're eight, nine, 10, let's say they're teenagers.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 54:19 Yeah.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 54:20 If you've, now hearing this conversation and you thought, "You know what? When my kids were young, I had all the negative self-thought. I kept calling myself a loser. They probably picked that up from me. I don't wanna feel guilt. There's no point feeling guilt, uh, and beating yourself up about that," can they still change it even if their kids are above the age of seven?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 54:41 Remember, the, the second way of change was habituation.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 54:46 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 54:46 So if-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 54:47 Of course

Dr. Bruce Lipton 54:47 ... uh, it doesn't make any difference what age they are at that point, if you habituate a new behavior, then that will download.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 54:53 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 54:54 It takes a little longer, but, you know, than before age seven, but it's still how you put a program in. Habit re- repla- you know, repeating and repeating this, it becomes habit at that point.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 55:09 What do you do on a daily basis, Bruce? Are there any routines, any practices that you do to keep yourself in this happy, contented, creative mode?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 55:21 [laughs] I wake up in love. I just wake up in love. The rest of the day flows so beautifully. There's no practices anymore for myself. Why? I put those programs in. They run automatically. I don't have to even practice it because practicing means I don't have the program, and I wanna make the program. But if you already have the program, then you don't have to do the practice, and all of a sudden you just naturally wake up, you're in love, you naturally are helping your partner, your community, your friends. You're just, it's natural. So it's not like, "Let me work on this. Let me, let me be, you know, let me be more loving to my partner."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 56:00 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 56:00 It's like, I don't have to be more loving to my partner. We're already fully in love. I, [laughs] you know?

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 56:05 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 56:05 It, it's like, you know, uh, people say, "I love, you know, I love you more" or something. I say, "No." I always tell my wife, uh, "How much love? I, full amount." It's like the gas tank. How much love? Oh, I'm filled up with love. You can't put any more love in there. It's already filled up. It's already there. Uh, and so practice by definition means something's not working, and you wanna engage yourself to make it work, and then you do a practice. But what if you did the programming already? You know, when I got with my partner, Margaret, uh, I still had pr- programs from my parents that weren't any good, but she knew about programming. I know about programming, and this is the important part because if a couple doesn't know about programming, then when some behavior shows up unexpectedly, it's like, "Whoa, who are you? What's this all about?" Uh, but if you already know that programs exist, and a bad program comes up, it doesn't go into an argument. It can go into a discussion.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 56:59 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 56:59 "Do you want to have this program?" And then I would say, "What program?" "Oh, you didn't see what you just said or did?" And it's like, oh, and I say, "Well, let's change the program," and then we change the program. So what do you do? Over a period of time, you edit these programs, and when it gets to the point of it's editing, then do I have to practice more editing? I go, "No, I changed these programs already." If I... Here's a simple point. I said the conscious mind is wishes and desires. The subconscious mind is programmed. Yes. What if you took your wishes and desires and put them in as programs? Then the answer is what? Whether you're conscious or whether you're subconscious, you're still going to the same destination.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 57:40 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 57:40 And now that's the secret part. You, this is not a lifelong struggle. Once the programs are set, you don't have to work on it anymore. It's already done.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 57:49 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 57:49 So it's not like, "I gotta do this every day." I go, "No, once you, if it's programmed, you will automatically do it every day without even thinking you're doing it."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 57:57 So powerful. Um, I, I've really, really enjoyed this conversation. Bruce, this podcast is called Feel Better, Live More. When we feel better in ourselves, we get more out of our lives, and you've beautifully made the case that if we can change these unconscious programs intentionally, we can absolutely get more out of our lives. I wonder, right at the end of this conversation that I've thoroughly enjoyed, have you got any final words, final thoughts, final bits of advice to share with people to help, I guess, improve the way that they feel?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 58:36 Well, uh, yeah, it's, it's just basically simply this, is that we are creators. We came here to create, but if you've been programmed, then you're not creating. The program is creating. And the idea is if you can then use [laughs] your creation to put the program in that you want, then you can manifest what you want in this life. That's basically what it is. Uh, and, uh, and the idea is what is it we're really looking for? You know, as I said to a lot of people, "Give me the money. Give me the money." I go, "The money, uh, you think is gonna make you happy." And I gotta say, look, there are a lot of rich people are the unhappiest people I've ever seen in my life.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 59:12 Yeah, I'd say.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 59:13 And so it's not that, but we've been somehow programmed, the competition, get this, you'll have this, you're gonna be better, and some of the poorest people are some of the happiest people I've ever seen. Uh, uh, and then all of a sudden it starts to realize then happiness is not a physical thing. Uh, I need to get things to be happy, and I, uh, uh, and I just have to say, I, I, I know life from both sides. My, you know, my, my first formative years is I, I was programmed to be a, a scientist. I was programmed to be educated. That was my family, just like in your family.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 59:46 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 59:46 "Go ahead, get this education," and I got this education. I didn't get programmed how to be a happy person. I didn't get programmed how to be a good partner. That was not part of the program, and so I failed at that end, but now I've compensated for that.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:00:00 Sorry to interrupt. If you're enjoying this video and want to dive deeper into the topic of sleep, I have created a free special guide containing my top five science-backed tips to help you get your best night's sleep and reduce fatigue. If you wanna get hold of this free guide, all you have to do is click on the link in the description box below.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:00:21 And the absolute truth is, and I believe this with the most certainty, that people think you die, and then you can go to heaven if you did well. And I say, "Boy, you missed it," because this to me is heaven. I say, "Why is this heaven?" I say, "Because this is where you came to create." We're creating. Uh, uh, and, uh, and unfortunately, we've been programmed to create stuff that we don't even like. So then we're not creators. We're just playing the program. Uh, and if you understand it, then don't, don't waste this life-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:00:52 Yeah

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:00:52 ... because heaven on earth is a reality. This is. Uh, uh, and I didn't know it for s- 40 years, but I live this every minute now. And, uh, it was interesting. My, my mother married when she was older, uh, remarried, and, and she married this guy that, uh, I thought he was a curmudgeon, and he was just a, uh, somebody I didn't even really wanna be around, but my mother was happy. Fine. Uh, but the story about it that was so neat is that he lived to 97, and he had cancer, and my mother took care of him at home. And the last week of his life, he essentially wasn't even there. He was just in a more like a coma kind of thing.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:01:32 Oh.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:01:32 And then two days before he died, his eyes opened up and he was there. He was there. And he said to her, "I didn't have any fun." And I thought, "Oh my God, 97 years old, he's gonna die in a couple of days, and it just dawned-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:01:49 Yeah

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:01:49 ... on him he didn't have any fun." And I thought, "I'm not going out that way. I'm going out saying, 'My God, thank you for this opportunity to be here.'"

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:01:59 You shared with me this morning that you are almost 80 years old.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:02:03 Yeah.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:02:04 Okay. Most people in society, I would say, have a belief that at the age of 80, you're not going to be traveling around the world, dealing with jet lag, being cognitively sharp, giving keynotes in front of thousands of people to share your wisdom, right? Again, a societal belief.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:02:26 Yes.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:02:27 A belief that as you get older, you have to be slower, cognitively less able. You know, you have to start contracting your life. You're clearly an example of someone who is not doing that. You seem just as energetic and as sharp to me as two years ago, when I think we spoke in London.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:02:47 Yeah. Yes.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:02:47 Right? And it's interesting because anti-aging and longevity is, like, the hot topic in health these days. I'd love your perspective on this. What do you think of longevity, and what do you think about this belief that as we get older, our life has to contract?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:03:06 Well, since life is based on belief, if you start buying the belief, "I'm getting too old to do something," and I... You'll hear people say, "Oh, I'm too old to do that." I say, "When you just said that, you've committed yourself to being aged at that point."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:03:19 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:03:20 "I can't do it. I'm too old." You just admit- admitted that. I, I'm not ready to admit that. Why? That's not my belief system. My belief system is I get life from engaging. I get life from helping. That's my... I, I, I want to be that helping guy. I wanna be up there and say, "You can have a better life. Let me show you. Let me give you the science of how to do this." A- and then the, the idea is when people buy this, their energy increases. But then when their energy increases-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:03:50 Mm

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:03:50 ... then the field I'm standing in, all of a sudden the energy of the field is increased. Everybody in the room feels higher and happier, just because they were sharing all this information. Where is aging? Well, aging is a belief system. I say, "What?" Wait. When you grew up, you saw there were young people, and then you saw that people got older, and then you saw some very old people. What did you learn, program, remember programming first seven years? "Oh, people get old and then they fall apart and then they're dead." I go, "Well, that's a belief [laughs] that you bought."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:04:24 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:04:24 Does it have to be that way? And the answer is no. You know? A- a- a- and the simple reality is if I buy the belief and then I say, "Oh my God, I'm 80. I'm one of those guys. I should be falling apart right now. I shouldn't even be here. I should be sitting in a chair in my backyard, you know, uh, staring at the landscape," and it's like, no.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:04:44 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:04:44 Life, life is energy. I'm not giving up the energy. I love the energy, because I get the, the energy back. And the energy I get back is not conflict, it's love energy. "Hey, Bruce, thanks for giving me the power that I didn't know I had."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:05:01 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:05:01 And all of a sudden it's like, oh, wow, uh, I get gifted with their energy. And the idea is, I am not of the mindset of, oh, I've reached a certain age and now I'm falling apart. No way.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:05:14 [laughs]

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:05:14 There, there's, there's a profound understanding of biology. It's called use it or lose it.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:05:21 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:05:22 I go, what's the point? And the point is every part of your biology is based on use or lose it. We always think, oh, the muscles. I work real hard, I build up these muscles, and then all of a sudden I'm not using them, then the muscles disappear. I go, no, use it or lose it is every part of your entire body.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:05:37 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:05:37 Your brain is based on use it or lose it.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:05:40 Retirement and then things stop for so many people.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:05:42 Oh, well, that... What's the, what's the meaning of retirement? I'm finished. I go-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:05:45 [laughs]

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:05:46 ... retirement? I'm not finished. I'm not gonna retire. Why?

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:05:49 You look as though you're getting started to me.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:05:51 [laughs] I, I'm just a happy guy. And-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:05:54 You are. I, I, I will... Honestly, before you arrived this morning, I said to my wife, I said, "You g- you gotta meet Bruce when he, when he rocks up. He's just full of a warmth and a happy energy." It appears to me that you're very intentionally living this life of joy and gratitude, and you're deciding to live that way. You're not being a victim to the way you might wake up one day. It's like, no, no, this is how I'm living. I'm choosing to live this way. Is that, is that an accurate reflection?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:06:22 A- actual- I, I don't see old. I, I'm looking out these eyes. There's no age vision looking out through the eyes. If I look in the mirror, I go, "Oh, yeah, you're looking older than I used to look."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:06:33 [laughs]

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:06:34 But I, I don't need to look in the mirror. I'm looking out my eyes. My eyes have no age on them.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:06:40 Yeah. That, and that really s- that really brings up the question, what would happen if we didn't look in the mirror, right? But what would genuinely happen to our belief system about us if we never looked in the mirror?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:06:51 You wouldn't see age. The age is-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:06:53 Exactly

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:06:53 ... uh, uh, you wouldn't see it

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:06:55 ... you wouldn't see it.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:06:55 No. And then therefore, if you didn't see it, it wouldn't be part of your life.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:06:59 You know, in some indigenous tribes, there is a belief that the elders are better runners than the young guys. Now, what's really interesting, if you look at, um, you know, scientific studies, they will show that things like VO2 max will go down as we age. Your muscular strength will go down. I'm not saying these things are not true, but belief is powerful. And- I believe from what I can gather in those tribes, there is just a belief that the elders have been running for longer. They've got the wisdom. They've got the experience on these long runs. They know how to get it done. And so they also don't have the belief that as I get older, I'm gonna get slower and my kids are gonna be better runners than me. They have a belief that, no, as I get older, I'm gonna get better.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:07:51 [laughs]

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:07:52 So if you have that belief system, of course it's gonna have an influence on how you see the world and your behaviors.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:07:59 Yeah. I mean, look, if you get older, you got more wisdom because you have more life experiences, and you have a greater opportunity to take in all your awareness and use it. Yeah, my thinking's working just as good as I could ever remember it working. But am I... Do I have to say my age? No.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:08:15 But also, you can be struggling with your brain at 40-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:08:19 [laughs]

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:08:20 ... and thriving with it at 80.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:08:22 Absolutely.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:08:22 Right? So the number in many ways is neutral to, to a degree, right? This is a cliche, but it is just a number because it's, it is how you feel. It's your perception of it. It's what are you doing? What is your lifestyle like? What has your lifestyle been like? What were you able to do to nourish that brain so that it can be thriving like you, you know, at, at sort of the eighth decade time? Um, yeah, it's, it is, it is fascinating to me. Um, you know, last time you came on, Bruce, you spoke about the evening because I think we spoke about these two ways or two of the ways that we can change these programs. One was with self-hypnosis.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:09:05 Yes.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:09:06 And one was, as we've already mentioned today, with repeating these behaviors consistently until they become habits.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:09:13 Yes.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:09:13 Right? And you spoke about you can run these programs with earphones as you fall into sleep and, and actually get that program into your mind.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:09:23 Yeah.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:09:23 Which is really, really interesting, and I encourage people to go back and listen to that if they wanna hear more about that. What about the morning time? You know, when you wake up first thing in the morning, is there an opportunity there with the state of our brain to start downloading new programs and living a different kind of life?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:09:45 Well, I, I think the, the, the opportunity to wake up in the morning is very important because, uh, uh, uh, pr- people who don't really like their job, I say when they wake up in the morning, what are they thinking? "Oh, my God, I gotta go back to... I hate this job. I gotta go do this job." Why can't you wake up with, "Today's gonna be the best day ever. Today, I'm looking forward. It's gonna be exciting." I have no idea what's gonna unfold. I truly don't. But I don't look at what negative things. I don't have, I... There are no negative perceptions that I'm broadcasting to myself at all. Why? Because [laughs] what you put out is what's gonna come back. It's called resonant. If I put out a negative belief, I'm gonna respond with a negative experience. If I put out a positive belief, I'm gonna respond with a positive experience. And I say, what's the average person's, uh, you know, what do they wake up? Most of it is, "Oh, God, I gotta go to the job. Oh, God, today's not gonna be great. Oh, God, there's a problem here. There's a problem there." I say, if that's your first thought in the morning, the rest of the day is, uh, uh, is not gonna get better for you. So what if you wake up with, "Hey, I'm here another day. That's what I wake. I'm still alive. Okay, what's gonna happen? I don't know, but I'm going out, and I'm gonna find out, and I'm gonna look for the wonderful things," and then they show up. I have to admit, [laughs] first 40-plus years, that was not my life at all. You know? Uh, uh, and now since that, that 40, this 40 is completely different. This 40, I wake up with the joy of being here on this planet and then find during the day how many people encourage and support my belief for the rest of that day.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:11:22 What, what happens when you have a bad night's sleep? If you have a bad night's sleep, out there, and you wake up feeling tired and groggy, do you have to intentionally implement that belief? I, I, I guess what I'm trying to get to, some people say is, is that a form of toxic positivity where you're not being realistic about the world, you're just imagining everything's great, which is, which is something that people will often say these days.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:11:47 Yeah.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:11:47 So how, how do you see that?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:11:50 Uh, I, I just basically... Look, if you understand the nature of the biology that I'm involved with and the nature of how consciousness is manifesting our experience and, uh, uh, uh... Oh, that sounds so new age-y, and I go, "Well, first of all, let's understand this. The first principle of quantum physics is consciousness is creating our life experience, okay?" I go, "Yeah, that's a true story." So I say, "Well, then, how are your life experience?" I say, "It's based on my consciousness." I say, "Then do I wake up, even if I'm tired, do I wake up and say, 'Oh, God, the rest of the day is... Oh, I'm so tired. Am I gonna have problem?' Why? Because then my consciousness would manifest that experience." Consciousness controls your life, not your genes. Consciousness. And the issue is we live in a world that's so threatening for so many people that when they wake up, it's not because, "Oh, I'm so joyous to be here."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:12:42 Mm-hmm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:12:42 It's like, "What's my next thing? What do I gotta do? Where, you know, where is this responsibility? Oh, my God, I gotta do all this stuff." I go, how can the rest of your day get better if the first thing you're talking about is you didn't even wanna be there [laughs] on first time when you woke up? It doesn't get better. You then live that, uh, "Yeah, I knew it. When I got up this morning, it wasn't gonna be good, and guess what? It's not good." And I go, that's not chance. That's, that's physics. [laughs] You, you started with a negative. You manifest negative. That is physics. And the biology that I was involved with is the mechanism by which that brain thought translates into biology and genetics. So the, the interesting part is I understood the physics, and when I understood the nature of the cells and how it worked, I said, "Oh, my God, uh, the, the physics idea is manifest through how consciousness is controlling our genetics." And that's our behavior. And all of a sudden, that's what they said. Consciousness is creating this life experience. And all of a sudden it says, "Well, then what the hell is your consciousness? What do you think about your life in this world at this moment?" Do you look at it as like, "Hey, it's... Hey, it's wonderful. I love to be here on this planet." Or do you go, "Oh, God. Today is another struggle. Today I gotta do this and I gotta accomplish that"? And all of a sudden it's like, where's the motivation? Where's the desire when you start off with, "Oh, oh, it's not so good"? I go, you lost it.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:14:13 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:14:13 A- a- and if you wake up with that, that is programming the rest of that day.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:14:19 Yeah. It- it's- it's- it's- it's such a powerful idea that it's not toxic positivity at all. It's basically being intentional about how you want your life to be, right? So it really speaks to the idea of an intentional morning routine, of a practice of gratitude first thing in the morning.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:14:36 Yes.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:14:36 If you look for things to be grateful for first thing in the morning, you've primed your brain to look for that for the rest of the day.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:14:46 And I'm broadcasting a vibrational frequency. People... You see, there's one other mistake that people have, and they say, "Oh, my thoughts are in my head." And I go, "Well, that's a misunderstanding, because I can read your brain activity with a probe outside of your head." Uh, a- as- electroencephalograph is where you put wires on a person's head and you can read their brain function. Magnetoencephalograph, a newer version, the probe that reads your brain activity doesn't even touch your head. It's away from your head.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:15:16 That, for- for people, is gonna be, I think, brand-new information. So they're used to an EEG if... going to a hospital, getting wired up with that.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:15:24 Yeah.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:15:25 You know, but the wires are on your head. They're on your scalp.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:15:27 Yeah. So you think that w- it's reading what's inside.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:15:30 But you're saying something can read it from the outside.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:15:32 The newer device is not EEG. It's called MEG.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:15:36 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:15:36 Magneto instead of electroencephalograph. And the probe that reads your brain, it reads it just like electroencephalograph, but the magnetoencephalograph probe doesn't even touch you. It's outside.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:15:48 Is this why, Bruce, that if you go into a room and two people have been arguing but the argument has finished-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:15:55 Yeah

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:15:56 ... right, so there's no words being spoken anymore, you can pick up on the energy, right? You- you know that. You know when you've walked into a room when something's just gone down-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:16:06 Yeah

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:16:06 ... even if it's not going down anymore, right? So what is that? Like, how do you explain that energy that we can pick up on?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:16:15 Because the first thing is this. The biology is based... The first thing of... The first communication of biology with the most primitive organism on this planet is to read energy. In other words, since energy is life, since energy is life-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:16:30 Yeah

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:16:30 ... okay, uh, then reading energy becomes very important, because if you're reading that energy as being sucked away from you, then you don't wanna be there, because that means you're losing your life. And so primitive organisms always read the field. Are they in the right place, okay? Uh, energy determines our field. 'Cause like feng shui. In quantum physics, every object is actually energy. Well, if you surround yourself like a crystal with different objects with energy that supports you, then you enhance your- your energy field, okay? Uh, so everything around you is giving off energy, and then you find yourself reading the energy of wherever you go. But this is vital for survival for all organisms except for us. Because all organisms, they don't use language. How do they know if they're in the right place or the wrong place? They only read the energy. A- a- a- a- and we do that, but we were programmed generally as kids, "Oh, don't go by your feelings," which is an expression of energy. "Don't go by your feelings. Listen to what somebody has to say" and say, "Oh my God, you lost your power." Why? I can say any damn thing I want. [laughs] But energy is energy.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:17:40 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:17:41 A- a- a- and if you walked into that room where the energy was now just broadcast through that room, you walk in, you're a receiver of that broadcast. Energy is what you read. That's natural.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:17:52 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:17:52 And- and- and the idea is if you were actually reading the energy of everything, you would never find yourself in the wrong place, because you would realize, oh, bad vibes. Bad... Don't go there. Bad vibes means loss of energy. Good vibes, oh, enhancing energy. This is how organisms that are not human determine where they're going.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:18:12 Trusting their gut, trusting their intuition.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:18:14 That's all they know, is-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:18:16 Yeah

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:18:16 ... a- is the energy. Is it good or bad?

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:18:18 Whereas we let our heads get in the way. Often it- it can help us, but it can also get in the way depending on what we're thinking.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:18:25 Absolutely. You've lost the, you've lost the information in the field by not paying attention to the energy because then, you know, uh, programming-wise, we've been programmed to not feel that energy, not to go by a feeling.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:18:38 You mentioned feng shui.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:18:39 Yeah.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:18:41 And I've always wanted to, you know, how can I put it, get an expert in feng shui round to see how things are orientated in my house-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:18:52 Yeah

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:18:52 ... right? I've never done it, but I guess for anyone who's skeptical, I think we all know, like, if you in our, in your bedroom move the bed to have a different orientation, it might just feel off. Now, that could... You, you know, you could argue that's because you're used to it a certain way, but I- I don't think it's that. I think, you know, you like your sofa a certain way in your living room, and if you move it around after a while, eh, it just doesn't feel right there. It needs to be there.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:19:21 Right.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:19:22 So I g- I guess we, we kind of intuitively know that, but the Western rational scientific mind ... is more likely to go, "That's a load of rubbish," right?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:19:35 Yeah. Well, uh, uh, just-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:19:35 "A sofa is a sofa. A bed is a bed"

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:19:36 ... put whatever, and I go, "No, but that's not true." You decorate your house. As you just said, you put pictures on the wall that are in harmony with you. You put the furniture in that's in harmony with you. You set it up all around.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:19:49 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:19:49 Uh, I always give in my lecture, I talk about, you know, m- most people have a, what? A, a living room set, which is a, a, a sofa and two matching chairs. A- and I go, uh, "If you have that in your living room," which most people do, I say, "I bet you there's one of those chairs you will sit in, and you won't sit in the other chair, even though the chairs are exactly identical to each other."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:20:09 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:20:09 I go, "Why would you sit in this chair and not in this one?" The answer is because that chair happens to be the focus of the energy that you put around the room, the pictures, the whatever, the color of the walls. Whatever you're doing, you set up an energy field. That's your field, and that's why it's comfortable to you, 'cause you set it up. You go to your neighbor's house, they got a completely different energy. You walk in, you can feel like it doesn't feel good in here. Why? Because whatever their objects of energy [laughs] are in the room are not in harmony with you. So when you decorate your room, you put everything in a place where all of a sudden it says, "Oh, that feels good." That's what it is. It feels good to have the couch this way, not that way, okay? Now, here's an interesting thing. When people change their lives, radical change, guess what? They change their, their room. They change their, their hair. They change their clothes. They change because all of a sudden the old energy that put them into that original place no longer is the same energy of where they wanna be. [laughs] They either move the stuff, buy new stuff, change the stuff, or get even, move out of the place they're in-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:21:19 Mm

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:21:19 ... into another place. Why? They're looking for that balance for the new energy. So it's interesting. We could have one energy, but if you change your life, the energy that you have created around you, which is an energy field that supports you, that's why you put everything in the right place. You don't put the picture on this wall. You put it on this wall. Why? It feels better.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:21:43 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:21:43 Oh, feels better? Feeling is energy, an interpretation of energy. That's what feelings are.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:21:50 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:21:50 And all of a sudden you start to realize, well then you know when you're in a field where the energy is right for you, and you know when [laughs] you're in a field where the energy's not right. You don't feel as comfortable in an energy that's not supporting you. You walk into a room, and the energy in that room, uh, uh, has just been messed up by all the people. You walk in, you feel it right away. Why? The most primitive organism on the planet determines its life behavior by reading the energy.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:22:18 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:22:19 A bacterium doesn't just go anywhere. It follows where the best energy is because more energy, more life. And then I say, "Well, then you make a crystal of energy in your place where the energy feeds you." And as you mentioned, does the couch face this way or that way? Huh. That changes the energy field, and then you find just where the crystal structure is, and that's how you designed it right there. It was not an accident why you put things here and put things there or you got this piece of furniture or you put that plant or whatever it is. Everything is energy. That's quantum physics.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:22:59 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:22:59 Now, the question is, is the energy in harmony with you or is the energy in disharmony with you? And your purpose in supporting your energy is to create an environment where the energy around you supports your energy. So when you go home in your house and you pick that one chair that you like to sit in, then you can relax.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:23:20 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:23:20 You sit in the other chair, all of a sudden it's not relaxing. I, I like that chair.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:23:24 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:23:24 I said, "But the two chairs are identical."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:23:26 It's, it's funny. Like, we, we all have this. There's a spot in my living room where I sit and meditate every morning, and occasionally I, I might try somewhere else, and it, it, it just feels wrong. I don't feel quite as grounded and as present there, so I go back to the one which I like.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:23:43 Yeah.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:23:44 And it's, again, it's just-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:23:44 Well, and why you like it, the question is, I like it. And I say, "So what is it? Was it the color, uh, of the wall, or was it the, uh, fabric on the furniture?" I go, "No, it's everything."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:23:56 That's right.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:23:56 Because in quantum physics, everything is energy.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:23:59 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:24:00 Uh, uh, uh, and therefore we seek an environment where the energy supports who and what we are. And that determines a lot of your behavior, where you're gonna go, and what you're gonna do is, uh, am I going to a place that enhances my energy or take it away?

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:24:15 A- a- and going back to morning routines then or what we might do first thing in the morning, this idea of starting the day with gratitude-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:24:24 Yes

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:24:24 ... starting the day with, let's say, that question that I ask myself, what quality do I want to showcase to the world today? It is speaking to that energy. It's programming yourself to look for those things, to behave in a certain way that day. And let's be honest, what- what's, what's your other option? What's the option that so many people take? Roll out of bed straight into Instagram, straight into the news, straight into emails. Listen, I've done that before.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:24:53 Yeah.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:24:53 I get that you can do that, but just know that there is a consequence to that.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:24:58 Yeah.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:24:58 You're unlikely to have your best meaning-filled day when you start it off that way. It's not impossible. It's just unlikely. You're, you're definitely increasing your chances of success by starting your day in a more intentional way, aren't you?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:25:13 Absolutely. Uh, and I love it because at my age I always joke. I say, "Hey, I'm still here when I wake up. I'm still here."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:25:20 [laughs]

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:25:20 "I'm alive." You know? It's like, okay, that's a good start for today. I'm alive, and then go from that right there. I wake up in joy because I'm still here. I love this place.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:25:31 Oh.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:25:31 I love this planet. Uh, uh, uh, and, uh, and that love is what gives me energy.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:25:38 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:25:38 And energy gives me my life. So, uh, what do I do? Well, as I said, I don't look at the news. I don't c- want- uh, does anybody ask my opinion? The, the, the, uh, did anybody say, "What did Bruce think about this?" You know? Like, that I would make a difference in the world? No. Then why should I put my energy into something-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:25:59 Uh-huh

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:25:59 ... I have no control over? But I can control my life.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:26:02 Well, and on that, you are making a huge difference in the world because by putting the energy into what really matters for you, you go around the world, you speak on podcasts, you give live lectures, you empower people with this information and knowledge. So you are making a huge difference to people's lives, but you're doing it your way, in the way that aligns with you, which I think is a very, very powerful message. Bruce, I always love chatting to you. You, you do have a lovely, warm energy-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:26:36 [laughs]

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:26:36 ... which is a pleasure to be around. To finish off this conversation-

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:26:42 Yes

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:26:42 ... you've been speaking about these themes for decades now, okay? All over the world. For someone who is struggling in their life and doesn't know how to change things, what are some of your top key messages that you've learnt over the past few decades that you wanna impart to them?

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:27:11 Well, I think the first thing is stop accepting life the way it is, as, "That's the way it is, and I'm just part of whatever it is, and I'm a victim, and I have no control, and, uh, I just have to live the best I can under the circumstance." I say, no, that's not the way to live. [laughs] The way to live is, what do you want? Well, that's where also I said becomes a problem for a lot of people because they can't even tell you what they want, but they know it's not what they have. And I go, "Well, th- this is a problem." If you don't even know what you want, if you cannot write down right now on a piece of paper, "This is what I want," if you can't list them, "This is what I want," then you can't have it because your mind will get for you what you want, but you have to feed it a, a vision of what you're looking for. Uh, it's always interesting because the function of the mind is to make coherence between your belief and your reality. If, if I believe it's not gonna work, then the function of the mind will manifest in a s- a situation where it doesn't work. If I totally believe this is how it's gonna work, then my mind will sit, uh, set me up in a situation where it works that way. And all of a sudden, that's when you start to realize, "Wait a minute, it's not chance anymore. This isn't chance. This is creativity, and we are creators." And, a- a- a- and people have just accepted when it doesn't work, that's just the way it is. And I go, "I don't accept that. I will, I will do something different. I will get out." A- a- and again, "Well, but if I get out, then I've lost my security." And I go, "You may have lost your security, but you may gain happiness." [laughs] You may gain the joy of being alive. The idea is, my God, this is the... You know, if you look at the world in which we live, it's so beautiful. How many people, how many people out here right now watch the sunset? Again, most of you are probably in the car driving home from your job. You don't even see the sunset. When I used to live in the Caribbean, that was the major part of the day. Everybody at sunset would come out and sit on the beach-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:29:21 Mm

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:29:21 ... and watch the sun go down. It, it was like, you know, an experience of the planet and closure and all that. Today, you're running from here, you're running to there. You're not paying attention to where you are, why you are. You're, you're just following some un- unknown plan that is a plan. It's not an accident why you are here or why you are there. You set yourself up to be here or there. And then you say, "Yeah, but I don't wanna be here." And I go, "Well, that's your conscious mind, the one that has the wishes and desires-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:29:51 Mm-hmm

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:29:51 ... will look and say, 'No, this is not my desire.'" I go, "Then why are you there?" The answer is, because you're not living from that one. You're living from the program that says, "Oh yeah, you must do this. This is the way we always do things." And then you find yourself doing it-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:30:05 Mm

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:30:05 ... and going, "Why am I here?" A- and you don't realize it 'cause the conscious mind is the one with the wishes and desires. Then how come we don't manifest the wishes and desires? And the answer is, that's not the mind we're operating from. You're operating from the program. And I say, "Where'd you get the program?" Not from you. You downloaded it from other people. You downloaded it from school, teachers. You downloaded it from clergy. You downloaded it from the doctor. The doctor, um... I'll give you an example, and this is very critical and it's very important. When we're in that developmental period, the first seven years, the average family, I say, "If somebody's sick in your family, what do we do?" And we say, "Oh, we go to the doctor," average family. I say, "And you're a kid in the family," I say, "What did you learn?" He says, " [gasps] When it comes to health, I'm not the one that does that. My doctor does it." I say, "So then what did you do with that belief system?" You say, "Since I have no knowledge of my health and the doctor has the knowledge, then the doctor is the one that provides me with truth."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:31:11 Mm-hmm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:31:12 So then all of a sudden, then you give up your power of true and take the words of the doctor. I say, "What does that mean?" Well, what if the doctor says you have three months left to live, and you buy that? Because why? The doctor knows. I don't know. I'm just a patient. What the heck do I know?

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:31:28 Mm-hmm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:31:28 Oh, I got three months left to live. What do you think your brain does? That is a truth. What's the function of the brain? Take your truth and manifest it as reality. If I believe I'm gonna die in three months because I was told by my truth provider- Then I will die in approximately three months. Placebo is you have an illness, doctor says, "I got the greatest new medicine," you believe it. Why? The doctor's the truth provider. You take this medicine with the ideas, "Oh my God, this is the new medicine. This is what's gonna heal me," and you get better. And then you find out the pill was a sugar pill, a placebo. The point I ask is, then what healed you? The sugar pill? No, your belief in the pill healed you, not the pill. And everybody goes, "Oh, yeah, placebo effect." That's positive thinking manifesting itself.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:32:23 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:32:23 I go, "That's great." Now, here comes the part that's left out. What about negative thinking? Nobody talks about negative thinking. We only talk about positive thinking. Guess what? Negative thinking is equally powerful in controlling your life as is positive thinking, but in the opposite direction. And we never talk about negative thinking, although the majority of our thoughts are negative.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:32:47 Yeah.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:32:47 And I say, "Well, if you have negative thinking and you create a negative reality, then you're living in it." A- and the idea was what was it based on? My thoughts. Did I wake up with positive thinking? Today is another beautiful day. I have no idea what's gonna happen, but it's gonna be great. Or did you wake up with, "Oh, God, here I go. I gotta go do this. This is my ch- oh, I gotta do these things. I'm not real happy about it." I go, "That's two different days" [laughs]

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:33:12 Mm.

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:33:12 "... right away." A- and the idea was we discount negative thinking because nobody mentions that it is as powerful as positive thinking. Genes are responsible for less than 1%

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:33:25 Mm

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:33:25 ... of all illness, and yet everybody thinks, "Oh, my illness is due to these genes and these genes, and I'm a victim of my genes." I go, "No, you're not. [laughs] You're the creator-

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:33:34 Yeah

Dr. Bruce Lipton 1:33:34 ... of your genetic activity."

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 1:33:36 Yeah. If you enjoyed that conversation, then I think you are really going to enjoy this one that I've picked out especially. I think there's two times the door to the subconscious mind opens up: when we wake up in the morning and we go to bed at night. And it's simple brain chemistry and simple physiology