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Podcast: Hardwiring Health and Happiness

Transcription of Podcast "Hardwiring Health and Happiness"

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Hello. Hello, Hello. Wonderful people. Welcome to Fit and Fabulous with me, Dr. Orlena Kerek. I hope that you are feeling amazing, amazing, amazing. Today I want to talk to you about hard wiring, happiness, and also about hard wiring health.

You’re Invited to the Happy Healthy Holidays Workshop

Now, before I get into this, I just want to tell you that I am doing an amazing workshop on November the 16th called Healthy, Happy Holidays.

And I know that the holidays are a period of time when things just go haywire. For a variety of reasons, but mostly because there are yummy, delicious things to eat and drink, and we want to enjoy eating and drinking, and it is human nature to want to enjoy eating and drinking. But another part of us really wants to stick to our weight loss, our health goals.

And another part of us really struggles with this because, oh my goodness, you don't wanna feel deprived. You want to enjoy all of this stuff. But it's only once a year. It's only once a year. It's only once a year. And. , you've put on weight in January and then you feel demoralized, frustrated, and you can see this conversation going on in your brain and thinking, Oh my goodness, why is this happening?

Or it might be that you feel peer pressure. Peer pressure is another really big issue, which we'll be discussion discussing in the workshop. So sign up for the workshop. I will put the, the, the sign up in the either in the show notes or in the comments, and. We will be looking at all of these things. It is gonna be an interactive workshop, and you will come away from this workshop feeling different, feeling, Oh my goodness.

We're gonna do some amazing exercises so that you have got the tools to really sail through the holidays. And I'm not gonna say it's gonna be perfect and you are gonna. Have changed your entire life, but you will have some amazing tools to help you get through the holidays and really get that balance right.

That balance of, yeah, I'm gonna enjoy life and enjoy the holidays, but I'm not gonna overdo it so much that I feel, Oh my goodness, it's all a total disaster. And obviously, of course, I am going to include some healthy recipes. I'm saying healthy because sometimes we want recipes that. Healthy when really there isn't an entirely healthy option, but.

There is definitely healthy options. So for example, take cookies. You can have cookies that my son makes that are full of butter and sugar and flour, and that's basically everything in them. Or you can use healthy ingredients and there is a big difference between one and the other. So if you are coming, let me know what recipes you want because I'm busy putting the recipes together right now.

So make sure you come to that workshop. It is going to be amazing and I've. Put aside an hour and a half for it. It may just be an hour. It kind of depends how many people turn up, but it really also depends on the work that we do together. It is gonna be amazing, and I really think it is a good investment of your time.

And I really urge you to show up live if you can. It's at 9:30 AM Eastern time. There will also be a replay because I understand that not everybody can turn up live.

How Do We Hardwire Happiness and Health?

Now moving on to today's podcast, Hard Wiring Happiness. Now I read Hardwiring Happiness is a book by someone called Rick Hanson. And I remember reading this book years and years and years ago, well it probably wasn't years and years ago, a while back at some unspecified time.

Our Brains Can Either Be Relaxed and Calm

So this is relaxation. Things going well. You know what this feels like when you feel calm, relaxed, happy, and you've just got life. Life is just, you know, on a roll or you can lead life. And you know, we go through phases where sometimes we're in calmness and sometimes we're in Stressless. We're gonna call calmness green light.

Or Our Brains Can be Stressed and “Reactive”

Now the other side is responsiveness, reactiveness. It is being triggered, it's being angered, it's being stress. and that is the red light. And our lives are a balance of the two of them, and it's perfectly normal to be to have red in your life.

In Modern Times We Spend Too Much Time Being Stressed

But the problem with modern life is that we spend too much time in red light. We spend too much time being stressed, being overwhelmed, and I'm just gonna read from his book because he quotes five reasons why this is not good. And I think this is really important.

The Problems With Being Too Reactive and Stress Are:

Quoting from “Hardwiring Happiness” by Rick Hanson:

“So if you are in response of, if you are in this red light all the time

you get reactive when conditions are challenging. So if something bad happens, you get super, super stressed.
You feel uneasy, dissatisfied and disconnected even when conditions are fine. So things are going well, you are still feeling stressed.
You overlearn from bad experiences.
You become quickly sensitized towards reactivity. You're going to become reactive. You're gonna turn to red more frequently.
You return slowly to the responsive mode, to the the green mode. So it's taking longer for you to turn back,even when the coast is clear.”

Now, there is good news that basically we want to be in the green zone more..

Why is It Better to Be Calm and Relaxed More Frequently?

Why do we want to be in the Green Zone more? Well, for the reverse of all of those things really. So when something bad happens, we have the tools to get back to center, to get to calm down, and I. Look at what happened to my daughter. If you didn't know my daughter a couple of weeks ago had a really nasty head injury.

I Used My Calming Down Tools When My Daughter Was in Hospital

Oh my goodness. It was the longest day of my life. It was amazingly stressful, amazingly traumatic. Now, I am used to working in a hospital. I'm used to working with children in this condition. I'm not used to being the mother. Being the mother is 10 times worse, but it was so traumatic for me. But luckily, I had all of these tools that I could use.

So yes, I was in a really, really stressful situation, but I was aware that I was in a stressful situation and I used tools to help me. I remember that first day being in hospital and using the tools and really just focusing on my breathing, really coming into that moment right now. And I remember when she had her first CT of her head scan being, having to wait outside and really one of the tools that I use with my clients a lot.

Thinking about the long term goal and creating that long term goal for which for me at that moment was, whatever happens, whatever the outcome of this CT scan, it will be, okay, in the long term I will get my daughter back and healthy. And that was my long term vision and that really gave me something to latch onto a little bit of hope in that well of disaster that you.

Just amazingly stressful day that I have now, just so that you know, my daughter is now much, much better. Thank you. Children are incredible in their amazing resilience to repair themselves. It's been nearly two weeks. She will hopefully be going back to school on Monday. So not an insignificant thing to happen, and I will be honest with you.

I know that for the week, two weeks afterwards, it really. I felt myself not being the same person, not my normal, full of energy and excitement. Yes, I'm happy and smiley and I can function normally, but just knowing that my mood was a little bit lower and knowing why my mood was a little bit lower and focusing on making sure that it didn't get worse, so, Here's what this means to you.

Essentially, you want to get to have your green light being in that calm mode far more than you are in the red mode, because when you do that, you can cope with everything better. You don't get knocked sideway. Which means if emotional eating is your thing, you are not going to turn to emotional eating, but whatever your thing is, stress is not good for us, whatever it is, even if we don't do anything, having loads and loads of stress in our life is not good for us.

A little bit of stress is okay, but being constantly in that area of stress is not good. So the question then becomes, Well, how do I do that? I can see that I have too much stress in my life. How do I manage my life so that I don't have so much stress? Well, obviously you need to pay attention to all four of my pillars, but.

All 4 Pillars Help Build Your Calming Down Tools

Rick Hanson talks about different things. Now. I'm sure he would agree that all four pillars are super important.

So just in case you don't know, pillar number one, healthy eating, loving healthy food, and really the key has to be enjoying it.

Pillar number two, exercise that lights you up. arPillow number three, delicious healthy sleep.

Number four is the emotional and mindset piece, and really this is part of pillar number 4.

You Can Notice Good Experiences You Have or Create New Ones

So what Rick Hanson talks about is really creating, well, either having those experiences, your brain needs to experience those positive experiences, and you need to latch onto them a little bit more, take them in a little bit more.

We all have good experiences in our life. Now, you may say to me, No, my life is really, really stressful. There's nothing good. Yes, there is. It's just that you haven't noticed it. So you can either notice the good things or you can create other good things. You can go out of your way and make sure that you create good things.

But today I just want to talk on noticing those good things, and they can be anything. They can be lying in bed feeling, Oh my goodness, this is comfortable, this is enjoyable for my body. And just fixing on that for a little. It can be going outside and feeling a fresh breeze on your face, feeling the sun shining on your face.

It can be holding your child's hand. Now, I'm not saying that the negative things don't happen. Of course they do. Just because you focus on the the positive things doesn't mean the negative things don't happen, but it's the same other way around. Just because you focus on the negative things doesn't mean the positive things don't happen.

Positive and negative things happen and you can train your brain to focus more on the positive things. And the more you do this, the more it becomes a habit. That's the hard wiring bit, is basically making it into a habit. So here is my question for you today. What good things can you notice and just take them in a little bit more and really realize bird song, rain, You might like rain.

It's different for everybody. Another thing to think about as well is if you're thinking, Oh my goodness, I can't think of anything. Then have a think about the things that you have. What would life be like if you didn't have them? So for example, your dressing gown, something really mundane. I love my dressing gown.

It's fluffy. I've had my dressing gown for as long as I've had. My oldest child who is 14, I bought it and it's fluffy and pink. And I saved it for when I went into labor and had went into hospital with him. So I know that my dressing gown is 14 years old, but I love my dressing gown. I love the fact that it keeps me warm when I'm cold.

What would life be like without a dressing gown? What would life be like without? The people around you without the things that you have around you without a dishwasher and a washing machine, and all of these things that we take for granted. What would life be like if we didn't have running water? So when you say to me, Hey, I don't have anything good in my life, I challenge you and say, think again.

Because you do. You have good things in your life. You just need to notice them. And the more you notice them, one, the easier it becomes to notice them. But the more this calms you down and puts you into green mode and allows you to be able. Cope with whatever challenges. Now this is about hardwiring happiness, but I think the same thing, a similar thing really happens when you are hardwiring health as well.

And coming back to having the holidays, where I want to get people to is to say, Hey, you know what? I had an amazing holiday and I didn't put on weight. It was great. I enjoyed. So talking to the ladies who in My Healthy You Healthy Family Group this week, the week after Halloween, Some of them were saying, Oh my goodness, I kind of forgot it was Halloween and I didn't eat any Halloween candy, and it wasn't a big deal.

It wasn't like I felt deprived, I just didn't want it. If you don't want something, if it doesn't matter to you, , you don't feel deprived. And that's where I want you to get to that is Hardwiring Health, so that you are not tempted all the time, that you are loving your life, you are enjoying your life, and your life is set up such that it is helping you achieve your either weight loss or health goals.

And really weight loss and health are very, very similar. So you can do a similar thing with. with health. Now, obviously it's not the same as just noticing healthy things, but how does it work with health? So, for example, you can notice how you enjoy doing healthy things. I went for my first run today, my first run after the summer.

So in the summer I'm busy swimming, swimming, swimming. Now it's getting a little bit colder and I'm not swimming every single day. I am looking forward to going swimming later on today, but I went for a run today. And running, I find much more difficult. I know I'm definitely gonna be sore tomorrow, but I can notice the good things about running.

Oh my goodness. Number one, I went for a run and I remember when I first started running a couple of years ago, I really had to build up to that. And now I can just go for a run and it's fine. And when I get in, I feel tired and amazing and full of energy. So noticing all of these good things about healthy.

So same with healthy eating. People often say to me, Oh my goodness, I don't really like healthy foods. I much prefer the junk foods. Well, it's the same thing. You need to train yourself to look at when you do enjoy healthy foods and how you feel when you've eaten healthy foods, and really pick out all the amazing things about healthy living and how much energy it gives you and how much better you feel in yourself.

A lot of people talk about brain fog and how their brain fog goes when they start paying attention to themselves and really taking care of the. So my friends, I hope that was helpful. It has been lovely getting back on track. Really, my week last week was just knocked sideway, so it's lovely to get back to be back in the Facebook group.

If you're not in the Facebook group, come and join us in the Facebook group and remember to come and sign up for the Healthy Happy Holidays workshop. It is gonna be amazing. Okay, have a fabulous week. Bye-bye.

Healthy Happy Holidays Workshop: https://www.drorlena.com/healthy-holidays