Stress is KILLING You | This is WHY and What You Can Do | Dr. Joe Dispenza (Eye Opening Speech)

Summary

The script explores the profound impact of stress hormones on health and the power of thought in either inducing or alleviating disease. It emphasizes the human capacity to trigger stress responses through thought, leading to potential long-term health issues. The speaker advocates for awareness and control over our habitual thought patterns to prevent chronic stress, suggesting that by consciously changing our thoughts and behaviors, we can cultivate a healthier, more positive state of being. The narrative encourages embracing a proactive mindset to create a desired future rather than being trapped by past experiences.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Stress hormones can downregulate genes and contribute to long-term health issues, emphasizing the power of our thoughts in affecting our well-being.
• 💡 Humans have the unique ability to trigger the stress response through thought alone, highlighting the direct link between our mental state and physiological reactions.
• 🌱 The potential for our thoughts to not only cause illness but also to promote health is affirmed, suggesting a dual-edged role of mental processes in our health.
• 🦌 Nature's organisms, including humans, can handle short-term stress as a means to restore balance, illustrating the body's innate capacity for self-regulation.
• 🔄 Chronic stress from unmanaged emotional triggers can lead to disease, as the body wasn't designed to remain in a state of emergency for extended periods.
• 🤖 By the age of 35, most of our behaviors and reactions are ingrained, functioning much like a computer program, which can be at odds with our conscious desires for health and happiness.
• 🔄 Habits are formed through repetition, creating automatic patterns of thought and behavior that are hard to break without conscious effort.
• 🌅 Our state of being is often rooted in the past, as we begin our day with thoughts of past problems, which can set a negative tone for the present.
• 📲 Modern life, with its constant connectivity through technology, can reinforce our attachment to past experiences and emotions, potentially hindering personal growth and change.
• 🌟 The empowerment to change comes from within, as we must consciously decide to break free from habitual patterns and choose thoughts and behaviors that align with our aspirations for a better future.
• 🌱 Personal transformation requires becoming aware of and taking control over our emotional reactions, learning to live in the present rather than being controlled by the past.
• 🌈 The act of mentally rehearsing desired outcomes can rewire our brains to align with our aspirations, effectively turning our thoughts into a blueprint for the future.

Q & A

How do stress hormones affect our health in the long term?

Stress hormones can down regulate genes and create diseases as a result of their long-term effects. They can disrupt the body's balance and homeostasis, potentially leading to illness if the stress response is constantly activated.

What role does the human neocortex play in the stress response?

The neocortex, due to its size, allows humans to activate the stress response through thought alone. This means that thinking about problems can trigger the release of stress chemicals in the body.

Is it possible for our thoughts to contribute to our well-being?

Yes, just as thoughts can potentially make us sick, they can also contribute to our well-being. The script suggests that positive thinking can lead to positive outcomes, including health and happiness.

What is the definition of stress as mentioned in the script?

Stress is defined as a state where the brain and body are knocked out of balance or homeostasis. It is the body's innate response to return itself back to order.

Why is it harmful to be in a constant state of stress?

Being in a constant state of stress is harmful because no organism can live in emergency mode for an extended period. Continuous stress can lead to disease as it disrupts the body's natural balance.

What percentage of our behavior by the age of 35 is influenced by memorized sets of behaviors and attitudes?

By the age of 35, 95% of our behavior is influenced by memorized sets of behaviors, emotional reactions, unconscious habits, hardwired attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions.

How are habits formed according to the script?

Habits are formed as a result of a redundant set of automatic, unconscious thoughts, behaviors, and emotions that are acquired through repetition.

Why do our emotions play a significant role in our state of being?

Our emotions are the end product of past experiences, and they influence our state of being because they are connected to our memories. When we recall past problems, we experience emotions tied to those memories, affecting our current state.

What is the impact of our daily routine behaviors on our life outcomes?

Daily routine behaviors can become like a programmed cycle that influences our life outcomes. If these routines are based on past experiences and emotions, they can lead to a predictable and unchanging life.

Why is it important to change our emotional reactions to past events?

Changing our emotional reactions to past events is important because it allows us to break free from the cycle of past experiences that dictate our present and future. It helps us to create new neural pathways and emotional states that can lead to a different life outcome.

How can we use our thoughts and emotions to create a better future?

We can use our thoughts and emotions to create a better future by consciously choosing to think positively and feel emotions that align with our desired outcomes. This involves mentally rehearsing desired actions and states of being, which can rewire our brain to align with our future goals.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 The Power of Thought in Health and Disease

This paragraph discusses the profound impact of our thoughts on our health. Stress hormones can trigger disease by altering gene expression. Humans, with their large neocortex, can activate the stress response through thoughts alone, potentially leading to illness. The text also explores the concept that our thoughts have the power to promote well-being. It delves into the nature of stress, how it disrupts homeostasis, and the innate stress response's role in restoring balance. The paragraph highlights the dangers of chronic stress and the idea that our behaviors, emotions, and attitudes are largely programmed by past experiences, which can hinder our conscious desires for health and happiness. It emphasizes the importance of breaking free from habitual thought patterns to change our destiny.

05:03

🌱 Cultivating Change and Breaking Free from the Past

The second paragraph emphasizes our role as creators of reality and the importance of envisioning a future rather than being confined to past memories. It suggests that by taking control of our bodies and minds, we can redirect our focus from past emotions to the present moment. The text explains how awareness of our emotional patterns and conscious effort to stay present can lead to a liberation of energy and a shift from a state of matter to energy. It also touches on the repetitive nature of our thoughts and behaviors and how changing these patterns can lead to a different destiny. The paragraph encourages us to actively participate in our personal growth, likening it to gardening, where we must remove weeds and prepare the soil for new growth. It concludes by stressing the significance of learning from uncomfortable situations and managing our emotional reactions to avoid being trapped by past experiences.

10:04

🛠 Rewiring the Brain for a Fearless Future

The final paragraph focuses on the challenge of change and the process of rewiring our brains to embrace a future without fear. It discusses how our bodies can become programmed to respond to stress and fear, potentially leading to panic attacks. The text encourages making different choices to break the cycle of fear and stress, even though it may initially feel uncomfortable. It explains the interplay between thoughts and emotions and how they can reinforce each other, leading to a self-perpetuating cycle. The paragraph suggests that by mentally rehearsing desired actions and emotions, we can install new neurological pathways in our brains, effectively creating a map to a better future. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of teaching our bodies to feel the emotions of a positive future before the actual experiences occur, as a way to prime our minds for success and happiness.

Keywords

💡Stress hormones

Stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, are chemicals in the body that are released in response to stressors. In the video, it is mentioned that these hormones can downregulate genes and potentially lead to disease when experienced chronically. The concept is integral to the theme of how our internal and external stressors can affect our health and well-being.

💡Neocortex

The neocortex is the part of the brain involved in higher functions such as thought and action. The script highlights that humans can activate the stress response with just their thoughts due to the size and capabilities of the neocortex, emphasizing the power of our cognitive processes in influencing our physiological state.

💡Homeostasis

Homeostasis refers to the stable state of equilibrium in a living organism's internal environment. The video defines stress as a disruption of this balance, and the body's innate response is to restore it. This concept is central to understanding the body's reaction to stress and the importance of maintaining equilibrium for health.

💡Conscious mind

The conscious mind represents the part of our mental processes that are aware and in control of our actions and thoughts. The script contrasts the conscious mind's desires for health and happiness with the subconscious habits and behaviors that often dictate our actions, illustrating the conflict between what we want and what we habitually do.

💡Habit

A habit is described in the video as an automatic, unconscious pattern of thought, behavior, or emotion acquired through repetition. It ties into the video's message about how our daily routines and behaviors can become ingrained and influence our overall well-being and life outcomes.

💡Emotions

Emotions are the video's central theme as they are portrayed as the end product of past experiences and a driving force behind our state of being. The script explains how emotions can be triggered by memories and how they can influence our thoughts and actions, ultimately affecting our destiny.

💡Free will

Free will is the power of making choices that are neither determined by natural causality nor predestined by fate. The video discusses how people can lose their free will to habitual programs, suggesting that breaking these patterns is essential to regaining control over one's life.

💡Quantum field

The quantum field mentioned in the script refers to the underlying reality where all potentialities exist. It is used to illustrate the idea that individuals have the potential to choose from infinite outcomes and create their future, rather than being victims of their past.

💡Refractory period

The refractory period is the time following an emotional reaction during which a person is less likely to have another strong emotional response. The video suggests that shortening this period can help in managing emotions and avoiding prolonged negative states, which is key to personal growth and change.

💡Mental rehearsal

Mental rehearsal is the act of visualizing and mentally practicing actions or scenarios. The script explains that by doing this, individuals can install the neurological hardware in their brain as if the event has already occurred, which can help in creating a new reality for themselves.

💡Neurological hardware

Neurological hardware refers to the physical structure and connections within the brain. The video emphasizes that by changing our thoughts and behaviors, we can rewire our brain, creating new pathways that support our desired outcomes and transform our lives.

Highlights

Stress hormones can downregulate genes and contribute to disease through long-term effects.

The human neocortex allows the stress response to be activated by thought alone, potentially causing illness through thought processes.

The possibility that our thoughts could not only make us sick but also contribute to our well-being is affirmed.

All organisms can handle short-term stress, exemplified by a deer's response to a threat.

Stress is defined as a disruption of homeostasis, with the body's innate response aimed at restoring balance.

Continuous stress response due to emotional triggers can lead to disease as no organism is meant to live in a constant state of emergency.

By the age of 35, 95% of our behaviors and reactions are based on memorized patterns, making conscious change challenging.

Habits are formed through repetition, creating automatic thoughts, behaviors, and emotions.

Our state of being is often rooted in the past, influenced by memories and emotions tied to those memories.

Routine behaviors and emotional reactions can become hardwired, making change difficult without a conscious effort.

Many people wait for a crisis to prompt change, but the speaker suggests learning and changing in a state of joy and inspiration instead.

Feeling abundant, worthy, empowered, and whole can lead to wealth, success, and healing, respectively.

Shifting from being a victim to becoming a creator of one's world involves taking responsibility for one's thoughts and feelings.

The importance of not being defined by past memories and instead envisioning a future to avoid a predictable life.

Training the body to obey the mind, like an animal, can lead to liberation of energy and freedom from past emotional chains.

The majority of our thoughts are repetitive, which if not changed, will lead to a repetitive life trajectory.

Gardening as a metaphor for personal growth, emphasizing the need to remove old habits and emotions to make room for new ones.

Learning about ourselves and others occurs most effectively when we are uncomfortable, highlighting the importance of emotional reactions.

Emotional reactions, if prolonged, can turn into moods, temperaments, and personality traits, indicating the need to manage these reactions.

Most people live in survival mode and stress, often anticipating the worst outcomes based on past experiences.

Change involves making different choices and enduring discomfort, which can be facilitated by mental rehearsal of desired actions.

Mental rehearsal can install the neurological hardware in the brain to align with future goals, turning the brain into a map to the future.

Teaching the body to emotionally prepare for the future can help in creating the desired experiences and emotions.

Transcripts

It's a scientific fact

that the hormones of stress

down regulate genes and create disease,

long-term effects.

Human beings because of the size of the neocortex

we can turn on the stress response just by thought alone

We think about our problems and turn on those chemicals.

That means then,

our thoughts could make us sick.

So if it's possible that our thoughts could make us sick

is it possible that our thoughts could make us well?

The answer is absolutely yes.

All organisms in nature can tolerate short-term stress.

You know, a deer gets chased by a pack of coyotes

when it out runs the coyotes

it goes back to grazing and the event is over.

And the definition of stress

is when your brain and body are knocked out of balance,

out of homeostasis.

The stress response is what the body innately does

to return itself back to order.

So you're driving down the road

someone cuts you off, you jam on the brakes,

you may give them the finger

and then you settle back down and the event is over and boom.

Now everything is back, back to normal

but what if it's your coworker sitting right next to you

and all day long

you're turning on those chemicals

because they're pushing all your emotional buttons.

When you turn on the stress response

and you can't turn it off

now you're headed for disease

because no organism in nature can live in emergency mode

for that extended period of time.

95% of who we are by the time we're 35 years old

is a memorized set of behaviors, emotional reactions

unconscious habits, hardwired attitudes,

beliefs and perceptions

that function like a computer program.

So then, a person can say with their 5% of their conscious mind

"I want to be healthy,

I want to be happy, I want to be free"

but the body's on a whole different program.

A habit is a redundant set

of automatic, unconscious,

thoughts, behaviors, and emotions that's acquired through repetition.

So if you think about it, people wake up in the morning

they begin to think about their problems,

those problems are circuits of memories in the brain

each one of those memories are connected to people

and things at certain times and places

and if the brain is a record of the past

the moment they start their day they're already thinking in the past

each one of those memories has an emotion.

Emotions are the end product of past experiences.

So the moment they recall those memories of their problems

they all of a sudden feel unhappy, they feel sad, they feel pain.

Now how you think and how you feel creates your state of being.

So the person's entire state of being

when they start their day is in the past.

So what does that mean? The familiar past

will sooner or later be predictable future.

If you believe that your thoughts have something to do with your destiny

and you can't think greater than how you feel

or feelings have become the means of thinking

by very definition of emotions you're thinking in the past.

And for the most part you're going to keep creating the same life.

So then people grab their cellphone,

they check their WhatsApp, they check their texts,

they check their emails, they check Facebook,

they take a picture of their feet, they post it on Facebook,

they tweet something, they do Instagram,

they check the news

and now they feel really connected to everything that's known in their life.

And then they go through a series of routine behaviors

they get out of bed on the same side,

they go to the toilet, they get a cup of coffee

they take a shower, they get dressed, they drive to work the same way,

they do the same things, they see the same people

they push the same emotional buttons and that becomes...

the routine and it becomes like a program.

So now they've lost their free will

to a program

and there's no unseen hand doing it to them.

So when it comes time to change the redundancy of that cycle

it becomes a subconscious program.

Most people then wait for crisis or trauma or disease or diagnosis,

you know they wait for a loss,

some tragedy to make up their mind to change

and my message is why wait?

And you can learn and change in a state of pain and suffering

or you can learn and change in a state of joy and inspiration.

And I think right now,

the cool thing is that people are waking up.

The moment you start feeling abundant and worthy

you are generating wealth.

The moment you're empowered and feel it

you're beginning to step towards your success.

The moment you start feeling whole

your healing begins

and when you love yourself and you love all of life

you'll create an equal and now you're causing an effect.

And I think that's the difference between living as a victim

and your world saying, "I am this way

because of this person or that thing or this experience

they made me think and feel this way."

When you switch that around

you become a creator of your world and you start saying,

"My thinking and my feeling is changing an outcome in my life"

and now that's a whole different game

and we start believing more that we're creators of reality.

If you're not being defined by a vision of the future

then you're left with the old memories of the past

and you will be predictable in your life.

If you can sit your body down

and tell it to stay like an animal.

"Stay right here, I'm going to feed you when we're done.

You can get up and check your emails, you can do all your texts

but right now, you're going to sit there and obey me."

When you do that properly

and you're not eating anything or smelling anything or tasting anything,

you're not up experiencing and feeling anything

you would have to agree with me that

you're being defined by a thought, right?

So when the body wants to go back to its emotional past

and you become aware that your attention is on that emotion

and where you place your attention is where you place your energy

you're siphoning your energy out of the present moment into the past

and you become aware of that

and you settle your body back down in the present moment

because it's saying, well it's 8 o'clock

you normally get upset because you're in traffic around this time

and here you are sitting and you're used to feeling anger

and you're off schedule.

Oh it's 11 o'clock and you usually check your emails and judge everybody, well

your body is looking for that- that predictable chemical state.

Every time you become aware that you're doing that

and your body is craving those emotions

and you settle it back down into the present moment

you're telling the body

it's no longer the mind,

you're the mind

and now your will is getting greater than the program

and if you keep doing this over and over again,

over and over again, over and over again

just like training a stallion

or a dog, it's just going to say,

"I'm going to sit"

and the moment that happens

and the body is no longer the mind, when it finally surrenders

there's a liberation of energy.

We go from particle to wave, from matter to energy

and we free ourselves from the chains

of those emotions that keep us in the- in the familiar past.

So if you think 60 to 70 thousand thoughts in one day and we do

and 90% of those thoughts are the same thoughts as the day before

and you believe that your thoughts have something to do with your destiny

your life is not going to change very much

because the same thought leads to the same choice,

the same choice leads to the same behavior,

the same behavior creates the same experience,

and the same experience produces the same emotion.

So as you become familiar

with the thoughts, behaviors and the emotions of the old self

you're retiring that old self as you fire and wire new thoughts

and condition the body into a new emotional state

if you do that enough times, it'll begin to become familiar to you.

So, it's so important

just like a garden

if you're planting a garden you've got to get rid of the weeds,

you got to take the plants from the past year

and you've got to pull them out,

the rocks that sift to the top

that are like our emotional blocks they have to be removed

the soil has to be tenderized and broken down,

we have to,

we have to make room to plant a new garden

so primarily, we learn the most about ourselves

and others when we're uncomfortable.

The stronger the emotional reaction

you have to some experience in your life

the more you pay attention to the cause.

And the moment the brain puts all of its attention on the cause

it takes a snapshot

and that's called the memory.

So long-term memories are created

from very highly emotional experiences.

So what happens then is that

people think neurologically within the circuitry of that experience

and they feel chemically within the boundaries of those emotions

and so when you have an emotional reaction to someone or something

most people think that they can't control their emotional reaction.

Well it turns out if you allow that emotional reaction

it's called a refractory period, to last for hours or days

that's called the mood.

You say to someone, "Hey, what's up?" And they say "Well I’m in a mood"

"Well why are you in a mood?" "Well I had this thing happen to me 5 days ago

and I’m having one long emotional reaction."

If you keep that same emotional reaction going on for weeks or months

that's called temperament.

Why is he so bitter? I don't know, let's ask him why is he so bitter.

"Why are you bitter?" "Well...

I had this thing happen to me nine months ago."

And if you keep that same emotional reaction going on for years on end

that's called a personality trait.

And so learning how to shorten your refractory period

of emotional reactions

is really where that work starts.

So then,

people when they have an event

what they do is they keep recalling the event

because the the emotions of stress hormones,

the survival emotions

are saying pay attention to what happened

because you want to be prepared if it happens again.

Turns out most people spend 70% of their life

living in survival and living in stress.

So they're always anticipating

the worst-case scenario based on a past experience

and they're literally,

out of the infinite potentials in the quantum field

they're selecting the worst possible outcome

and they're beginning to emotionally embrace it with fear

and they're conditioning their body into a state of fear.

Do that enough times

body has a panic attack without you

you- you can't even predict it

because it's programmed subconsciously.

The hardest part about change

is not making the same choices you did the day before, period

and the moment you decide to make a different choice

get ready because it's going to feel uncomfortable.

I think that, I think that

the bigger thing is that we- we keep firing and wiring those circuits

they become more hardwired, so they're...

you have a thought and then the program runs

but it's the emotion that follows the thought

if you have, if you have a fearful thought you are going to feel anxiety

the moment you feel anxiety your brains checking in with your body

and saying, "Yeah you're pretty anxious"

so then you start thinking more corresponding thoughts

equal to how you feel.

So the body says, "I want to return back to familiar territory"

so the body starts influencing the mind then it says,

"Start tomorrow,

you're too much like your mother,

you'll never change, this isn't going to work for you

this doesn't feel right."

And so if you respond to that thought

as if it's true

that same thought will lead to the same choice

which will lead to the same behavior which will create the same experience

which produce the same emotion.

When people say to me,

well I can't predict my future

I'm in the unknown, I mean I always say the best way to predict your future

is to create it

not from the known but from the unknown.

What thoughts do you want to fire and wire in your brain?

What behaviours do you want to demonstrate in one day?

The act of rehearsing them mentally

closing your eyes and rehearsing the action.

By closing your eyes and mentally rehearsing some action

if you're truly present

the brain does not know the difference between what you're imaging

and what you're experiencing in the 3D world.

So then you begin to install the neurological hardware in your brain

to look like the event has already occurred.

Now your brain is no longer a record of the past.

Now it's a map to the future

and if you keep doing it, priming it that way

the hardware becomes a software program

and who knows, you just may start acting like a happy person.

And then I think the hardest part

is to teach our body emotionally

what the future will feel like ahead of the actual experience.