Live w/ Dr.Charryse 🧠: “How To Rewire The Brain’s Prediction System”

Hello, Kardosphere. Welcome or welcome back to another moment for us to gather together, drink whatever non alcoholic beverage of choice you choose and really engage and learn. What does it mean to be mentally fit if this is your first time in alive with me, I'm Dr. Charisse Johnson, a licensed clinical mental health therapist, mindfulness practitioner and authority, and a proud member of the Cogiosphere. This is one of my favorite spaces. As you come in, you know what to do. If you've been here before, let me know how your week is going.

One to ten. One. It's been a rough week. You're not really engaged. Ten. It has been the best possible week that you can consider, right? Given everything. I've got some warm coffee here with my favorite oat milk creamer here in the beautiful place of Charlotte, my home city, and enjoying a fall day. I don't know about anybody else, but the weather here. Hey, Audrey. Good morning. Is all over the place. Hello, Jules from northern Minnesota. Hello, Greenville, South Carolina. What's up, Brooklyn?

Love it when we have representation from all over. And just a beautiful reminder of all that we are and all that we're doing as you are taking inventory story of where you are in life. Good morning, Andrea from Statesboro. I want to remind you, write your rating down somewhere. The goal of that rating is not just to participate and engage with me, but it's also to make sure that you can look at, here's where I am, where do I want to be? Because our time together is all about a little bit of growth.

And I agree. Hello, Waldo from Maryland. It is like spring, fall, winter. Yesterday or two days ago, I felt like I was freezing. It was 29, 30 degrees. What's up, Philly? I will actually be there on Sunday. And then yesterday it was one way. It's. It's crazy. All right, let's get into what we want to focus on today. If you are tracking with me. We talked a lot last week about living with a story that you might have in your mind. And it's just recognizing that this is the time of year that we start to really kind of take inventory.

I know I have even been in a place where I'm like, man, 20, 25. It's been interesting. I could say a lot about. It's been really good and really hard at the same time. But I also want you to begin considering what stories are you holding that no longer need to move forward. Oh, I'm so sorry you are recovering from surgery, but so glad that you came to the space. I hope Your recovery goes well. Here's what I want you to do. If you're comfortable in the chat. I want you to identify what is something that you recognize has happened this year, something you've noticed that you are playing in your mind over and over, something that you recognize.

I'm kind of holding on to this thought or this uncertainty, and I don't want to carry it forward. Carrying it might not be the best ideal, and I'll even try to think about this for myself. The first thing that comes to mind for me is just reminding myself that it won't always be this way. And I'm typically pretty good at having that kind of mindset and having a very hopeful mentality. But sometimes you can be in a season where it's difficult, right? Where things continue to happen, or you're in a situation that feels very enduring.

Anybody been in a situation this year that feels very enduring? And there can be parts of you that wonders, is it always going to be this way? And so that is a story, and that is a narrative that when I notice it coming up, I'm really working to go. Nothing is always one way, right? Even if it feels like it's not moving at the pace we would like it to move, nothing stays the way it is forever unless we absolutely reinforce it by our actions. Right? And so I really want you to consider. You don't have to share it with me, but if you want to, what's a current situation, a mindset, a fear, something that you recognize.

I don't want to carry this into my next season. And sometimes there are small things, right, Geared towards our ability, geared towards what other people believe about us. So that's a good one. Leaving an old job after 20 years and watching the office struggle, which says, jules, you were wonderful and phenomenal, and they didn't do maybe the best job they could have. Preparing for your departure, but also giving yourself permission to move forward. And that actually hits on what I'm going to talk about next week.

But I won't. I won't get ahead of myself. All right, so let's talk about rewriting your story, rewiring the self and micro reset for your next season. Right? How do you navigate when you're trying to get through and really work to believe something different? Here's first, why it matters. I talk about this a lot, but I won't ever stop. Every thought that you repeat, every belief that you rehearse creates a neural pathway. And some of those pathways are very helpful. We have thoughts about ourselves that help Us endure.

Help us do things that are amazing. But some are painful and some are just outdated. Some are things that absolutely need to be released. Like doubt. Right? Like uncertainty. They are natural. Right? And yes, the lack of direction in your career goals. Leave it behind and trust that it's going to come. You can evolve in whatever areas that are ahead of you. So here's what a micro reset does. It helps you interrupt the story that your brain has been looping the part of you that continues to repeat situations or rehearse situations.

It helps lower the emotional charge around it. That's a big one. When we're doing a micro reset consistently, it helps us look at that situation, that mindset, that person, that concern, and go, I need to lower the way that this spikes my emotions because that makes it more intense and it creates this dynamic where we want to hold onto it longer than we need to. It also helps us to shift. Here's another one. From self protection to self leadership. Here is how this all connects. When you're holding on to doubt, uncertainty, fear, overwhelm, whatever the case may be, and you're holding on tight, it creates a loop.

It creates a neural pathway. And we tend to reinforce that neural pathway because you become what you believe. Well, when we interrupt that with a micro reset, instead of us then leaning into self protective behaviors. Did you actually know negative self talk is a self protective behavior. We think we're bracing ourselves for what's next. Guilt is a self protective behavior. So when you micro reset, you're kind of cutting off that loop and you're moving into self leadership, which means you are deciding for yourself, what can I do?

I cannot be responsible for that situation. That situation is not my full responsibility. I cannot be responsible for the actions of that other person. I am only responsible for myself. So how do I lead myself in a way that isn't coming from a place of defense, which is difficult? All right, here's what a micro reset looks like. First, you have to identify the story. Many of you just did that. Take a breath with me. Into the nose and out through the mouth. I asked this question last week and I want to ask you again.

What is one story from this year that no longer deserves a front row seat? In my mind, examples might sound like I always mess up my routine. No one really shows up for me. I'll never get back to who I was before. Will we ever be the same? Every time I try, I fail. Being consistent isn't who I am, just isn't who I am. Those are examples of Loops. And then you want to notice how does your body react to the story. So many of you identified something that you recognize you don't want to carry. What let that story come to mind and then notice how it reacts in your body.

And then share that with me in the chat. I have my own story in my head because I do these things right along with you. And what I notice is that my whole chest starts to almost kind of get on fire. Like fear came right here. And I could feel it the moment I started thinking about what I didn't want to carry. That somatic awareness is important because it helps you recognize how much of that story you're truly caring. Thank you for that share. Someone commented, I am not capable of consistency. Where do you feel that?

Right. Because there is absolutely no a connection between the mental, physical, and the spiritual. They all interconnect and they impact us. Yeah. Within the chest, hard to breathe. And so that's how we know that that story that we're carrying is still a little bit too heavy. The other thing I want you to consider is when you identify that story, then recognize the protective purpose. We say things to ourselves. The story exists for. For a reason. Right. A lot of times that reason is we want to protect from disappointment, from rejection, from overwhelm, from repeating a pain we don't want to face again.

So remember, the brain's job is to protect, not perfect. I'm sorry that you felt instantly sad and hopeless. Take a few deep breaths into the nose and out through the mouth and remind yourself that in this moment that you're okay. Every now and then, I will ask you guys to kind of charge yourselves up. But there's a purpose, right? Your story, and the one that you're rehearsing to yourself has a protective purpose. Oh, if I already think the worst case scenario, then maybe that will help me if that worst case scenario happens.

That is not how our brain works. That just fills you with a lot of anticipatory anxiety and sadness and overwhelm. The brain actually works best when you reframe the narrative. And that's what I want to walk you through. And in the next few minutes that we have. All right, Cognitive reframing. A scientific, scientifically backed tool that changes how your brain categorizes effort and failure and fear. So here's an example of a story. Maybe your story is, I always fall off track with my health goals.

The old loop looks like guilt, shame, self criticism, withdrawal from the pattern. And then you start the whole thing over, right? And then that teaches your brain that effort equals threat, right? Or doubt equals reality or fear equals promise, whatever the case may be for you. So now let's create a new version based on that sample story. So here are three cognitive reframes it might be this year Showed me where my habits need more support, not more shame. Or every restart taught me something about how I function under stress or I haven't failed.

I've been refining my strategy. So notice that none of those refrains eliminated responsibility from me for myself, right, in that hypothetical situation. But they did allow space for data to look at what I'm noticing about myself and using it through the lens of curiosity and openness. Oh, here's what I'm learning about how I operate through doubt and through guilt and through film fear and through overwhelm and through uncertainty and through lack of clarity. Oh, this is what I've learned about myself.

Oh, this is what I've learned that helps. Oh, here's what I might need so I can be more consistent, so I can have less doubt. Right? Here's what reassures me. So when you move that from I failed, me, me, me, this is all my fault to a cognitive refra that includes. Includes. I'm learning, I'm shifting. Right? Those hard moments and those difficult stories that you're replaying, even though we don't enjoy them, they give us a lot of information about what we believe about ourselves and what we believe about others.

Beautiful. Reframe, Audrey. The situation showed me my own resilience. Boy, a tough situation. We'll do that. A lot of us could say there are situations that we've been through that brought to the surface a strength that we didn't realize we had. Might have been a strength we didn't want, but it's one we didn't realize that we had. And somewhere along the way, things shift. And here's what happens when you do that reframe. And that's what I want you to work on. Identify the mindset, write a reframe.

And then when you say those reframes slowly, especially if you can think of a few different versions, you're going to feel a shift. You're going to feel a physical, somatic, and mental shift. And that's dopamine, your happy neurotransmitter replacing cortisol, your stress. That's possibility replacing threat. And that's your brain learning a new outcome to expect. Okay? That's my desire for you. Whatever you're holding, whatever you're carrying, whatever is in front of you, that feels like it just might take you out.

I want you to be intentional about every day spending a few minutes working on replacing possibility and threat. Right? We want the threat to simmer down and possibility and hope to rise. All right. Walk yourself through that process. You always start first by identifying what the narrative is, noticing where it is in your body, reframing the narrative, and then I'll give you one little last thing. Here's the thing I would love for you to do. Write it down. Record a voice note. Right? And then whisper it like a declaration.

I'm going to use the one that Audrey gave me. The situation showed me my own resilience. There's something about the power of a whisper that doesn't make us feel overwhelming. I love the other one that you have, MD Starks. I never stop hoping that I will get it right. Right. That just says, I'm not done. Don't count me out. And rehearsing it in your voice allows you something to play when you feel your mind ruminating and on loop. And that is a very powerful, powerful tool. I could go on and on about this topic forever, but I'm also working to make sure that I do not keep these lives longer than 10, 15 minutes.

I'm so glad that you came. Thank you for your honesty, your openness for sharing. Stay tuned. Got some exciting things coming up here in Cadre. And most of all, cheers. I hope you have a wonderful day. We'll talk soon. It.