Dr. Nicholas Alp is the Brain Sherpa! With more than 65 peer-reviewed publications and books, and more than 25 years of clinical research experience, Nicholas has a keen understanding of what makes each of us tick. Nicholas — trained in medicine at London and Oxford Universities with a PhD in Immunology at Cambridge University — joined us from the UK and, in laymen terms, provided color on where our anxiety comes from. In these stressful Covid times, Nicholas thoughtfully shares why we often freeze (or flight) when we desperately wish we could muster up the means and courage to fight. If you ever wanted to know the inner workings of your wirings, this episode is for you.
2:31 - Initial conversations about courage and evolution
4:30 - What's going on upstairs
5:06 - Nick's background
7:15 - Interest in mental health, human interaction, along with verbal and non-verbal communication
7:53 - Common human needs and desires that drive us
8:59 - To understand yourself you have to understand your mind
8:46 - apply a skill set to the goal set, but what about the mind set?
9:50 - Brains only do two things - receive and process information and then they make judgement's
10:57 - Is it good for me, is it going to harm me, do I like it?
12:03- within our brains is a history of life on earth
15:03 - Deep within our brains, we are nothing more than lizards
15:18 - We are survivors because we are able to recognize and respond to things that are dangerous to us
15:37 - recognize the creatures we are, what fear is for, and how valuable it's been...
15:57 - a lot of those innate fear responses are not always appropriate ...acute fear...turns into chronic anxiety
16:46 - short circuit reactions to get to a better place in our brains
18:08- we are not compelled or destine to respond to every internal stimulus we experience have ... create space between the sensation/ emotion...and our physical and mental response
18:48 - practice expanding "that" space
20:42 - bring your attention to something immediate and infinite your breath
21:39 - Cognitive biases - proximity, intensity, negativity, and confirmation
27:02 - we always have a choice...we must give ourselves space to make a mindful choice
28:09 - daily active practice
29:00 - states of mind and ways you can take action
29:07 - push our fear - understand it, name it, and face it head on
29:41 - find a way to love what you are doing
30:03 - To be grateful and to serve and give
33:17 - Need to belong and connect with other human beings
34:50 - who's on your team and who isn't
37:21 - neurogene's evolving
38:57 - freeze or flight
41:47 - standard operating procedure is nervousness
44:21 - Effective action = focus on the right thing to do, practice, and then persist
45:32 - Be kind to yourself
46:49 - Move your body and get your mind out of that static place
48:20 - Central courage system hack
50:13 - Kind, compassionate and curious
52:26 - Building brain fitness