September 26, 2025 • 22 mins
Last week, I hit pause. A middle-of-the-night migraine, a body that said “nope,” and—after three straight years of weekly episodes—I let myself skip a week. Not because I didn’t care, but because I chose health over hustle for this week. That tiny, honest shift is exactly what today’s episode is about: thought bridges—the believable steps that carry us from an old, harmful loop to a new, supportive one.
If you haven’t listened to Episode 144: Regenerative Thought Cycles, start there. Awareness comes first: noticing the thoughts running under the surface, the feelings they create, and the way our actions keep “proving” those thoughts true, through the evidence our brain is collecting on repeat. Once you can see the loop, you can change it—without gaslighting yourself, and without pasting sparkly positivity over real experience.
In this episode, Marie walks you through how to build a bridge from that awareness to a new way of thinking; one that your body actually believes.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
- A quick, honest story about choosing rest over perfection—and why that counts as a win.
- Why it doesn’t work to just stop thinking a negative thought
- How introducing a new thought can backfire
- How to tell when a new thought is congruent vs incongruent
- How to build a thought bridge that will replace a degenerative loop with a believable, regenerative path.
- How to strengthen that new neural pathway until it becomes your default way of thinking
Try this now (2 minutes)
- Download your degenerative thoughts into the left-hand column of a three column sheet.
- Write: Degenerative thoughts (left column), Ideal thoughts (right column).
- For each pair, create a thought bridge in the middle.
- Say each bridge thought out loud. Circle the one that your body believes.
- Practice those new thoughts until they become your default
If this episode helped, share it with a friend who’s hard on themselves, or leave a quick review so more humans can find this work. And if you’re building bridges this week, tag @BloomYourMind so we can cheer you on. 🌱
How to connect with Marie:
- On the Web | The Local Bloom
- Instagram: @the.bloom.coach
- All Things Marie on LinkTree
JOIN THE BLOOM ROOM!
We'll take all these ideas and apply them to our lives. Follow me on Instagram at @the.bloom.coach to learn more and snag a spot in my group coaching program!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to the Bloom your Mind podcast, where we take
all of your ideas for what youwant and we turn them into real
things.
I'm your host, certified CoachMarie McDonald.
Let's get into it.
Well, hello everybody, andwelcome to episode number 145 of
(00:33):
the Bloom your Mind podcast.
Today we're going to build onmy last episode, the one called
Regenerative Thinking, and inthat episode I talk through a
cognitive process our brains arejamming on all day, every day
your brain is doing it, my brainis doing it when our automatic
(00:53):
thoughts are creating a loop ofbehavior and evidence collection
that keeps our old ways ofthinking stuck.
I'm reminding you about thatepisode now because it's super
important that before we try tochange our thoughts which is
what we're focused on today wefirst take time to notice them.
(01:14):
Awareness is the very mostimportant step when we want to
change Awareness of our thoughts, our feelings, our behaviors.
And that awareness has to comewith compassion and non-judgment
for ourselves.
We have to be cool withourselves, we have to be gentle
(01:35):
with ourselves if we expect ourbrains to really show us what's
going on.
Otherwise, we're going to hidefrom ourselves.
So if you're skipping right tothis episode and you're all
about changing your thoughts.
But you haven't listened to thelast one.
Just pause, go back to thatlast episode and listen to
(01:55):
number 144 first.
It's called regenerativethinking.
That's all about where we'llpractice awareness and being
present with what is before wetry to change it, and from there
change becomes totally possible.
So today I'm going to teach youhow to change your thoughts in a
way that's grounded, realisticand that doesn't override your
(02:18):
nervous system.
When your body says, no, Iain't buying it, I'm not going
to some super positive way ofthinking.
That happens when we try toyank out old, harmful thought
patterns and paste in someidealistic, sometimes toxically
positive thought patternsinstead.
So when we realize that we havereally negative self-talk, for
(02:42):
example, and we become aware ofit and we try to replace it with
really positive self-talkgenerally, that's not going to
work.
We have to bridge the old wayof thinking and the new way of
thinking in our brains and inour bodies.
So today that's what I'm goingto teach you.
I'm going to teach you how tobuild those bridges between your
(03:04):
old neural pathways, the oldways of thinking that are
keeping you stuck and stoppingyou from making your ideas real.
We're going to teach you how tobuild a bridge to the new ways
of thinking, to build new neuralpathways that will take you to
where you want to go right now,where you can make your ideas
(03:26):
real.
So this process is calledbridge thinking and you're going
to love it.
It is the most magical toolthat I know to create change in
yourself.
But first let me tell you abouta big fail I want to celebrate.
So last week I sat down tocreate content for you, as I do.
I had the outline and the ideasfor my podcast episode, had the
time set aside in my calendarand then, for the first time
(03:50):
ever, I had a legit migraineshow up.
I've thought before that I'vehad migraines and now I know
that I had not.
I woke up in the middle of thenight and I, straight up, could
not move.
It was like this giant gong wasgoing off in my head over and
over again Wong, wong, just thislike throbbing pain vibrating
(04:14):
in my head, the kind that makesit impossible to think I just
had to lie, really still.
So I did the thing last weekthat used to feel really
impossible for me I just stopped.
I set everything down.
I rescheduled eight clientsthat day.
I let myself not power through.
(04:36):
Even though I had alreadyburned through my backup
episodes because I've beentraveling a lot, I had no more
backup episodes pre-recorded inthe vault.
So for the first time in threeyears, I did not record and
release a new podcast episodelast week because the following
day my head still hurt so muchand I was foggy, and so I let
(05:00):
myself off the hook.
So today I am both celebratingthe fail of missing my very
first week of making a newepisode for you, and also I am
celebrating that I loved myreasons for doing it.
I rested, I rested and I restedand I rested.
Instead, Eventually, I readsome books and then I rested
(05:21):
some more.
My body got what it needed, andthat's where today's episode
begins, because what was reallygoing on in my head was like a
negative thought pattern.
Ideally, I would have thoughtsomething really different, but
the decision ultimately wasbased on me creating a thought
(05:44):
bridge.
I went from I have to make myepisode this week to I can make
the decision that's best for myhealth.
So let's talk about that thoughtbridge.
What are thought bridges andhow do you use them?
Starting with why we just can'tstop negative thoughts in their
tracks, why we just can't stopnegative thoughts in their
(06:10):
tracks.
So last episode I talked allabout regenerative thought
cycles, which are my way of kindof.
This is my concept that I teachabout how our thoughts cycle
through us and through our lives.
We learned about how our brainscycle automatic thoughts that
are running on that subconsciouslevel, many of which are very
negative, because our brain hasa negativity bias and because
(06:32):
we're all pretty good atreliving our pasts over and over
again under the surface,especially the stuff that didn't
go well.
You can think about maybenegative thoughts that you have
that you see over and overshowing up in your life.
We all have them right.
So we talked last week about howthose thoughts that are
repeating under the surfacecreate a feeling in our body
(06:54):
that leads to our behavior andthe result of our behavior,
which proves the originalthought that we were thinking in
an endless, sometimes hellishcycle.
It's just a big self-fulfillingprophecy circle.
Our brain looks at the resultof that loop and start that,
that loop that started with ourthought and our brain's like I
(07:16):
told you so and collectsevidence that the thought was
true.
So, to be clear, that evidenceis resulting from the behavior
that originated from the verythought.
It's a closed loop system thatonly listens to itself.
It's like the recycling symbolwith the arrows pointing between
(07:39):
thought behavior results,thought behavior results, over
and over and over again.
It's a closed loop systemthat's very self-referential and
very, very biased, because ourbrains love to be right, so they
lead all of our behavior tokeep proving our old ways of
(08:00):
thinking true, in thatloop-de-loop-de-loop, until we
catch them in the act, which iswhat we talked about last time
With total compassion.
We can lovingly start to becomeaware of those negative thought
cycles.
When we do it, we make theinvisible visible, we pause our
(08:24):
unconscious thinking and make itconscious by noticing it
without judgment.
And once we do that, once wefind the thought that's creating
a degenerative cycle ofbehavior and results that are
leading us away from what wewant, that's when it's time to
change the thought, to do someneural reprogramming.
(08:45):
So neural reprogramming is thework of actually changing our
brains and this work will changeyour life and it will help you
make any idea that you have intoa real thing.
And it is totally doable by you.
You're in the right place andyou can totally do this.
I've worked with hundreds ofclients on this and it is
possible for all of them and itis possible for you.
(09:08):
It is proven by science.
So when we're doing this workof neural reprogramming, the
first step I'm saying it forlike the third time is to notice
the thought, practice,awareness, be present with the
feeling in our body.
That's the good news.
We're catching the degenerativecycle and stopping it in its
(09:29):
tracks and just being presentwith it for a minute.
So when you notice adegenerative thought, something
like I'm falling behind or I'llnever figure this out, your
first instinct, most of ourfirst instinct, is just to stop
thinking.
It Be like no, that is not whatI want.
When we see how much control wehave over the results in our
(09:50):
life, we're like let me stopthis immediately.
I want to shut it down, I wantto delete this thought.
That's what today is all about.
Our brains don't work like that.
Neural pathways are like roadsin your brain and every time you
think a thought, it's likerunning a car over that road and
making that road of thatthought, that way of thinking,
(10:14):
stronger and stronger andstronger.
So the longer you've beenthinking something, the stronger
that neural pathway is in yourbrain.
Over time it's like that roadbecomes a highway because you've
thought the thought so manytimes.
If it's a painful thought, someof those turn into what
neuroscience teacher JohnOverdurf calls the bully on the
(10:34):
block.
They're really old, they'rereally strong, they're loud,
they're bossy, they're alwayscutting in line, they're easily
triggered.
You go to those thoughts reallyeasily and even though that's
true, your brain is neuroplastic.
You can build new roads toreplace those old, well-worn
(10:57):
roads, but you can't just tellyourself don't go down that road
.
You have to give your brain anew road to drive on instead.
So you can't just stop thinkinga thought.
You have to give your brainsomething else to think instead.
All right, so let's talk abouthow to do that.
(11:17):
I am going to give you aprocess to use that I teach in
the Bloom Room and the MoxieMastermind to engage in neural
reprogramming to reprogram yourbrain and it will change your
life.
Neural reprogramming toreprogram your brain and it will
change your life.
Remember, first step isbecoming aware of the thought
(11:38):
and being present with thefeeling in your body.
So here are the steps of how tocreate thought bridges to
reprogram your brain.
Step number one catch thedegenerative thought.
We learned how to do that inour last episode.
Write it down.
And what I'd like you to do forthis practice of creating
(11:59):
bridge thoughts is take a pieceof paper and create three
columns.
On the left-hand side it's yourold thought, on the right-hand
side it's the new thought and inthe middle it's your bridge
thought.
So you catch the, the newthought, and in the middle it's
your bridge thought.
So you catch the degenerativethought.
You realize what you'rethinking, with compassion and
love and non-judgment, and youwrite it down on the left hand
(12:20):
side.
Maybe that's?
I'll never learn this.
Okay, that's going to go on theleft hand side Now.
Next, you're going to come upwith your ideal thought that you
wish you could believe.
This is the intentional thoughtthat you're going to come up
with, your ideal thought thatyou wish you could believe.
This is the intentional thoughtthat you're reaching toward.
In an ideal world.
This is how you would bethinking about the situation.
Maybe that's?
This is going to be a piece ofcake.
(12:42):
I can learn this.
Of course I can learn this.
You're going to write that inthe far right-hand column,
leaving the middle column blankfor now.
Step number three you're goingto check.
Check how your body feels whenyou write that new, intentional
thought.
A lot of times it will feel wayout of reach.
(13:03):
You're not going to feel anybetter than you did when you
were thinking the originalthought, your old thought.
You're going to feel uneasy oranxious or even hopeless,
sometimes Like, ah, I don't buyit.
When we try to override thosefeelings of, nah, no, I don't
(13:24):
actually buy this new thought,when we do that we create what's
called cognitive dissonance,when we try to force ourselves
to think a positive thought thatwe don't actually believe.
Cognitive dissonance is thepsychological discomfort that
people feel when we're holdingtwo or more conflicting beliefs
or values or attitudes orthoughts, or when our behavior
(13:50):
contradicts our beliefs.
So, said in another way, ifyour body isn't buying what your
brain is telling it, it's notgoing to fly.
That thought is not congruent,and if it isn't congruent it
will not stick, it will not help.
So instead it probably feelskind of like toxic positivity.
It can feel like you'regaslighting yourself a little
(14:11):
bit, like you're trying to justbrush it over and say it's fine,
it's fine, just believe this.
Instead, when your body's likeno, that is not true, it's too
far from what you actuallybelieve.
So instead, we're going to finda bridge thought, the bridge
between what we believe now theold belief, the unconscious,
degenerative thought and what wewant to believe, that new,
(14:35):
shiny thought that we're workingtowards.
We're going to find somethingin the middle that creates
congruence in our body, thatfeels like, yeah, I'm chill, I'm
safe, I believe this, I am notgaslighting myself.
When we create that bridgethought, it's a bridge that we
can walk across in a way thatactually changes our brain and
(14:58):
our neural pathways.
It actually starts buildingthat road.
So here's step number four,after we've checked in with our
body, because if our body feelsfine with that new ideal thought
, great, we can go with it.
That happens sometimes when ourbody doesn't feel fine.
That's when we build the bridge.
(15:20):
So in the middle column betweenyour old thought and your new
thought, write a thought thatfeels one step closer to neutral
, something that brings even alittle bit of relief or creates
a feeling that's more neutralthan the thought on the left.
Oftentimes, instead of feelinghopeful or joyous or badass,
which is maybe our ideal state,the bridge thought, the one in
the middle, that we're going tostart practicing, will make us
(15:42):
feel like focused, kind ofneutral, kind of focused,
committed, maybe disciplined.
So, for example, maybe our oldthought is I will never figure
this out.
Our ideal thought that we'reworking towards is I can do
anything I set my mind to, it'sgoing to be a piece of cake,
something an example of a bridgemight be.
(16:04):
I'm willing to take this stepby step.
And when we practice thatbridge thought every single day,
I am willing to take this stepby step.
That becomes a new regenerativecycle.
The more we practice it, thenwe feel and behave in line with
(16:24):
it, and it creates a result ofus taking it step by step, which
is way more helpful to us thanthat degenerative cycle of never
figuring things out and stayingstuck.
So once we find the bridgethought in this case, our
example is I'm willing to takethis step by step.
(16:46):
Then test it in your body.
Say the bridge thought out loud.
How does it feel when you saythat thought?
Your body's the gauge for whatyour brain is ready for.
When you try the new thought,notice what happens.
Do your shoulders soften, doesyour chest open up?
Does your stomach kind of relax, even just a little bit?
(17:07):
You can feel that congruence inyour body.
Or, if it's not congruent, yourbody might tighten.
Your body kind of rolls itseyes at you.
It's like uh-uh, that'sincongruence and that means you
need to keep searching for abridge thought that actually
resonates with you.
So the trick is to find abridge thought that your body
(17:28):
believes.
Sometimes it works to replacethe old degenerative thought
with an ideal regenerativethought and practice that.
But more often you need abridge.
So when you feel even just alittle bit lighter, a little bit
better, you've got your bridge.
And the last step is topractice that thought over and
(17:50):
over again every day.
Write it on a Post-it note, putit somewhere where you will see
it all the time, on your lockscreen on your phone.
I love good old-fashioned notes.
I will write myself a note.
I don't know if it's a post-it,but I write it and I put it
right where I need to read it.
Or if I'm working in a GoogleDoc, or I'm working in some, you
know, on a whiteboard orwhatever space I'm working in
(18:13):
that the thought is related to,I write it right there at the
top.
So it's gonna remind me everysingle time.
I write it in my planner.
I designed a planner that's inline with the work we do in the
Bloom Room and the MoxieMastermind.
I write my thought at the topof my week.
I keep a list of my intentionalthoughts or my bridge thoughts,
(18:35):
the ones I'm practicing, andthey put me in the right space
every day.
All right, so your homework thisweek is to practice creating
bridge thoughts.
You're going to create threecolumns and you can do this with
tons of thoughts or just one.
Catch the degenerative thoughts, put them in the left-hand
column.
Come up with what you wish youcould believe and put that in
(18:56):
the right-hand column.
Now check how they each makeyou feel.
How does the old one make youfeel in your body?
How does the new one make youfeel?
If the new one feels great,awesome, practice that thought.
If you do not feel congruentwith that new thought, if you're
not ready for it, if your bodydoesn't feel better, practice
(19:16):
coming up with a bridge thought.
The bridge will be something inbetween the one on the left and
the one on the right, andyou'll practice that bridge
thought until you can createenough of a new neural pathway
that the ideal thought is morewithin reach.
You're going to practice itover and over.
(19:36):
One little hack before I closeout.
One little hint is thatsometimes it can be really
helpful when you're looking fora bridge thought to start out
with.
I'm willing to try, or I'mlearning to or I can.
For instance, I'm willing totry to take this step by step.
(19:57):
I'm learning to take this stepby step.
I can take this step by step.
Okay, so when we catchourselves in a degenerative
thought loop, instead of tryingto stop thinking the negative
thoughts or slapping a glitterysticker on it, our practice is
to build yourself a bridge, stepby step, walking across it.
(20:19):
So last week, when I was tellingmyself I have to record this
episode somehow, I've nevermissed one I got to do it.
It felt like a sinking feelingin my stomach and then I was
like okay, I don't want to thinkabout it like this.
I tried to create a new way ofthinking and I thought I don't
want to think about it like this.
I tried to create a new way ofthinking and I thought I don't
need to release an episode everyweek.
It's no big deal to skip one.
And that also did not feel trueto me.
(20:41):
That was my ideal thought, butit didn't resonate with me.
It didn't feel congruentBecause I've been working so
hard to record podcast episodesfor 144 straight weeks without
ever missing one.
That's almost three years.
So for me it was kind of a bigdeal.
So I found a bridge thought.
Instead, I thought I can putwhat's best for my health above
(21:06):
my productivity.
It's just this week, and thatfelt congruent.
It felt awesome because it wasin line with my values, my
pillars, what I believe and thework that I'm doing to not burn
myself out all the time.
So that's how we reprogram notjust the conscious mind but the
(21:27):
subconscious mind too, how wereprogram and rebuild new neural
pathways, while we also retrainour bodies to trust us.
And that's how we walkourselves into the life we
actually want to live.
Making ideas real, one idea ata time.
That's what I've got for youthis week Back clear-headed, no
(21:51):
migraines, and I will see younext week.
If you like what you're hearingon the podcast, you gotta come
and join us in the Bloom Room.
This is a year-round membershipwhere we take all of these
(22:13):
concepts and we apply them toreal life in a community where
we have each other's backs andwe bring out the best in each
other.
We're all there to make ourideas real, one idea at a time.
I'll see you in the Bloom Room,thank you.
Welcome to the Bloom your Mind podcast, where we take
all of your ideas for what youwant and we turn them into real
things.
I'm your host, certified CoachMarie McDonald.
Let's get into it.
Well, hello everybody, andwelcome to episode number 145 of
(00:33):
the Bloom your Mind podcast.
Today we're going to build onmy last episode, the one called
Regenerative Thinking, and inthat episode I talk through a
cognitive process our brains arejamming on all day, every day
your brain is doing it, my brainis doing it when our automatic
(00:53):
thoughts are creating a loop ofbehavior and evidence collection
that keeps our old ways ofthinking stuck.
I'm reminding you about thatepisode now because it's super
important that before we try tochange our thoughts which is
what we're focused on today wefirst take time to notice them.
(01:14):
Awareness is the very mostimportant step when we want to
change Awareness of our thoughts, our feelings, our behaviors.
And that awareness has to comewith compassion and non-judgment
for ourselves.
We have to be cool withourselves, we have to be gentle
(01:35):
with ourselves if we expect ourbrains to really show us what's
going on.
Otherwise, we're going to hidefrom ourselves.
So if you're skipping right tothis episode and you're all
about changing your thoughts.
But you haven't listened to thelast one.
Just pause, go back to thatlast episode and listen to
(01:55):
number 144 first.
It's called regenerativethinking.
That's all about where we'llpractice awareness and being
present with what is before wetry to change it, and from there
change becomes totally possible.
So today I'm going to teach youhow to change your thoughts in a
way that's grounded, realisticand that doesn't override your
(02:18):
nervous system.
When your body says, no, Iain't buying it, I'm not going
to some super positive way ofthinking.
That happens when we try toyank out old, harmful thought
patterns and paste in someidealistic, sometimes toxically
positive thought patternsinstead.
So when we realize that we havereally negative self-talk, for
(02:42):
example, and we become aware ofit and we try to replace it with
really positive self-talkgenerally, that's not going to
work.
We have to bridge the old wayof thinking and the new way of
thinking in our brains and inour bodies.
So today that's what I'm goingto teach you.
I'm going to teach you how tobuild those bridges between your
(03:04):
old neural pathways, the oldways of thinking that are
keeping you stuck and stoppingyou from making your ideas real.
We're going to teach you how tobuild a bridge to the new ways
of thinking, to build new neuralpathways that will take you to
where you want to go right now,where you can make your ideas
(03:26):
real.
So this process is calledbridge thinking and you're going
to love it.
It is the most magical toolthat I know to create change in
yourself.
But first let me tell you abouta big fail I want to celebrate.
So last week I sat down tocreate content for you, as I do.
I had the outline and the ideasfor my podcast episode, had the
time set aside in my calendarand then, for the first time
(03:50):
ever, I had a legit migraineshow up.
I've thought before that I'vehad migraines and now I know
that I had not.
I woke up in the middle of thenight and I, straight up, could
not move.
It was like this giant gong wasgoing off in my head over and
over again Wong, wong, just thislike throbbing pain vibrating
(04:14):
in my head, the kind that makesit impossible to think I just
had to lie, really still.
So I did the thing last weekthat used to feel really
impossible for me I just stopped.
I set everything down.
I rescheduled eight clientsthat day.
I let myself not power through.
(04:36):
Even though I had alreadyburned through my backup
episodes because I've beentraveling a lot, I had no more
backup episodes pre-recorded inthe vault.
So for the first time in threeyears, I did not record and
release a new podcast episodelast week because the following
day my head still hurt so muchand I was foggy, and so I let
(05:00):
myself off the hook.
So today I am both celebratingthe fail of missing my very
first week of making a newepisode for you, and also I am
celebrating that I loved myreasons for doing it.
I rested, I rested and I restedand I rested.
Instead, Eventually, I readsome books and then I rested
(05:21):
some more.
My body got what it needed, andthat's where today's episode
begins, because what was reallygoing on in my head was like a
negative thought pattern.
Ideally, I would have thoughtsomething really different, but
the decision ultimately wasbased on me creating a thought
(05:44):
bridge.
I went from I have to make myepisode this week to I can make
the decision that's best for myhealth.
So let's talk about that thoughtbridge.
What are thought bridges andhow do you use them?
Starting with why we just can'tstop negative thoughts in their
tracks, why we just can't stopnegative thoughts in their
(06:10):
tracks.
So last episode I talked allabout regenerative thought
cycles, which are my way of kindof.
This is my concept that I teachabout how our thoughts cycle
through us and through our lives.
We learned about how our brainscycle automatic thoughts that
are running on that subconsciouslevel, many of which are very
negative, because our brain hasa negativity bias and because
(06:32):
we're all pretty good atreliving our pasts over and over
again under the surface,especially the stuff that didn't
go well.
You can think about maybenegative thoughts that you have
that you see over and overshowing up in your life.
We all have them right.
So we talked last week about howthose thoughts that are
repeating under the surfacecreate a feeling in our body
(06:54):
that leads to our behavior andthe result of our behavior,
which proves the originalthought that we were thinking in
an endless, sometimes hellishcycle.
It's just a big self-fulfillingprophecy circle.
Our brain looks at the resultof that loop and start that,
that loop that started with ourthought and our brain's like I
(07:16):
told you so and collectsevidence that the thought was
true.
So, to be clear, that evidenceis resulting from the behavior
that originated from the verythought.
It's a closed loop system thatonly listens to itself.
It's like the recycling symbolwith the arrows pointing between
(07:39):
thought behavior results,thought behavior results, over
and over and over again.
It's a closed loop systemthat's very self-referential and
very, very biased, because ourbrains love to be right, so they
lead all of our behavior tokeep proving our old ways of
(08:00):
thinking true, in thatloop-de-loop-de-loop, until we
catch them in the act, which iswhat we talked about last time
With total compassion.
We can lovingly start to becomeaware of those negative thought
cycles.
When we do it, we make theinvisible visible, we pause our
(08:24):
unconscious thinking and make itconscious by noticing it
without judgment.
And once we do that, once wefind the thought that's creating
a degenerative cycle ofbehavior and results that are
leading us away from what wewant, that's when it's time to
change the thought, to do someneural reprogramming.
(08:45):
So neural reprogramming is thework of actually changing our
brains and this work will changeyour life and it will help you
make any idea that you have intoa real thing.
And it is totally doable by you.
You're in the right place andyou can totally do this.
I've worked with hundreds ofclients on this and it is
possible for all of them and itis possible for you.
(09:08):
It is proven by science.
So when we're doing this workof neural reprogramming, the
first step I'm saying it forlike the third time is to notice
the thought, practice,awareness, be present with the
feeling in our body.
That's the good news.
We're catching the degenerativecycle and stopping it in its
(09:29):
tracks and just being presentwith it for a minute.
So when you notice adegenerative thought, something
like I'm falling behind or I'llnever figure this out, your
first instinct, most of ourfirst instinct, is just to stop
thinking.
It Be like no, that is not whatI want.
When we see how much control wehave over the results in our
(09:50):
life, we're like let me stopthis immediately.
I want to shut it down, I wantto delete this thought.
That's what today is all about.
Our brains don't work like that.
Neural pathways are like roadsin your brain and every time you
think a thought, it's likerunning a car over that road and
making that road of thatthought, that way of thinking,
(10:14):
stronger and stronger andstronger.
So the longer you've beenthinking something, the stronger
that neural pathway is in yourbrain.
Over time it's like that roadbecomes a highway because you've
thought the thought so manytimes.
If it's a painful thought, someof those turn into what
neuroscience teacher JohnOverdurf calls the bully on the
(10:34):
block.
They're really old, they'rereally strong, they're loud,
they're bossy, they're alwayscutting in line, they're easily
triggered.
You go to those thoughts reallyeasily and even though that's
true, your brain is neuroplastic.
You can build new roads toreplace those old, well-worn
(10:57):
roads, but you can't just tellyourself don't go down that road
.
You have to give your brain anew road to drive on instead.
So you can't just stop thinkinga thought.
You have to give your brainsomething else to think instead.
All right, so let's talk abouthow to do that.
(11:17):
I am going to give you aprocess to use that I teach in
the Bloom Room and the MoxieMastermind to engage in neural
reprogramming to reprogram yourbrain and it will change your
life.
Neural reprogramming toreprogram your brain and it will
change your life.
Remember, first step isbecoming aware of the thought
(11:38):
and being present with thefeeling in your body.
So here are the steps of how tocreate thought bridges to
reprogram your brain.
Step number one catch thedegenerative thought.
We learned how to do that inour last episode.
Write it down.
And what I'd like you to do forthis practice of creating
(11:59):
bridge thoughts is take a pieceof paper and create three
columns.
On the left-hand side it's yourold thought, on the right-hand
side it's the new thought and inthe middle it's your bridge
thought.
So you catch the, the newthought, and in the middle it's
your bridge thought.
So you catch the degenerativethought.
You realize what you'rethinking, with compassion and
love and non-judgment, and youwrite it down on the left hand
(12:20):
side.
Maybe that's?
I'll never learn this.
Okay, that's going to go on theleft hand side Now.
Next, you're going to come upwith your ideal thought that you
wish you could believe.
This is the intentional thoughtthat you're going to come up
with, your ideal thought thatyou wish you could believe.
This is the intentional thoughtthat you're reaching toward.
In an ideal world.
This is how you would bethinking about the situation.
Maybe that's?
This is going to be a piece ofcake.
(12:42):
I can learn this.
Of course I can learn this.
You're going to write that inthe far right-hand column,
leaving the middle column blankfor now.
Step number three you're goingto check.
Check how your body feels whenyou write that new, intentional
thought.
A lot of times it will feel wayout of reach.
(13:03):
You're not going to feel anybetter than you did when you
were thinking the originalthought, your old thought.
You're going to feel uneasy oranxious or even hopeless,
sometimes Like, ah, I don't buyit.
When we try to override thosefeelings of, nah, no, I don't
(13:24):
actually buy this new thought,when we do that we create what's
called cognitive dissonance,when we try to force ourselves
to think a positive thought thatwe don't actually believe.
Cognitive dissonance is thepsychological discomfort that
people feel when we're holdingtwo or more conflicting beliefs
or values or attitudes orthoughts, or when our behavior
(13:50):
contradicts our beliefs.
So, said in another way, ifyour body isn't buying what your
brain is telling it, it's notgoing to fly.
That thought is not congruent,and if it isn't congruent it
will not stick, it will not help.
So instead it probably feelskind of like toxic positivity.
It can feel like you'regaslighting yourself a little
(14:11):
bit, like you're trying to justbrush it over and say it's fine,
it's fine, just believe this.
Instead, when your body's likeno, that is not true, it's too
far from what you actuallybelieve.
So instead, we're going to finda bridge thought, the bridge
between what we believe now theold belief, the unconscious,
degenerative thought and what wewant to believe, that new,
(14:35):
shiny thought that we're workingtowards.
We're going to find somethingin the middle that creates
congruence in our body, thatfeels like, yeah, I'm chill, I'm
safe, I believe this, I am notgaslighting myself.
When we create that bridgethought, it's a bridge that we
can walk across in a way thatactually changes our brain and
(14:58):
our neural pathways.
It actually starts buildingthat road.
So here's step number four,after we've checked in with our
body, because if our body feelsfine with that new ideal thought
, great, we can go with it.
That happens sometimes when ourbody doesn't feel fine.
That's when we build the bridge.
(15:20):
So in the middle column betweenyour old thought and your new
thought, write a thought thatfeels one step closer to neutral
, something that brings even alittle bit of relief or creates
a feeling that's more neutralthan the thought on the left.
Oftentimes, instead of feelinghopeful or joyous or badass,
which is maybe our ideal state,the bridge thought, the one in
the middle, that we're going tostart practicing, will make us
(15:42):
feel like focused, kind ofneutral, kind of focused,
committed, maybe disciplined.
So, for example, maybe our oldthought is I will never figure
this out.
Our ideal thought that we'reworking towards is I can do
anything I set my mind to, it'sgoing to be a piece of cake,
something an example of a bridgemight be.
(16:04):
I'm willing to take this stepby step.
And when we practice thatbridge thought every single day,
I am willing to take this stepby step.
That becomes a new regenerativecycle.
The more we practice it, thenwe feel and behave in line with
(16:24):
it, and it creates a result ofus taking it step by step, which
is way more helpful to us thanthat degenerative cycle of never
figuring things out and stayingstuck.
So once we find the bridgethought in this case, our
example is I'm willing to takethis step by step.
(16:46):
Then test it in your body.
Say the bridge thought out loud.
How does it feel when you saythat thought?
Your body's the gauge for whatyour brain is ready for.
When you try the new thought,notice what happens.
Do your shoulders soften, doesyour chest open up?
Does your stomach kind of relax, even just a little bit?
(17:07):
You can feel that congruence inyour body.
Or, if it's not congruent, yourbody might tighten.
Your body kind of rolls itseyes at you.
It's like uh-uh, that'sincongruence and that means you
need to keep searching for abridge thought that actually
resonates with you.
So the trick is to find abridge thought that your body
(17:28):
believes.
Sometimes it works to replacethe old degenerative thought
with an ideal regenerativethought and practice that.
But more often you need abridge.
So when you feel even just alittle bit lighter, a little bit
better, you've got your bridge.
And the last step is topractice that thought over and
(17:50):
over again every day.
Write it on a Post-it note, putit somewhere where you will see
it all the time, on your lockscreen on your phone.
I love good old-fashioned notes.
I will write myself a note.
I don't know if it's a post-it,but I write it and I put it
right where I need to read it.
Or if I'm working in a GoogleDoc, or I'm working in some, you
know, on a whiteboard orwhatever space I'm working in
(18:13):
that the thought is related to,I write it right there at the
top.
So it's gonna remind me everysingle time.
I write it in my planner.
I designed a planner that's inline with the work we do in the
Bloom Room and the MoxieMastermind.
I write my thought at the topof my week.
I keep a list of my intentionalthoughts or my bridge thoughts,
(18:35):
the ones I'm practicing, andthey put me in the right space
every day.
All right, so your homework thisweek is to practice creating
bridge thoughts.
You're going to create threecolumns and you can do this with
tons of thoughts or just one.
Catch the degenerative thoughts, put them in the left-hand
column.
Come up with what you wish youcould believe and put that in
(18:56):
the right-hand column.
Now check how they each makeyou feel.
How does the old one make youfeel in your body?
How does the new one make youfeel?
If the new one feels great,awesome, practice that thought.
If you do not feel congruentwith that new thought, if you're
not ready for it, if your bodydoesn't feel better, practice
(19:16):
coming up with a bridge thought.
The bridge will be something inbetween the one on the left and
the one on the right, andyou'll practice that bridge
thought until you can createenough of a new neural pathway
that the ideal thought is morewithin reach.
You're going to practice itover and over.
(19:36):
One little hack before I closeout.
One little hint is thatsometimes it can be really
helpful when you're looking fora bridge thought to start out
with.
I'm willing to try, or I'mlearning to or I can.
For instance, I'm willing totry to take this step by step.
(19:57):
I'm learning to take this stepby step.
I can take this step by step.
Okay, so when we catchourselves in a degenerative
thought loop, instead of tryingto stop thinking the negative
thoughts or slapping a glitterysticker on it, our practice is
to build yourself a bridge, stepby step, walking across it.
(20:19):
So last week, when I was tellingmyself I have to record this
episode somehow, I've nevermissed one I got to do it.
It felt like a sinking feelingin my stomach and then I was
like okay, I don't want to thinkabout it like this.
I tried to create a new way ofthinking and I thought I don't
want to think about it like this.
I tried to create a new way ofthinking and I thought I don't
need to release an episode everyweek.
It's no big deal to skip one.
And that also did not feel trueto me.
(20:41):
That was my ideal thought, butit didn't resonate with me.
It didn't feel congruentBecause I've been working so
hard to record podcast episodesfor 144 straight weeks without
ever missing one.
That's almost three years.
So for me it was kind of a bigdeal.
So I found a bridge thought.
Instead, I thought I can putwhat's best for my health above
(21:06):
my productivity.
It's just this week, and thatfelt congruent.
It felt awesome because it wasin line with my values, my
pillars, what I believe and thework that I'm doing to not burn
myself out all the time.
So that's how we reprogram notjust the conscious mind but the
(21:27):
subconscious mind too, how wereprogram and rebuild new neural
pathways, while we also retrainour bodies to trust us.
And that's how we walkourselves into the life we
actually want to live.
Making ideas real, one idea ata time.
That's what I've got for youthis week Back clear-headed, no
(21:51):
migraines, and I will see younext week.
If you like what you're hearingon the podcast, you gotta come
and join us in the Bloom Room.
This is a year-round membershipwhere we take all of these
(22:13):
concepts and we apply them toreal life in a community where
we have each other's backs andwe bring out the best in each
other.
We're all there to make ourideas real, one idea at a time.
I'll see you in the Bloom Room,thank you.
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