Bella's Blog

THE NEW SCIENCE OF INTUITION: NEUROSCIENTIST JOEL PEARSON ON LEVERAGING THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND FOR BETTER DECISIONS & ACTIONS

show notes

What is intuition? Something in brain & something in body is happening

Walk into cafe example, unconscious data points, brain learned associations that predict things, prior learning builds associations

interoception = internal perception of the body

Body has access to information that our brains have that we don't

Unconscious info in the brain body will respond to

In absence of explicit reasoning

Decisions & actions

Body's physiology is changing, and feel it in the gut, feel it in the body, body has access to these learned associations

Build up with small decisions with low-stakes so you understand how it feels, not thrown off by anxiety, stress

Instinct: more permanent, hard-wired things [ex. Fear of uncertainty, comfort]

Can be an advantage or it can be maladaptive

Intuition is more fluid, with associations and with environment

S.M.I.L.E. [SELF-AWARENESS, MASTERY, IMPULSE, LOW-PROBABILITY, ENVIRONMENT]

Most people lack degree of self-awareness, underestimate how their actions are compelled by external forces

Attracted to this person but it's really childhood trauma [they would say its intuition!]

We all succumb to compulsive behaviors

You can train intuition!

Can't trust it when we're stressed, depressed, on cloud 9

Bring yourself back down to a baseline

Sometimes you can trust it bc the way the brain works

Brain has to build these associations

No 10,000 hours to trust your intuition [learning is not linear, sometimes a little bit]

Brain tapping into data set and doing processing in the background you are unaware of and it’s helping you get an intuitive sense based on copious amounts of past experience

Must have reliable intuition that other areas of life? No!

When we learn something, the environment gets imprinted on that learning

Be careful when trusting intuition when in different contexts like traveling

Have a diary of your intuitive decisions

WHITNEY CUMMINGS IS DOING THE WORK

show notes

Whitney doesn't have a lot of self-esteem, but a lot of self-confidence. Could have developed that confidence because you are insecure that you have to develop the ability to perform

The amount of time you complain about how low your self-worth is, could have done something to build it by engaging in estimable actions. Self-esteem is a verb. Can develop unconditional level of healthy self-esteem that isn't contingent upon how good of a performer you are

Codependence = the inability to tolerate the discomfort of others or the perceived discomfort of others

Epigenetic imprinting in utero = whatever chemicals mother was emitting in utero was getting you addicted to those chemicals

Study region your ancestors came from, their phobias

Gabor Mate- what you get imprinted on you at a very early age becomes dictator of basically all of strengths and weaknesses

People never reach an inflection/pain point that is dramatic enough to get them to shift so they never develop understanding of childhood trauma to untangle behavior patterns that no longer serve them

A lot of people are just operating in a low grade level of semi unawareness that's driving so many of behavior patterns preventing them from optimizing who they are

Neurological hygiene - treating what you consume mentally, same way you treat what you consume food wise. 12-step program that she did only allows you to make choices that positively contribute to her future

The word 'happiness' puts too much pressure on her, it's too vague. The word 'pride' works better. She asks herself, "Am I gonna be proud of this in two days?"

Washington D.C., where Rich and Whitney both grew up, the milieu there is very achievement-oriented. Prestige doesn't derive from material wealth, it's about proximity to power and academic excellence. Everyone is driving their cars with stickers on the back of where their kids go to school. Whitney got good at this game, it was her coping strategy for procuring love and acceptance. The world smiles on you until this strategy doesn't work for you anymore.

Her ego needed to blame my parents for the bad choices she made, the broken DNA. You can turn your trauma into a superpower.

Whitney's mom worked three jobs and then came home and worked and she felt neglected. She spent most of her high school and years as a child in the white Flint Bloomingdales, walking around, talking to adults. Her narrative was that she was a neglected child [which explains why she grew up so fast]. She learned to speak publicly. People tell her that she works so hard but she says she only works 12 hours a day and is confused.

Argus Hamilton, comedian - give your character defects names and make them people that are trying to help you