Episode 1: Welcome to The Potent Mind

An Invitation to Awareness and Change

What if your brain could change — not just react — to your life?
In this opening episode, Dr. Jerry Gelbart introduces The Potent Mind approach: a blend of neuroscience, psychotherapy, and mindfulness that helps you consciously rewire your habits, emotions, and beliefs.
You’ll explore the foundations of attention training, how mental habits are formed, and why you don’t need to fix yourself — just focus yourself.

Hashtags: #ThePotentMind #MindfulnessPodcast

How to train your brain.

[e-mail]

✨ Thanks for listening to The Potent Mind.


🎧 Subscribe for weekly insights on mindfulness, neuroplasticity, and conscious living.


🌐 Learn more and access free resources at www.thepotentmind.com


🧠 Created by Dr. Jerry Gelbart | © 2025 All rights reserved

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Do you understand your emotions?

(00:29):
Do you judge them?
Do you ever wonder if you'regoing crazy or what your mental
disorder might be?
Would you like to understandyourself and your emotions
better?
If you did, you would probablylearn that you're more normal
than you think.
Do you ever ask yourself, why doI feel the way I do?
Is what I feel important?

(00:51):
In what ways?
When can I trust what I feel andwhen should I not?
How can I feel better?
How can I make other people feelbetter?
Have you ever had difficultyletting go of resentments
towards others about things thathappened?
Do you ever blame yourself,perhaps beating yourself up or
kicking yourself emotionally,repeatedly, even when you can

(01:14):
see there's no benefit to it?
Do you find yourself obsessingaround and around about the past
or perhaps about what's going tohappen in the future?
Do you ever feel insecure aboutwhether you're good enough or
adequate?
or whether or not other peoplewill judge you as such.
Are you afraid to say no?
Are you afraid of people whomight emotionally persecute you?

(01:37):
Do you ever feel like you'remarked with a V for victim?
Do you tend to jump in andrescue people?
Do you ever lose control of youranger and say or do things that
you later regret?
In addition to the emotionalsuffering this causes, it wastes
much of our precious mindresources with preoccupations
and unnecessary concerns.

(01:58):
that removes so much of ourconsciousness from out of the
present where it's really neededI'll teach you specific
techniques and skills which caneliminate those obstacles in
this course I'll teach you howto let go of hostility
resentment and guilt worry andobsess less reduce stress even

(02:19):
better do more and have lessstress find tranquility in this
chaotic world be more presentenjoy life more and have more
clarity in decision making,accept yourself and also strive
to become better, and have morelove and compassion in your
life.
What do we mean by a potentmind?

(02:40):
We would want clarity ofthinking, being able to focus on
what we want to focus on when weneed to, thinking objectively
even in the midst of distractinginformation and emotions.
We would want to be able torelate to, but act independent
of what's going on around us.
We would want to have a sense ofcalmness, peacefulness in our

(03:01):
mind, to be relatively free ofnegative emotions such as guilt,
resentments, hurts, or fears.
We might also want a sense ofcomfort with ourself and
adaptability to varyingsituations.
You can have all this.
We can be most effective andhealthy mentally when our mind
is clear, our emotions calm, ourattention is in the present, and

(03:24):
we're aware of our goals andpriorities.
It is said that we only utilize10% of our brain.
If we could learn to utilizeanother 5%, that would be a huge
increase.
You can learn to utilize partsof your brain that have been
mostly dormant or used onlyspontaneously or accidentally.
new technology such asfunctional MRI can show us live

(03:47):
in real time what areas of ourbrain become active or quiet
when we relax and when we feelcertain emotions such as anger
fear or compassion we can nowconnect findings of these scans
with what we know about sicknessand wellness and understand what
we need to do in order for ourmind to be healthier and more
effective by strengthening ourmind we will also be

(04:09):
strengthening our body ourrelationships and our potential
to contribute to society, theplanet and the universe.
Evidence is increasing thatstress and anxiety are costly in
terms of physical damage to ourbody via cortisol, the
cardiovascular and immunesystems and direct damage to our

(04:30):
brain cells.
Most people would agree thatholding in anger, resentment, or
other emotions creates manyproblems in terms of tension and
frustration, hostility, andsometimes depression.
This can also becomedistracting, reducing our
effectiveness and interfere withour relationships and goals.
Most would also agree that lowself-esteem, lack of confidence,

(04:53):
excessive self-doubt arehandicaps.
Anxiety, stress, maintenance ofdysfunctional and sometimes
self-destructive patterns,pride, resentment, as well as
other emotions and impulsesfrequently get in the way of
reaching our full potential.
A recent article in aneuropsychiatric journal
described functional MRI studiesinvolving resentment and

(05:13):
forgiveness.
A study using cognitive therapyfor post-traumatic stress
disorder showed improvement insymptoms related to learning how
to be more forgiving, that is,letting go of resentments.
These exciting scientificstudies are starting to bridge
huge gaps between Buddhist andreligious themes of forgiveness,
compassion and mindfulness, onthe one hand, and Western

(05:35):
psychological models of emotionsand psychodynamics on the other.
Studies with similar types ofscatterns have shown that a
specific part of the brainlights up when we focus on
ourself as different and uniquefrom others, versus another part
of the brain which is utilizedwhen we lose track of ourselves
and focus more on the universe,our interconnectedness and more

(05:55):
cosmic and spiritual types ofthings.
Each has its advantages anddisadvantages, and there are
times when one focus is morebeneficial than the other.
We can learn to utilize the partof our brain that will be most
important to us in the moment.
I hear some people say, ineffect, I don't do feelings.
We may often wish that we didn'tfeel or that we could only feel

(06:17):
positive and not negativeemotions.
Emotions have evolutionaryvalue.
Doing feelings wisely can reducethe suffering from negative
emotions and give you a sense ofpeace and fulfillment.
Doing feelings wisely can helpyou not only survive but to
thrive.
There are many skills that youcan learn and practice wherever

(06:37):
you are in the spectrum ofpsychological wellness to
psychological illness.
The model that I present and theskills I introduce can be put to
use by most anyone.
If you're serious about this,apply what you're hearing, seek
additional guidance throughbooks and CDs, workshops and
groups when you can find them.
If you run into trouble, atherapist might be helpful.

(06:58):
The rewards for your work tostrengthen your mind will be
multiplied as you see theeffects on your body and
physical health, on yourrelationships and your career,
and having a better sense of aplace in the universe and
overall quality of life.
In a practical, nuts and boltsfashion, this audio will outline
how to get from here to there.