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December 7, 2024 • 24 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
It's hard to continue to ask yourself more and more questions.
But I do think that the majority of us, I
mean included I have to work at this do not
go deep enough. We don't ask enough questions, and our
reticular activating system therefore really never gets programmed.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hey, friends, thank you for listening to the All Things
Good for You Podcast. Join us as we explore ancient traditions,
modern tools and practices in the world of health, wellness,
and personal development. I'm Amy Christensen, your host and your
curated mind coach.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
And I'm your co host, Brian Bowen, founder of Integrative Health, Inc.
And Better Human Company High Performance Coaching. Are you ready
to take control of your life and start feeling enthusiastic, empowered,
and limitless each and every day for a life well lived?
Let your curiosity flow with.

Speaker 4 (00:57):
All Things Good for You?

Speaker 1 (01:01):
All right, Hello, everybody, all you amazing people. Really appreciate
you taking the time to tune in today and listen
to this podcast.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
You are listening to All Things Good for You.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
My name is Brian Bowen. My co host, Amy Christiansen
is not with us today.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
So for those of you.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Who are just tuning in for the first time, usually
there's two of us bantering back and forth for a
bit here. So I'm plugging a little twenty minute episode
in for you guys today. We are on a mission
to get to a hundredth podcast by the end of
the month, and so we're plugging in some shorts and

(01:39):
peppering those in through the week with our typical longer podcast.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for those of you
just joining us. All Things Good for You is a
podcast about encouraging you to be curious about health and
wellness anywhere from service related stuff to mindset, digging a
little deeper, finding room where there's room and opportunities in

(02:01):
our life to improve our quality of life and being
and quantity of course too. So I'm going to jump
in here real quick. We're just going to get down
to the nitty gritty stick with this podcast. There's going
to be a golden nugget in here. Maybe some things
you're familiar with, maybe some things you're not, but I
promise you you will always walk away with a little

(02:22):
golden nugget. So today's podcast, I'm just going to tap
into a little bit, is based off some previous podcasts.

Speaker 4 (02:30):
We've been doing. We've been doing a little bit.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Of frameworks and mindset stuff around the seasons, and so
we are in the water element, if you will, and
that's associated to winter. So this is a five element
framework and we're just talking. Our last podcast, Fall was
about letting go, really looking at what we value, being

(02:52):
able to let go of certain things and really focus
on the things that we do value, and just an
assessment around that, clearing the burdens and the heavy boulders
that we've been carrying around and to allow us to
move into something a little bit more abundant, to tying
into our purpose and the higher values and stuff is

(03:14):
as it relates to the water element. So water element,
if you haven't listened to podcasts, go back listen to
It is more about introspection, really aligning your values and purpose,
a lot of deeper self discovery. So you spend time
with kind of an inward focus for this next three months,
really just really looking at things and being with it

(03:37):
and spending the time for reflection and meditation and all
that good stuff, so that when spring comes, we've built
up the will power and stuff to blow out to
an expansion phase into growth and have the courage to
step into that and all kinds of yummy stuff. I'm
not going to get into all of it, but just
go back and listen to it. I promise you you
will like it. So the little piece I wanted to

(03:58):
spend time talking to about real quick today is something
that you've heard us discussed before a little bit, and
have heard other people in personal development probably discuss. This
is something that I thought about a long time ago
and tied it to the way we manifest stuff and
the way we filter things.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
And it's called the reticular activating system.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
And it was cool because I had a lot many
years ago about this, and then fast forward there's everybody's
associating it and tying it to that as well as
a very important part of our kind of vision board
and manifestation and how we had the law of attraction and.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
All that stuff. So it's cool to have other people.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
We are all a whole, so it's cool to hear
those other other people, other amazing people and authors and
stuff really talk.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
About it in depth.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
So I'm just going to tap into it because I
want you guys to think about as we're having more
introspection and as we're really thinking about purpose. One of
the key things that we need to really work on
to really help stimulate all of this is the reticular
activating system. And so just gonna chit chat briefly about it.

(05:09):
So what the heck is that reticular activating system? And
then I have a different framework for it that I
want you guys to think about and play with. In
a nutshell, the reticular activating system is a giant network
of neurons and located in the brain stem.

Speaker 4 (05:26):
It's like a net, if.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
You will, and it plays a critical role in regulating attention, consciousness, arousal.
It's a filtering system, like a gatekeeper for sensory information
that reaches our conscious mind, and it's important in determining
where we're putting our focus and our awareness.

Speaker 4 (05:47):
Now some of the.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Other key aspects of it as it does have a
lot to do with the regulation of wakefulness and sleep mode,
so it helps that transition between sleep and wake states,
controls that alertness and increasing decrease the activity in those neurons.
It really has a lot to do with again our
selective attention and helps us filter the sensory input from

(06:10):
the environment, allowing that stimuli to reach our awareness, our consciousness.
It has a lot to do again kind of when
I was talk about law of attraction, but this ties
into focus and goal setting, So it helps prioritize that
information for what we feel is important and how it's
linked to our goals and of course fears and other
strong emotions in which one of those are ruling, and

(06:32):
that's going to help create that filter. Now, this is
the really important piece I want to discuss, especially as
it relates to the previous podcast, and as we're moving
into the water element and we're thinking, we're being more introspective,
and we're trying to connect with purpose and having that
deep inner wisdom rise up, and what do we do
with that when we have this discovery and how do

(06:53):
we lock that in when we have our little aha
AHAs okay? And so remember the reticular act evading system
is a filter for the things that we're putting in there,
whether it is self sabotaging things, whether it is things
that we're truly leading from our values, from our actions,
from the people that were surrounding selves are with that reinforce,

(07:15):
either the self sabotaging or the destructive thoughts, or supporting
us in our true values and our true goals and
our true purpose. An example, this is an overdone example,
but it's really one I think we can all connect
with is think about when you are like, Ooh, I
want to get a new car, and you start car

(07:36):
shopping and you're like, oh, I love this blue this
specific type of blue car, and maybe it's a Forerunner,
and you start looking at Forerunners and then you start
looking at these blue cars, and then you go and
you buy one, and then all of a sudden, you
start seeing the blue that specific blue Forerunner that at
one time was really unique to you. It was really
hard to find, and now you start seeing that everywhere.

(07:59):
You put so much energy and thoughts and emotions of
the joy and how exciting that would be, and what
does it look like? And how does it feel when
you're in it? And what do you feel like driving
in it? And so you have these deep emotions and
you've tapped into all these different senses of what it
looks like, how the engine sounds, the color, the way

(08:21):
it feels, all the tactile components. And now all of
a sudden, this is jumping out everywhere at you. And
I have a funny story with that has to do
with a tree, a fake tree years and years ago,
when I was just a poor massage student earn a
massage therapist. I guess I wasn't a student anymore, and
I was practicing at this clinic and there was no

(08:42):
windows in the room. So I remember thinking to myself, Oh,
I want to get a fake tree to put in
this room. But I didn't have any money. So everywhere
I'd go, I would if I went to Target, or
if I went to Costplus World Market, I would always
look at these trees and oh my god, I didn't
realize they were like two hundred and twenty bucks for
a really nice looking fake tree. Now today's world, they're

(09:02):
a lot cheaper, but this was in nineteen ninety nine, I.

Speaker 4 (09:06):
Believe, and they were very expensive.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
But for months, I was always every store i'd go into,
I just happened to notice Joeyanne Fabrics again, cost Plust
World Market, all these different stores. I'd pop into Home
Depot and I would notice these fake trees.

Speaker 4 (09:18):
I would always look at the price.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
And so it was just building in my mind that
desire to have one, to have something green in the room,
and I kept looking and I kept looking at it
price tags and everywhere I would go, I would start
searching for it in my mind.

Speaker 4 (09:31):
And one day I was driving down.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
A road called Colorado Boulevard in Denver, Colorado, and all
of a sudden, these cars start swerving in front of
me to dodge something that was in the road. And
sure enough, the car in front of me swerves out
of the way and there's a frickin tree standing up
in a pot in the middle of the road.

Speaker 4 (09:51):
So I pull over to the side of the road.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
They a little car wash, and I get out to
go get the tree out of the road to help
prevent accidents from happening. And as I run out and
grabbed the tree and I'm carrying it back, I realize
it's a fake tree. I'm like, what the heck. So
I set the tree next to my car and I'm
just waiting. So I waited, probably for a good twenty
minutes or so for somebody to come back and realize

(10:16):
that it fell out of the truck or trunk or
however the heck it got out of their car, and
nobody showed up.

Speaker 4 (10:22):
So I was like, that's a gift from the universe.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
Talk about law of attraction, And so my point is,
I put this in my mind's eye, I really had
a strong desire for it. I kept looking for it
everywhere I went, and so I just created this filter
that just started filtering the stuff out, and sure enough,
about a boom, there is the fake tree. So I've
had many instances in my life where things have happened

(10:47):
like that, and I'm sure you probably have too. So
I'd love for you to reflect on some of those
and really think about maybe a moment when that's happened
to you, and what did you put into that, what
kind of emotion and how much energy did you put
into it, what kind of thoughts did you have. Was
it something that was just actively in your mind that

(11:07):
you are obsessed about and putting that kind of effort
and energy and thought and imagery and emotion into it,
or was it something that you purposely were journaling for
or did a vision board for, or meditated on or
whatever it is you did. And I want you to
connect with that. And so, you know, some of us, unfortunately,

(11:28):
we have more negative stuff coming to us where something
that there's always something that's happening. Because we get conditioned
the same way you do get conditioned for anything. Sometimes
we condition ourselves too. We're always looking for the next
bad thing, right like, what's going to happen to me next?

Speaker 4 (11:45):
What else could go wrong? And it's just that you're.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Putting it there, and sure enough you will find that
one thing that will go wrong for you. When we're
in the water element and you're connecting with purpose and
you're having some deeper wisdom, you're having some deeper introspection,
You've let go of some things, and you're ready to
create something new. As we're creating it, I want you
to start thinking about the reticular activating system because it's

(12:07):
your friend. It needs to be exercised, just like you
exercise your body, just like you exercise your any other
habit you're trying to do.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
If you're learning how to play guitar, you.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
Got to put the reps in, You got to exercise
that muscle, You got to exercise your golf and muscles.
All the things that you're trying to learn or do,
you need to exercise this reticular activating system. And I'm
going to talk about some ways to do that, but
I want to change it because the terminology a little bit,
because reticular activating system can be a bit confusing. You

(12:39):
might not even remember the name of it, and so
I have a little framework that I like that really
speaks to what it does. Okay, so reticular starts with
an R, but I'm changing the word too.

Speaker 4 (12:55):
So it's RS.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
So reticular is R, so I say, And the reason
I say that is because I want you to be
recording all of those feelings, thoughts, emotions, all that energy.
I want you to record what that feels like. You

(13:17):
can do this by thinking about it. And I'm real
big fan of asking questions and guiding questions to that.
So it's okay, first start with what is it you
would like to have more in your life? So let's
just say I feel like for this month, I really
want more peace and equanimity.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
I want more evenness and feeling in my mind, and
I want to feel more grounded.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
Okay. So if I'm somebody who lives in a world
of chaos, guess what. I can always find chaos because
my reticular activating system has been worked so much it
knows how to find it. It knows how to filter
out all the peaceful things can help ground me, all
the things that can help bring me calmness, and I
can have chaos full time. Like I got a text

(14:06):
from somebody yesterday. I said, sorry, I just got back
to you. I unplugged for the weekend, for the holiday weekend,
and he sent me back a text, must be nice,
how do you unplug? And that person can unplug, but
the reticular activating system has trained them in such a
way that they will not find those opportunities to unplug.

(14:27):
They're only finding the opportunities to add more.

Speaker 4 (14:30):
Your recording is what is it? So?

Speaker 1 (14:33):
I want more peace, more groundedness this month, and more equanimity,
more more evenness, okay in my mind and in my spirit,
and so I want to find more opportunities for that.
So I'm going to close my eyes, I'm going to
talk in my brain. I'm gonna ask guid in questions.
So first identify what it is and now it's okay,

(14:54):
what are some What do I want that to feel?

Speaker 5 (14:59):
Like?

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Think about the feeling of that first. So I'm recording
how I want it to feel. Okay, I want more
peace and more groundedness. How do I want that to feel?
Of course, peace and grounded inness sound like a feeling,
but no, I want I want to feel like an
overall stillness and calmness in my heart and in my mind.
I want to feel like this joy underneath that calmness,

(15:25):
but I want there to be a nice stillness and
I want to be able to move in the world
maintaining that as I have these tasks and projects. I
want to maintain that. And that is feels so yummy
to me. And it feels like control, right, like I
have some control. I don't feel out of control. So

(15:46):
I'm just talking, Okay, how do I want it to feel? Okay?
What is it that I need to do? What's one
thing I could do today? Okay, I'm going to be
open minded to finding those opportunities and to listening and
paying attention when they show up. Okay, So whatever questions
you can do. And I'm recording that, just recording it,

(16:07):
just putting it in my brain. So that's me exercising
the reticular activating system. So just record. So record the image,
what does it look like, Record the feeling, how's it feel?
Record the terminology around it, record the vision of it.
Work through the exercise of what does it feel like?
What's something What's one thing you can do today to

(16:29):
be present with that?

Speaker 4 (16:31):
Right? How what's some other things?

Speaker 1 (16:34):
That you have to filter out like just record, okay,
and then the A is for activate, and these are
going to be reinforcing activities to reinforce your recording. Okay.
So maybe that activate is I am thrown into a

(16:56):
conversation with maybe three neighbors that are really a.

Speaker 4 (17:00):
Benitivity and being super dramatic and stuff.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
So I might activate it by denouncing to participate in
that conversation that is opposite of what my goals are,
and that's an activity that's going to support my reticular
activating system. It's me saying no to my pre programmed

(17:23):
reticular activating system because I'm reprogramming now to be the
new filter that I want it to be, okay. Or
it could be me activating it by putting myself in
situations as I pay attention to those opportunities. So if
somebody friend of mine comes up and says, hey, Brian,
do you want to go to this yoga class Thursday night? Instead,

(17:45):
where before maybe I would say, oh no, I got
so much I have to get done before Friday. I
don't have time for that. Instead I denounce that and
I say, you know what, Yes, that's exactly what.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
I need right now.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
I would love to I would love to go do
that with you, or maybe instead of watching a movie
that's really or TV show that's really super engaging and
super intense, you're like, you know what, I'm gonna take
a break from that.

Speaker 4 (18:09):
I Am only going to put things in my mind
that is.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
Going to reinforce that filter of calm, of grounding, of stillness. Okay,
So we have record, we have activate, and so you're
activating that with action and activities that you do that
reinforce what you want and how you want that filter

(18:34):
to be programmed. Okay, and then the cool thing is
the S is for stream. So now you're just after
you've recorded and you're activating. The next part is a
little more automatic. You just focus on those record and
activate and let that message stream from you, let that energy,

(18:57):
that frequency stream from your body.

Speaker 4 (19:01):
Just let it out there in the world.

Speaker 1 (19:04):
This is who this is the things I'm looking for,
this is what I want, this is who I want
to be. This is how I'm showing up. And just
let that stream and stream. And you are the transmitter
and the receiver. So you are transmitting that message by
your recording, by your reprogramming of that filter of that

(19:26):
reticular activating system, you've activated it, and you continue to
reinforce that message with your actions and your behaviors and
your feelings and your strength that you're going to need
to do this, and then you just streaming out there.
And so that is a short little framework for the
reticular activated system of RAS. So record, activate stream. So

(19:53):
whether you just want to think about that as far
as the law of attraction, I'm cool with that too.
If you are following us and listening to the podcasts
that we've been doing as it relates to the five
element model and looking at our season and what that means.
Right now we are in water element. I want you

(20:14):
to connect and have some introspection. We're going inward for
a bit. We're building energy and storing energy. We're not
leaking energy, and we're finding we've moved out of the
fall element to cut off that was causing us to
leak energy, whether it be from things that we're doing
in our lives, things we're not doing, sleep, nutrition, exercise,

(20:39):
like all the big ways that we can leak energy.
We've reworked that here. Now we're storing it up and
we're connecting with purpose. We're connecting with our deeper inner wisdom,
and now we want to take that and as those
little thoughts come up, as those AHAs come up for you,
I want you to record that information. Okay, And when
I say record, this is the an important part of

(21:02):
the reticular activating system.

Speaker 4 (21:03):
Record.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
Don't just stop with Ooh, I would love to have
this okay, Ooh, I would love more peace. Oh doesn't
that sound nice? And then I don't really get a
sense of what that really feels like.

Speaker 4 (21:16):
I want you to go deeper.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
I want you to ask the questions, what does that
feel like? How do I get it? What do I
do with it? What are what does that feel like?
What's that feeling under that feeling feel like? What's that
feeling under that feeling feel like? It's hard to continue
to ask yourself more and more questions. But I do
think that the majority of us, I mean included I

(21:38):
have to work at this, do not go deep enough.
We don't ask enough questions, and our reticular activating system
therefore really never gets programmed. Now it's in the as
a consumer. Why is it so much easier as a consumers?

Speaker 4 (21:54):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (21:54):
I go into best spot, I'm like, oh my gosh,
look at the new full spectrum TVs. Oh my god,
they're so like my TV's not even broke. I started
thinking of ways of putting out to the Innerverse for
my TV to break so I can go get that
new TV. Like, why am I putting so much energy
into that? I've literally thought about I wish my TV
would break so I could go get the new full
spectrum TV. And what's gonna happen is if I think

(22:16):
about it enough, if I kept going to Best Buy,
if I started looking at those TVs on Amazon or
at Costco and I keep putting that out there, it
will my TV will break. So I can't will it
to do that. But that's not where I want to
put my energy, and I don't think that's where you
should put yours either. For me, I'm not here to
tell you what to do, but I'm just like, what
is the next We're about growth, We're about improving quality

(22:37):
of life. We're about improving our overall performance and joy
and connections with people. What are some things that we
can do to do that?

Speaker 4 (22:46):
What are you going to.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
Be cultivating and how are you going to be reprogramming
your reticular activating system. So this is just an important
foundation for a lot of the things we talk about.
So I just wanted to jump back in here and
give a little bit more detail and kind of recommunicate
that and give a new framework on how you can

(23:11):
think about the reticular activating system. Ready, record, activate, stream,
ask yourself questions, get in their people. Appreciate you, Thank
you again for taking the time today, Amy, I missed
you so much. We can talk about this a little
bit more. But for all of you listening, please, as always,

(23:33):
if you can, if you have the wheel power and
you want to help other people reprogram their reticular activating system,
help them understand what it is, help them break patterns
in their life that you're so frustrated with because you
can see it so clearly. They have this pattern and
you would love to help them form new patterns. Or
you yourself feel a little lost, or people who feel

(23:55):
a little lost, please share this podcast with them and
dig to some of our past podcasts. Share it, love it,
like it, leave us a review. Appreciate you guys, Thank
you for taking the time today.

Speaker 5 (24:07):
Bye, Hey friends, thank you for tuning in to the
All Things Good for You podcast. Please note any information, experiences, ideas,
or opinions discussed today are for educational and thought provoking
purposes only, and not intended as medical advice. If anything
piqued your curiosity, please consult with your doctor or personal

(24:28):
medical professional. And if you're enjoying all things good for
your podcast, hoop on over and leave us a five
star review so we can continue delving in and providing
great content. Thanks again, and we hope you are inspired
to stay informed and responsible along your health and wellness
journey
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