Managing Depression and Anxiety: A Neuroscience Approach with Brain Lady Julie

Did you know that a depressed brain looks significantly different than a “normal” brain when scanned? Or that over 70% of the serotonin produced in your body is made in your gut? Depression and anxiety take a heavy toll on the brain and the body but no worries, Brain Lady Julie is here to guide you through what is happening in your brain and how to help it.


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PLEASE NOTE: The information contained in this podcast is not at any time and for any reason meant to replace the guidance and/or treatment of any health professional. Whether it be a medical doctor, psychologist, psychotherapist, or anyone in the medical field. If you are under the care of such a health professional, remember this is an “added value” and not designed to replace any care you are currently under.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Brain. Lady Julie here to talk about the managing. The
topic for the month is managing depression and anxiety, kind
of a neuroscience approach. As I get started, I want
to make sure that because this is a topic that
carries a very serious tone to it, right, depression and anxiety.

(00:28):
I want to make sure that anybody watching, anybody listening,
if you are suffering from this, please reach out for help.
Please contact a therapist, a doctor, a psychiatrist, a good friend,
a life coach, whatever it is. Right, know that there
are a lot of systems out there, a lot of

(00:50):
things to help that I think you would benefit from.
So that's I want to encourage you to do that.
And second, I want everybody to know this is really
for informational purposes only. Everyone's brain is so unique. Everyone's
brain is so unique, and everyone's situations and circumstances and
body is so unique that I want to make sure

(01:12):
that you understand this is for information purposes. Right, take
this information, build on it, go to your take it
to your therapist, your doctor, whatever, But it is for
informational purposes only. Okay with that, This is the time
of year where a lot of times people tend to
experience more anxiety, more depression due to circumstances. Right, So

(01:41):
if that's the case, that's what I'm going to try
to share some tips on how to navigate through that
in this video today. And that's what I want to
help people for. It's important to understand kind of the
neuroscience I think it is. You know me as a
brain lady, I'm just fascinated with neuroscientists and neuroscientists and
the neural research that's being done with all of these

(02:05):
very amazing scanning machines and technology that's helping us to
really understand the brain so much better. And I think
I find it particularly helpful in situations with stress and
anxiety that we know what's going on in the brain.
So I'm going to share a little bit of that.
I also am going to help you to think about

(02:27):
how can I identify triggers that may make my symptoms worse?
And then what are some coping mechanisms that I can
put into place or that you can put into place
to help you through these times. What are some of
those effective coping strategies? What do they look like? Again?
Informational purposes, your situation is unique to you, I understand that,

(02:48):
so some may work well, some you may have to
tweak to fit you and your circumstances personally. So with that,
let's get started. Why does the fall winter time of
year affect people differently? While there's several contributing factors that
we're going to talk about, but I want you to

(03:09):
understand that you need to first really take note in
your situation and recognize the difference between short term, seasonal, right,
or episodic type of depression or anxieties, and long term
or chronic Because you're gonna even though a lot of

(03:30):
the coping mechanisms and a lot of the treatment is
very similar in both cases, understanding the cause is critical
for really helping that mind brain connection and understanding positive
steps to take to take to move forward. Right, it
could be that it's seasonal because of the shorter days,

(03:53):
less sunlight. We're going to talk about that a little bit.
It could be that it's episodic because of things that happen. Right.
If you are, for example, a person who has high
anxiety in crowded spaces, and this time of year brings
more people out, and the grocery store is more crowded
and the malls more crowded and the parks are more crowded, right,
that can cause you additional anxiety. You can also perhaps

(04:17):
experience loneliness during this time of year, maybe a little
bit of fomo that can lead to depression. Right when
you hear or you watch things on social media you
know me and social media that could possibly be causing
additional anxiety or depression or stresses, then that can definitely

(04:38):
have an effect on you. The first thing that I
really want people to understand is that it isn't anything
to be ashamed of. It isn't anything to stress yourself
out over and compound the symptoms. What happens a lot
of time with individuals who suffer from high anxiety or depression,

(04:59):
they think there's something wrong with them. And this can
be just like led to or made even bigger by
people in your life, friends, family that perhaps are trying
to help you out a little bit and may say
things like, well, just snap out of it, just come
with us, you'll feel better. It could be well meaning.

(05:21):
The challenges is when that happens and you don't feel better,
then you think something's wrong with me. Right, then you
add to that by the negative feelings towards yourself and
the negative self talk on some of my other videos,
some of my shorts here on the YouTube channel, or

(05:42):
in things that we've covered in the past and our
Women Excelling Everywhere Success collective. You know, we've talked about
the power of wards and how words literally change your chemistry.
So understanding that the importance of monitoring yourself talk. If
you are in this kind of downward spiral of what's
wrong with me, that's just gonna make it even worse, right,

(06:02):
that's gonna make it even worse. What I want you
to understand is it is something that is different in
your brain. The way your brain's firing, the way your
brain's functioning is different when you are in a depressed state,
especially if you have chronic depression. So I'm gonna show
you and this is, like I said, this is something
that I am always so fascinated with. Is the neuroscience piece.

(06:27):
So I'm going to pop up here on the screen
the difference between what a normal brain looks like and
what a depressed brain looks like. Can you see the difference.
This is just one rendering of I believe this is
a spec scan through my studies of the aim in
clinics and as a brain health professional. These are some

(06:48):
of the slides that I learned from or that I
gained insight from. And you can tell the total difference
between a brain that is functioning, the thought processes are
functioning normally and a brain that is depressed. Right, it's
pretty pretty significant there. The difference. Right, one is firing

(07:10):
fairly normal in a lot of different areas, and the
other one is the areas that are firing are your
sub areas, the subcortical areas, which can be very hazardous
to your frontal cortex, not being able to function to
even think about how do I get myself out of
this state. So it's important to understand this is not

(07:31):
this is not something that is you know, just oh,
just snap out of it, right, It's something that is
different in your brain. So you want to pay attention
to that. You want to understand the biology of what
neural is going on. The Journal of Neuroscience. Back in
I believe it was twenty one, twenty twenty one, they

(07:52):
published a study and they had studied twenty four women
who had a history of depression. On average, the hippocampus
in the brain is in the subcortical regions. Right. The
hippocampus of the brain was nine to thirteen percent smaller
in depressed women than those who were not depressed, And
the more bouts of depression that women had, the smaller

(08:13):
the hippocampus. Right. Stress. We know that stress plays a
role in depression, not just because the more stressed out
you are, the more negative you are on your mindset.
And therefore that whole spiral that I talked about earlier, right,
the negative self talk. But we know that connection between
the hyperactivity of the amigala and the activating of that HPA,

(08:37):
the hippocampus, the pituitary, and the adrenal glands. Right, that
HPA axis, how that damages and suppresses the production of
new nerve cells in the hippocampus and flushes the body
with cortisol and other neurochemicals. So it really really literally

(09:01):
functionally in your brain, there is something that is off.
And I want you to really really understand that clearly,
because when you understand that, it takes kind of the
pressure off of you. Right, You're not being as critical
of yourself and thinking there's something wrong with me. You know,
why does this happen? Right. It takes kind of a

(09:25):
little bit of that staying off. Okay, So that's that's
the biology, right, That's kind of what's going on literally
in your brain. Your neural chemistry is off. Oftentimes you
feel good happy, neural chemicals are reduced, or your neural
receptors are not there. There's there's something or not as

(09:45):
active as they should be. So there's just there's something
chemically off in a brain. So take that understand what
is the base of it, so that you take that
pressure off of yourself. Okay. The next thing that I
wanted to cover is what do you do about it? Like, Okay, Julie,
that's great, you know, I know that it's you know,
it is this thing that you just explained. Great, it

(10:08):
was a pretty picture you shared. But what do I
do about it? The first thing? And I'm gonna I'm
gonna have a download that I'm gonna have my uh
just a PDF download that will recap a lot of
what I'm talking about here in this video that I'm
gonna have my graphic designer make this weekend. So we'll
we'll put that in the in the comments once it
is made, because it'll kind of help to recap what

(10:29):
we're talking about here. But if again first step is
it episodic, is it seasonal or is it chronic? Right,
either way, you can definitely seek health and I encourage
you to seek help. All of the things that I'm
going to be suggesting to you here is just an
AD value, right, just an AD value. So if it

(10:52):
is episodic, I want you to learn to recognize the triggers.
So in those moments when you're just feeling that really
that down and depression, I want you to do some
mindful meditation. I'm going to talk about that in just
a minute. But when you are in those moments of depression,
you need to kind of re engage the prefrontal cortex,

(11:12):
which is the portion of the brain that is responsible
for higher thinking, and that depletes. You saw it in
the you saw it in the Pictureke shared, right, The
activity there depletes. And the challenges is when that activity depletes,
well then that thought process gets interrupted, so you aren't
able to logically work through what is the solution or

(11:35):
what is the what's triggering this, what's causing this. So
in those moments, you take that really deep activating breath
for the prefrontal cortex, which is a fore count in
through your nose. You hold it for two and then
you exhale for five through your nose, for four or
five through your nose. Really important that you keep your

(11:56):
mouth shut during this. This isn't to reduce the stress.
This is to engage the prefrontal cortex. And that's what
you want to do in this moment because you want
to be able to understand what are the triggers. If
this is episodic, if this happens every fall, what's triggering me? Right?

(12:16):
Is it a person? Is it a place? Is it
perhaps topics of conversation that come up often at the
workplace or in the family gatherings or in the parties
that you go to? Uh? Is it the music that
plays that triggers you? Right, recognize those trigger points. Recognize
those things that cause you're just after you're in this situation,

(12:40):
after you hear this song, after you you are doing
the you know, going to that party or that gathering,
you're just like you're down and depressed. You're just like, right,
recognize the triggers. Because once you recognize those triggers, well,
now you can have a plan of action in place. Right,
So you can kind kind of take the preemptive strike,

(13:02):
if you will, to put a plan of action into Okay,
when this, I noticed that every time this topic of
conversation comes up at work or it comes up at
the family gatherings, it always makes me feel just yucky.
So what am I going to do? Am I going
to remove myself? Remember, there's nothing wrong with taking yourself
out of a situation or out of a conversation that

(13:24):
is potentially hazardous for you emotionally or mentally. It's totally
and completely all right. Am I going to remove myself?
Am I going to try to change the topic of conversation? Right?
Sometimes you have those those members of the family that
are just the wan wall, Right, They're always in the down.
They're always talking about negative things or they're talking negatively

(13:44):
about other people, and that really brings you down. Well,
perhaps you can have a plan of action of how
you can twist it to the positive, and if that
doesn't work, then you remove yourself. Right, But really kind
of do some of this mindful meditation and just think
what I do in these situations when they begin to
present themselves that can help me to not go down

(14:09):
that spiral into and then become depressed. If it is
as a result of anxiety from being in crowded spaces,
then choose the times you know, have that plan of
action ready in the beginning of the year. Right, if
you're doing special shopping for special people, do it all
year long, right, don't do it in that stress indusday
anxiety of crunch time towards those specific dates in the

(14:32):
in the winter, in the fall and winter. Right, have
a plan of action in place, and remind yourself of
that plan of action. Right, have it visible. Know that
when September hits or October hits, or whatever time of
year that you start feeling that, you print out that
plan of action and you put it right on the wall,
You put it on the refrigerator, you put it on

(14:52):
the mirror. Right. But be ready, right, be ready, because
that's going to help your brain. It's going to help
your brain to respond or to act in the know
how to act in the right way. Right. Is it seasonal?
If it's not episodic, maybe it's seasonal. There are a
lot of people who deal with seasonal effectiveness disorder or

(15:14):
SAD is what they call it, sad disorder because they
get sad, little down get the blues, get depressed during
this time of year due to the fact that there's
not as much sun, especially if you live in an
area of the globe where your days become extremely short,
or perhaps you the weather is what I'm looking for.

(15:37):
I'm looking for that word. A word escaped me, the weather.
I think I was thinking about weather because my feet
are called the weather. That is that is taking place,
more rain, more fog. Right, If those are those are
the situations, then again, have a plan of action, right,
know what you're going to do about it. If you

(15:58):
look up SAD lamps or seasonal effective or seasonal depression lamps,
you can purchase lamps for your home, that for your office,
for your living space that actually provide you with that
a similar exposure to the brain as sun. It's not
going to work as good as sun, but it is

(16:20):
going to be helpful. I've heard a lot of good
things about them. If it is, you can plan to
actually get spend more time in the sun when the
sun's available. So instead of going for a walk in
the wee out, you know, you may do your walk
or your jog, say at six am in the morning

(16:40):
and during the summer, that's absolutely fine because the sun
is out, but at six am in the winter it's darker.
We might want to bump that into the afternoon when
the sun is at its strength, right when the sun
exposure is going to be at its best. Now, by
the way, if we always want to be careful about
our skin health right when it comes to sun exposure,

(17:02):
but oftentimes just twenty or thirty minutes of good sun
exposure can combat that seasonal effective disorder. Well, you can
also plan what I call sun weekend trips during the winter,
you know, maybe a couple of times a month. Maybe
it's just a day trip where you can get to

(17:23):
a very sunny spot. It's very interesting. We live where
we live in the Sierra Nevada, Sierra Nevada Foothills, we
pretty much we have we can have very sunny winters,
even though they're cold, and even though we get a
storm that may come through in dump snow, when that's
when it's over, the sun comes out and it's absolutely beautiful.

(17:44):
We don't oftentimes go through weeks and weeks on end
of you know, darkness or clowniness. Right, whereas if you
just go an hour down the hill into the valley
during the winter months during January February, they're prone to
a lot of fog and their sun exposure may only

(18:04):
be an hour or two a day. So in cases
like that, the valley people can just simply take a
day and afternoon and drive up to where the sun
is more intense, or you can hop on a short
flight if you live close enough to the coastline the
southern coast where you're going to get more sun right
on the beach. Are Sea therapy is wonderful as well

(18:27):
because of the ions and the air and the rhythm
of the waves. I've talked about that before on different videos,
but those are also ways that you can increase your
your sun exposure, right, So kind of have that again,
it's kind of have that plan of action. What am
I going to do? I know, I get down and
depress during this time of year, So what am I
going to do? How am I going? How am I
going to deal with that? Right? So those are some

(18:49):
active things that you can do and be ready for
and help to deal with your depression or anxiety if
it comes connected to seasonal ffieve this disorder, if it
is loneliness or isolation. This is something that happens for
a lot of individuals. Right Again, they may be experiencing

(19:10):
fomo as they see pictures of family together. Well, maybe
you don't have that much family that's still alive, or
maybe you don't you're more of an introvert and you
don't have as a connection to as many people. And
during this time of year, those people may increase their
connection with their family and so that decreases their connection

(19:31):
with you. Right. It could be that maybe you've lost
someone and there is that feeling of loss that becomes
overwhelming during the holidays. That happens a lot for people.
The first thing that I would say in a situation
like this is allow yourself to feel if it is
due to the loss of someone. Resist the urge to say, oh,

(19:54):
it's been a year, it's been two years, it's been
ten years, it's been twenty years. Oh my goodness, it
was thirty years ago. Why do I still feel this way?
Remove the negatives and allow yourself to feel. When you
suppress those feelings, it's kind of like putting the lid
back on the boiling pot. Right, Eventually things you're it's

(20:15):
gonna boil over and it's gonna seep out. And you're
gonna have a mess on the stove. That's what happens
emotionally for you. You don't want to do that. You
want to allow yourself to move through those feelings, acknowledge
where they're coming from and why they are there. The
key is not to sit and simmer in that for

(20:36):
too long. Take the lid off the pot, have a
good cry, process through those feelings, recognize what's going on,
and then take a proactive approach by doing different things
that can help with that situation. So, for example, if
it is the that loneliness or the loss or the isolation,
then join do some volunteer time. There are tons of

(21:00):
opportunities this time of year to volunteer any time of year.
If this is something that happens for you twelve months
out of the year, then volunteer time. Volunteer with local
volunteer groups. It can be anything. It can be at
your local care homes. We often visit older ones in
who are in convalescent homes, and at times that can

(21:23):
be overwhelming and depression depressive in its own way. However,
if you focus on the happiness that you're bringing that
person that's getting visited, I mean think of it from
their point of view. Talk about isolation, right, So volunteer
some time there or just simply go every week. Ask
the aster. You may not have anybody in there that
you know, but that doesn't mean you can't get to

(21:45):
know somebody in there, right, So get out and be
in those places where you're bringing happiness and you're bringing
joy to them. Right. One of another thing that I
tell people is get a dog or a cat, depending
on what you like. Get a pet. There's a lot
of very proven, statistically proven information out there on how

(22:07):
well our brains do and respond to animals, more specifically
dogs Like dogs have just a connection to humans. It
has to do, they believe. Scientists believe with their mirror neurons.
So we have these mirror neurons in our brain, right,
and that is what causes you to yon if I yawn,
or you to smile if I smile. It also causes

(22:30):
you to cry if I cry. It's empathy. These mirror
neurons allow us to be empathetic to other people and
feel what other people are feeling. Dogs have In terms
of the animals species out there, dogs have a very
high number of these mirror neurons and so that is
one of the reasons why they are very good at
connecting with you, at reading your stress, at understanding your emotions.

(22:56):
So dogs make for very good depressive therapy animals, right,
and they can combat that loneliness. And you can even
add that if you have a dog that is specifically
trained for this, you can then take that dog into
convalescent homes and use them as therapy dogs for those
individuals like you can really go places with this and

(23:17):
that can really help to alleviate some of that depression
that you are feeling and your anxiety. So think about
doing some volunteer time, joining some kind of a club.
If there's some wonderful again wonderful neuralscience to back up
the fact that the brains of individuals who are part
of a tight community or who are have hang out

(23:42):
with like minded individuals, their brains do better. We are
herd animals. I tell people this all the time. We
may be higher animals than the animal kingdom, but at
the end of the day, we're still herd animals. We
need people. People need people, So join some type of
a club. It could be a book club if you
like reading. Reading, by the way, is very healthy for
the brain. So it could be a book club if

(24:03):
you like reading. It can be a it could be
some kind of of you know, cross stitching club. I
don't know why that popped into my head, but you know,
it could be any type of club where people get
together on a weekly basis and just hang out, right,
just hang out. It can even be an international club

(24:23):
that's handled here on virtually on zoom right, spread out.
It could be a travel club, right, all kinds of
different things that you can join. Join a club, be
with like minded people, especially if it's a club that
meets at least weekly, if not bi weekly. You can
take classes, right, pick up a hobby, take painting classes,

(24:44):
pottery classes, things where again you're going every week to
and that's going to give you that extra brain stimulation
and it's going to help to combat that depression and anxiety.
If it is has to do with that loneliness piece, right,
or that feeling isolation, this is also very helpful. It
can also mean take a class and you jump in

(25:04):
and take a course, take a I'm a lifelong learner.
I love taking college courses, the extra certifications, as you know, right,
So do something that's going to get your brain engaged
in a different way. And then the last piece is
going to be monitor your self care very closely, make
it a priority during these times when you know you

(25:27):
are going to feel more down, and again, have the
plan of action in place. Now, all of these things
obviously can help twenty four hours or I said, say
three hundred and sixty five days a year. I'm just
saying up at a notch. Or if these feelings of
depression and anxiety tend to hit you heavier during the fall, fall, winter,

(25:47):
then these are things that you want to really have
a plan of action. What am I going to do
this September, this October, this November when I know this
feeling is going to hit me, have a plan of
action to make self care a prior already, right, pay
attention first. The first piece is pay attention to your gut.
We tend to from that October holiday all the way

(26:09):
through January, we tend to kind of mess up our
digestion really bad because of the way we eat and
the things we eat, and they're kind of all over
the place, right, So we want to pay extra attention
to the gut. Ninety percent of the serotonin is produced
in your gut. So if your gut biome is off,
then your serotonin production is going to be off. It's

(26:33):
also can lead to leaky gut syndrome, which can lead
to all kinds of brain issues because of that gut
brain connection. Right. Remember, the gut is just a second brain.
It has millions of neurons in it that communicate directly
up the vagus nerve to the head brain. So keep
that in mind. So be selective about the foods that

(26:54):
you eat. And even if you, you know, take advantage
and indulge in what you indulgent, that's fine. Just make
sure that you're compensating for that by making sure that
you're taking good supplementation, perhaps a really high quality probiotic
or adding in the those fermented foods. Right, those could

(27:17):
be your things like kimchi, Did I say that right?
Kimchi pickles, Dill pickles, specifically dill pickles over sweet pickles. Yes,
sweet pickles are also fermented. However, they have very high
sugar content which is not good for the brain. So
go for your dill pickles, right, go even just take
a drink a shot of dill pickle juice every day.

(27:39):
I know that sounds crazy, it's excellent for the gut.
So those are you know, see if there's ways that
you can supplement that way in your diet. Taking a
good probiotic, feeding that gut is going to help you
produce better serotonin. You might want to supplement with some
vitamin A and D. Right, they're both very good for

(27:59):
the brain. D is that sunlight vitamin and A has
been Deficiency in A has been linked to depression, so
you want to get the A in there. So his
deficiency and D so A is good, very good for
brain function. D is very good. It is the natural.
It is what we call the sunlight vitamin. Right. It

(28:19):
is your body can produce it on its own. It
doesn't have to supplement it if you get enough sunlight
and if your body has its production right. My husband,
it was very interesting. He was low and D. And
when I saw he was low and D, I'm like,
what are you serious? How could it be low and D?
He builds swimming pools, he's out in the sun all
the time. But sometimes your body doesn't manufacture the best.

(28:40):
So you might want to supplement with those, So look
at adding some supplements in there. Right, Taking that good
probiotic or adding A and D into your supplementation or
into your into your daily routine. Right, So that's a
big piece of self care that you need to take
care of. Getting exercise is incredibly important as well. Right,

(29:00):
You've heard me talk about this in the past. Exercise
creeds and doorphins and doorphins make you happy. We know this,
we know this. Off now, if you're down and you're depressed,
sometimes it's hard to even roll out of bed. So
what I suggest to people is, if you are in
that situation, if that's where your your level is that
you don't even want to roll out of bed, then
I'm going to encourage you roll out of bed and

(29:23):
just walk outside and do some deep breathing. That can
be the start, That can be just the first step
in making sure that you are doing exercise, you're getting
out in nature. Many studies have been done where people
say their self evaluation of their depression improves when they

(29:45):
are in green spaces. Right, if the weather's bad and
you can't get out, then bring the green spaces in.
Lots of benefits to plant, having plants. I've done other
videos on it. Watch the other videos, but lots of
benefits if you can't get out in green spaces literally,
so around yourself in a green space, create a green
space in your home, reach out and actually touch the leaves, right,

(30:07):
feel the leaves, wash your plants, do things, interact with them.
I know that sounds a little bit off, but I
promise you studies have shown to the benefits of this dancing,
getting up and dancing to music. Oftentimes when we feel down,
we kind of want to listen to the melancholy music

(30:28):
and that can actually compound the situation. Switch it up.
Play the music that is going to change your brain
rhythm into a more upbeat brain rhythm, right, and actually
physically moving in the dance is going to give you
the effect of exercise if you're not if you don't

(30:49):
feel up to actually doing exercise or going to the gym. Right. So,
those are some little tricks and ideas that you can do.
Make sure that you're doing your daily stretches too. So
it might be that you roll out of bed and
you just stay right there on the floor and you
just start stretching, right, You just start stretching, getting that
circulation going. It makes you feel better physically, which often
has that that mind benefit as well. Okay, keeping your

(31:15):
friends close, being making sure that even though you want
to isolate, you force yourself to even just text your
your friends. Right that this is kind of goes back
to that being part of a group, right, joining a group,
joining a you know, a book club, something like that.
Keeping if we the first thing that you want that

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you tend to want to do when you get depressed
as you isolate, and that's the worst thing that you
can do your brain. So keep those friends close, and
that's going to help in that self care routine. So
it might be that you just go, you know what,
I'm going to make a plan with my best and
we're going to go out. We're going to have coffee
at the coffee shop or at the bookshop or wherever
once a week and we're going to We're going to

(31:57):
do our best to stick to that. That's a really
good self care routine as well. And then I'm going
to finish up. I know this has been a long video,
but I'm going to finish up with mindful meditation. This
is the foundation, the core, at the core of the
work that I do, no matter what I'm coaching on,
even if I'm coaching on entrepreneurs how to get more

(32:18):
things done, or I'm coaching on relationships, or I'm coaching,
it doesn't matter. Mindful meditation is so important. It is
important in just it's important, right, So make sure that
you're doing that every day. When you're doing that, and
if you need more information on that, we have videos
that have been done on how to do mindful meditation
and the benefits of it. For this particular topic, I

(32:41):
want you to really focus on the words you're using.
So every morning when you're doing this, you're going to
bookend your day with mindful mindfulness work. Every morning, you're
going to do those breaths that I talked about earlier,
several of those you're going to come completely in tune
with the now, be one hundred percent present, and then
you're going to really focus on all of the positives.

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You're going to start off your day with that, and
you're going to bookend it. At the end. You're going
to talk about the things that you're you're going to
think about and meditate on the things that you're grateful for.
You may write it in a journal, you may brain
dump it on a piece of paper, and yeah, I'm
not a big right to left you know full sentenced
journal person. I think most people aren't, and I think
one of the reasons why a lot of people struggle

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with journaling is because they feel like they have to
do it this particular way. So I tell people just
brain dump, right, just take a piece of paper and
just draw it out. Just brain dump it. Just write words.
You know, what are the things you're grateful for? The sun,
if you saw the sun this morning, family, health, food, right,

(33:46):
whatever it is, the things that you're grateful for, if
you're when you tell your brain. One of the things
I'm always telling everybody, your brain listens to everything you
are thinking in your mind. So you've got to be
careful what you're thinking about. You've got to be careful
what message you're telling your brain. Your brain's going to
follow suit, and that's what it's going to focus on,
especially during your dream stay during night's time. Right, So

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when you bookend your day with thinking about the positives,
writing down those positive words, writing down the things you're
grateful for, writing down your your ten top favorite things
that happened, your two top favorite things that happen during
the day, your dog, your cat, your spouse, your the
beauty of nature, your plants, whatever it is, write them

(34:31):
down and that what that's doing is that's telling the brain.
I want you to focus on these things, and that's
just going to make it it's just going to kind
of make it blow up if you will in your
mind and in that thought process. Right. So, I've talked
long enough. This has been a really really long live video.
If you have questions about what I talked about today,

(34:53):
then by all means, reach out and you know how
you know how to get in touch with me brain
Lady Julie wherever message me. And as I like to
close out all of my podcasts, I want everybody to
take a nice deep breath then let it out, row
your shoulders back, go out there and simply enjoy every

(35:17):
moment until next time