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Ep 26: The Thought That Changes Everything: A Series Finale on Aligned Living
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In the series finale of Aligned Living with Dr. Autumn, we break down why making wise choices isn’t just about discipline or willpower. It’s about whether your mind and body feel regulated enough to support good decision-making. This episode explains how emotions provide important information, how a calm nervous system keeps the brain’s decision-making center (the prefrontal cortex) functioning, and how chronic stress disrupts judgment and self-control. Drawing from neuroscience, emotional intelligence, and faith, Dr. Autumn shows how caring for your whole self helps you make consistent, aligned choices—without burnout or constant struggle.
Intro and Outro Music Credit: Savage by Beat Mekanik, Free Music Archive, License type: CC BY
Please visit: www.autumnswain.com
Contact: autumn@thealignedleader.org
IG: @drautumnswain
FB: Autumn Alena Swain
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Transcript
Introduction to Aligned Living Podcast
00:00:05
Speaker
Hello there, I'm Dr. Autumn, leadership consultant, wellness coach, author, and I'm incredibly grateful to be your host of the Align Living podcast.
00:00:19
Speaker
I'm here to equip you with the tools, inspiration, and practical tips necessary to lead a life of wholeness and pursue greater shalom in your life and that of your families, teams, and communities.
Mission of Empowering Leaders
00:00:34
Speaker
My mission is to empower you to lead from a place of holistic wellbeing. It's time to say, peace out to the fatigue, fog, and frustration of living in a place that lacks abundant wellbeing.
Dr. Autumn's Roots in Holistic Health
00:00:49
Speaker
Join me as we embark on a comprehensive exploration of spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, social, and economic well-being, all within the comforting embrace of one podcast.
00:01:08
Speaker
Hey, good people, Dr. Autumn here, and welcome back to the Aligned Living podcast. um I'm actually wildly excited about um this episode because when I think about the roots in what drew me into this work with um the pursuit of wholeness and holistic health and all the things.
Influences on Choices: Brain, Emotions, and Spirituality
00:01:27
Speaker
um I just wanted people to live better, feel better. um I just saw the collective impact that this work could have.
00:01:36
Speaker
But the longer that I've been in it, I've realized the key is understanding what influences our choices, our decisions. We are bombarded with information um that tells us, okay, this is how you can eat. This is how you can sleep better, like mental health resources, all the things.
00:01:56
Speaker
But if we don't make the right choices, now what's fascinating about how God created our bodies, the deeper and deeper i went into studying this, our emotions, our brain, our thoughts, our neurons, our spirituality, all of it.
00:02:08
Speaker
um I realized that there are some very specific things that we could do to positively influence um our decision making. At the same time, there are some, you know, barriers that we face in our culture and times.
Awareness in Decision-Making
00:02:22
Speaker
and that make it more difficult to make the right choices if we lack awareness. It's really not a hard thing. It's just that sometimes we lack awareness and we're just going through the motions. And so I want to help you understand what is happening in your body to inform your choices today. And I'm actually going to be basing this episode off of the, ah um I don't know if it's popular, but fairly well-known saying, thoughts become things. Someone really close to me had used that phrase when I was kind of sharing my thoughts behind this episode. And I was like, you know what?
00:02:56
Speaker
That's exactly what this is all about. Like, um ah you know, some people like to use this word manifestation and they look at folks like, man, they manifested that. But honestly, um once you hear this episode today, you'll understand what actually is going into your body, happening in your body and why.
00:03:17
Speaker
um thoughts do sometimes become things. And um yeah, so I'm super excited to share this with you. Hopefully you'll be as fascinated with it as i am because it changes everything. um Now I'm wrapping up. This is ah episode three in a series that I did on the mind,
Highlights from Previous Episodes
00:03:33
Speaker
right? So over the last few episodes, we've been on this journey into this incredible design of the human mind our thoughts and emotions and beliefs quietly just shape the way that we live, the way we lead, the way we choose, the way we show up in this world. um So we had started with a therapist. Go back and listen to that episode if you haven't. 24. she helped us understand just ah the wiring from our early childhood and how our brains learn safety or threat or just even a different attachment styles, which is a topic I've been fascinated with lately. um And then how can we gently rewire those patterns that no longer serve us? Okay.
00:04:13
Speaker
And then after that, we heard from spoken word artist who courageously just shared her story of breaking free from limiting beliefs and really anchoring herself in truth and faith and identity. And that was just a really fantastic conversation. So Today, i'm not interviewing anyone. Solo episode, you get to hear from me, but um something I'm very, very passionate about. So hopefully I intrigue you in what I have to say. So this is really the landing point for this series. It's where science and story and spiritual formation all come together. So we're going to talk about...
Understanding Emotions as Data
00:04:49
Speaker
why emotions are information and not the enemy. I've heard so many people tell me, you know, just make different comments when it comes to that word emotion. So hopefully you'll have so much clarity um over these next like 30 or so minutes.
00:05:04
Speaker
um We'll also talk about how thoughts literally shape our brain wiring, our body chemistry, our behavior. And there you go. That's where you learn about that saying thoughts become things and what it actually means.
00:05:16
Speaker
why making good choices often feels so hard. So we're going to dip into that because I want to make it not feel so hard for you.
Science, Story, and Spirituality in Awareness
00:05:24
Speaker
And then how wisdom, habits, spiritual rhythms make aligned living so much easier, not heavier. all right.
00:05:32
Speaker
So this episode in summary is really just about living awake instead of on autopilot. So super excited to give you some self-awareness here. we just want to form a mind that serves our calling, right? And partnering with God in the renewal of your whole self.
00:05:53
Speaker
So let's get into it. um I am going to try to break this up into segments so that it's really palatable for you because there's a lot of information here, but I'm going to categorize it or focus it so that hopefully it's really easy to understand. So um the first part here i want to dive into is looking at emotions as information and then wisdom as the guide.
00:06:14
Speaker
This might not sound intriguing to you, but it will change everything in your life because It doesn't matter who you are, what your personality type is. When we receive information or stimulus, the very first part of your brain that's activated is your emotion center. And so we're going to talk about that.
00:06:35
Speaker
But um i in episode 23, called the goat episode, right? Michael Jordan, the goat, 23 episode. Most of you probably already caught that. No need to explain. But I talk all about wisdom as this ah spiritual discipline and this ah valuable characteristic that is way underestimated. So I'm going to share a little bit more in this episode how to apply wisdom to these different spaces. um So, yeah, just knowing that emotions are not the enemy. All right. Emotions are data.
00:07:09
Speaker
This was transformative to me when I understood this and started applying it to my life. um Emotions are just signals from your nervous system, from your body body and brain, saying, pay attention, something here matters. All right.
00:07:26
Speaker
Fear, for example, can alert us to danger or sadness can signal loss. Anger can point to a lot of things, but violated values, for example.
00:07:36
Speaker
um Joy can tell us that we're aligned. We're feeling more whole. The problem isn't the emotions themselves. It's when emotions become the decision makers. All right.
00:07:48
Speaker
Without emotional maturity and wisdom, emotions could pull us into this reactive pattern. So if you think about, man, there's, you know, I'm here, but I want to be over there. Why am I not closing this gap? Again, it comes down to choices. And this emotional maturity and wisdom, this has everything to do with bridging that gap. Okay, if we get stuck in a reactive pattern, we're not going to get there.
Wisdom in Emotional Interpretation
00:08:15
Speaker
What are evidence of reactive patterns?
00:08:18
Speaker
Avoidance, people pleasing, defensiveness, impulsive choices. So just mull that over for a second. But wisdom asks the better question.
00:08:32
Speaker
What is this emotion trying to teach me? What do I need to understand about myself right now? Is it showing me something that I lack? Is this showing me a gap? Is this showing me something good? Like, what is this emotion trying to teach me?
00:08:47
Speaker
Now, ah the Bible actually, Proverbs, the wisdom um book, there's a lot of wisdom in all the books, but This is named very clearly. it says, the beginning of wisdom is this, to get wisdom, though it costs all you have, get understanding. That's what we're talking about here. Wisdom doesn't suppress the emotion. It interprets the emotion. All right.
00:09:14
Speaker
I could imagine at least half of you listening to this have dealt with the suppression of emotions. Maybe all of you, not just yourself. I'm saying dealt with it. Either you or somebody, you know, a loved one, a friend, who suppresses emotions and the negative consequences of that. So wisdom interprets these emotions. It's information. When emotions provide the information and wisdom provides the
Neuroplasticity and Thought Patterns
00:09:38
Speaker
direction, our choices become grounded, not reactive. And that's the beginning of peace as well, but we won't even go there in this episode.
00:09:48
Speaker
um So part two, like entering, post-understanding emotions as information, exercising wisdom. Now, why do thoughts become things? Let's look at the science and the scripture, because God is a God of art. God is a God of science, like how our bodies are wired. That is that is faith and science coming together. All right. So you've probably, again, read heard this fit phrase thoughts become things and I know it sometimes can sound a little cliche but it's actually very very real science and deep biblical wisdom behind it so I want to break this down for you in a few parts
00:10:33
Speaker
First, understand that your brain is always rewiring. It's not like set in stone. That's what neuroplasticity is. You've probably listened to another podcast episode or seen this pop up in your social media feed if any of those topics are somewhat of interest to you. Neuroplasticity just means your brain is not fixed.
00:10:55
Speaker
Neuroscience literally tells us, that i thought this was a cute little quote, that neurons that fire together wire together. So remember that because all that means is that repeated thought strengthens neural pathway.
00:11:10
Speaker
It doesn't um have prejudice towards whether that thought is positive or negative. Whatever's repeated, that neural pathway is going to be strengthened. This is why they say you you should hear like 10 positive things to every negative.
00:11:25
Speaker
So, for example, hope will strengthen that hope pathway or fear on the other side of the spectrum will strengthen fear pathways. Gratitude. I'm a huge believer in gratitude. My hardest times naming things to be grateful for that will strengthen your resilience.
00:11:44
Speaker
On the opposite end, rumination, mulling over negative thoughts can strengthen your anxiety. All right. So this is really what it means when we say thoughts become things like those neural pathways um that, you know, are are wired are producing something. But the good news is you could rewire them for those that aren't serving you well. So what You practice meant mentally in your head, your thoughts, you're reinforcing neurologically. It's actually taking place physically in your body via neurons. Okay.
00:12:21
Speaker
Fascinating stuff. Very, very hopeful, by the way. Now, um the other part, um just when we talk about thoughts become things, the science behind it, besides neuroplasticity in our bodies, we have a reticular
Thoughts' Impact on Well-being
00:12:34
Speaker
activating system.
00:12:35
Speaker
And all this means is what you focus on expands. Now, you will never be able to look at something again, like something happens in your life and then you notice it everywhere. Now you'll always remember this is your reticular activating system because your brain has a built in filter. And that's what the system is. And it decides what information gets your attention. All right. Because we're exposed to, i don't know the exact stat, but probably trillions of stimuli, you know, all the time.
00:13:05
Speaker
um throughout the day. And so your brain's deciding what information is getting your attention. So when you focus on a threat, you're going to see danger everywhere. That's paranoid people become more paranoid.
00:13:16
Speaker
Inadequacy, like if you're feeling inadequate inside, you're going to notice rejection more. You're not going to notice the compliments of how amazing you are. You're going to notice the rejection. Now, same thing on the positive side, growth, for example, you focused on growth. Like this is going to be the year you're going to spot opportunity. All right. So this is actual physiological reality of your brain. I know sometimes we like to throw it out there as like, whoa, like I was thinking about this and then all of a sudden this happened. Well, it's actually your brain filtering things. This is your ah RAS. All right. your Your focus trains your perception.
00:13:50
Speaker
And scripture, again, supports all this science because in Philippians 4 8 it says fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and good and it goes on right because we if if God cares so much about us and loves us so much he wants our life experience to be good so we got to focus our thoughts have to focus on the good all right now it's not being I'm not talking about toxic positivity I'm talking about like we even in places of grief and and lament
00:14:21
Speaker
How we manage our thoughts and our emotions and use wisdom through good times or hard times all will lead to a a better life well lived, right? And um again, because this isn't, God says this to us not because We're ignoring our reality, but just because of this fact that focus shapes your experience, it just does.
00:14:44
Speaker
All right. So the third thing impacting the statement, thoughts becomes things. um Your brain chemistry follows thought patterns. Okay. So your thoughts actually trigger chemicals. And I've talked about this. can't remember if it's a previous podcast episode, but in my course, so when you go to autumn sway.com, you can learn a lot more about my in-depth course and coaching um options, which i intentionally made a very low cost because I want anyone and everyone to access it. So I go into a lot more detail about neurotransmitters and what impacts them. um
00:15:18
Speaker
And so, and there's a lot more conversation about this now too, especially around dopamine because of our social media and all these addictive patterns that people are getting into But anyways, I digress.
00:15:29
Speaker
um Your thoughts actually trigger ah trigger chemicals. OK, so, for example, hope and gratitude and connection with people is why we need people. Good, positive connection stimulates dopamine and serotonin. serotonin is super, super important for your overall well-being. Mind you serotonin does require good gut health to be produced. So it's not just your thoughts, your brain. It's not just the hope and the gratitude, but also you need good gut health.
00:15:58
Speaker
They work together. um Dopamine, again, at healthy, sustained levels, it's really good for us. The problem is is we can have too much dopamine or too little that has a very negative effect. So um hope, gratitude, connection. ah Chronic fear and negativity will spike your cortisol and adrenaline. OK, so again, your brain chemistry, what your thoughts are going to physically impact your body, because over time, if there's an imbalance here, It'll affect your mood, your digestion, your immunity. Like maybe you get sick really easy you're like, I don't know why um my neighbor never gets sick. Well, maybe your neighbor has a lot less stress than you do or you're balancing, you know, you're managing your stress differently. Inflammation, sleep, emotional regulation, like all these are things are affected by these chemicals. which are affected by your thoughts. All right. So your body's being impacted by your thoughts. Right.
Interaction of Emotions and Thoughts
00:16:54
Speaker
Not just your mind.
00:16:55
Speaker
um Now, behavioral loops. This is very, very interesting because I had to do a deep dive into this because I always want to know, do your emotions inform your thoughts? Do your thoughts inform your emotions? It's actually a loop because your thoughts will inform your feelings. Like what you dwell on will impact your emotions and how you feel, which will then heavily impact your actions, which of course, most definitely impact your outcomes. This is why I'm saying if you want good outcomes in life, this episode is like it. Like you, we have to understand what is happening in us.
00:17:36
Speaker
So your cognitive behavioral therapy confirms confirms this loop, okay? That thoughts shape your feelings and then your feelings influence your actions. Then actions create outcomes, okay? Okay. And then your outcomes will then reinforce your beliefs. So that is where this whole loop comes together. These are patterns form. It's also how they change. Okay. So if you have this loop and you feel like you're stuck in it, you could disrupt this anywhere. Right. So it can start with just trying to change your thoughts, which then can input impact that emotional output. Right. And how do you change your thoughts? You know, you could, you could do that by, the people you put around you by, you know, praying by the own, your things that you're telling yourself, a journaling therapy, there's so many things that you could do.
00:18:24
Speaker
So just consider your inputs in your life, right? So I do want to clarify this um because I was just going to skip through this really quick, but I want to kind of um highlight this loop a little bit more because it's easy to get stuck here. So i want to equip you with a little bit more information So from a neuroscience perspective, emotions are that precognitive part. Like I was telling you before, emotions are first. It's that sensory input, whether it's tone of voice, facial expressions, a memory cue, body sensations like that is first, but it's very, very fast. So that's your limbic system, your amygdala.
00:19:07
Speaker
And so that is the first receptor of that input. um It's before the prefrontal cortex. So your prefrontal cortex is where that wisdom comes from, the spirit in that prefrontal cortex, right? It's the thinking, it's the reasoning, meaning making. that fully engages after the limbic system. Okay. But this happens in milliseconds. It's so quick. And this is why you can literally feel something before you know why, whether it's anxiousness or defensiveness or sadness, right? Because this is happening really quick. Now, emotion is the body's fast signal, but then the thought
00:19:47
Speaker
is the brain's slower interpreter. This is why we have to get there to the prefrontal cortex to exercise wisdom, but that requires emotional regulation, emotional maturity, emotional health, okay? Now then, what I was, you know, I told you I did this deep dive researching this because I'm like, thoughts also inform emotions. Emotions inform thoughts, but thoughts inform emotions. So which comes first? Well, it's the emotion quick signal is in informing your thoughts, but then your thoughts then, depending on what you're thinking about, if you're using wisdom, if you're in a state of like flight or flight fight or flight or inner calm, then your thoughts will inform your emotions again. And that's how some of those, like if you have childhood trauma and certain thoughts and emotions trigger um and a neurological path in your body because it's tied to a memory, we need to retrain. That's what neuroplasticity, again, we need to rewire
00:20:50
Speaker
what that means what that means for you and your body. So if closeness activates a fear that closeness isn't safe, but we know that closeness is good for us, we need community, we need to rewire that. And that happens through experience of positive, safe people, helping our our body's nervous nervous system that's tied to these memories say, no, I can and be safe with somebody. I don't need to retreat or um you know, leave a healthy situation because my body's telling me something, right? This is the rewiring.
00:21:26
Speaker
All right. So pro we're process emotions before interpreting them.
Healthy Emotion Processing
00:21:31
Speaker
That's what happens. That's what we're talking about. so Unprocessed emotions often leads to this distorted thinking, um catastrophic interpretations, or super rigid beliefs like, I'm not enough, or this always happens, right?
00:21:48
Speaker
But healthy processing, when you, and there's things that you could do, everything I talk about in Aligned Living, spiritual formation, eating right, exercise, all of it, healthy community. It helps us in this healthy processing stage so that we can notice the emotion. We can name it. Then we can regulate our nervous system and then allow it to settle slightly. Okay. And only then does the prefrontal cortex come back online. This is so important because we need this to make good choices. All right.
00:22:18
Speaker
So um actually one of my favorite scriptures, and I've had my kids meditate on this too, It says, be quick to listen, but then slow to speak and slow to become angry, right? Because we don't want to be reactive. It's it's telling us, like, let's give our bodies the space to use that part of our brain that we need, all right, to make good decisions. So, um,
00:22:45
Speaker
how emotions form our thoughts. All right. This is when we process them really well. Once we're regulated, emotions then provide very meaningful data. And this is where wisdom enters. We, you know, emotions don't dictate our reality. They just highlight what in our life is requiring a discernment. Where do we need to lean into wisdom? All right. And so then that thoughts begin to shape our emotions. It's that other part of the room. Emotions inform thoughts. Now thoughts are informing emotions in a healthy, safe way. Like, you know, you could think like God is with me. Okay. Emotions soften. You feel more peace or this is hard, but it's not permanent. That emotion stabilizes, build resistance versus the opposite. If you're like thinking like I'm not safe. Okay. Well, an emotion is going to totally intensify and you're going to feel fearful. All right. So this is super, super relevant. I hope you guys are seeing this because I'm really excited about it. You know what? I made um a realization that my podcast is really about equipping people to live healthy.
00:23:54
Speaker
life well it's not going to be the sexiest the most funny content out there but I promise you if you stick with me I'm going to help you live life better okay now um okay so anyways that's the feedback loop I'm really gonna I'm gonna stop there because I can go on and on because this is all just like super fascinating to me but um okay so now we're gonna jump into back to thoughts become things that We went one, two, three, four, and now we're on five. This is the last one.
00:24:21
Speaker
um Epigenetics. I'm not going to dive into this. There are some great books out there, like The Body Keeps the Score. We can learn more about epigenetics, but it is a factor in thoughts become things. Environment and stress can influence gene expression. It's very, a little bit complex, but once you get the concept, um it is something that's been pretty fascinating that a lot of communities have been learning more about.
00:24:46
Speaker
And so with that being said, the last thing here is we're going to jump into brain chemistry and choice because, you know, again, this is there is physiologically things happening your body are impacting your choices. There's tiny shifts you can make in your habits. All the things I talk about in the line living that will help. adjust your brain brain chemistry to support good choices. Okay.
00:25:10
Speaker
So we've already talked about serotonin. These are these key neurotransmitters that deeply, deeply influence decision-making. All right. Who would have ever known? We don't think about that. We just think will willpower, like, but stuff is happening in our body to help this because my most stressful times, my lowest points, didn't feel like doing anything.
00:25:30
Speaker
But I knew um that I needed my neurotransmitters to be in a good place to support good decision making and help me start to feel better. So I did the things. I got in sunlight, went for a walks. I prayed. I listened to uploading uplifting music. I got around positive people, even though I didn't feel like and I like did the things. I did small things of productivity. I gave back.
00:25:53
Speaker
All right. So serotonin stabilizes your mood. It heavily impacts sleep and digestion. And low levels of it create irritability and depression and fatigue.
00:26:07
Speaker
All right. this is just a tiny snapshot. You can learn so much more about these, but I don't want this episode to be too long. Dopamine. Again, this is your motivation and reward neurotransmitter.
00:26:20
Speaker
But get this too little. You'll have a low drive. But dopamine is that thing where you can have too much and that can lead to impulsivity or addiction. There's been a couple um books released. I can't say good or bad because I haven't ah fully finished them, but um I will let you know. But um hopefully if I remember,
Nervous System Regulation
00:26:43
Speaker
but too much again, constant scrolling or, um you know, the access to drugs and alcohol or there's all these things out there that are giving us these high dopamine spikes. We're getting too much of it. So the impulsivity and addiction is ah is a high risk of too much. And again, too little totally decrease your motivation.
00:27:04
Speaker
Oxytocin, this is I love this one because this requires people and community. Bonding, trust, and safety happen with good oxytocin levels, and it's released through connection, through prayer, through worship. Safe relationships, okay? Now, the habits that support healthy brain chemistry are um good nutrition. So healthy fats. I'll talk about that all day long. Get enough healthy fats, your omega-3s, your leafy greens, super nutrient dense also will help this. Fermented foods. Again, that's probiotics and such because it's important for gut health. a Movement from walking to strength training, everything in between. Movement is great.
00:27:47
Speaker
um relationships, shared prayer, touch, eye contact, being in positive relationship with one another, and then spiritual rhythms, of course, gratitude, meditating on truths, worship, all of these things. Your biology is not separate from your spirituality. It's all part of your formation.
00:28:05
Speaker
Now, um one thing that's really important to know, because I had a realization that I'm like, what? Like my body was in fight or flight for a long time. I thought I was good, but I didn't realize that my period in the rest and digest stage was a lot less than I thought. I was doing a lot of the good things, but I had a lot of stress in my life and I needed to get super strategic about pulling my body into that parasympathetic nervous system space, um that inner calm. Okay, so when stress is dominating, that's when your nervous system stays in this fight or flight. Okay, and wisdom won't thrive there. You have to bring yourself into the space of inner calm to access the clarity and the creativity and discernment, right? Lord knows we all need good discernment in our lives to have a life well lived. So shifting to the rest and digest. What's so great about this is God created our bodies so that we could do simple things to pull us into that state.
00:29:08
Speaker
Box breathing is a great one. This is essentially just very deep breathing and grounded breathing. um Prayer and stillness. Consistent sleep rhythms, really important. All right. Then when you have a regulated nervous system, then you're going to make wise wise choices possible. Right. And that's what this all is all about. OK, so I wanted to learn a little bit more about how a regulated nervous system impacts the prefrontal cortex, okay, because that is where we need to go to make these good decisions. So when the nervous system is regulated, that prefrontal cortex stays online. and We can pause, we can discern, we can choose wisely. But when our nervous system is dysregulated, that's when our brain is going to quickly go back into survival mode.
00:29:56
Speaker
Prefrontal cortex goes offline and choices are becoming reactive and impulsive and avoidant. And that is not good for us. Okay. So emotional regulation is literally going to determine whether we respond with wisdom or react from survival. So again, if I could summarize all of this down to making good choices, we need, absolutely need good emotional regulation. All right.
00:30:19
Speaker
And so um i'm I'm not going to go in depth in sympathetic versus parasympathetic, basically fight or flight versus rest or digest. You could find information out there on it. But um what I do want to say is when the brain is regulated, that's where you're going to access the ability to make good choices, impulse control, moral reasoning, discerning,
00:30:41
Speaker
empathy even, which will significantly impact your life, future-oriented thinking, right? Not just staying in this instant gratification place. um All of these things, it's just so, so important. And the prefrontal cortex requires a sense of safety to function well. Again, why nervous, ahating regulating your nervous system, emotional regulation is so important, okay?
00:31:07
Speaker
And there are things that physiologically are happening in our bodies when this happens. Again, I'm not going to go into all of that, but it is fascinating and hopefully this has been enough to create a conviction in you to really prioritize this and take time to process it
Emotional Regulation and Holistic Living
00:31:23
Speaker
for yourself. So Because, because again, when your nervous system is all dysregulated, your amygdala is going to sound the alarm, your stress hormones are going to surge, your blood flow is not going to be going to that part of the brain you want it to be in.
00:31:37
Speaker
um It's going to prioritize speed over wisdom, right? This is why sometimes... people get brain fog when they're in this really high stress place. And um we just don't want to be stuck there. Okay. We don't want to be stuck making impulsive decisions and um difficulty accessing the space we want to access. And we don't want to be in a state of defensiveness, withdrawal, all the things. Okay.
00:32:02
Speaker
So um what's so interesting about this is this is why sometimes people will tell me like, I know what the right thing is but I'm just not doing it.
00:32:13
Speaker
All right. Like now that you're understanding, this is not just like a simple like choice attached to that choice is a lot of other things. But again, if you listen to all this and you start to feel overwhelmed, just say like, wow, this is hopeful because to find emotional regulation, I just need to start doing all the aligned living things Autumn's been talking about. like the healthy things, like eat good whole foods and go for walks and have good people in your life. You know what I mean? So there's so much hope here. Talk to God no matter what state you're in, right?
00:32:48
Speaker
So being regulated is your access to choice. It gives you the space. It's the space between that stimulus and
Brain's Preference for Familiar Patterns
00:32:59
Speaker
the response. All right.
00:33:01
Speaker
Okay. So um I am going to, um there's a lot more I could share here, but I'm not going to dive deep into how regulation helps with executive function and spirituality and all of that. I encourage you to experience for yourself, um practice emotional regulation and ah see what happens in your life. See how it impacts your choices. As a matter of fact, I would love to hear your stories. You can go to autumn sway.com. I have a contact box. It goes straight to me. I would love to hear your stories on how starting to apply some of this and consider it has impacted your life, your peace, your choices. Okay.
00:33:39
Speaker
So just remember regulation gives you prefrontal access, which equates to wise choices. All right. um Let's see. Okay. we're going wrap up couple more quick things just to tie it all together. Wrapping up this three-part series, thoughts become things. um I touched on this really briefly, but why we don't do what we know is good. If you get into that place, again, this is not a character flaw. It's neuroscience. The brain defaults to efficiency.
00:34:12
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Familiar patterns feel safer than change. That immediate comfort often beats out long-term wisdom. Okay, but it doesn't have to. I'm just letting you know, why do we do things you know that we know we shouldn't? Why do we not do it as good?
00:34:27
Speaker
Now, on top of that, Your brain defaulting to efficiency, if you're exhausted or in pain or experiencing shame, then follow through is going to be even more difficult.
00:34:37
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So where's the hope in this? What helps so that you can create a new brain pattern that defaults to an efficiency that is good for you? So you do what you know you want to do. What helps? Okay, starting small, small victories, just do small things, and then pair those habits with joy. Again, joy is a spiritual expression. So you can be going through a hard time and still have joy. You could be going through a good time and still have joy. Okay.
00:35:04
Speaker
And then practice self-compassion. Like shame will shut down this whole process. Grace will fuel growth. And if you're having a hard time finding self-compassion, call somebody, you know, that cares about you and they will start this process for you. I guarantee there are people in my life that I will hands down ah will help them find some grace for themselves. All right.
00:35:26
Speaker
Now, um cultivating wisdom across all the six dimensions that I talk about in Align Living is really important. I'm actually going to a separate episode on this, or I might just dive deeper into it in my um course, my Align Living course, because we want to know how to apply wisdom to all these areas, you know, from spiritually seeking God's voice, to mentally giving space to learn and reflect and grow, physically caring for your body, so on and so forth.
00:35:55
Speaker
Make wise choices around all these areas, including people, your social life, including money, your economics, right? so quick a quick habit framework. is going to really quick, just a few things you can grab onto. um Because it all starts with small rhythms, right? Because we can't change everything overnight. So one, eat for your brain. like Those are the leafy greens, the omega-3s.
00:36:23
Speaker
Eat healthy. Cut out the processed food and the artificial sweeteners that are neurotoxins and so and so forth.
Supporting Brain Health with Habits
00:36:30
Speaker
Move consistently. Don't just do a hard workout for 30 minutes, then be sedentary all day. Like move your body. This is why the 10,000 step concept is brilliant because it'll keep you moving. um Sleep rhythmically, like have a plan, some routine around your sleep and get good sleep.
00:36:46
Speaker
Remember to breathe. Actually take deep breaths and pray daily. Connect with good people intentionally and then anchor in scripture. OK, these are just a a few things to start with and then you can build upon it.
00:37:04
Speaker
All right. So, friends, my aligned living community, your mind and brain are sacred gifts that God gave us to stewards that we could live well because he
Aligning for Flourishing Living
00:37:14
Speaker
loves us. They were never meant to run on autopilot.
00:37:18
Speaker
When emotional awareness and neuroscience and healthy habits and spiritual formation come together, that's where aligned living becomes sustainable. So just a few quick takeaways.
00:37:33
Speaker
Emotions are signals, not dictators. Start there. And then remember that thoughts shape your body and your relationships and your direction. So be mindful of them. and use wisdom. Practice it daily because this leads to a flourishing and purpose-filled life.
00:37:50
Speaker
So I just want to say if this series or even this episode's encouraged, do you share it with somebody who needs hope or clarity? Maybe a friend who's been frustrated and trying to work towards a goal and failing and, you know, let have them listen to this. And if you want to go even deeper, again, you could send me your questions through my ah website, autumn swain.com. And I'll definitely be accessing those. And I do live coaching sessions online. in addition to all the um lessons that I have up in that community space. But until next time, thank you for sticking with me. This is a little bit longer episode, but again, all of this comes down to choices. So I hope you are blessed by it. I appreciate you all.
00:38:32
Speaker
Align your life, expand your capacity and flourish with purpose. Take care.
00:38:41
Speaker
Thank you for tuning in to the Aligned Living Podcast. I'm Dr. Autumn, your guide on this journey to shalom or wholeness. Ready to embark on this journey of self-discovery and transformation?
00:38:56
Speaker
Head over to autumnswain.com to learn more and to dive deeper into the world of Aligned Living. Until next time, stay aligned.