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Welcome to Grow Plants, Grown People.
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The podcast where we discover that the principles which help gardens flourish are often the very same principles that help people grow.
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And together we're exploring one of the most fascinating gardens of all.
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The human mind.
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In our last episode, we explored how the brain gets programmed.
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And we discovered that from the moment we were born, our brains are constantly receiving information.
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From the things we're told.
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From the experiences we have.
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From the things we repeatedly think, hear, and do.
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And all gradually contributing to the programming we carry with us.
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But once you begin to understand that, it raises a rather important question.
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Because if you spent twenty, forty, sixty years, perhaps even longer, building up all of that programming.
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What happens if some of it isn't helping you?
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Are you stuck with it?
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Is the brain you've got today essentially the brain you're going to have for the rest of your life?
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Or can it actually change?
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And that's where we come to one of the most fascinating discoveries about the human brain.
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Neuroplasticity.
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Because your brain isn't simply a finished structure that reaches a certain point and then becomes fixed.
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It has the capacity to continue changing and adapting throughout your life.
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And if the brain can change, then suddenly we have to ask a very different question.
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Not simply, how did I become programmed this way?
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But do I have to say it this way?
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And that's the conversation we're going to explore today.
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Because understanding neuroplasticity might just change the way you think about your own capacity to grow.
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I'm Christian, and after more than 40 years in horticulture and over two decades of helping people build confidence, develop skills, and overcome limitations.
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I'm now also a certified self-talk trainer with the Self-Talk Institute and a certified life coach with the Life Coach Institute.
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And across those very different areas of my life and work, I've discovered that one factor influences almost everything else.
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The way we talk to ourselves.
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We now bring a shared professional foundation to the conversations we're having here.
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And we've arrived at exactly the same conclusion.
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The most important conversation you'll ever have is the one you have with yourself.
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And that conversation becomes even more interesting when we begin to understand something about the brain.
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Because for a very long time we've there's been a commonly held belief that was as we grew older, the brain became fixed.
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That once it had developed, that was more or less it.
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And I think many of us have grown up with some version of that idea.
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I know I have.
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You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
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People don't really change.
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I'm too old to start again.
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Or perhaps simply that's just the way I am.
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But neuroplasticity gives us a very different way of looking at the brain.
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Because the brain isn't simply sitting there unchanged, carrying exactly the same wiring for the less for the rest of our lives.
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It has the capacity to change and reorganize in response to what we learn, experience, and repeatedly do.
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And that's important for everything we've been talking about in this series.
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Because we've already established that our programming influences our beliefs.
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And we've explored how that programming gets into the brain.
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But if the brain remained permanently fixed once that programming was established, well, we'd have a bit of a problem.
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Yes.
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Fortunately, that's not the end of the story.
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And this is where today's episode becomes much more than a conversation about how the brain works.
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Because neuroplasticity gives us something incredibly important.
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A possibility.
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Yes, it doesn't mean that changing something we've thought, believed, or done for years is necessarily quick or easy.
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And it doesn't mean to say that we can simply wake up in the morning and decide to be different and instantly rewire everything that's been built up over a lifetime.
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But it does mean that existing patterns don't necessarily have to be permanent.
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And for me personally, discovering that was huge.
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Because there was a time in my life when understanding that one idea that my brain could continue to change, completely changed the way I thought about what I might still about
Load full transcript
what might still be possible for me.
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Ah and we're going to come back to that.
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Because neuroplasticity isn't simply something I've read about.
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It's something that became an important part of your own story.
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It really did, Daniel.
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Yes, it did.
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But before we get there, we need to understand what this rather complicated sounding word actually means.
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So let's start with the brain itself.
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And the discovery that it isn't nearly as fixed as we once thought.
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So, Christian, let's begin with the word itself.
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Neuroplasticity.
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It sounds complicated.
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But the basic idea really isn't, actually, Daniel.
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Neuro refers to the brain and nervous system.
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And plasticity refers to the ability to change, adapt, or reshape, or to be reshaped, should I say.
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So when we talk about neuroplasticity, we're talking about the brain's ability to change and reorganize itself.
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Absolutely.
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And in response to those, to the things that we actually experience.
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And the things we learn.
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And the things we repeatedly think and do.
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And that's important.
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Because for a long time, the adult brain was thought to be much more fixed than we now understand it to be.
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The idea was essentially that the brain developed while we were young.
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We reached adulthood, and after that, there wasn't a great deal that we could do about the basic brain we ended up with.
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But discoveries about neuroplasticity challenged that.
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Because the brain continues responding to experience.
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Connections can be strengthened.
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Others can become less dominant.
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And networks can reorganize as we learn and repeatedly use them.
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So neuroplasticity doesn't mean that the brain is endlessly growing larger.
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And it doesn't mean that changing your brain is as simple as deciding you like a different one.
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It means something much more useful than that, doesn't it, Daniel?
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Indeed, it does.
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You know, the brain remains capable of change.
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And when you think about it, we experience some of this capacity for change throughout our lives.
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Every time we learn something we couldn't previously do, perhaps.
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We're asking the brain to respond to new information and experience.
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Ah, so think about learning to drive.
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Right.
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At the beginning, everything demands attention.
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The mirrors, the clutch, the gears, the steering, the indicator, the speed, other traffic.
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And you're thinking about virtually every moment.
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But with the repetition and the experience, something initially required that required an enormous conscious effort becomes much more familiar.
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The experience has changed you.
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You've learned.
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And learning is possible because the brain isn't simply a static structure.
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It actually responds.
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It adapts.
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It changes.
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And this brings us straight back to what we've been exploring throughout this series.
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In episode seven, we looked and explored at the idea that programming creates beliefs.
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And in episode eight, we looked at how the brain gets programmed in the first place.
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Information coming in, experiences, repetition, the things other people tell us.
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And eventually the things that we begin telling ourselves.
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Some of that programming is incredibly useful.
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And we need it.
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It helps us learn.
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And it helps us to develop skills.
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It helps us navigate the world without having to consciously relearn everything every morning.
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But as we explored the last time, not everything that finds its way into the filing cabinet isn't necessarily accurate.
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Or useful.
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Or something we would consciously choose today.
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And that's where neuroplasticity changes the conversation.
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Because if the brain were completely fixed.
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Then once the programming was there, that really would be the end of the story.
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But it isn't, is it, Daniel?
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Indeed, it is not, Christian.
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The same capacity that allowed us to learn and develop patterns in the first place.
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Also means that the brain remains capable of responding to new learning and to new experiences.
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And that doesn't mean old programming simply disappears.
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Or that the years of established patterns can be erased in one positive thought.
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But it does mean that the existence of an old pattern doesn't automatically make that pattern permanent.
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And when I first understood that, it changed something quite profound in me.
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No, Christian, you've said several times that discovering neuroplasticity was quite a significant moment for you.
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It was.
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It really was.
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And I think I'd like I think to explain why I probably need to go back quite a long way.
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How far?
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Well, certainly back to the late 1980s.
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That makes me sound old.
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Well, you know, that was really when my own journey into personal development began.
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And I had this very strong sense that there was something more inside me than I was managing to bring.
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Excuse me, there was something more inside me than I was managing to bring out into the world.
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And so I actually started searching.
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Searching for answers?
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Yeah, it was, yeah.
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I read books, I explored different ideas, I watched and learned from other people who seemed to be achieving extraordinary things.
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And I could see that people could grow and they could change.
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But somehow I could never quite find my own missing piece.
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And yet from the outside, someone looking at your life might have seen things rather differently.
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Absolutely.
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I'd built a career in horticulture, I'd worked at some some wonderful gardens and taken on considerable responsibility.
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Later I'd become self-employed.
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I'd built my own horticultural consultancy practice.
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So I'm not saying that I hadn't achieved anything far from it, but inside I knew that there was more.
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And I knew there was a version of me that I wasn't quite managing to bring out.
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And the best way I can describe how I felt and how that felt and how that felt, it was that it was like I was living in a paper bag.
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A paper bag.
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Yep, a paper bag.
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I know it sounds a bit odd, but this is how it was.
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I could see where I wanted to get to, and I knew that there was more outside of the bag, and I kept trying to punch my way through it.
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I'd find another idea, punch.
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I'd read another book, punch.
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I'd try something else, punch.
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And something I'd well sometimes I'd actually make a little tear.
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Something would shift, and I'd think perhaps this is it.
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But I never quite seemed to completely break through.
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So you didn't stop looking.
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No.
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And that's important.
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Because I never stopped believing that there was more there, I just couldn't understand why I couldn't seem to reach it.
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And that continued for years, believe you me, it continued for years.
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And then about eight years ago, I read The Power of Neuroplasticity by Dr.
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Shad Helmstetter.
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And I reached the part where he began to explain neuroplasticity.
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And something clicked.
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Well, something more than clicked.
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It actually opened up my whole world.
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Just it my whole world, it it just opened up.
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What was it that affected you so strongly?
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It was actually understanding that my brain wasn't simply finished.
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Because I've grown up with the same general idea we've been talking about, that as we get older our brains become set, you're basically wired the way you're wired, and that's you.
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But suddenly I was reading that the brain retained the capacity to change.
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Oh, and Christian, that changed the way you looked at yourself.
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Completely.
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Because if my brain could continue to change throughout my life, then perhaps I could continue changing throughout my life.
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And suddenly that person who'd been trying to punch her way out of the paper bag for all those years didn't quite seem as trapped anymore.
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That's quite a realization.
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And I want to be careful here.
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Reading a chapter in a book didn't suddenly transform everything overnight.
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The paper bag didn't magically disappear.
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Unfortunately not.
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Something incredibly important did change.
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And it had changed.
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What you believed was possible.
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Possible?
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Exactly.
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For the first time, I understood that the way I'd been that the way I had been programmed didn't necessarily have to be
the way I remained.
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I wasn't finished, and neither was my brain.
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And what's particularly interesting about your story is that you'd already spent years exploring personal development.
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I knew people could change.
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I'd seen the results that other people had achieved.
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What I hadn't understood was what was happening underneath it all.
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The connection between personal growth and the way the brain actually works.
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Exactly.
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And when Daniel and I had the opportunity to speak to Dr.
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Shad, he talked about that very connection and how our understanding has changed as neuroscience itself has developed.
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So let's hear Dr.
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Shad explain it in his own words.
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But no one is telling us how it works.
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Why is that?
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Why is it really working?
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There were some early suggestions, but no one was saying this is 100% wiring in the brain.
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This is neuroscience.
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And if you look at the entire world of self-help, the view of neuroscience, that explains why it works to set goals in a certain way, or that explains why attitude makes a difference, or that explains why believing actually affects the future of our life, and so on.
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We didn't know that at that time, and that's simply because neuroscience wasn't in the spotlight.
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Neuroscience hadn't progressed to the to the level it has today, and it hadn't it wasn't popular at that time.
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I remember early seminars when I would begin to talk about the brain.
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I I watched people turn off.
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I watched their eyes kind of glaze over at the mention of brain stuff.
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And so I was very careful in how I presented the concepts that I was teaching about self-talk.
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But today you can talk about the brain openly and you can talk about neuroscience, and here's how it works, and here's what it does.
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And because of many incredible neuroscientists along the way, they've made it clear and simple enough for all of us to understand.
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It I was turned out my original assumption that it had to be that personal growth and really getting there had to have something to do with how the brain is wired.
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That turned out to be true.
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I'm so glad it was, because I would have been way off otherwise.
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But I was talking about how the brain works before we could look at it internally and watch it work.
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But everything I was studying to me said, oh, this it all points to this one solution that is if we figure out how the brain works, then we'll be able to get better.
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Then we then we're gonna live happier lives.
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And today that's what more and more people are doing.
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Self-talk, precision self-talk is the is the bridge.
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It is the bridge between I'd like to get better, to here's what to do to actually practice getting better.
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Because self-talk rewires the brain, it connects the goal, getting better, with the solution.
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And that solution is rewiring the brain.
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Because knowing that the brain can change is incredibly powerful, but it doesn't mean that change happens instantly.
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Or simply because we want it to.
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Because it's very easy to hear the word neuroplasticity and jump from the brain can change to, therefore, I can change anything immediately.
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And that's not what we're saying, Daniel.
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It didn't happen overnight.
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Right, Christian.
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Neuroplasticity gives us the capacity for change.
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Yes, but the capacity isn't the same thing as instant transformation.
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If you've been thinking something for years.
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Believing something for years.
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Or behaving in a particular way for years.
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The fact that the brain is plastic doesn't mean those established patterns simply vanish because you decide you'd rather have different ones.
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But neither does their age automatically make them permanent.
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And that is the hopeful part.
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Your history matters.
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Your experiences matter.
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Your programming matters.
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But none of those things necessarily mean that the story has finished.
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And perhaps this is where the name of this podcast becomes particularly appropriate.
00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:08.319
It certainly does, Daniel.
00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:10.480
Growing plants, growing people.
00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:19.200
Because growing isn't about pretending that what came before didn't happen.
00:28:19.519 --> 00:28:19.839
No.
00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:29.519
In horticulture, whatever I'm working with today is the result of the things and everything that's happened before.
00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:38.640
You know, the soil, the conditions, the weather, the way the plant has
been cared for, the environment it's been growing in.
00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:44.240
But that's not necessarily the end of the story.
00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:45.599
Exactly.
00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:52.799
And I'm not suggesting that plants and brains work in the same biological way.
00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:53.839
They don't.
00:28:54.240 --> 00:29:00.319
But as an analogy, there's something I find incredibly powerful about it.
00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:06.640
What's there today matters, but so does what happens next.
00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:22.880
And neuroplasticity gives us a scientific reason for understanding why, when we're talking about the brain, what happens next can matter.
00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:27.200
Absolutely, because we're still capable of learning.
00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:32.799
We're still capable of experiencing something differently.
00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:36.319
And we're still capable of developing.
00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:40.640
And we're still capable of change.
00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:50.799
And if you're listening to this and there's something about yourself that you've been carrying around for years.
00:29:52.319 --> 00:29:58.799
Perhaps something you've come to believe is simply part of who you are.
00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:02.240
I've always been like this.
00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:05.279
I've never been good at that.
00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:08.799
I'm too old to change now.
00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:21.279
Then perhaps the most important thing to take from today's conversation is not that you have to know how to change it.
00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:24.079
Not yet.
00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:39.759
The starting point is simply understanding that the brain you have today is not necessarily incapable of becoming different tomorrow.
00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:44.559
And I know how significant that realization can be.
00:30:46.960 --> 00:30:57.279
Because for me, it was the moment I stopped seeing the paper bag as something I might have to live inside forever.
00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:03.920
It didn't tell you everything you needed to do next.
00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:04.559
No.
00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:09.279
But it showed me there could be a next.
00:31:09.920 --> 00:31:10.240
Ah.
00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:18.559
And perhaps that's the real hope within neuroplasticity.
00:31:19.279 --> 00:31:22.880
Yes, your past has helped shape you.
00:31:23.440 --> 00:31:26.720
Your programming has influenced you.
00:31:27.279 --> 00:31:39.440
But neither necessarily has to be the final word on who you become because the brain can change.
00:31:41.279 --> 00:31:44.319
And that means we can continue to grow.
00:31:46.480 --> 00:32:01.839
If today's conversation has got you thinking about some of the programming you may have picked up along the way, you may also want to go back and explore some of the foundations we've been building through this podcast.
00:32:04.559 --> 00:32:14.400
So perhaps the question to take away from this episode isn't simply can my brain change?
00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:22.480
But if change is possible, what might I want to change?
00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:29.519
Because sometimes the first step isn't having all the answers.
00:32:31.200 --> 00:32:38.960
It's giving yourself the space to stop, reflect, and begin asking better questions.
00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:45.200
Now we've made that much easier for you.
00:32:46.559 --> 00:32:55.519
Throughout our first six episodes, we created a reflection worksheet to accompany each conversation.
00:32:56.319 --> 00:33:01.119
And we brought all six of those worksheets together in one place.
00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:07.119
The Growing Plants, Growing People Foundation Workbook.
00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:13.839
And it's designed to help you work through those first six conversations at your own pace.
00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:17.759
To reflect on what you're discovering.
00:33:18.079 --> 00:33:25.279
And to begin connecting with some of the ideas we've been exploring to your own life.
00:33:26.400 --> 00:33:30.160
So whether you've been with us from episode one.
00:33:31.359 --> 00:33:35.200
Or you've only just discovered Grown Plants, Grown People.
00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:39.519
The workbook gives you a place to begin.
00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:45.519
And you'll find details on how to get your free copy in the episode notes.
00:33:48.960 --> 00:33:57.759
And sometimes, of course, working through questions on your own is only part of the journey.
00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:03.680
Sometimes what we really need is the opportunity to talk.
00:34:04.640 --> 00:34:06.799
To have someone listen.
00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:08.880
Ask questions.
00:34:10.159 --> 00:34:21.199
And give us the space to think about where we are, where we'd like to be, and what might be getting in the way.
00:34:23.119 --> 00:34:26.719
So we'd like to offer you a special invitation.
00:34:28.480 --> 00:34:30.079
Ask yourself this.
00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:43.519
When was the last time someone focused solely on you, what you want to be and have in your life?
00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:58.719
If it's been a while, or perhaps you've never had that kind of conversation, we're offering listeners for growing plants, grown people the opportunity to have a free coaching call with one of us.
00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:04.480
This isn't about telling you what you should do.
00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:07.920
And it's not about trying to fix you.
00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:15.440
It's simply an opportunity to step away from everything else for a while.
00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:20.719
And have a conversation that's focused entirely on you.
00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:23.280
Where you are now.
00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:25.519
Where you'd like to go.
00:35:26.320 --> 00:35:31.679
And what you'd like the next stage of your growth to look like.
00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:38.239
You'll find the details for booking a free coaching call in the episode notes.
00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:47.679
And perhaps that conversation could be the beginning of discovering
what's possible next.
00:35:50.960 --> 00:35:55.760
So today we've discovered something incredibly important.
00:35:57.039 --> 00:36:07.760
Our brains aren't simply fixed structures that they reach a certain point and then remain exactly the same for the rest of our lives.
00:36:08.719 --> 00:36:12.400
They retain the capacity to change.
00:36:12.719 --> 00:36:18.639
And to learn, to adapt, and to develop new patterns.
00:36:20.320 --> 00:36:32.559
And when we connect that back to everything we've been exploring throughout this series, it gives us a very different way of thinking about our programs.
00:36:33.599 --> 00:36:43.280
Because the programming we have today doesn't necessarily have to be the programming we carry with us forever.
00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:48.960
And for me, discovering that changed everything.
00:36:49.679 --> 00:36:59.119
Because suddenly that paper bag we talked about earlier didn't have to be somewhere I lived in for the rest of my life, Daniel.
00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:05.119
But there's a question that comes out of all of this.
00:37:05.599 --> 00:37:07.519
And it's a pretty big one.
00:37:09.039 --> 00:37:17.760
Because most of us haven't spent our lives doing nothing about the things we'd like to change.
00:37:18.239 --> 00:37:20.159
It's quite the opposite, actually.
00:37:20.960 --> 00:37:22.559
We've read the books.
00:37:22.880 --> 00:37:24.639
And we've set the goals.
00:37:25.119 --> 00:37:27.760
We've made the resolutions.
00:37:28.239 --> 00:37:31.360
We've listened to the motivational speakers.
00:37:31.920 --> 00:37:34.480
We've tried new routines.
00:37:35.039 --> 00:37:39.440
And sometimes we've started with enormous enthusiasm.
00:37:40.719 --> 00:37:44.239
And for a while, it works.
00:37:46.800 --> 00:37:48.400
We feel different.
00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:50.960
We behave differently.
00:37:51.280 --> 00:37:51.920
We think.
00:37:52.239 --> 00:37:54.320
This time I've cracked it.
00:37:56.719 --> 00:37:58.800
And then something happens.
00:37:59.519 --> 00:38:01.599
The enthusiasm fades.
00:38:02.639 --> 00:38:04.719
Life gets busy.
00:38:05.360 --> 00:38:08.079
The new routine starts slipping.
00:38:09.440 --> 00:38:21.119
And gradually we find ourselves dripping back towards the very thing, or the very things we were trying to change.
00:38:23.199 --> 00:38:25.440
And that's confusing.
00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:28.559
And it certainly was confusing for me.
00:38:29.599 --> 00:38:43.119
Because if neuroplasticity tells us that the brain is capable of change, why can lasting personal change sometimes be so difficult?
00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:54.320
And perhaps an even more important question is what are we missing?
00:38:56.239 --> 00:38:59.840
I spent years trying to answer that question.
00:39:00.639 --> 00:39:05.599
And some of those things you tried weren't necessarily bad ideas.
00:39:06.239 --> 00:39:08.079
No, not at all, Daniel.
00:39:08.320 --> 00:39:19.360
Some of some were extremely useful, and that's important because we're not going to spend our next episode telling you that personal development doesn't work.
00:39:20.239 --> 00:39:22.320
Quite the opposite, Christian.
00:39:23.119 --> 00:39:30.559
But there's something I didn't understand then that I understand very differently today.
00:39:32.400 --> 00:39:38.800
Because what happens when we consciously decide we want something different?
00:39:40.239 --> 00:39:48.159
But underneath that decision, we're still carrying years, perhaps decades, of existing programming.
00:39:50.480 --> 00:40:02.400
What happens when the new direction we're consciously trying to take comes up with patterns that we've been operating for years?
00:40:04.079 --> 00:40:15.760
And could that help explain why we can start with all of the determination in the world and somehow find ourselves returning to the familiar?
00:40:17.840 --> 00:40:20.639
That's where we're going next.
00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:28.880
In episode 10 Why most self-improvement doesn't last.
00:40:31.840 --> 00:40:43.119
Because once we understand why change so often doesn't stick, we can begin asking a much more useful question.
00:40:44.800 --> 00:40:49.199
What would have to change for change to lust?
00:40:52.800 --> 00:41:00.880
So perhaps the most important thing to take away from today's conversation is a very simple one.
00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:05.119
Your brain is not finished.
00:41:05.760 --> 00:41:17.440
And neither is your capacity to learn or to develop or to grow or to change.
00:41:26.800 --> 00:41:33.039
But it doesn't necessarily have to determine the person you become tomorrow.
00:41:34.079 --> 00:41:46.480
And if your brain can continue to change, then perhaps there's far more still possible than you once believed.
00:41:48.639 --> 00:41:50.239
Until next time.