You Change When You Believe A New Story About Yourself

We explore how identity shapes behavior, why visualization trains the nervous system for aligned action, and how spiritual focus reinforces lasting change. Practical steps, family examples, and a five-minute practice help you embody the future you today.

• identity before behavior and habits
• visualization as mental rehearsal, not wishing
• how the reticular activating system drives attention
• family use for sport, school, relationships
• questions that link feelings to future self
• spiritual alignment through renewing the mind
• a simple five-minute daily practice
• encouragement to start small and stay rooted

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to Your Health Your Way.
I'm Dr.
James Ross.
And if you've been around herefor a while, you know that this
podcast is all about helping youlive a full, meaningful, and
intentional life.
That means physically,spiritually, and even
emotionally.
Today I want to talk aboutsomething that may surprise you.

(00:22):
And it's about the hiddenconnection between identity,
your nervous system, and thelife that you're trying to
build.
Let me say something that mightfeel counterintuitive.
You don't become who you want tobe through more effort, through
the grind, through hard work.

(00:42):
You become them throughalignment, through focus,
through habits, and throughconsistency.
Most of us think that changestarts with action, new
routines, better timemanagement, more discipline.
But we have learned a lot fromneuroscience, and I'd argue even

(01:05):
scripture too, that we're taughtthat lasting transformation
actually begins with how you seeyourself.
Not in some self-helpy sort ofway, but in a deeply spiritual
and neurologic way.
The world says, act your wayinto greatness.

(01:27):
But I think that the truth isthat you become who you believe
yourself to be.
If your internal belief is, I'malways behind, you're gonna
sabotage anything that feelslike progress.
If your subconscious says, I'mnot a healthy person, your
habits, no matter how good, theyjust won't stick.

(01:51):
Before there's behavior, there'sidentity.
And that identity is shaped inrepetition, in emotion, and in
imagination, which brings us towhat I want to talk to you about
now, and that's visualization.
Dr.
James Doty, a Stanfordresearcher, has done incredible

(02:14):
work around this.
He talks about the neurologicalpower of manifestation.
And I want to clarify, we're nottalking about wishing something
into existence.
We're talking about theneuroscience of mental
rehearsal.
When you visualize a futureversion of yourself with clarity

(02:36):
and emotion, your brain fires asif it's real.
The more you feel it, the moreyour brain believes it, and the
more it is becoming alreadypossible.
It activates the reticularactivating system in your brain,
a filter that determines thethings that you notice, the

(02:58):
things you pay attention to.
So when you've practicedstepping into that future self
mentally, you'll begin seeingnew paths and maybe making new
choices and even shifting yourbehavior to match.
Now, this isn't some sort ofmagic formula recipe.
What we're talking about here ismental alignment.

(03:19):
And it's how we begin to embodythe feature that maybe God has
called us into.
This isn't just theory for me.
We actually use this in ourhome.
One of my kids is a competitiveathlete, and before games, we
don't just go over mechanics.
We actually sit down andvisualize the whole environment.

(03:42):
What does it feel like to walkonto the court with confidence?
How do you respond when thingsgo wrong?
What do you sound like when youencourage your teammates?
This is not about performance.
It's actually preparation.
We actually do the same thingwith school, with relationships,

(04:04):
with personal goals.
My wife and I often ask ourkids, what does it feel like to
be that person?
Not just see that person, seewhat that looks like, but what
does it feel like?
See, we're connecting both whatwe want to see, but we're
layering that with how we feel.

(04:26):
So we ask them those questions.
What does it feel to be thatperson?
Where do you carry your peace?
What do you believe aboutyourself?
Because if they can feel it now,they're more likely to lead
themselves into it later.
And I don't think this is justparenting or a parenting

(04:46):
strategy.
It's discipleship, it'sleadership, it's reprogramming
the brain to stop living in fearand start stepping into calling.
The beautiful thing is thisisn't just neuroscience.
I believe it can be appliedspiritually as well, what we

(05:07):
would maybe call spiritualalignment.
In Romans 12, it tells us torenew our minds.
In Philippians 4, we'reinstructed to think on what is
pure, lovely, and true.
You see, what you meditate on,you become.

(05:27):
What you think about, you bringabout.
This is the kingdom lens.
We don't visualize success justto get what we want.
We visualize who we're becomingso we can live with integrity
and intention and peace rightnow.

(05:48):
For me, that future version ofmyself, he's calm, he's present,
he leads with wisdom, not ego.
He's anchored, he's anchored inhis faith.
He's awake to the people aroundhim.
So I rehearse that.
I sit with that, and day by day,I align myself with it.

(06:11):
Now I'm not perfect.
This is a process, but this iswho I am becoming, this is who I
want to become.
And it's a daily process, adaily process of alignment.
Let me leave you with somethingsimple so that maybe you can act
on it today.
Maybe if you were just to takefive minutes, uh, just five, sit

(06:34):
somewhere quiet, close youreyes, and ask yourself who do I
want to be in this next season?
How do I carry myself when I'mwalking in peace, confidence,
and integrity?
What does it feel like in mybody?

(06:55):
In my relationships, in my work.
Now don't overthink it.
Just sit with it.
Let your nervous systemexperience that future self and
let your actions start rising tomeet it.
I really want to encourage youtoday.

(07:18):
You're not stuck.
You're not too far gone.
And you don't really need towait until you arrive to walk
like the person God created youto be.
Your health, in every singlesense, is deeply connected to
who you believe you are.

(07:39):
So start small, stay rooted, seethe future that God has for you
and lead yourself into it onealigned decision at a time.
Thanks for listening to YourHealth Your Way.
If this helped you, share itwith a friend and leave a review
so we can keep building thismovement.

(08:00):
Until next time, stay aligned,stay faithful, and walk like
it's already yours.