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August 31, 2025 17 mins

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Are you ready to expand your container for joy, love, health, and abundance? 

 Ever noticed how you sabotage yourself or get nervous just when everything's going perfectly? 

Your nervous system maintains a happiness and success "thermostat."  

The revolutionary understanding of neuroplasticity gives us hope: we can permanently raise our happiness set point. "

Remember—expansion is your natural state. You don't have to earn it, force it, or fear it. You just need to hold space for it by releasing limits that were never yours to begin with.

Thank you for joining me!

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Just Count Me In a podcast about coming
home to yourself and findingyour expression, figuring out
who exactly you came here to be,also known as living your best
life.
I'm Sari Stone and I'll be yourhost.
Hey, thank you so much forjoining me today.
I really appreciate that youtuned in.
This is an episode that I thinkwe could all benefit from.

(00:24):
That you tuned in.
This is an episode that I thinkwe could all benefit from.
So have you ever noticed thatjust when this life starts to
feel amazing, like when yourlove life is flowing or your
business is thriving, your jobis doing well, the opportunities
are all lining up for you yousuddenly feel nervous and there

(00:45):
might be a whisper of this can'tlast.
Or maybe you just pull back,almost like you don't want to
jinx what's going on, like I'mgoing to jinx it if I tell
somebody or things can't.
You know good, things don'tlast, or everything comes to an
end or you're actually notbroken.
The good news is you're justhuman, and today we're going to

(01:07):
talk a little bit about why wetrip ourselves up when things
get good and how to expand yourinner container so you can
actually hold the love, hold thejoy hold, the abundance that's
your absolute birthright.
I mean it is why you're here.
Honestly, there is psychologybehind this and we all have a

(01:31):
set point.
Kate Northrup, the author ofMoney A Love Story, explains in
that book that just like there'sa thermostat in your house,
you've got like a wealth andhappiness set point.
It's the level of love andmoney and ease that your nervous
system believes is safe for you.
It's what you were used to whenyou were growing up.

(01:52):
You've probably stuck with itas you're grown and you might
not have ever questioned itbecause you didn't know, as I
didn't know, that it evenexisted.
When life gets too good, toomuch love, too much success, too
much ease, your nervous systemactually freaks out Because you

(02:13):
remember your brain's job is tokeep you safe, and safety means
familiar.
Even if familiar isn'tgreatable is safe, and that
always trumps the unknown inyour brain.
So there is definitely a reasonwhy we do it.
In her book Happy for no Reasonanother book I read years ago

(02:37):
because I'm one of those peoplethat is happy for no reason, I
know I'm fortunate Marcy Shimoffexplains that we also have a
happiness set point whichthey're finding now can be
raised.
They used to think that therewas just an emotional baseline
where you tend to hover, nomatter what's happening, like,
for example, people that win thelottery.

(02:57):
Within six months are back attheir same baseline of happiness
.
Or people that are in a seriousautomobile accident within six
months are back to their levelof happiness that they were
before they've returned.
If life goes way above thatbaseline, your subconscious
works to bring you back down tonormal, to keep you feel safe,

(03:21):
and that's why those people thatwin the lottery end up broke or
go on a great vacation, thenfeel a weird slump, almost like
a letdown.
Afterward.
Your brain runs on efficiencyand when things feel too good,
the amygdala in your fear centerand I've got too good in quotes

(03:41):
here kicks in and says danger,uncertainty.
Sari's never been this happy,things have never gone this well
for this long.
Good things trigger dopamine.
We know that Big reward right.
But if your brain senses anyunfamiliar territory, cortisol,
the eternal enemy, gets released, and that's the stress hormone.

(04:05):
We know what happens whencortisol gets released and
that's why we start contracting.
So it can come in such a sneakyway.
But you might notice thispattern.
You could sabotage the deal.
You could end up picking afight with your partner.
You could get the opportunityof a lifetime that you prayed

(04:27):
for, but procrastinate so muchthat you blow it.
Mel Robbins calls this theupper limit problem.
It's like an invisible ceilingwhere, when life starts to feel
better that's what's familiaryour nervous system actually
hits the brakes and she talksabout let them and then let me

(04:49):
Let them have their thoughts,because very often it's the
people around us.
I can remember looking at houseswith my husband and I just had
this house in mind and I couldfeel it and the realtor would
say you need to reel her in.
Well, we didn't need to reel mein.
I found that house and betterwithout him, I might add, even
though he was great at helpingus close and we didn't need to

(05:11):
reel me in.
We just needed me to align withthe house and get that
negativity out of my space.
When my husband's business wasgoing really well, he had a
business partner and literally Iwould walk downstairs and think
that something terrible hadhappened by the look on his
partner's face and they hadlanded the hugest account that
they'd ever gotten and he was ina total state of anxiety over

(05:35):
it Not my husband, but hispartner and he was like this is
too good to be true.
This just can't last.
We better not get used to this,just like horrible words to say
when things are going well.
When Stan and I first gottogether, we didn't understand.
We didn't know about this.
We'd been together a long timeand back then we didn't really

(05:56):
understand what was going on,but we used to only make it a
certain amount of time withouthaving a fight, almost like it
was automated or something itwas almost like in our calendar.
We were just programmed that wecan't make it that long, and
definitely when we came upagainst things like our six
month anniversary or yearanniversary or 10 year

(06:19):
anniversary, it was stillcropping up.
But the spaces were gettingbigger between those type of
arguments that were just pickedalmost to ruin a good thing,
almost as if we did not believeit was contradicting a belief
that we held that it can only bethis good or it can only be
this good for that long, orsomething's got to give.

(06:41):
It's too good to be true.
You name it.
There was a lot of conditioningon both sides that we had to
overcome, and we did, and wecall each other out when we
notice it now in our own lives,where we get a little bit
nervous when things are goingbetter than they've ever gone,
which is pretty much acontinuous situation for us, and

(07:02):
sometimes I'll be like, oh, Ijust caught myself constricting
about that.
Esther Hicks reminded us thatexpansion is the nature of life.
Your inner being is alwaysexpanding.
That's what we're here for.
When you desire something, youcreate an expanded version of
you in vibrational reality, likeyour energy gets that big, and

(07:26):
the only reason you feeluncomfortable is because your
soul is already living at thatbigger level and your human self
is just playing catch up.
When we were moving to SouthCarolina, I could feel this
house, I could feel this landbefore it was ever here, and it
just felt weird because I wasn'there yet.

(07:47):
But I could feel it and it wasdefinitely an uncomfortable
feeling.
You can think of it like tryingto run something on your
computer on old software.
It doesn't work.
Your computer needs an upgrade.
So if you want to hold morelove, more wealth, more vitality
, more joy, you need what I calla service upgrade New beliefs,

(08:10):
a nervous system that cantolerate more goodness and a
willingness to feel a littleuncomfortable during the stretch
.
So if you've been wondering whycan't I just enjoy this without
waiting for the other shoe todrop all the time, it's because
you're literally expanding intoa bigger container and it takes

(08:31):
practice.
How do you know it when you'reshrinking?
Here's some symptoms.
Some of my clients downplaytheir wins.
Let's say, you delay sending aninvoice for service, you
sabotage your health habits likeyou're on a new health regime
and you've made thosetransformations in your life and

(08:51):
you're doing really well andfor some reason that you're not
even aware of, you blow it, oryou blow it in the name of
celebrating that you've donewell.
It's a complicated and notlogical process.
It's almost like a responsethat happens from our
subconscious without us eventhinking about it.
That happens from oursubconscious without us even

(09:14):
thinking about it.
I have had people who hadaddictions, who made their
greatest progress and were soberfor their longest times, and
they have a huge success or geta new job that they've been
waiting for or start a newrelationship and bam, they have
a relapse Now.
These things are discouraging,but they can definitely be

(09:35):
undone.
We can definitely rewire thebrain.
You can also notice that you'reshrinking if you feel guilty for
being happy when your friendsare struggling or your family
members are struggling, soshrinking shrinking so that
other people will feel better,shrinking and not sharing your

(09:56):
successes or not walking aroundfeeling as great as you actually
feel because you feel bad thatthey feel so bad, or they're
going to put something on itLike, well, who are you to?
You fill in the blank.
And if you've got anybody inyour life saying, who are you to
want that bigger house?
Who are you to think you'regoing to have that relationship?

(10:18):
Who are you to think you can beso joyful?
I'd say watch your company,because we do know that we
become the average of the people, that we, the five people that
we spend most of our time around, and if they are reminding you
to shrink instead of at thatlevel where they're reminding

(10:39):
you that you're expanding, youmaybe need to rethink some
relationships.
Sometimes you can just feelrestless when things are good
and that's what I call static inthe receiver, like your soul.
If it was broadcastingsomething, it's broadcasting
abundance, but your fear filteris jamming the signal.
We said that you needed anupgrade and here are some

(11:04):
suggestions on how to expandyour capacity.
These are science based,because you know me, me, I'm
about the science and spiritual.
They're spiritually backedtools to help you stretch.
Number one, and there's seven ofthese start an awareness
practice.
Make it a point to notice whenthings are good and you tense up

(11:27):
, instead of sabotage.
Pause and breathe.
Just name the feeling thatstarts rewiring your brain.
That's one of the tools thatMel Robbins taught me and she
says just count it down.
Five, four, three, two, one andlean in, which leads me to step

(11:51):
two, the five-second rule.
When you want to pull back froman opportunity, lean into it.
Interrupt the pattern beforefear wins, even if it just means
I can't address that right nowor I need more time to think
about it.
Stall before you contract.
I need more time to think aboutit.
Stall before you contract.

(12:14):
Number three somatic grounding.
We know that the body remembersand stores, and breathwork is a
wonderful way to work some ofthis out.
Yoga is a good way.
When joy feels overwhelming toyou for any reason, put a hand
on your heart, breathe deeplyand say I am safe to hold more,

(12:39):
it is safe for me to be,whatever the word is, and this
calms down the amygdala andsignal safety.
I tell people in yoga breatheas though everything is going to
be all right and it immediatelycalms your body down.
Number four is what we call joytolerance training, and I got

(13:03):
that from Kate Northrup.
She takes small doses ofgoodness and actually stays with
them.
We did an episode on this.
After that, I heard her bookand I thought man, this is
exactly what we were talkingabout.
Just savor, savor your coffeefor 60 seconds.
Eat that ice cream cone slowerthan you want to, even though it

(13:24):
might be melting a little bit.
Sit with a compliment insteadof deflecting it.
That's a little bit.
Sit with a compliment insteadof deflecting it.
That's a big one.
Sit with a compliment insteadof deflecting it.
That could be a whole episodeletting praise in.
I'll have to remind myselfabout that, but that's a great
habit.
Upgrade your beliefs is numberfive, and that shift from this

(13:47):
is too good to be true it's toogood to last to it's totally
safe for life to keep gettingbetter and better.
What's next for me is more joy.
What's next for me is evenbetter than what's now for me.
Number six Abraham Hicksreminds us to milk it.
She says so when somethingfeels good, stay with it longer.

(14:12):
It's like stretching youremotional container.
When I'm teaching yoga, I havepeople pull up a time when they
felt completely loved and caredfor, and if they can't think of
a time that happened in theiractual lives, I have them think
of a time and just imagine thatas best they can, where all

(14:32):
their needs were met, wheretheir body was comfortable and
where they were just totallyloved, and I have them stay in
it for a while and this is awonderful practice, just to make
more of those neuralconnections and make that more
familiar.
Number seven is raise yourhappiness set point and you can
move that set point up If youaren't a naturally happy person

(14:56):
or you were raised in a housewith a lot of big trauma and
your set point's a little bitlower if you just.
I think this is the best news,ever the more we've learned
about neuroplasticity.
I'm just so grateful to be alivenow that we know it's possible,
instead of 20 years ago when wedidn't realize it were.

(15:17):
Even 30 years ago we did notthink it was possible.
We thought what was was withour brains and those were dark
times.
Now we know that you can builddaily habits like gratitude,
because gratitude vibrates atvery close to love.
Love is the highest vibration,gratitude is there, kindness and

(15:38):
self-love and surroundingyourself with positive people as
much as possible.
These micro habits literallyreset your emotional thermostat
and you know what.
It might not be that you get topick and choose every single
person you're around, but I'mgoing to tell you from
experience.
When I walk into the food storeand I'm in a really good mood,

(16:01):
I'm like tapped and turned on,just happy.
I feel like I get the best ofthe people that are in there.
Somebody will give me a smile,somebody will just turn and
start talking to me.
People just feel better.
So remember you create the flow.
Here are some journaling promptsthat can help you open up a

(16:22):
little more about this and justinvestigate.
It's kind of like science whenwe learn this.
Where do I notice myselfpulling back when life feels
good?
What story do I tell myselfabout why I can't have more?
That one might take some time.
If I trusted myself, wherecould I hold more joy, wealth or

(16:44):
love?
Today and I've got someaffirmations for you that I
enjoy it's safe for me toreceive more than ever before.
My power and my presence iswelcome here.
I am infinite.
I am expanding with ease, graceand joy.

(17:06):
The better it gets, the betterit gets.
Expansion is your natural state.
You don't have to earn it,force it or fear it.
You just have to hold space forit, and sometimes that means
letting go of limits that werenever even yours to begin with.

(17:28):
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
If you liked this episode,please let me know.
Stop by at social media, onInstagram or my Facebook page,
just count me in and pleaseleave a comment.
If there's anybody that youthink could benefit from this
episode, please forward it tothem, and I look forward to

(17:48):
seeing you next time.
We're all in this together.
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