Joy Spotlights: Rewire Your Brain's Focus

We explore how to retrain your brain's spotlight to naturally find moments of joy instead of stress. By understanding your reticular activating system (RAS), you can break anxiety loops and build joy loops that fuel your healthiest habits.

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Episode Transcript

Emily Feist (00:00):
If your brain was holding a flashlight, where
would you shine it?
On the mess in the corner?
Or in the cozy chair in the sun?
Today, we're talking about howto retrain your brain's
spotlight so it naturally findslittle moments of joy, and why
those moments are the secretfuel to your healthiest habits.
Welcome back to "Starts Startsat Vegas, the podcast where we
stop chasing calm and startcreating it, one small shift at

(00:23):
a time.
I'm your host, emily, and I'myour guide to rewiring stress,
restoring peace and giving yournervous system the attention it
deserves.
Today, we're talking aboutsomething deceptively small but
deeply powerful how to trainyour brain to notice the little
sparks of joy and satisfactionin your day, and how those
sparks can quietly fuel yourhealthiest habits.

(00:46):
By the end, you'll have simple,practical ways to shift from
scanning for stress to scanningfor what supports you.
This isn't about fakingpositivity or ignoring what's
hard.
It's about giving your brain afair chance to see the good too.
Let's start with a tough truth.
Your brain is not wired forhappiness by default.
It's wired for survival, andthat means your mental grocery

(01:08):
store, your cart, aka your dailyexperience, ends up filled with
the same tension over and over.

(01:30):
Now let's introduce a networkof nerves that are not as
popular as the vagus nerve, andthat is your reticular
activating system.
Your reticular activatingsystem is a network of nerves
located in the brainstem thathas many functions, but for now
let's look at how this helps thebrain confirm safety and quiet

(01:50):
the body's stress response whenthere's no real threat.
The reticular activating systemreceives input from all of your
senses except for smell, andthat information is relayed to
other areas of our brain.
The reticular activating systemreceives input from all of our
senses except for the sense ofsmell, and it relays that

(02:11):
information to other areas ofour brain.
It's a vital neural structurethat acts as a gatekeeper for
our consciousness, influencinghow we see the world.
Your reticular activating systemis your mind's bouncer.
It decides what's worthnoticing based on what you've
been paying attention to.
The more you focus on anxiouscues, the more your RAS lets

(02:33):
them in and the more thoseneural pathways get reinforced.
So if you've been focused onstress or anxiety, the reticular
activating system thinks aha,this is important, let's find
more, because your brain acts asif you're telling it the truth
and it will find information tosupport your thoughts even when
they're not true.
So if you focus on an anxiousthought, your brain will do its

(02:57):
best to support it.
That's one reason why positiveaffirmations help, because when
you say them, your brain willwant to support those words, to
make it true to yourself.
Here's how this creates a loopAttention fuels behavior and
behavior reinforces attention.
You notice a small stressor,then you focus on it.

(03:19):
Your body reacts, so your heartrate spikes or you get a bad
feeling in your stomach.
You interrupt that as proofthat something's wrong and then
your brain files that experienceaway as important.
Notice this again next time.
It's like accidentally traininga puppy to bark every time the

(03:39):
mail comes.
You didn't mean to, but therepetition makes it automatic.
Here's where it gets interesting.
Your reticular activating systemand the vagus nerve actually
live in the same neighborhood inthe brainstem.
They don't directly plug intoeach other, but they talk
through the body's stressnetwork.
When the RAS is on high alert,scanning for danger, your body

(04:02):
shifts toward a stress state andyour rest and digest functions
of the vagus nerve go quiet.
And when your vagus nerve isactive, through the deep
breathing, safe connection ormovement, it tells your brain
we're safe and that message goesto the RAS, which can relax its
tight focus on threats andstarts noticing neutral or even

(04:25):
positive things again.
Think of your reticularactivating system as your
security cameras, and the vagusnerve as your thermostat.
If the cameras keep spottingthreats, the thermostat cranks
up the heat, aka your stress.
But if the thermostat keepsthings cool and steady, the
cameras stop zooming in so tighton danger and can widen their

(04:48):
lens.
And the good news is this loopworks both ways.
If we can unintentionallystrengthen anxiety loops, we can
then intentionally strengthenjoy loops.
Think of it like plantingwildflowers in your mental
garden you can't stop every weedfrom growing, but you can make
sure that there's so much colorin life that the weeds don't

(05:09):
dominate.
Let's make this practical withfour strategies that you can
start today.
First, daily micro scan Everymorning and evening.
Ask yourself what was one thingthat felt good today, what's
one small thing I did for myhealth.
Write them down, especially ifyou feel like they're tiny.
So over time your brain learnsoh, we notice these things now

(05:32):
and it's good to support thosepositive neural pathways.
Second, start doing sensoryanchoring.
Pick one daily activityshowering, making tea, walking
the dog and challenge yourselfto find one pleasant sensation
in it the warmth of water, thesmell of soap, the sound of your
dog's paws on the sidewalk.

(05:52):
It's a great time to pause andenjoy life.
Number three habit pairing.
Attach a cue to a healthy habit.
When you fill your water bottle, think of one thing that you're
grateful for.
When you soak up the morningsun, notice the fact that you're
taking care of yourself.
Connect the two habits together.
Number four socialreinforcement.

(06:12):
You need to share your smallwins.
Share it with a friend, a grouptext or in a journal that you
reread.
Let yourself be seen in thosemoments, because acknowledgement
strengthens the behavior.
Practicing these micro habitsshifts your brain's patterns.
You're teaching your mentalspotlight to swing towards the
good, which, over time, changesthe baseline of your internal

(06:35):
dialogue.
You're reinforcing and noticinghealthy actions, making them
more likely to repeat.
And because you're pairing themwith feel-good moments, you're
layering reinforcement on top ofreinforcements.
Think of it like stocking yourkitchen you can't make a
nourishing meal if the pantry isempty.
So each time you notice amoment of joy or a small healthy

(06:57):
choice, you're stocking yourmental pantry with ingredients
of a calmer, more resilient life.
So today we covered how yourbrain's spotlight and reticular
activating system naturallyfilter for what you've been
focusing on how anxiety loopsget stronger with attention, but
joy loops can be built in thesame way.

(07:19):
And four simple tools the dailymicro scan, sensory anchoring,
habit pairing and socialreinforcements.
You don't have to overhaul yourlife to feel better.
You just have to change whatyour brain catches and over time
, those little shifts add up tobig changes in how you feel and
how you care for yourself.
All right, friends, thanks forhanging out with me today.

(07:40):
Remember to soothe your nervoussystem and reclaim who you are.
If this episode helped youtoday, share it with a friend or
leave a quick review.
I'll be back next Tuesday foranother episode of it Starts at
Vagus.
Until next time, remember,wellness starts at Vagus.