Don’t wish it away: EMBRACE the turbulence & make Peace with discomfort

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Episode 42: “Don’t wish it away: Embrace the turbulence & make Peace with discomfort”

1. Our nervous system is designed to protect us. 
   1. A Clear desire to get to the other side of danger
      1. Stress does not equate to danger
         1. A podcast in and of itself 
   2. Amygdala / fight or flight
      1. “The amygdala is a small, almond-shaped structure located in the brain. It is a part of the limbic system, which is involved in emotions, behaviors, and memory. The amygdala is responsible for processing and regulating emotions such as fear, anxiety, and aggression, and it plays a role in the fight or flight response to threats. It is also involved in the formation of long-term memories, particularly those associated with emotional events.”\
   3. Why are you getting scientific about the brain on a podcast about mindset:
      1. The more you know about how the brain is designed to work, the easier it is to optimize its response towards having a desired effect.
2. Step one:  Is there a clear and present danger?
   1. Ensure Survival!
      1. If you have  afamily…. Maybe you ensure their survival first…
3. More applicable tools:  ‘thriving’ vs surviving (Bypass the Amygdala) 
   1. Ask your self what part of your psyche is disturbed by the event 
      1. Follow up with the 5 why’s -Don Messersmith
      2. Problem: One of the monuments in Washington D.C. 
   2. Leverage The breakthrough principle
      1. Once you know the foundation of a question / issue:  Walk away
      2. Allow your subconscious to solve
   3. Ask yourself how solving the issue will lead towards a better life or at least, towards a more fulfilling tomorrow
      1. Growth Mindset
         1. How to Apply a GROWTH (VS Fixed) Mindset in your life TODAY - Chasing Energy
            1. covid
               1. Gave up caffeine
               2. Slept better
            2. Signing up for a challenge that you are currently not prepared to handle
               1. Know that there will be several learning moments
      2. Leverage the logic of a Null Hypothesis by saying - what if I do nothing?
         1. In statistical testing, a null hypothesis is a statement about a population that is assumed to be true until proven otherwise. It is usually denoted by the symbol H0. The null hypothesis is tested against an alternative hypothesis, which is a statement that contradicts or negates the null hypothesis.
4. Embrace the turbulence as part of the journey
   1. Remind yourself that the light at the end of the tunnel is only a reward if there is darkness
   2. “Sunshine every day makes a dessert - zig ziglar
   3. No dilemma / challenge means no Hero’
      1. Calm seas do not make for strong captains
5. Reflection and adaptation are foundational to wisdom
   1. Probably one of the most neglected aspects of a crisis
   2. Chance may have brought the crisis, but a fool assumes its singularity

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Transcript

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 Um, Um, Um, Um, Hey, it's Daniel Lucas. And thank you for coming to chasing energy episode number 42. Coming to you. With the new microphone. I listened to some of my episodes. I was not happy with the audio quality. And decided that that was something I needed to fix. So I'm ha I'm grateful for that today. 

Grateful to that. So today we are going to talk about don't wish it away. Embrace the turbulence and make peace with the discomfort. Now don't wish it away. Uh, I think of, uh, an Elton John song, I guess that's why they call it the blues. I can't sing like Elton John, if I could, I wouldn't be doing this podcast. 

 

But it goes something like. Don't wish it away. Don't look at it by cats. Oh, Forever. And the idea there is that when you have the blues, don't try to rush it because when you get to the other end of it, there's, there's so much joy. And so that's what we're going to talk about today. We all have stresses. We all have things that we think about. I can't wait to get through this. I can't wait until this is over. 

In my mindset on that has really changed over the last couple of years. In fact, Children having children and watching them grow has taught me. I now kind of take joy in the, uh, In the turbulence. I does not mean that there are days that I wish I didn't have teenagers. But I do. So I try to go. Okay. 

What is it about this age that I'm going to miss when they're in their twenties? Now sometimes that's a small list folks. Um, but for the most part, I do find things to treasure. Uh, and in this case, it came about when I actually was talking to some prince and they brought up things like, oh, have you ever seen that movie click where the guy just has a remote and he speeds through things. That's how I wish we could handle this situation that I'm going through. And I thought it was interesting cause I've of course I've, I've been that way before. 

I certainly was that way. When I was in my undergraduate school, I enjoyed my graduate. Uh, degree classes, but in my undergraduate work, there were many, many, many times that I wanted to hit fast forward. Uh, I do feel like a lot of it was a waste of my time, but that's a story for another day. So. 

Our nervous system is designed to protect us. So we're going to talk a little bit about the brain. And why do we need to talk about the brain? Well, The more, you know, how the brain is designed to work. The easier it is to optimize its response toward having a desired effect. I'm going to say that again. 

The more, you know, About how the brain is designed to work, the easier it is to optimize its response towards having a desired effect. I'm giving you that little piece of information, cause I'm about to get a little geeky on you here. 

The amygdala, which is responsible for your fight or flight response. It is a small almond shaped structure located in the brain. In the limbic system. I have heard some authors referred to it. Seth Godin. I believe it is refers to it as the lizard brain, because it makes these little. Fight or flight design. 

Uh, fight or flight decisions. They presume that it goes back to, uh, neon Neanderthal men who, uh, when there was a danger clear and present danger, that little almond shaped thing was part of what triggered you to have a survival response. It is also associated with things like PTSD. And stress. Today when there's not something waiting for you anymore, but your body doesn't necessarily know how to delineate a clear and present danger. 

Uh, tiger in a Bush. 10 feet away. Versus. Uh, not clear and present danger or are unclear anyway. And that would be like a report that is due. On Tuesday for your boss. It's not going to kill you, but it's stressful. So. I'm going to give you a couple of tools and tips of the stages. This is the unofficial Daniel Lucas chasing energy ideas that I drafted together for how to channel. 

Your stress into an effective learning experience and embracing the stress while you're going through it. That's the most important thing I want to get to you across on this episode is I want you to learn how to channel. That stress into something that you can leverage and grow from. So how do we do that? 

Well, the first thing is you realize your nervous system is designed to protect you. Is there a clear and present danger? We just discussed, uh, examples of that. No, if there's not, then you have to ask yourself, is this about thriving or surviving? If it's about surviving. Save yourself. Save your family. 

And either one of those orders that you deem necessary and then get to the other side and then you can finish this podcast or, or some other thing, but. This is more about the stressors in life that are actually not a threat to your life. So it's more about thriving, right? You want to get to the next level of Maslow's hierarchy. 

So what are some tools that we can use to, to channel this stress? And, uh, the most clear example I can think of. Is how I did not enjoy flying. Now that doesn't mean I didn't fly, but when there was turbulence, when I was younger, I, my hands get sweaty. I would grip the seat as if that's going to make any darn bit of difference in whether the plane goes down or not. 

And then I heard an interesting tidbit. And by the way, this goes back to Seth Goden. Again, clearly I'm a fan of him. If. If I've decided him twice in a podcast. Many years ago, he put out a little post and said, Hey, uh, the time to be stressed about flying gaze when you're buying the ticket, not when you're on the plane. 

And I said, that makes so much sense. And then the other part of his argument was. Uh, the odds of turbulence leading to a plane crash are laughably small. But yet when we feel turbulence, we feel like, oh, this is the plane going down. So, uh, most plane crashes are not associated with turbulence, et cetera, et cetera. And I began to enjoy the turbulence and say, this is part of the fun part of the ride, the bumps. 

And when I did that, it's amazing when applying I filled the turbulence. And I really don't think much about it now. Uh, we could argue that I'm a little bit of a psychopath. Uh, for embracing that, but let's move on past that. So the next thing I want, if you determine that it's about thriving, it's about that report that's due, or, you know, your child, despite. 

You know, misbehaving. Uh, I, the first thing I want you to do is ask yourself what part of your psyche is disturbed by this event and by this event, I mean, the stress that you are being confronted with. Now. A tool that you can use. That will help you determine what part of your psyche. Is being disturbed. It was developed by Dawn Messersmith. It is called the five whys. And when I used to study Japanese methodology for quality, the five whys would come up. 

My favorite example, I thought it was Mount Rushmore when I started researching this episode and I couldn't find any results, but it was actually the Washington monument I had. Uh, reversed the order in my head. At th this is an example. So you know what the five, why is. Five whys are with, uh, with a clear example. 

Why is the monument deteriorating. Okay. Cause it was deteriorating and they said, well, because harsh chemicals are frequently used to clean the monument. Why number two? Why are harsh chemicals needed? The answer to clean off the large amount of number of bird droppings on the monument. Why number three? 

Why are there a large number of bird droppings on the monument? The answer to that because I large population of spiders. In and around the monument. Alright, good food source for the local birds. And we could stop there. And say, oh, this is just all part of the chain, right? Is it just nature scores. 

So the wine number four is. Why is there a large population of spiders in and around the monument? The answer because swarms of insects. On which the spiders feed are drawn to the monumental desk. Still. We're talking about the food chain here, the natural orders. Then the fifth. Why, why are there swarms of insects drawn to the monument at dusk? And the answer is because of the lighting of the monument in the evening attracts the local insects. 

The solution. Change how the monument is illuminated in the evening to predict, uh, Prevent the attraction of swarming insects. Now that's an example of the five whys. And when you feel that stress it, start asking yourself the five whys. And I will say, if you can go, if you are patient enough to go five layers, deep, you will get answers that may have otherwise alluded to you. So in this case, would you need to do is walk away with. 

Coming up with a clear and concise example. Of why this event that you've deemed as stressful is bothering you. And you can use the five whys for them. It's a very simple tool. Uh, and, uh, very easy to do. Maybe not in the moment. 

The second thing I wanted to tool I wanted to share with you is one called the breakthrough principle. There's a book that I read maybe 12 years ago called the breakthrough principle. I'll save you reading the entire book to just give you the. 30. Word summary, 32nd summary. And that is this. If, you know the issue that you are dealing with clearly, and you have the question in your mind clearly. 

Then one of the best things you can do is walk away from the issue and let your subconscious work on it. A trick I used to do for this is to work on questioning it clear. Uh, having that question clear, I would ask myself the question and then I would go for a run and think about other things. And the idea there is that by distracting yourself, you let your subconscious sort of focus on solving the problem for you in a clear and concise fashion. 

Without you getting caught in your loops and I am. Whole rebel about getting caught in loops with my mind. So I have to. Come up with distractions for myself to say, I have to come up with something. So I'm not thinking about this right now. Because I'm getting more and more stressed. The more I think about. 

That's called the breakthrough principle. That is another thing. So you've, you've asked the five why's and then you do the breakthrough principle, which is you, you sort of, now that you have the question, you walk away from it. And then this is the third part. Ask yourself, how solving the issue will lead towards a better life or at least a more fulfilling tomorrow. I do this all the time. So the most recent example, um, I don't know if I'm mentioning my COVID episode or not. 

Uh, I was laying in bed with a fever and COVID. Not a lot of things you can do, right. When you're laying in bed. However. I said, well, one thing I can do. Today. Is, I can start a 16 day or I should. I was thinking two week, two week caffeine fast, which I do once or twice a year. Just to give my amygdala a break. If you know how that works with caffeine and your McDonough. It's nice to do a, at least a one week reset. I just find personally that you really aren't. 

Um, recovered from the downsides of daily caffeine use until two weeks. That's my personal observation. That's an in of one, do what you will with it. But I think most of the science says you're technically off the caffeine at one week. So when you ask yourself that question, how will solving this lead to a better life towards tomorrow? And in this case, I did a. 

I said, well, since I've already got a headache and I need to sleep, I'm going to start my first day of the caffeine fast. And it really, it turned out to be a great idea because I couldn't smell or taste after COVID and I didn't miss the coffee because I was already sleeping twice a day. And then, uh, I couldn't taste the coffee and so I didn't miss it that much. And when it came, my taste came back three or four days later. 

Uh, it was delicious. I ended up going 16 days without caffeine, and that was the easiest caffeine fast I have ever done. Um, Growth versus fixed mindset is the basis for this question. There's a little bit of stoicism in there too. I did a podcast episode. I put a link in the show notes called growth versus fixed mindset. 

And the difference between those two, the growth mindset. Just the nutshell of it is, is asking yourself when you're in a dilemma, how am I learning from this? How am I learning from this? How will this change me? I'm not going to get into the details of growth and fixed, but just know that that's part of it. 

So an example of leveraging that, uh, Growth mindset is, uh, signing up for a challenge that you are not currently prepared to handle the most recent example I can think of when I was writing, that was, there is a pickleball league. Uh, local pickleball league. And I thought about signing up and I thought to myself, why should probably wait till I'm a better player? And then I kind of laughed at myself and said, oh, well, 

Sign it up for a league where you play every week is a. Pretty good way to make sure you become a better player. Do I give a rip, whether I win the tournament or not. Not particularly, I just enjoyed the, the challenge in the, uh, exercise that comes with it. 

This is a, another scientific one and it's called, I call it leveraging the logic of a null hypothesis by saying, what if I do nothing? Now for those of you who do not have a background in statistics, a null hypothesis is a statement about a population that is assumed to be true. Until proven otherwise. 

An example in the drug testing community and things like that is they say the null hypothesis is something along the lines of this drug will have no effect. And then what they have to do for the FDA or whoever is proved with statistical probability that it actually does have effect. So the idea is that you want to break the no hypothesis. And in this case, the null hypothesis for you is what if I do nothing. 

And this stressful situation. What do I do not wait, what if I do nothing? And you might ask, well, why would I do that? Is because you outline the consequences of your actions and it gives you a more clear and concise reason to take action. And it probably is going to give you a little bit more kick in your step when you go to take that action. 

So. We've covered the, um, the no hypothesis now want to get into embracing the turbulence as part of the journey. Easier said than done, right. Easier said than done. But when you're in there, you remind yourself. That when you think of going through. A tunnel and looking at that light at the end of the tunnel, remind yourself. 

That light at the tunnel is utterly meaningless without the tunnel itself. Without the darkness itself, the light at the end of the tunnel means nothing. Zig Ziglar, a famous self-development good roof used to have a safe statement that I use on my kids from time to time. And that is. Sunshine every day makes a desert sunshine every day makes a desert. 

No dilemma and no challenge means that there is no hero's journey. You gotta have you gotta have that. You got to go to what? Steven Pressfield calls the belly of the beast. In order to have the hero's journey. And, uh, I'm, I'm sort of. Paraphrasing the last, uh, phase of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey. When I say reflection and adaptation are the foundation of wisdom. 

And in the hero's journey, I think the last step is being the mentor. Right? You have the hero becomes the mentor to teach everyone else how to deal with the crisis or lead people through a crisis. Um, And in this case, I want, I think the most neglected. Aspect. I don't have data to prove this is just my opinion. 

The most neglected aspect of a crisis. Is this. 

When it's over. I see most people. I'm generalizing there, but I think, I think at least 50% when they get through a crisis, they take a deep breath. I go, well, I'm glad I got through that. 

They breathe a sigh of relief, and then they go about their life. And there's a very big missed opportunity there, and that is this. And I kind of wrote this. Quickly while I was about to hit record, but. Chance may have brought the crisis, but a full assumes its singularity. 

Okay. So you blow a tire. 

And you don't have a spare. And you get through it. One way or another, you called AAA. But then you don't bother to put a new spare. In your trunk, right? 

That means. You see how chant may have blown that tire, but you're, you're behaving like a fool. For not taking preventative measures from it happening again. That means you learn nothing. So reflection in that adaptation or foundation of wisdom. The difference between wisdom and knowledge is generally how you leverage the knowledge. Knowledge is knowing the path wisdom is walking the path. 

Uh, so there's, uh, that to me is the, the, the part of the journey where once you're through the crisis, it's often neglected because you take that deep breath and you go, ah, I made it to the light in the tunnel. Now I need to rest. Maybe you do, but you also need to set aside the time to reflect and adapt. 

There is a book by Ray Daleo. I think it's called principles. It is. It's a dry book, man. It is dry, but Ray Daleo is a guru of wisdom and one of his most critical parts of how he runs his business. Is every time they have a situation, they put it into their way, they think, and their quote, unquote algorithm. 

Uh, what do we learn from this? How can this service in the future? I want you to think about that last step, because it's, it's the difference between people who are very successful in the longterm and people who find themselves going, why is it that I hit get hit with circumstances and before I can even recover. 

There's something else hit me. You don't want to be in that latter group. You want to be in the person who. Uh, every time there's a crisis, you step away afterwards and go. This is what I learned from this. And next time it happens, I'll, I'll handle it this way. It is such a  📍 pleasure to be speaking to you today. 

To you today. It has been an honor to share. Uh, my thoughts with you, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Who would very much like it. If you subscribe to the channel. And even more. If you left a review. You don't have to reflect too much on that review. Just do it. Take action. The website is chasing.energy. I look forward to hearing your feedback and I'll see you on the next episode.