"We Attract People Based on Psychological Wounds" #1 Neuroscientist Explains How to Manifest Love!

Today, I'm thrilled to have the brilliant Dr. Tara Swart with us once again. As a neuroscientist and expert in manifestation, Dr. Swart brings a unique blend of science and spirituality to the table. In this episode, we'll dive into the science of manifestation, exploring how neuroplasticity allows us to rewire our brains to achieve our dreams. Dr. Swart will break down the practical steps you can take to manifest your goals, discuss the critical role of belief and self-worth, and reveal how gratitude can transform your brain's chemistry. Plus, we'll uncover the fascinating connections between our sense of smell, emotional memory, and cognitive function. Get ready for an enlightening conversation that bridges the gap between the mysteries of the universe and the science of the brain. Buy her book for yourself and a friend! THE SOURCE - Open Your Mind, Change Your LifeIn this episode you will learnThe practical steps to apply the science of manifestation in your life. How belief and self-worth influence your ability to manifest. The importance of gratitude in shifting your brain's chemistry from stress to trust. The impact of smell on emotional memory and cognitive function. Techniques for olfactory enrichment to improve memory and cognition. For more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1629For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Eckhart Tolle – https://link.chtbl.com/1463-podRhonda Byrne – https://link.chtbl.com/1525-podJohn Maxwell – https://link.chtbl.com/1501-pod Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Dr. Tara Swart?

  You know, when I'm in that mode of like, everything's manifesting, I sometimes say, be careful what you wish for. My brain is limited by what it thinks I can get or I deserve.

• 0:09Lewis Howes?

  If you had to break down the science of manifestation in the simplest terms, as a neuroscientist, what would you say that would be?

• 0:18Speaker 02

  Okay, so please help me welcome Dr. Tara Swart. Medical doctor, neuroscientist. A bestselling author, a podcast host. Tara, it's so good to have you here.

• 0:28Lewis Howes?

  Are there any secrets of neuroscience or the universe that you feel people aren't taking advantage of enough?

• 0:34Dr. Tara Swart?

  Some of the research that I've been looking at recently is about smell. I feel like it's one of the most underrated senses.

• 0:40Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 0:41Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, smell is the most emotive sense that we have. I'm not just safe because I tell myself I'm safe, but I'm safe because I believe in something greater.

• 0:50Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 0:51Dr. Tara Swart?

  There's a lot of people suffering. And like I said, you can sound like you're crazy if you start talking about stuff like this.

• 0:58Lewis Howes?

  So you think we attract people based on our psychological wounds?

• 1:01Dr. Tara Swart?

  Hundred percent. You meet people on the same level of psychological wound as you.

• 1:06Lewis Howes?

  Oh, man.

• 1:08Dr. Tara Swart?

  You also leave people if you evolve out of that and they haven't been able to.

• 1:11Lewis Howes?

  Wow. For someone listening or watching this right now, what do they need to know about their brain, their mind, and how the universe works to support them? Is there anything else?

• 1:22Dr. Tara Swart?

  I...

• 1:27Lewis Howes?

  Welcome back, everyone, to the School of Greatness. I'm very excited about our guest. We have the inspiring Dr. Tara Swart in the house. So good to see you back.

• 1:34Dr. Tara Swart?

  Hi, so lovely to be back here.

• 1:36Lewis Howes?

  I am fascinated by you as a human, but also by your brain and how you think. You're a neuroscientist, but you also study the universe and kind of the untold mysteries of the universe and how the brain actually manifests things and works within the universe, what the source of things is. And you just have such a wide range of wisdom and knowledge. And so I wanted to dive into... Manifestation and the science of manifestation to start. And if you had to break down the science of manifestation in the simplest terms, with a few steps on how people could start to apply it to their life as a neuroscientist, what would you say that would be?

• 2:21Dr. Tara Swart?

  Okay, so thank you for the lovely things that you've said about me. And one of the things I really pride myself on is making complex subjects simple and accessible.

• 2:30Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 2:31Dr. Tara Swart?

  Because I genuinely think, what is the point of knowing anything if you can't help somebody to understand it and use it where it's going to make a really big difference to their life? And I actually received a similar compliment on Instagram today. And I don't, I don't always write back, I don't always have time to write back, but I said, that is the best compliment, thank you. So I'd like to approach this in a few ways. The practical

• 2:59Dr. Tara Swart?

  road to manifestation, which is based on neuroplasticity because of my background. And that means the ability of your brain to change and grow, and therefore your ability to think differently, manage your emotions differently, act differently in the material world. So based on that, manifestation is really just setting a goal or choosing an outcome and taking the actions that you have to, to make that come true. It's as simple as that.

• 3:29Dr. Tara Swart?

  But the neuroscience process starts with raised awareness. So, you know, if your life hasn't panned out exactly like you always dreamed it would, or you find yourself stuck, or you find yourself repeatedly making the same kind of mistake, then you need to understand why, because you can't change it if you don't understand why you're not achieving the things you want, or, you know, what's holding you back? What's a barrier? What's an obstacle? And indeed, what you could do differently. So, once you think, okay, this is not working for me. This is how I would rather my life should be.

• 4:06Lewis Howes?

  This is my vision, this is my dream, my goal, this is the outcome that I want.

• 4:10Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah. It's not immediately a case of doing something. So.

• 4:14Lewis Howes?

  Really? It's not about taking action right away?

• 4:16Dr. Tara Swart?

  Not right away. And, well, I, I will like, you know, use you as an example of all the mental rehearsal that you did when you were doing the decathlon.

• 4:24Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 4:25Dr. Tara Swart?

  You know, you know what you want to achieve with that decathlon, let's say with the pole vaulting. Then you spend all those hours just like playing it over in your head. Then you actually go out and do the practice pole vaulting and then you compete. So it's kind of like that.

• 4:40Lewis Howes?

  So it's mental rehearsal visualization, then the physical practice, then the moment.

• 4:47Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, and that's, that makes sense for sport, right? And I wanted to use something tangible so that people could get it. But when it might be something more to do with, I want to manage to regulate my emotions better, or I want to stop, um, you know, choosing the same kind of guy where the relationship always ends up badly. Um, then because it's a bit less tangible, the process that I've laid out is start with raised awareness. And then a phase of being not doing, which is focused attention. Which is just notice when you fall back into old habits. Or notice, um, either the thought patterns or the behaviors that have, you know, been repeated over time and led to the same outcome that you don't want.

• 5:33Dr. Tara Swart?

  Once you've gathered some data, because, you know, you have the awareness piece, but then you do kind of want to test, is this really true? Like, you know, is that bad? Or will it change if I do something differently? Then you do the deliberate practice. So that is going out, dating, applying for jobs, or, you know, looking into starting up your own business. Maybe changing some health habits. You actually then do them and see like what changes. So do you sleep better? Do you meet different types of people? Does your network increase? That kind of thing. And the last part isn't so much a stage, but it's accountability. Because as we both know, people set a lot of, you know, good intentions and then don't always achieve them.

• 6:16Dr. Tara Swart?

  So it's either that you can achieve that yourself. Like, I'm really loving this app at the moment called Habit Share. And I've got 12 micro habits on it and I have to like tick them off every day. And I find that if I do that and I focus on three for each quarter of the year, then by the end of the year, I'll have at least 10 habits that I don't even think twice about anymore.

• 6:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. What are three of the most important habits you're focused on right now?

• 6:43Dr. Tara Swart?

  Eating more protein, doing more weight bearing exercise and

• 6:52Dr. Tara Swart?

  they're all so good. I'm just trying to pick one. I think one I'm really into at the moment is like listening to chanting or doing a mantra or, you know, doing tapping or like a hypnosis audio. If I do one of those each day, I'm quite pleased with myself.

• 7:08Lewis Howes?

  What is the ultimate mantra to start manifesting more of what you want? And do you need to believe you're worthy of manifesting first before you can achieve it?

• 7:19Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah. So I'll pick up on that second point because it is really, it's a really important factor in why people don't achieve the things they say they want because deep down they don't believe.

• 7:29Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. And if you bypass the belief, can you still manifest?

• 7:33Dr. Tara Swart?

  I don't think so. Or not as well, let's put it that way. So let's, I'll give you an example of visualization and vision boards. So you know, I call vision boards action boards.

• 7:44Lewis Howes?

  I love that.

• 7:45Dr. Tara Swart?

  And that's to do with you going out into the real world and, you know, doing the actions that will bring your goals nearer to you, not just sitting at home fantasizing about things. But I have come across quite a few people who say, I've been through the magazines. I've cut out the pictures. I know exactly what I want. I can't bring myself to glue them onto the board.

• 8:04Lewis Howes?

  Why?

• 8:05Dr. Tara Swart?

  Well, the first time someone said that, I challenged them really strongly and I said, I think that's because you don't believe you deserve them. So we had a whole conversation about that and it turned out to be true. So a couple of times again, when I've heard people say that, or I I check more now, I'm like, have you actually stuck them down and put it somewhere prominent?

• 8:24Dr. Tara Swart?

  Because the putting it somewhere prominent is a risk as well. I don't know if you recall that my first one was in the bathroom of my apartment and I was in a one bedroom, well, I was in a studio apartment at the time, so.

• 8:34Lewis Howes?

  You see it every moment, yeah.

• 8:35Dr. Tara Swart?

  But also anyone that came to my house could see it.

• 8:38Lewis Howes?

  Oh, wow.

• 8:38Dr. Tara Swart?

  You know, it's slightly uncomfortable, particularly in Britain, to be putting, this is how much money I want to earn.

• 8:44Lewis Howes?

  Right, this is the house I want, the dreams, the relationship.

• 8:47Dr. Tara Swart?

  Exactly.

• 8:47Lewis Howes?

  The status, all of it, yeah.

• 8:49Dr. Tara Swart?

  But I said to myself, if you, you know, obviously only my like close friends were coming to my my apartment. If you can't even show it to them, how can you tell yourself that that's what you really want? And that you're going to go out into the world and say, this is what I want. And what was really lovely was actually my best friend's husband came over once. And he obviously looked at it when he was in the bathroom and he said, oh, actually, I've got someone I could introduce you to about, you know, one of the things. So it already helped me that I let other people see it.

• 9:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, I've heard different research of like, don't tell anyone your goals, because when you tell someone, you get a false sense of accomplishment of like excitement and joy that it's like. So you don't actually have to go make it happen because you're talking about it. And then I've seen the other side where it's like, let people know about your goals so that they can support you in accomplishing them.

• 9:38Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, I mean, I think letting people know so they can support you is one thing. But talking about it does not necessarily mean that you don't have to go and do something. You can talk about it and go and do something.

• 9:50Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 9:51Dr. Tara Swart?

  And because the brain doesn't like uncertainty, you may have some fear around actually grasping opportunities that are related to the things that you want. But if you've done the visualization, if you've talked about it, if you've felt in all your senses what it feels like for it to be true, and you've given gratitude for that, you have set your brain up to be in the love, trust, end of the emotional spectrum, with oxytocin flowing around your blood, making you much more willing to take a healthy risk, to collaborate, to think outside of the box, and reducing, because it's kind of a seesaw effect, the cortisol, the stress hormone, that will drive your amygdala and hippocampus, the emotional and memory centers of your brain.

• 10:37Dr. Tara Swart?

  In fear, in fear or stress, what, what happens is that your brain will bring to the front of your mind every single time you ask that girl out and she said no. And it will say, don't, don't go and ask anyone out because you remember what happened when you were that geeky teenager.

• 10:53Lewis Howes?

  You got rejected.

• 10:54Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 10:57Dr. Tara Swart?

  So we have to really set our brains up to override that because that's kind of a survival safety mechanism. So gratitude moves us from cortisol to oxytocin. And talking passionately about what you want moves you from cortisol to oxytocin.

• 11:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Is there ever too much gratitude someone can express? Where it actually hurts you or doesn't benefit you?

• 11:20Dr. Tara Swart?

  I don't think so. I mean, can you give me an example of that? I mean, I feel like it's one of those things that is just always good for you, isn't it?

• 11:27Lewis Howes?

  Well, yeah, that's why I'm, I'm asking is because I feel like I'm incorporating gratitude throughout my entire day from the moment I wake up.

• 11:36Lewis Howes?

  To after activities, to when I see people that I'm talking to or in person, I'm expressing it, feeling it. When people say, how's your day? I say, I'm very grateful. I'm just constantly trying to focus on that emotional state. Because I know the more gratitude that I focus on, the more abundance comes my way. I truly believe that gratitude is the gateway to abundance.

• 11:59Dr. Tara Swart?

  Totally.

• 11:59Lewis Howes?

  It's the gateway to peace, to health, to freedom, emotional freedom. And it creates a lot of perspective. If I'm not grateful, it means something's lacking. It means something is off. It means something's negative. And, or it's neutral, which I guess is fine too. And so it doesn't mean I should bypass spiritually when something is broken or when something is off or I'm being emotionally triggered or abused or a boundary is being crossed. You don't just say, ah, la di da, everything's okay.

• 12:28Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 12:29Lewis Howes?

  But it is reflecting on those painful moments and saying, oh, those were challenging and hard moments, but I'm grateful for the lessons and the wisdom now. So it's finding the meaning in the mess as well.

• 12:41Dr. Tara Swart?

  I was gonna say exactly the same thing. So I think, I was going to use the term spiritual bypass as well. If, if something very bad or difficult is happening in this moment, if you're suffering in this moment, of course, we are not expecting people to say, I'm grateful that I'm in emotional pain or loss. But it is about. Getting to the point where you can say, what did I learn from that?

• 13:06Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 13:07Dr. Tara Swart?

  And one of the things I've started doing recently, I've had a gratitude practice for a long time, is when I've been feeling particularly low and thinking, I don't know what I can do now to like, to deal with these emotions. I think, okay, what are ten things I'm grateful for? And that really helps. So it doesn't have to be about the difficult situation itself.

• 13:28Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, I'm not grateful for this pain that I'm going through, but I'm grateful for my, my dog, I'm grateful for my parents, I'm grateful for something else in your life.

• 13:37Dr. Tara Swart?

  I mean, to be honest, sometimes it's just, I'm grateful to be alive and I'm grateful that my health is in good shape. Because that's such a, you know, if you've got those two things, people that don't have those two things would want that so, so much.

• 13:51Lewis Howes?

  Give anything for their health.

• 13:52Dr. Tara Swart?

  Exactly.

• 13:52Lewis Howes?

  Right, yeah. I'm curious, are there any secrets? Because I feel like you study the secrets of neuroscience and the secrets of the universe and spirituality. You kind of blend them all, which I think is powerful with your book, especially The Source. Are there any secrets of neuroscience or the universe that you feel people aren't taking advantage of enough that they could be?

• 14:14Dr. Tara Swart?

  This is a very interesting question with potentially a massive like, you know, array of answers. Some of the research that I've been looking at recently through my academic position at MIT is about smell. And so I feel like it's one of the most underrated senses. But the pandemic kind of made people realize that actually when you lose it, it's noticeable. You know, you kind of take it for granted, but then if you don't have it, it's really noticeable. And smell or olfaction, as it's called in neuroscience, is really

• 14:47Dr. Tara Swart?

  special because of our five senses. The other four, so for example, the optic nerve, has to travel from here all the way around your skull to the occipital lobe because our visual cortices are here.

• 15:00Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 15:00Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, but the olfactory bulb, which comes out to the top of our nose, the nerve only goes back about an inch to go to, um, it goes through this like netting area at the top of our nose called the epithelial cells or epithelium. And then right behind that are the amygdala and hippocampus. And that's why smell is the most emotive sense that we have. So if I ask you what smell most strongly evokes a childhood memory for you, what would you say?

• 15:29Lewis Howes?

  Oh, man, let me think. Um, I'm thinking of like hot chocolate, cookies, baking. I'm thinking of like, you know, Christmas time, something like that.

• 15:38Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 15:39Lewis Howes?

  Like pumpkin pie, something type of smell like that.

• 15:41Dr. Tara Swart?

  Very warm, homely.

• 15:42Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 15:43Dr. Tara Swart?

  And do they remind you of your parents' home or your grandparents' home?

• 15:47Lewis Howes?

  My parents' home, yeah, my parents' home.

• 15:49Dr. Tara Swart?

  So they say when you smell something that reminds you of your parents' or grandparents' home, you get what's called an avalanche of memory. Because there's so much going on in those formative years, you know, and you are learning about the world through your relationship with your primary caregivers. And so smells that take you back to that time actually like release a whole torrent of of memory.

• 16:10Lewis Howes?

  That's interesting. And so I guess if you had a traumatic experience growing up around those smells, then that smell could recreate trauma within your nervous system as well. Or it could recreate a nostalgic, loving, homey feeling.

• 16:23Dr. Tara Swart?

  Uh.

• 16:24Lewis Howes?

  Based on the memory, correct?

• 16:26Dr. Tara Swart?

  Absolutely correct. And so one of the reasons that kids who got carsick when they'd had family holidays, road trips, usually hate the smell of petrol or diesel or what you call gasoline.

• 16:35Lewis Howes?

  Wow, because it reminds them of that sickness.

• 16:38Dr. Tara Swart?

  Because they felt, yeah.

• 16:39Lewis Howes?

  Wow, that's fascinating.

• 16:41Dr. Tara Swart?

  So I'm one of those. I I really just like the smell because I would get carsick and, you know, on those little, uh, I love a road trip, but I hate that smell.

• 16:49Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 16:50Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 16:51Lewis Howes?

  You gotta go electric then. You gotta get the electric car.

• 16:53Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, I have to. Um.

• 16:55Lewis Howes?

  So what is it, what is it about smell then that we should be thinking about and how we can use it as a superpower for our life?

• 17:02Dr. Tara Swart?

  So there are people who are super smellers and the professor that I was talking to actually said he thinks I'm one of them, which was really interesting.

• 17:09Lewis Howes?

  What is a super smeller? Because I feel like I have a very sensitive nose.

• 17:12Dr. Tara Swart?

  Do you?

• 17:13Lewis Howes?

  I feel like I do, like I notice smells all the time.

• 17:16Dr. Tara Swart?

  Okay, that's quite unusual because more women are way more women are super smellers than men. So you.

• 17:22Lewis Howes?

  I think, I think a part of it was, I don't know, nurture, because my dad used to smell everything. So maybe I started picking that up as a kid and be like, oh, let me smell everything that I'm like drinking or eating or just when I enter a room, I just kind of emulated to what, what he did, I guess. So I don't know if that's nurture as well as nature, I guess.

• 17:43Dr. Tara Swart?

  I mean, that's neuroplasticity, right? So maybe, maybe you wouldn't have been such a super smeller if you hadn't learned that as a child.

• 17:49Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 17:50Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, so interestingly, olfactory enrichment is beneficial to your brain and that means smelling lots of different things like you do.

• 17:58Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 17:59Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, it helps to improve memory and cognition as we age. So it's actually implicated in dementia research now.

• 18:05Lewis Howes?

  Okay. So how does someone develop the, what do you call it, a super smeller or?

• 18:10Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, they call it a super smeller, but it may not necessarily get you there, but in your house, if you have flowers or, you know, scented candles, but obviously ones with natural waxes and essential oils rather than false perfumes, diffusers, um, maybe in your bathroom, you have a lot of like, you know, products that smell nice as well. The more you expose yourself to the, to different smells throughout the day, you're in, you're enriching the olfactory senses in that part of your brain. And because they're so close to your memory centers, it's actually inducing neuroplasticity in that area and improving your memory.

• 18:48Lewis Howes?

  Now, how does smell, um, support you or hurt you when you're trying to enter new relationships? Either romantically, career, business, you know, friends, how does smell, how is it incorporated in relationships?

• 19:04Dr. Tara Swart?

  Brilliant question. So we're very visual. So I would say that that's probably the top one in terms of attraction or even if it's not sexual attraction, if it's in a team at work, then kind of knowing who your tribe is, um, is primarily visual. Also, secondly, I would say we're auditory. So if you like someone's voice or accent, that can have quite a strong impact on you as well.

• 19:27Lewis Howes?

  Is that why I like being around you?

• 19:30Dr. Tara Swart?

  My friend Lily actually sent me a voice note saying, Tara darling, I'm listening to you on a podcast and your voice is like up there with David Attenborough. It's so relaxing. So that was a huge compliment. But thank you. Yeah.

• 19:43Lewis Howes?

  I'm just gonna text you. Please send me a voice note today. Tell me something positive.

• 19:48Dr. Tara Swart?

  I'll send you an affirmation every day.

• 19:49Lewis Howes?

  There we go. Yeah.

• 19:52Dr. Tara Swart?

  And I think third, we come to smell because, because yeah.

• 19:59Dr. Tara Swart?

  I was just thinking about taste and touch. You're obviously not going to go there to you smell the person, right? So think about it like this. Let's say there was, oh, let's keep it real. Let's say there was a very famous, beautiful actress that you were super attracted to. And then, and this is not about Martha, but then you met her and she had really bad breath.

• 20:17Lewis Howes?

  Oh, interesting.

• 20:18Dr. Tara Swart?

  That would put you off, right?

• 20:19Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 20:20Dr. Tara Swart?

  So it's more of a detractor than particularly a primary attractor. You know, you're not going to choose someone because they smell really nice if you don't like what they look like.

• 20:31Lewis Howes?

  Right, right, right.

• 20:31Dr. Tara Swart?

  Probably.

• 20:32Lewis Howes?

  But if they look good, but they don't smell pleasing to your nose.

• 20:35Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 20:36Lewis Howes?

  They're just gonna push you away from them.

• 20:38Dr. Tara Swart?

  Possibly. And there's a scientific explanation for that, which is called the major histocompatibility complex. And that is actually the like imprint of our immune system. And non-consciously, we can smell that in a potential partner.

• 20:55Lewis Howes?

  So if someone has a bad smell or they have a smell of anxiety, stress and overwhelm. Do we attract that if we're also overwhelmed, stressed and anxious? Or do we repel that and want someone else who has a smell of peace and a healthy immune system?

• 21:12Dr. Tara Swart?

  Well, I just want to be really like, I want to stay very, I love this analogy, but in terms of the science, we're not necessarily smelling those words that you've used.

• 21:21Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 21:22Dr. Tara Swart?

  With the stress thing, I think we talked about this last time, the cortisol is contagious. So you would be impacted by the cortisol having a physiological, physiological impact on your stress levels.

• 21:34Lewis Howes?

  From someone else?

• 21:35Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 21:36Lewis Howes?

  So you can smell the stress on someone?

• 21:38Dr. Tara Swart?

  No, I want to separate those things. So the, the stress hormone leaks out around us and it affects each other's blood levels of the stress hormone.

• 21:47Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 21:48Dr. Tara Swart?

  I wouldn't say that, we can't say scientifically at the moment that you're actually smelling that, but it's having an impact on your blood levels. The smell thing has more to do with the immune system. And so what's super interesting is that we're more likely to be attracted to people who have a very different immune system pattern to us. Because of the benefit on potential children of having a much broader immune system.

• 22:16Dr. Tara Swart?

  Also, the people that you live with. You actually start to like. Give each other immune cells. So usually it goes from the person with the healthiest microbiome to downwards, basically.

• 22:31Dr. Tara Swart?

  And that's because you are either like sleeping next to them in bed, you're sharing the same crockery and cutlery, you're sharing the same bathroom. You're kissing, you're having sex. So there's a lot of exchange of, you know, bodily fluids.

• 22:44Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 22:44Dr. Tara Swart?

  And in that is.

• 22:47Dr. Tara Swart?

  Gut, you know, the gut micro, the bacteria as well.

• 22:50Lewis Howes?

  Wow. So. Are we more attracted to people with different immune systems then?

• 22:57Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 22:57Lewis Howes?

  Through our sense of smell? Is that what it is? Like if they have a a diverse immune system from us, we will find that more attractive.

• 23:05Dr. Tara Swart?

  Uh huh.

• 23:05Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 23:06Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um.

• 23:07Lewis Howes?

  That's interesting. So how do we know if someone has a diverse immune system outside of smell? If we don't have that ability to smell?

• 23:15Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, well, it's not conscious. So you're not saying, you're not kind of like. Saying I can smell that you have a different immune system. You're just like loving the smell of this person, right?

• 23:24Lewis Howes?

  Is that pheromones or what is that? Is that like a?

• 23:27Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, I guess.

• 23:28Lewis Howes?

  Is that hormones?

• 23:30Dr. Tara Swart?

  Pheromones, hormones, everything that's, you know, leaking out of the sweat.

• 23:33Lewis Howes?

  That's interesting.

• 23:34Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, yeah.

• 23:35Lewis Howes?

  And I sweat a lot, so I'm glad Martha likes me.

• 23:37Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 23:39Lewis Howes?

  Oh, I hopefully it smells good.

• 23:41Dr. Tara Swart?

  As long as it smells good to her.

• 23:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it's all about it. Yeah, exactly.

• 23:46Lewis Howes?

  What else should we know about smell in relationships? Is there anything else we should know about this?

• 23:52Dr. Tara Swart?

  In relationships, I wouldn't say that there's that much more, but just bringing it back around to the super smeller thing. Do you know about medical detection dogs that can detect cancer?

• 24:04Lewis Howes?

  I've heard this. Yeah.

• 24:05Dr. Tara Swart?

  So the research that I'm, you know, very interested in, that's the reason I was having this discussion with this guy, is that he's actually made a simulated nose that can detect cancer to the same level as.

• 24:16Lewis Howes?

  Come on.

• 24:16Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 24:17Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 24:18Dr. Tara Swart?

  It's amazing.

• 24:18Lewis Howes?

  That's fascinating.

• 24:19Dr. Tara Swart?

  I know. And also in nursing homes, cat where they have cats and dogs, you know, just to like, give people company and comfort. They go and sit outside the doors of people that are about to die in the next few days. Because when we're dying, our organs start to die off in a certain order. And that lysis of cells, cell death, otherwise known as apoptosis or um lysis, they they can smell that. Because obviously, they're they're down on the ground. They've got a lot more smell receptors than us because in the animal kingdom, they're not finding their partner attractive because of visuals. They're doing it more on smell.

• 25:04Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 25:04Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 25:05Lewis Howes?

  Wow. So what cats and dogs will sit outside of a nursing home of like the door of someone who's about to pass.

• 25:11Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 25:12Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 25:12Dr. Tara Swart?

  Even if it's not yet known by the medical staff that that person is.

• 25:16Lewis Howes?

  They just do this intuitively?

• 25:18Dr. Tara Swart?

  Through smell.

• 25:19Lewis Howes?

  But why do they are they trained to do this? Or they just kind of do this because they want to bring comfort to that person or?

• 25:25Dr. Tara Swart?

  So the medical detection dogs are obviously trained to detect detect cancers. But what we see in nursing homes is there's no training involved. It's just that because they can smell it, they go and sit. Yeah, they go and sit there. They want to offer comfort. Maybe they want to signal to the staff that this is something that's happening.

• 25:41Lewis Howes?

  That is fascinating.

• 25:42Dr. Tara Swart?

  I know.

• 25:42Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 25:43Dr. Tara Swart?

  So what I think is, in terms of us being able to expand our consciousness, is that if there are biological models, and by that I mean cats and dogs that can smell death, or bats that can hear things that we can't hear, dolphins, you know, flies that can see things that we can't see. If there are biological models that can do that,

• 26:09Dr. Tara Swart?

  is it possible that we can do more of that?

• 26:11Lewis Howes?

  That's interesting.

• 26:12Dr. Tara Swart?

  And I'm applying that to cognitive science, because obviously that's my area. And the question I love asking people is, have you ever thought of someone that you haven't been in touch with for a while and suddenly they message you? Has that ever happened to you?

• 26:28Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, of course.

• 26:29Dr. Tara Swart?

  So everybody says, of course.

• 26:31Lewis Howes?

  Is that what you messaged me the other day?

• 26:34Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, no, that was because it was your birthday.

• 26:37Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 26:39Dr. Tara Swart?

  But if it was for no-

• 26:40Lewis Howes?

  I'm thinking of everyone. That's why I'm getting messages.

• 26:42Dr. Tara Swart?

  I know. So if, if that, if that phenomenon happens-

• 26:47Lewis Howes?

  Why is that? Why does that happen when you're thinking of someone and then the next day they, they text you or call you?

• 26:51Dr. Tara Swart?

  Well, we don't know, but that's what I, that's what I'm so excited to dive into next.

• 26:55Lewis Howes?

  Fascinating, right?

• 26:57Dr. Tara Swart?

  Because if you can control that, then what are the possibilities?

• 27:01Lewis Howes?

  So if you had a hypothesis on why we think of something and then that person calls you or, you know, someone or some, two people are talking about you and then you call those people, what do you think based on neuroscience that is, if you had a guess?

• 27:18Dr. Tara Swart?

  I'm going to give you a science answer and a spiritual answer.

• 27:21Lewis Howes?

  I love it. I love it.

• 27:22Dr. Tara Swart?

  It has to be about-

• 27:22Lewis Howes?

  Blend it. Let's go.

• 27:24Dr. Tara Swart?

  So, um, the science answer is mostly based on Carl Jung's psychological theories about the collective unconscious. Which means that on some level that we are not consciously aware of, there is a connection between our psyches. And a couple of examples of this are at the start of the pandemic, there was a global phenomenon of vivid dreaming. And that hasn't happened in the world since the last world war.

• 27:54Lewis Howes?

  Globally, this was happening.

• 27:55Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah. So literally like, you know, me in my country house in England, you in LA, someone in a tiny village in Africa, we were all experiencing that, and it was mostly anxiety based, which completely makes sense, right? But for people in very, very different circumstances, and dreaming is a huge part of our emotional processing, um, that was going on. Then there's the example of people saying you thought of somebody and then they messaged you. Twins definitely seem to have a higher level of being able to know if the other one's thinking about them. Um, so that, that has to do with-

• 28:36Dr. Tara Swart?

  The only explanation that we have for that at the moment is this potential collective unconscious idea. And then, um, because I've been doing some research into the first American cultures. One of the things I've learned is that our construct of time as linear, which is that there's a past, a present and a future. Well, that's a manmade construct. We don't actually know how time works. A lot of the first American nations believe that time happens in a spiral. And so as you are progressing through your life, you are passing by times and things and people that you've passed by before. And most people just have blinkers on and aren't aware of that at all.

• 29:18Dr. Tara Swart?

  But if you're more open to the fact that time works in a different way, then you would understand that there's no such thing as coincidence or serendipity. It's because you're mentally passing through places that you've been past before.

• 29:34Lewis Howes?

  At the same time, or you're going back in time, or?

• 29:39Dr. Tara Swart?

  It's, no, not that you're not going back in time. I don't think we can do that yet, but you're passing close to, you know, let's call it memories or emotions or intuitions. That we're not normally, they're not in our brain. They might be, what we're thinking now is that the brain is filtering our mind down to survive in this material world. And that actually our consciousness could be much bigger than that.

• 30:06Dr. Tara Swart?

  And areas of research I've looked at around that are things like, I'll explain these terms in a minute, if you don't know what they are. Terminal lucidity, near-death experiences and past life memories. So terminal lucidity is when someone who's got dementia or they've had a stroke or a brain injury suddenly becomes completely lucid. So they go from not recognizing their own children, not even knowing that they have children anymore, to suddenly saying, Lewis, son, come here. I want to say something to you that's really important to me. And usually they die within one to 24 hours of that happening.

• 30:44Lewis Howes?

  It's like when they come back to like who they were or where they are now.

• 30:47Dr. Tara Swart?

  Completely.

• 30:48Lewis Howes?

  It's like quickly the end is coming soon.

• 30:50Dr. Tara Swart?

  The end is coming, but.

• 30:51Lewis Howes?

  Why is that?

• 30:52Dr. Tara Swart?

  We don't know why, but there's, so basically there's this amazing doctor called Dr. Alexander Bathiani, who's, who's, this is his life's work. He's um head of the Viktor Frankl Institute and um from that, you know, lineage of Austrian psychologists that are kind of super famous. And so he's documented many cases of this. That means that a brain, that if you scanned it, would show a lot of damage, can fully retain its consciousness. But we can't control that yet, but we can see that it can happen, right? People who report near-death experiences, and this includes some high-profile doctors and scientists now,

• 31:33Dr. Tara Swart?

  um, basically say that, and this is proven through, you know, they were in cardiac arrest for a certain amount of time. They've flatlined, their EEG also flatlined. For longer than you would think, anyone could survive without oxygen, um, come back and they're alive again. And they have, you know, a lot of, a lot of stuff happens around that in terms of like spiritual awakening and like how you view life and death. But the main point is, your brain became completely inactive and starved of oxygen for a length of time that we don't believe is possible to recover from.

• 32:07Lewis Howes?

  Five, 10, 20 minutes.

• 32:08Dr. Tara Swart?

  And then you did.

• 32:09Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 32:10Dr. Tara Swart?

  Fully back to full consciousness. It's, and it just, so, so you can't, we can't all have a near-death experience, right?

• 32:21Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 32:22Dr. Tara Swart?

  But in Tibetan Buddhism, they do dark retreats to stimulate a near-death experience. In the really ancient cultures like the Greeks and Egyptians, they used to bury people for days. But these people became the mystics and the seers of those communities. So just the fact that we've got, I'm so excited about this, is, you know, that we've got brain scanning technology now. We've got really sophisticated technology. We know about, we're becoming, we're remembering some of these things that we knew a long time ago. The thought of putting those two things together and, you know, especially with AI rising right next to us like it is,

• 33:04Dr. Tara Swart?

  I just, I just feel it's got so much potential for the humanity.

• 33:09Lewis Howes?

  How many dimensions is our mind capable of being in?

• 33:14Dr. Tara Swart?

  So I was just, I was just at this conference, which is a super spiritual one, a little bit even on the edge for me.

• 33:20Lewis Howes?

  Fringe, yeah, yeah.

• 33:21Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah. And, um, yeah, so there was a speaker talking about going from three dimensions to five dimensions. And I.

• 33:31Lewis Howes?

  Cause we're in three D right now.

• 33:32Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 33:32Lewis Howes?

  But the goal is, I guess the goal to manifest would be to get into five D.

• 33:36Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 33:37Lewis Howes?

  More frequently, isn't that correct?

• 33:39Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah. And when I really sort of tried to pin her down on how do you actually do this? Comes down to.

• 33:45Lewis Howes?

  And what is the difference between three D and five D as a neuroscientist?

• 33:50Dr. Tara Swart?

  I have to say, I'm not an expert on this, but it's, it's obviously opening up the dimensions of your mind and your consciousness to. One of the things that she mentions, and I'm not saying that there's science to this right now, but I think it's very interesting, is opening up channels of communication to the angelic realms. So.

• 34:08Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 34:09Dr. Tara Swart?

  Actually, I didn't really give you the context for this, which is that since the pandemic, people have lost loved ones to actual death. A lot of relationships broke down and I'm talking marriages, friendships, working relationships. And a lot of, you know, mental health problems are massively on the rise and that involves this loss of sense of self, this loss of purpose. I don't know who I am anymore. I can't trust my gut anymore. And so I'm trying to find the answers to help people who've been through that. And if you take grief as an example, if you think that somebody in your family or a very close friend died

• 34:51Dr. Tara Swart?

  and you're never going to see them again, and you're never going to hear from them again, and you have to carry on in this life, that must be so painful. And I don't know how people can ever necessarily get over that. If you believe that our conscious consciousness doesn't disappear with physical death and that if we learn how to expand our minds to access different planes, that potentially you could remain connected and bonded in some kind of way to a person that you loved very much in this life. Wouldn't you want that?

• 35:29Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 35:31Lewis Howes?

  So how do we start to train our brain to unlike unlock new dimensions outside of this three dimensional world?

• 35:40Dr. Tara Swart?

  I am going to take it back to this raised awareness that we talked about. Because I guess you'd have to be open to thinking that it's possible. Yeah.

• 35:51Lewis Howes?

  So if you're close minded to it, then you're not going to be able to create that.

• 35:54Dr. Tara Swart?

  No, um, and you'll just think that it's a it's going to be a waste of your time because it's not going to work.

• 36:00Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 36:00Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um.

• 36:02Dr. Tara Swart?

  So I would like to pose hypotheses to people like the one that I just said to you, like if you thought that there could be some way that you can remain connected to someone that you've lost, wouldn't you want that? Well, if because your answer was yes. And your answer wasn't, well, of course I would, but it's not possible, you know, like there's there's going to be all sorts of answers that people would give. Then I would ask you to operate on the basis that that might be true. And so that could look like different things for different people. That could be have a conversation with that person in your head or have a conversation with that person out loud. I mean, I think that Richard E. Grant very famously says, I was married to my wife for so long

• 36:45Dr. Tara Swart?

  that I kind of know the answer that she would give. So I have conversations with her in my head as if they're between me and her, but obviously it's my brain that's kind of creating the answer, but it is based on what I think she would say. So that's that's acceptable to most people.

• 37:02Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 37:02Dr. Tara Swart?

  That would be acceptable. Um, you could take it further and people often report that they experience, you know, words or thoughts in their head that they don't believe are theirs. However, you're now veering into how I would diagnose someone with schizophrenia.

• 37:20Lewis Howes?

  Right, I'm hearing voices. Yeah, yeah.

• 37:22Dr. Tara Swart?

  Or and thought insertion is also a diagnostic symptom of schizophrenia.

• 37:26Lewis Howes?

  Thought insertion.

• 37:27Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, so that's there are thoughts in my head that aren't my own.

• 37:30Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 37:31Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 37:31Lewis Howes?

  Are all of our thoughts our own thoughts?

• 37:34Dr. Tara Swart?

  I mean, I just think this is becoming questionable. Um, I can't give you the definitive answer to that, but if I.

• 37:40Lewis Howes?

  And where do our thoughts come from?

• 37:42Dr. Tara Swart?

  Exactly. I mean, that's called the hard problem of neuroscience because it is isn't a full understanding of whether we our thoughts only arise from neurons and chemicals.

• 37:54Dr. Tara Swart?

  Or whether we're a higher, you know, being than that and we have the ability to feel these emotions and have thoughts and then the neurochemical response is a consequence of that. Something that people have been arguing about literally forever.

• 38:12Dr. Tara Swart?

  So, you know, without all the answers, I would just ask people to explore. Another thing that you can do that is just like a very joyous one is. So I'm, I've got this hashtag that I often use called I find hearts. And I literally like.

• 38:30Lewis Howes?

  See hearts everywhere.

• 38:31Dr. Tara Swart?

  Everywhere. And, and it's just, you know, it's just so sweet and people love it and they send me their pictures of the same. So up until recently, that's always been random. Like I'll be walking and then I'll see like a, you know, like a defect in the pavement, but it's heart shaped kind of thing.

• 38:48Dr. Tara Swart?

  But one thing that I've started experimenting with is asking for specific signs that are really unusual things that you wouldn't expect to see in certain places. And then just seeing what happens and writing into my journal.

• 39:02Lewis Howes?

  Like almost asking for a, a sign to confirm something or to say, show me something unusual or show me this. If I should take this direction or what do you mean?

• 39:11Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah. So I wouldn't say, show me something unusual. I would specify what it is.

• 39:16Lewis Howes?

  Show me a pink elephant.

• 39:17Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yes.

• 39:19Lewis Howes?

  In the middle of the night or whatever.

• 39:21Dr. Tara Swart?

  Maybe not that specific.

• 39:22Lewis Howes?

  Okay, just show me a pink elephant. It's too unique. Show me a pink elephant. If I'm supposed to take this action.

• 39:30Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, that kind of thing.

• 39:31Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 39:31Dr. Tara Swart?

  And you could easily say that really it's just your intuition and we understand how intuition works now. But you could also extrapolate it to being about something else. And that's kind of where I want to push our thinking.

• 39:44Lewis Howes?

  What is your, what does neuroscience tell us about signs, signals and synchronicities? Are they,

• 39:53Lewis Howes?

  you know, something we should be paying attention to based on neuroscience and brain chemistry? Or is it more spiritual woo woo?

• 40:01Dr. Tara Swart?

  Well, neuroscience doesn't tell us anything about that or much, let's say, about that at the moment, but that's why I'm probably going to write another book, which I said I would never do. But I'm just so fascinated by this. So when I get back to London, I'm going to start like properly doing the research on this. So far, it's been kind of something I'm interested in. And I have to say, I wasn't sure if my book publisher would be okay with it. And

• 40:33Lewis Howes?

  About these things, signs, signals, synchronicities?

• 40:36Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 40:36Lewis Howes?

  Well, that's fascinating. I love that stuff.

• 40:38Dr. Tara Swart?

  And I think that it coming from a neuroscientist is a new angle. It's not that there aren't books out there on this kind of thing. But I really want to open up that conversation as well, because there's a lot of people suffering. And like I said, you can sound like you're crazy if you start talking about stuff like this. So I want to open up the conversation,

• 41:04Dr. Tara Swart?

  being open, but trying to keep it as rigorous as possible to give people permission to come forward and share these stories, because I think that's only going to be good for everyone.

• 41:13Lewis Howes?

  Wow, that's cool. So when when someone sees the signs, signals, and synchronicities happening in their life, what do you think that's telling them? That they're on the right path, that they should be paying attention more, that they should be trusting their intuition more when they're seeing these three things?

• 41:32Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, so I feel like what it says, and somebody said this to me, actually, the last time I was in LA, but it had to land really emotionally for me to to believe it. And that's what I want for everyone, is it tells you that you are being guided and it tells you that you're safe and protected.

• 41:53Lewis Howes?

  All right.

• 41:54Dr. Tara Swart?

  And one of the things I picked up from you a couple of years ago, was that you said, sometimes, you know, if I'm feeling like in an emotional crisis, I just say to myself, I'm safe, I'm safe, I'm safe. And I can't tell you how many times I've used that in the last two years.

• 42:07Lewis Howes?

  Wow, that's beautiful.

• 42:09Dr. Tara Swart?

  But that's kind of like self-soothing the inner child, right?

• 42:12Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 42:13Dr. Tara Swart?

  With this kind of interest and more esoteric things that I've had, like since I met you that time.

• 42:21Dr. Tara Swart?

  I'd like to think that it's not, I'm not just safe because I tell myself I'm safe, but I'm safe because I believe in something greater.

• 42:28Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 42:28Dr. Tara Swart?

  And I'm tapping into it and I'm allowing it to make me feel safe.

• 42:34Dr. Tara Swart?

  Because however good you become psychologically at soothing yourself, you can still feel very alone.

• 42:43Dr. Tara Swart?

  So feeling like.

• 42:44Lewis Howes?

  Unless you have a deeper spiritual connection to something.

• 42:49Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's what I meant to say.

• 42:52Lewis Howes?

  Wow, that's fascinating. Do you believe that we can be in beautiful, healthy, loving relationships? And we can manifest everything we have on our vision or action boards? If we have yet to heal the wounds of our childhood?

• 43:10Lewis Howes?

  As a neuroscientist?

• 43:11Dr. Tara Swart?

  No.

• 43:12Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 43:14Lewis Howes?

  Wow. So if we have these visions and dreams and goals that we want to go after, if we want to have a beautiful relationship, but we are wounded still, the inner child is wounded inside of us as adults, what will happen to us?

• 43:29Dr. Tara Swart?

  So this is really about inner child and shadow, right? So we, I think people understand that you've got an inner child that maybe didn't get over things that you experienced in your childhood. Shadow is about the parts of yourself that you've rejected because as a young child, you rely on your primary caregivers for survival.

• 43:49Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 43:50Dr. Tara Swart?

  And if there is something that they don't love about you, you want to hide that for all the world so that they will still love you and like not let you die.

• 43:58Lewis Howes?

  You don't want anyone to notice about you.

• 44:00Dr. Tara Swart?

  No.

• 44:00Lewis Howes?

  That's shame.

• 44:02Dr. Tara Swart?

  So you hide it away in childhood and often find yourself in adulthood no longer even aware of what those things are because you've rejected them so deeply.

• 44:11Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 44:12Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah. But that's driving a lot of your unconscious behavior.

• 44:16Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 44:17Dr. Tara Swart?

  So if you put together the inner child and the shadow, then what happens is you meet people on the same level of psychological wound as you.

• 44:26Lewis Howes?

  Oh, man.

• 44:28Dr. Tara Swart?

  You also leave people where if you evolve out of that and they haven't been able to.

• 44:33Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Which I think goes back to one of the things, one of the pieces of content I heard you talk about, which is like the sense of smell connecting to someone's stress levels or anxiety levels. Like you'll kind of attract a similar nervous system or I guess a certain similar like, I don't know, stress level.

• 44:51Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, it's not, it's not, it's not smell. It's sensing, sensing, not through smell, the level of the stress hormone. Yeah.

• 45:00Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 45:01Dr. Tara Swart?

  But that's short term, right? But the inner child and shadow stuff is longer term.

• 45:05Lewis Howes?

  Gosh, that's fascinating.

• 45:06Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 45:07Lewis Howes?

  So you think we attract people based on our psychological wounds?

• 45:11Dr. Tara Swart?

  Hundred percent.

• 45:12Lewis Howes?

  Wow. And as we start to heal and grow, if the other person's not healing and growing, we kind of pull away. Wow. That's interesting.

• 45:25Dr. Tara Swart?

  Oh, I can see the cogs moving in your brain.

• 45:28Lewis Howes?

  Fascinating. Speaking, I guess, about relationships and men and women. With all of your expertise on the brain, is the process of manifesting love and falling in love different from men versus women?

• 45:41Dr. Tara Swart?

  I think if it's love you're really looking for, then it's not different.

• 45:44Lewis Howes?

  Not lust.

• 45:45Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, the issue is what you're actually looking for.

• 45:49Lewis Howes?

  So you think men and women manifest love the same way, similar ways?

• 45:53Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, I think if, you know, if you want that sense of partnership and friendship and intimacy and you want to be loyal and you want it to be for the long term, then it doesn't matter what gender you are.

• 46:07Dr. Tara Swart?

  But if the disconnect is often, and you know, this is a bit of a stereotype, but usually it's more that men, sorry, that women want a loving, stable relationship and men perhaps, you know, don't want that as much.

• 46:19Lewis Howes?

  Want sex or whatever.

• 46:19Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah. Or don't, you know, just don't want it right now, but go through periods where that's what they want and go through periods where that's not what they want, which I guess could be true of any gender as well, but overall more likely women will want to like be in a monogamous relationship and.

• 46:34Lewis Howes?

  Why is that based on kind of the brain size?

• 46:37Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, so. It comes from evolution. So when we lived in the cave, women did need men to protect them from predators and to hunt for food. So women tend-

• 46:49Lewis Howes?

  Especially if they're pregnant too, and they weren't able to go out and hunt or gather, or whatever it might be.

• 46:54Dr. Tara Swart?

  They, I mean, they generally didn't hunt as much, so they gathered more. But then it's hard to get protein from what you gather rather than what you hunt. So, so for survival, and you know, they used the, the fat and the skins and everything. So it wasn't just food, it was shelter and-

• 47:12Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 47:12Dr. Tara Swart?

  Fire and, you know, all of that kind of stuff. So although we don't necessarily need a man for those physical things now, it's a very strong survival wiring in the brain. And so what we have, you know, in, in the cave, we lived nomadically. So often the men would go and hunt and be away for a very long time. Or if they went far enough and they found a cave of the, of the same tribe, they would just stay there and not go back. Why risk your life to travel back for, you know, six weeks?

• 47:46Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 47:47Dr. Tara Swart?

  But over time, a lot of societies in the modern world have asked people to live in unit families. And so we have seen men's brains be rewired.

• 47:58Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 47:58Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah. Quite recently, relatively recently, like maybe in the last 10 years, research has showed that when you become a dad for the first time, oxytocin rewires your brain so that you're more into bonding and less into the testosterone competitive stuff. Because if you think about it, lions and tigers, they'll eat their own children.

• 48:17Lewis Howes?

  You have to tame that in some ways, right?

• 48:19Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 48:20Lewis Howes?

  But how do you, how do you tame it, but also harness it in other ways? You know what I mean? It's like a dance of like having drive and testosterone.

• 48:27Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 48:28Lewis Howes?

  Like, I never want to lose that drive, right?

• 48:31Dr. Tara Swart?

  I get this question all the time.

• 48:33Lewis Howes?

  But I also want to be like a great loving parent and partner and all these things.

• 48:37Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 48:37Lewis Howes?

  And not let testosterone drive me in doing damaging things now, so.

• 48:43Dr. Tara Swart?

  Well, so from about the age of 35, your testosterone will have started dropping significantly already.

• 48:50Lewis Howes?

  On mine.

• 48:55Dr. Tara Swart?

  One's testosterone tends to drop from that age. So when you do become a dad-

• 49:02Lewis Howes?

  It drops after you become a dad.

• 49:04Dr. Tara Swart?

  For the first time, oxytocin goes up, testosterone drops. You become much more about like cuddling and bonding and wanting to stay in the home and look after the

• 49:14Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 49:14Dr. Tara Swart?

  mom and the baby.

• 49:15Lewis Howes?

  Less about, less about like lifting and like hunting, right?

• 49:18Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 49:19Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 49:20Dr. Tara Swart?

  If you keep lifting, then you would actually like keep your testosterone levels higher. Also, if the baby sleeps in the same room as you, then your testosterone levels drop even more.

• 49:28Lewis Howes?

  Come on.

• 49:29Dr. Tara Swart?

  So you might want to move out for three months to a different bedroom.

• 49:32Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. I've already told her, I'm getting my sleep, you know, the first few months. So your testosterone drops?

• 49:38Dr. Tara Swart?

  If you sleep in the same room as the baby.

• 49:40Lewis Howes?

  Why is that?

• 49:42Dr. Tara Swart?

  Because you're, because the oxytocin's becoming like, you know, higher and higher because you've got this cute little warm thing that smells so nice and it's so like vulnerable and dependent on you. And it's like in the room with you the whole eight hours, you know, just oxytocin boost.

• 49:57Lewis Howes?

  But are women attracted to men with less testosterone?

• 50:00Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, they are when they're not fertile, but they are not when they are at peak fertility.

• 50:06Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 50:07Dr. Tara Swart?

  So mid-cycle, when you're ovulating, you're going to want a bad boy. And the rest of the time, you're going to want a nice man that will stay at home and help you look after the baby.

• 50:17Lewis Howes?

  So if you're not a bad boy, when you're at peak fertility as a woman, is that going to hurt the relationship if you don't give women what they want?

• 50:24Dr. Tara Swart?

  Hang on, say that again.

• 50:26Lewis Howes?

  So if a man is not a

• 50:28Dr. Tara Swart?

  Not a bad boy.

• 50:28Lewis Howes?

  Not a bad boy.

• 50:29Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 50:30Lewis Howes?

  When a woman is at peak fertility.

• 50:31Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um.

• 50:32Lewis Howes?

  And the man just wants to cuddle and chill and not be driven by testosterone and give the woman that, that testosterone feel.

• 50:39Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 50:40Lewis Howes?

  Well, that ultimately hurts the relationship long term if the woman doesn't get what she wants sexually.

• 50:45Dr. Tara Swart?

  I mean, I think if she's chosen him by then, so this is more about when you're like in the choosing phase.

• 50:50Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 50:51Dr. Tara Swart?

  Once you've settled down with someone, then you have like a logical conversation about are we trying for a baby or not, right?

• 50:58Lewis Howes?

  But logic and emotion are two different things.

• 50:59Dr. Tara Swart?

  No, I mean

• 51:00Lewis Howes?

  In relationships, you know, you might logically say, okay, I'm safe, but emotionally you want something else.

• 51:06Dr. Tara Swart?

  This is a reason that people cheat.

• 51:08Lewis Howes?

  Right, right. Cause they're not getting what they want sexually.

• 51:10Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 51:12Lewis Howes?

  And so it's like, how do you suppress the thing you want sexually to be like, oh, but he's such a good guy? Or he's this and but if he's not giving me what I want, then I'm gonna go find it from this other younger testosterone driven man, right?

• 51:23Dr. Tara Swart?

  You're getting really jealous here.

• 51:25Lewis Howes?

  Not getting jealous.

• 51:27Dr. Tara Swart?

  This this this fantasy younger, high testosterone man.

• 51:31Lewis Howes?

  Well, I'm just thinking, is this what women deal with?

• 51:33Dr. Tara Swart?

  I know.

• 51:34Lewis Howes?

  Is this what women deal with?

• 51:35Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, to some, you know, more consciously or less consciously, depending on the woman.

• 51:41Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it's interesting, right?

• 51:43Dr. Tara Swart?

  So let me kind of explain the physiology behind it from the research that we know the best.

• 51:48Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 51:48Dr. Tara Swart?

  Which is in prairie voles. So there are two types of voles in America. Marshed or mountain voles.

• 51:58Lewis Howes?

  Voles, what's a vole?

• 51:59Dr. Tara Swart?

  Vole, it's a little rat like creature.

• 52:02Lewis Howes?

  Prairie, prairie dogs?

• 52:04Dr. Tara Swart?

  No.

• 52:05Lewis Howes?

  Not prairie dogs?

• 52:05Dr. Tara Swart?

  It's a vole. It's more like a mouse or a rat.

• 52:07Lewis Howes?

  Okay, cool.

• 52:08Dr. Tara Swart?

  The ones that live in the marsh or the mountain, they have plenty of food and plenty of shelter. And they're super promiscuous. The ones that moved to the prairie, where there's like scarce food and shelter. They snuggle in and settle down and become monogamous for life.

• 52:26Lewis Howes?

  The same rat, the same mouse, but just living in different areas. Come on.

• 52:32Dr. Tara Swart?

  So.

• 52:33Lewis Howes?

  So wait, you're telling me rats are monogamous?

• 52:36Dr. Tara Swart?

  These voles, these voles are monogamous.

• 52:42Lewis Howes?

  If they live in the prairie.

• 52:43Dr. Tara Swart?

  If they live in the prairie, but not if they live in the marsh.

• 52:45Lewis Howes?

  But if they have a, if they have all the food and abundance, they're just.

• 52:50Dr. Tara Swart?

  And lots of female voles that they can go and visit.

• 52:53Lewis Howes?

  They're just little polyamorous voles, huh?

• 52:55Dr. Tara Swart?

  Because they know that if they get, they get, you know, one vole pregnant and she's left on her own to look after her young. They're going to survive because they're well sheltered. There's plenty of food for her to nip out and bring it back to the babies. Yeah. But in the prairie, if he was promiscuous, then the chances of his offspring dying are quite high because she can't defend the nest herself. She can't find enough food for herself and them without help.

• 53:24Dr. Tara Swart?

  And so let's extrapolate this. How does this help humans? Right? Okay.

• 53:28Lewis Howes?

  Well, which first off, which which mice are happier? The ones that are more promiscuous or the ones that are coupled?

• 53:35Dr. Tara Swart?

  I think it depends on the on the bowl.

• 53:37Lewis Howes?

  So you think the the female mice are happy if they just, you know, are pregnant, but then their partner just leaves?

• 53:46Dr. Tara Swart?

  No, no.

• 53:46Lewis Howes?

  They're not happy?

• 53:46Dr. Tara Swart?

  No.

• 53:47Lewis Howes?

  How do we know? Can we test that?

• 53:51Lewis Howes?

  Okay, so how do we apply this to our lives?

• 53:53Dr. Tara Swart?

  There is an answer to that.

• 53:54Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 53:54Dr. Tara Swart?

  We test it through um levels of oxytocin and vasopressin.

• 53:58Lewis Howes?

  Come on, have we done this? Have people done this?

• 54:01Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yes.

• 54:01Lewis Howes?

  No way. These mice?

• 54:03Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 54:04Lewis Howes?

  Wow, that's crazy.

• 54:05Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, and actually, just to be serious, the research has done more to help with loneliness, grief and heartbreak. But obviously, it's got implications for dating.

• 54:16Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 54:17Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, so because one of the things that we saw with the receptors in the brain is that, like, if if I'm in, no, it's got to be the other way around. If you're in love with me, you've got more vasopressin receptors in your nucleus accumbens, which is on the reward circuitry. And then every time you see me, you get a reward. And the longer that we've been dating and stay together and become closer, that reward becomes more intense every time you see me. However, if we then had a prolonged separation, time can down regulate the effect of those receptors. So obviously, there are implications for that in a breakup or grief, right?

• 54:58Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 54:58Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, and but one of the things I think is like so, so important for dating is that if a woman, if a if a couple are getting to know each other, and this is all on like heterosexual couples in research.

• 55:15Dr. Tara Swart?

  Then as a woman is sexually interested and liking the guy and enjoying the dating, her oxytocin levels is like slowly, slowly starting to go up. When they start actually having sex, she's going to be releasing higher levels of oxytocin every time she orgasms, and that's going to make her bond to the guy much more. If you have sex on the first date, the guy's vasopressin levels will plummet straight away, and all he'll be interested in is testosterone. If you make him wait, his vasopressin and oxytocin levels go up. And then when you do actually have sex, he's already bonded, so it's more likely to become part of a loving relationship.

• 55:55Lewis Howes?

  Wow, so if a woman sleeps with a man on the first date or two,

• 56:02Lewis Howes?

  is a man driven to want to bond long term with that person? No. Why not?

• 56:11Dr. Tara Swart?

  Because the vasopressin levels drop as soon as he has sex.

• 56:14Lewis Howes?

  What does that mean?

• 56:14Dr. Tara Swart?

  So vasopressin is the one that makes the prairie bulls monogamous. The higher the levels of that, and that the receptors appear in the reward circuitry of your brain. And so basically, if you see your partner in distress, it affects your brain, those neurons, and you want to comfort her through physical touch. So that's oxytocin. But if you haven't had time for those receptors to appear in the correct place to make you bond, then it's just, it's, you know, it goes back to lust. So what I say about love and relationships is that the genetics and the receptors will

• 56:56Dr. Tara Swart?

  load the gun, but sexual activity will pull the trigger.

• 57:03Lewis Howes?

  So based on neuroscience, if you sleep with someone quickly, you're less likely to bond long term together. You're more likely to be promiscuous or just not be as interested in that person long term. Is that right?

• 57:20Lewis Howes?

  That's fascinating.

• 57:21Dr. Tara Swart?

  No.

• 57:22Lewis Howes?

  But you hear a lot of people, but just be like, you know, just sleep with them on the first day. It's fun. Just have fun. You know, it's all good, but I just feel like you're setting yourself up for letdown.

• 57:32Dr. Tara Swart?

  But if that's what you want, that's fine.

• 57:34Lewis Howes?

  But I think. Don't expect the guy to keep liking you after that.

• 57:36Dr. Tara Swart?

  No, no. And don't say it's fine and it's fun if you actually want a long term relationship and then be disappointed that they didn't want that too.

• 57:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. So the brain chemistry within a man changes after if they have sex earlier with a woman.

• 57:50Dr. Tara Swart?

  And it changes in a different way if they wait and they actually like create a bond and then.

• 57:57Lewis Howes?

  First.

• 57:57Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 57:58Lewis Howes?

  And then have sex.

• 57:58Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 58:00Lewis Howes?

  What changes within a woman when they have sex with a man?

• 58:04Lewis Howes?

  Do they become more bonded to the person?

• 58:06Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah. So for the woman, it's not so much to do with whether they are already in love with the person or not. If they're having sex and they're releasing oxytocin, because they don't, we don't have as much testosterone as you. You've got at least seven to eight times as much testosterone as me. And that buffers the effect of oxytocin, whereas I would get the full effect of oxytocin.

• 58:30Lewis Howes?

  That's fascinating. So a woman, when they have sex with a man, they're bonding quicker.

• 58:35Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 58:35Lewis Howes?

  When a man has sex with a woman, he's not necessarily bonding right away. He has to have more time connecting with her.

• 58:41Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 58:41Lewis Howes?

  Until he bonds.

• 58:42Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 58:43Lewis Howes?

  That is interesting.

• 58:45Dr. Tara Swart?

  And then sex will, then the oxytocin isn't as buffered by the testosterone. So when you've got the vasopressin and the oxytocin high, then the testosterone has less negating effect on it.

• 58:58Lewis Howes?

  This is fascinating. Okay. What else about neuroscience and relationships should we address since we're on this topic? That you think is really interesting?

• 59:09Dr. Tara Swart?

  So I think, you know, the whole like visual and smell thing at start is quite interesting. And then the receptors and hormones to do with bonding and sex is really interesting. I would say that because we live so much longer now, you know, we, we're using these cave analogies, but to be honest, in cave times, you and I would both be dead.

• 59:27Lewis Howes?

  Die at thirty. Yeah.

• 59:29Dr. Tara Swart?

  So relationships potentially have to last for longer. And I think there's two things to say here. One is that you can use neuroplasticity to keep growing and changing in a way that keeps a relationship fresh.

• 59:45Dr. Tara Swart?

  If you are holding on to this fantasy that a relationship has to last forever, even if we're now living till we're a hundred, right? So I think another way to look at it is about being in the present, not necessarily putting this intense pressure on yourself, your partner in the relationship, that it has to last forever.

• 1:00:03Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:04Dr. Tara Swart?

  Understanding that even if a relationship breaks down, and that's obviously difficult to handle at the time, that there are potential possibilities for something that's more right for you at a different age than maybe a choice you made in your twenties.

• 1:00:21Dr. Tara Swart?

  So, you know, nothing, you don't have to be a neuroscientist to say those two things. It's kind of like just using your brain to understand that there's a certain amount of time, there are, you know, benefits to being in long-lasting relationships, but there are possible alternatives as well.

• 1:00:41Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's interesting. I want to go back to what we were talking about a little bit before in terms of 3D, 5D, brain states.

• 1:00:58Lewis Howes?

  I guess my question is, what is the, you know, we're in the three-dimensional world right now, 3D. But from my understanding, 5D allows us to manifest faster. It's like kind of skipping time. It's not, it's not saying you have to push things forward in the physical, material world. You're jumping time, in a sense. If that makes sense. And when we use our brain to think about something, we're sending a signal into space, into time, space, our environment, consciousness. We're putting a signal out into the world. And maybe sometimes when we think about someone, we're sending that signal to the other person, right? Potentially.

• 1:01:42Lewis Howes?

  And if we send a signal out consistently, we're signaling to the world. And if we fill our hearts with love and gratitude and harmony and peace in a beautiful state, a flourishing state of abundance, we're signaling something out and we're drawing it back in through the heart.

• 1:02:00Lewis Howes?

  Is that a bunch of baloney? Or is that something that you can back by science to support our energy, our thoughts, our way of being and connect it to the actions we take on a daily basis?

• 1:02:14Dr. Tara Swart?

  That's a really beautiful way that you've put it and a great question as well. And so I just want to start that story with a few things like, if you think about what you and I watched as sci fi when we were kids, so much of that is true now.

• 1:02:28Lewis Howes?

  It's happening.

• 1:02:28Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah. And things that we used to think about the brain, like one way that we used to treat mental illnesses was by doing a frontal lobotomy or cutting the corpus callosum that, you know, like bridges the left and right hemispheres. We thought we were doing a good thing.

• 1:02:45Dr. Tara Swart?

  I have actually given patients electroconvulsive therapy in my career. So not that long ago, and not because I wanted to, but I had a patient that came to me and said, you know, I've got a long history of depression. And when it gets to the point that I don't want to eat and drink, the only thing that helps me quick enough that I don't have to suffer for weeks is ECT. And I said, are you sure you don't want to try? You know, there are some modern antidepressants now that, you know, have an effect in a couple of weeks. And she was like, no, I'm not eating, I'm not drinking, I'm totally depressed. I just want ECT. So I was like, okay. But we don't generally do that so much anymore.

• 1:03:25Dr. Tara Swart?

  So our understanding of psychiatry, psychology, and then with the advent of brain scanning, how, you know, how healthy brains function has come a long way. Even at this conference at the weekend, that all the speakers were amazing, but a few of them mentioned right brain, left brain. And I said, I'm sorry, but I've got to stand up here and say, we really can't talk about the brain like that anymore. It's so much more complex and sophisticated with these amazing networks and subsystems. And it's just doing a big disservice to the brain to talk about.

• 1:03:59Lewis Howes?

  It's all connected.

• 1:03:59Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:02Dr. Tara Swart?

  So in that sense, the research that most backs up what you're talking to, speaking to is, we can't prove all of that yet, but how we're getting there is through two main ways. One is looking at what happens in the brain with psychedelics. And how they can induce neuroplasticity. So I keep my eye on the research at Johns Hopkins because I, you know, it's like, to me, the best lab that's looking into that stuff. And so there are really great benefits from one or two doses spaced one to six months apart

• 1:04:44Dr. Tara Swart?

  of certain psychedelics in mental illnesses like depression and schizophrenia, potentially in grief as well. But what's really interesting to me is that everything that you see that a psychedelic can achieve relatively quickly, you can achieve yourself by sleeping right, eating right, breathing right, and meditating.

• 1:05:10Lewis Howes?

  Let's go. So happy you're saying this because, you know, I have a lot of friends that swear by psychedelics. They say like, oh, this changed my life and it's opened me up and it's allowed me to see things differently. But I've been to many meditation intensive retreats that I feel like I'm seeing visions and I'm seeing like geometric shapes and pulsating and, you know, all these different things that we are creating ourselves within ourselves. You know, it's the chemicals, the pharmacy that we have in our brain and body.

• 1:05:44Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:44Lewis Howes?

  That can manifest and create these things are so powerful that I think if trained continually, it's hard work, but if trained properly and continually with the right teaching, can have just as powerful effects, if not more powerful, healing benefits than an outside pharmacy. That's just my belief. I may be wrong, but it sounds like from your research, that's true.

• 1:06:09Dr. Tara Swart?

  I'm so glad, I'm so glad you said that because I know it's particularly popular in LA as well, you know.

• 1:06:13Lewis Howes?

  Oh, yeah. Everyone's talking about microdosing and.

• 1:06:15Dr. Tara Swart?

  I know.

• 1:06:16Lewis Howes?

  Ayahuasca and everything.

• 1:06:18Dr. Tara Swart?

  And my concern is that.

• 1:06:19Lewis Howes?

  And they're swearing by it and it's helping them, you know, immensely. And I'm like, cool, if it's helping you, cool. But can you try other things too?

• 1:06:27Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:06:29Lewis Howes?

  Changing your brain chemistry from the outside in, but rather from the inside out.

• 1:06:34Dr. Tara Swart?

  I, I think there's a couple of other things around that. One is that if it's not, if it's not, you know, in a hospital or a lab, under like proper supervision with qualified people, then A, how do you know how pure the source of whatever you're taking is?

• 1:06:49Dr. Tara Swart?

  You know, in the sixties, there were so many bad like LSD trips that happened to people. So what happens if something goes wrong? And there's no one trained there that can help you. Neuroplasticity, as I remember we discussed before, is not always good. It can be bad. You know, you obsess over a breakup. You're just wiring into your brain.

• 1:07:06Lewis Howes?

  You stay in it for years, this grief.

• 1:07:08Dr. Tara Swart?

  And so can these psychedelics do that as well?

• 1:07:10Lewis Howes?

  They can keep you trapped in a depressive state.

• 1:07:12Dr. Tara Swart?

  They can even like, yeah, like they can make things more negative because how do you know where that mushroom, whatever it is that you're taking, is going to induce neuroplasticity in your brain? How are you directing that? If you've got no experience of that, you know? So that is a bit of a concern. When they did the ayahuasca research at Johns Hopkins, they used the pure ayahuasca. When you do it in ceremony, it's mixed with something that makes you purge.

• 1:07:39Lewis Howes?

  Makes you throw up and feel sick.

• 1:07:41Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, and, and have diarrhea potentially as well. Yeah. So the purging.

• 1:07:45Lewis Howes?

  I don't want that.

• 1:07:46Dr. Tara Swart?

  I know, no, I know.

• 1:07:47Lewis Howes?

  Who wants to go through that? Yeah.

• 1:07:48Dr. Tara Swart?

  It completely pisses me off. Some people don't mind it so much, but it's, it's done because it symbolizes a massive release.

• 1:07:55Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:07:55Dr. Tara Swart?

  And that's part of.

• 1:07:57Lewis Howes?

  And a rebirth.

• 1:07:57Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yes, exactly. But you're, you're just taking something that you don't need to take. You could just take the ayahuasca and have the actual mental process without purging.

• 1:08:08Lewis Howes?

  The true string.

• 1:08:09Dr. Tara Swart?

  So, yeah, I mean, I'd volunteer for Johns Hopkins, but not, not for the, yeah, the ceremony.

• 1:08:14Lewis Howes?

  So what do you think is the best way to rewire our subconscious mind to benefit us, to feel healthier, happier? And whole as human beings?

• 1:08:25Lewis Howes?

  Versus taking drugs or some type of psychedelics.

• 1:08:29Dr. Tara Swart?

  So I wanted to put that together with the research on both the Buddhist monks and the US Marines that, you know, that Amishi Ja did, the mindfulness based.

• 1:08:39Lewis Howes?

  Amishi, she's great, yeah, yeah.

• 1:08:40Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, yeah. Training with. So, so all of that research shows the impact of different types of meditation on the brain. And however, so before we get to the meditation even, this temple needs to be in the best, you know, it needs to be clean, it needs to be polished. And so that means that you're sleeping sufficiently, you're eating a really good nutrient dense diet with the good fats and enough protein.

• 1:09:09Lewis Howes?

  Fiber.

• 1:09:10Dr. Tara Swart?

  All of that. The dark skinned foods, you know, that I think I've mentioned before.

• 1:09:17Dr. Tara Swart?

  That you are not sedentary, not necessarily that you do lots of high intensity exercise, but that you, you move, you breathe, you know, you breathe deeply.

• 1:09:26Dr. Tara Swart?

  That you're well hydrated. Then we come on to the meditation part and meditation is, you know, I remember even the first time I spoke about it at a bank, thinking, am I going to get away with this, you know, but people found it really interesting. And then it really was about sitting cross legged with your eyes closed and, you know, doing a certain kind of form of meditation, whether it's guided or breath. So the nature piece is that because we've existed in the palette of nature since we were in the cave, it, we do find it, most people find it beautiful unless you've got like terrible allergies or something. When you walk past trees, particularly certain

• 1:10:05Dr. Tara Swart?

  trees that you have a lot of in LA, I've noticed. So pines, firs, cedars, cypresses, palms, they release something called phytonsides that actually interact with your immune system.

• 1:10:19Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:10:19Dr. Tara Swart?

  And boost the release of natural killer cells that help you to fight off cancers.

• 1:10:24Lewis Howes?

  Trees. Wow. So being in nature helps you fight off cancers.

• 1:10:29Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:30Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:10:31Dr. Tara Swart?

  And but the beauty of it as well. So that's the chemical thing that's going on, but.

• 1:10:35Lewis Howes?

  Not just the actual. Uh, chemicals that are being released from those trees, but you actually being in the environment and viewing it.

• 1:10:43Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:44Lewis Howes?

  Interested.

• 1:10:45Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah. So, so that's beholding beauty. Making beauty is also important. So things like um, singing, playing an instrument, dancing, drumming, chanting. Cause if you think about it, in the cave, we danced and drummed and chanted, but we didn't have resources to do anything that wasn't essential to our survival. So I still haven't quite worked out why, but those things are obviously essential to our survival.

• 1:11:12Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 1:11:12Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:14Lewis Howes?

  Okay. So back to, I guess, reprogramming your subconscious mind.

• 1:11:21Lewis Howes?

  Eating, sleeping, what was the other thing you said? Meditating, breathing?

• 1:11:26Dr. Tara Swart?

  Well, I want to come to that one last. So the physical foundations are eating, sleeping, drinking, and breathing. Then when we come into the realm of mindfulness, we're taking it now to the next level. And saying it's not just necessarily sitting down and doing a meditation, but it's spending time in nature. It's beholding beauty, it's gratitude.

• 1:11:49Lewis Howes?

  Art.

• 1:11:49Dr. Tara Swart?

  It's art, it's music, it's dance. Yeah.

• 1:11:53Lewis Howes?

  And so when we're not incorporating a healthy lifestyle of eating, sleeping, drinking enough water, breathing, meditating, if we're not incorporating that, it's just going to be harder to accomplish what we want. It's going to be harder to manifest, it's going to be harder to attract healthy relationships. We're going to feel in a more stressed out state is what I'm hearing you say.

• 1:12:13Dr. Tara Swart?

  Oh, it's like buying a Ferrari and then putting the wrong gas into it and never changing the oil or the water. And expecting to like win Formula One.

• 1:12:22Lewis Howes?

  Right. It's not gonna happen.

• 1:12:25Lewis Howes?

  How can someone tell if they are in a

• 1:12:29Lewis Howes?

  lower energy state?

• 1:12:30Dr. Tara Swart?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:12:32Lewis Howes?

  And it just might seem so daunting to take on something new to improve their life. They might be in scarcity and they might be struggling in relationships. They might be feeling emotionally depressed, physically depressed, financially depressed, and they're just getting by minute by minute, day by day. How can someone get out of themselves when they're in a? Scarcity state or lower energy state, suffering state and into a more beautiful state of being.

• 1:13:02Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, I really feel like I'm the wrong person to answer that question because you've been there and you've written the book about it, which I've read, the greatness mindset. There's so many, you know, amazing science-backed tips in there about this exact question, but I just want to give one really easy thing for people that they can start doing today, which is the micro habits that I mentioned. So just if you're in that place and you know, you and I have both been in that place, just start drinking some more water. If that's the only thing you can do today, you will actually feel better if you're hydrated. Try to go to bed half an hour earlier or an hour earlier. Try to, you know, just go and do a hundred steps after your meal.

• 1:13:43Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, really, really small things, but these kinds of things, and you know, I always say change 10 things by 1%, not one thing by 10%. They accumulate and they make you feel better.

• 1:13:53Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:13:55Dr. Tara Swart?

  And it's, you know, it's not about sort of having the dream home manifestation straight away. It's about, it's about building yourself up to that.

• 1:14:05Lewis Howes?

  Why do you think some people manifest quicker than others? If some people feel like, man, he or she, they just like, everything they do is just like, turns to gold and it just seems to be happening so quickly and there's so much farther ahead than me. Why does it seem like some people do it faster and other people are just like working so hard to create some momentum in their life?

• 1:14:27Dr. Tara Swart?

  I mean, again, I'll bring this back to, because I, with you, I always like to use sports analogies. It's practice.

• 1:14:33Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:14:33Dr. Tara Swart?

  There's no, there's no other, there's no secret answer to that.

• 1:14:36Lewis Howes?

  Takes time.

• 1:14:37Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, and I also find, even though it's something I practice all the time, that I can have like months in the desert where nothing's happening. And then I have like periods of time where

• 1:14:47Lewis Howes?

  Everything.

• 1:14:48Dr. Tara Swart?

  Everything is like falling into place. And I started saying to my friends, when that's happening, ask for everything that you want, because there's, it's like a magnetic time. So when you see that it's happening anyway, then think, okay, what else was I wanting the last few months I didn't manifest? And really like put that out there.

• 1:15:05Lewis Howes?

  You mentioned magnetic. How do we become more magnetic to the things we want?

• 1:15:09Dr. Tara Swart?

  So I want to answer that in a relationship way because I feel like when people are looking for their partner, they've usually got a very good idea or maybe even a list of what they want in that partner.

• 1:15:20Lewis Howes?

  Yes, I'm gonna make a list of all the things I want this person and then I'm gonna go find it.

• 1:15:24Dr. Tara Swart?

  And I'm gonna, or I'm gonna wait for it, you know, this to come along. But do you ever make a list of what you have to offer in a relationship? Do you ever check if you can match up to everything that you're asking for on that list?

• 1:15:34Lewis Howes?

  All right, all right. Preach it. I like it.

• 1:15:37Dr. Tara Swart?

  I mean, I think if you do make a list, you need to look at it and, and ask yourself if, if you're bringing that to the table as well, because if you're not, you're not gonna get that.

• 1:15:46Lewis Howes?

  That needs to be the standard you are.

• 1:15:48Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:48Lewis Howes?

  The things you want, you have to be that standard.

• 1:15:50Dr. Tara Swart?

  Hmm.

• 1:15:51Lewis Howes?

  If you're not, then there's gonna be a disconnect at some time. There's gonna be something that's off. That's good.

• 1:15:55Dr. Tara Swart?

  Or you're just gonna get continually disappointed because if this super kind, generous, you know, person that always has your back finds that you don't always have their back, why are they gonna go out with you?

• 1:16:05Lewis Howes?

  Exactly, they're not. Yeah.

• 1:16:09Lewis Howes?

  What do you feel like has been the most magnetic time in your life? Where everything was just, you were a vortex of possibilities and opportunities, just people coming to you. Everyone was saying yes, opportunities were flooding in your way. When has been that time?

• 1:16:24Dr. Tara Swart?

  I mean, I would say that I've had several experiences of that, but you know, they're not lasting all year, but because I do a visual board, an action board every year, I've got, you know, several times when it's felt like a lot of those things came true and then equally probably more times, but where it doesn't feel like any of that's happening. Yeah.

• 1:16:44Lewis Howes?

  When you create an action board or a vision board every year, how much of it usually comes true that year or some year down the line?

• 1:16:53Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:53Lewis Howes?

  Is it 20%? Is it 50%? 80%?

• 1:16:56Dr. Tara Swart?

  Oh, because I'm very realistic and specific, I would say that 80% will come true within the year.

• 1:17:02Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:17:03Dr. Tara Swart?

  And some things might have to like Leap over into the next year.

• 1:17:06Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:17:07Dr. Tara Swart?

  And, you know, I'm just gonna be really honest with you, cause you're my friend, that some of those things just have never come true.

• 1:17:13Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:17:14Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, and.

• 1:17:14Lewis Howes?

  Maybe they weren't meant for you.

• 1:17:15Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, that's how, that's how I've had to, like.

• 1:17:18Lewis Howes?

  So eighty percent of the things you put down on the vision board yearly, on average, come true within that year.

• 1:17:24Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:17:24Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Do you put a specific date?

• 1:17:27Dr. Tara Swart?

  No.

• 1:17:27Lewis Howes?

  Next to the thing that you want by?

• 1:17:29Dr. Tara Swart?

  No, but I'm, I know I'm doing it for that year. And I know that some of them are quick wins. I can do a lot to push forward. And that some of them are bigger things that I'm gonna have to wait a bit for the magic of the Unibear.

• 1:17:40Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 1:17:41Dr. Tara Swart?

  And I also leave quite a lot of space because what I've begun to realize is, you know, when I'm in that mode of like, everything's manifesting, I sometimes say, be careful what you wish for. Um, so what, what I also learned was that my brain is limited by what it thinks I can get or I deserve. And so I do want to be open to the fact that something could come up that I haven't thought of yet. And for that reason, I leave space.

• 1:18:09Lewis Howes?

  On your vision board?

• 1:18:10Dr. Tara Swart?

  Hmm.

• 1:18:11Lewis Howes?

  So you have like an empty white space that's just like.

• 1:18:13Dr. Tara Swart?

  Well, I'll just have things, you know, they're not crammed together.

• 1:18:16Lewis Howes?

  Ah, so it's not all full.

• 1:18:18Dr. Tara Swart?

  No.

• 1:18:19Lewis Howes?

  Interesting. I'm gonna have to come to your bathroom and check out your vision board one day. See what it looks like. So how many things do you put on there? Is it like twenty things or is it more like five or six kind of big things? You mentioned kind of smaller wins.

• 1:18:34Dr. Tara Swart?

  That really changes from year to year. So I have had one year, I only had one image on my vision board.

• 1:18:39Lewis Howes?

  What was that?

• 1:18:39Dr. Tara Swart?

  It was a beautiful horse kicking up water. And it was the year that I was incorporating my business. So it was all about like stability and loyalty and trust and like a team. But then also causing a bit of disruption in the industry.

• 1:18:54Lewis Howes?

  Ooh, I like that. Alright, so wasn't it actually like a bunch of people in an office space of like, this is the team, how it's gonna look and feel. It was more of a emotional image.

• 1:19:05Dr. Tara Swart?

  Mine are very metaphorical. So actually, if you did come to my bathroom and look at my vision board, you, you probably wouldn't know what everything meant. But I know.

• 1:19:12Lewis Howes?

  Oh, interesting.

• 1:19:13Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:19:14Lewis Howes?

  So it's not like, okay, I want the dream home. I'm going to put up an image of a home, but it might be something else that feels like home.

• 1:19:23Dr. Tara Swart?

  So with that one, I did, I did have.

• 1:19:26Lewis Howes?

  You did have the home.

• 1:19:26Dr. Tara Swart?

  I had, well, I had an, like an interior. So I had like a bathroom with, you know, particular bath and candles and rugs and kind of, um, I don't know if you call them poofs, you know, this little Moroccan leather.

• 1:19:40Lewis Howes?

  Like a chair or something or what's it?

• 1:19:41Dr. Tara Swart?

  It's like a little low stool thing.

• 1:19:42Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 1:19:43Dr. Tara Swart?

  So that it was a vibe, which was kind of like a.

• 1:19:45Lewis Howes?

  It's like a mood board.

• 1:19:46Dr. Tara Swart?

  Bit of a hippie vibe. Yeah. Um, so that represented home one year. I did have, um, when I wanted outside space, I had a particular picture was sort of, uh, the house was in the distance, but you, you know, the picture was more of the garden.

• 1:20:01Lewis Howes?

  What was the most incredible thing that you manifested that wasn't on your vision board?

• 1:20:05Dr. Tara Swart?

  Oh, that wasn't on it?

• 1:20:06Lewis Howes?

  That was empty space that ended up coming into your life that you didn't even dream of, but you were like, wow, this is even bigger than what I could have imagined.

• 1:20:16Dr. Tara Swart?

  I'm not, I'm not making this up. But being on your podcast and then being on Stephen's podcast were things I never thought were going to happen to me.

• 1:20:24Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:20:25Dr. Tara Swart?

  Um, I wouldn't have put them on because I wouldn't have thought that that could come true.

• 1:20:30Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 1:20:30Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah. Well, if you think we were first in contact in 2019 when my book came out and you did want me to come on the podcast, but then the pandemic happened, so I couldn't. So it happened like much later and then like my career had changed quite a lot by then. And you know, it had a very big impact on me and my platform and my work. So, but I hadn't, before the book came out, said, I want to go on School of Greatness because I just thought I would do a few small podcasts in London and, you know.

• 1:21:02Lewis Howes?

  Go along with your day. Yeah. Interesting. What is saying, you know, what is saying yes to something that you didn't even think was possible and do for you? You can reference the School of Greatness or something else, but just like what is saying yes to something that you didn't even think about putting on your vision board? But being open to the universe's possibilities of an opportunity and saying yes to it, what does that do for you? What does it unlock?

• 1:21:28Dr. Tara Swart?

  So I think it comes back to the reason why I started leaving space on my board because it made me realize.

• 1:21:35Dr. Tara Swart?

  I can, you know, things can happen to me that are better than what I thought could happen. So, so it unlocks your sense of self-worth, your self-esteem, your self-confidence. And makes you think, okay, well, and, and, you know, it's very practical because obviously now I can say I've been on this podcast twice. So if I approach like in another really big podcast.

• 1:21:56Lewis Howes?

  It's easier to get on to stuff. Yeah.

• 1:21:58Dr. Tara Swart?

  Exactly.

• 1:21:58Lewis Howes?

  Of course. Yeah.

• 1:21:59Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:00Lewis Howes?

  What about the negative side of vision boards? What if someone puts something so big on there that just seems like so unrealistic that this will never happen? And they put it on there, yes, I want this thing, I want this money or this relationship or this opportunity, but they don't believe they're worthy or deserving of it. So they say they want it, but really they don't, they don't believe they're worthy of it. Does that have a negative effect or does it draw them closer to the worthiness of having the actual thing?

• 1:22:33Dr. Tara Swart?

  I've got an example of this that I'll share with you first and then maybe we can decide together if it's like the answer to that question. Which is that I was on an Instagram live with my friend who's very successful in the fashion industry. And who's very humble. And she said at one stage when her career was really, you know, getting traction, that it was her dream to have a house in the Hamptons. Now you can imagine the comments that then started coming up. Well, I'd like a house in the Hamptons. Yeah. But she was working incredibly hard in an industry that was lucrative enough that that was realistic for her.

• 1:23:10Lewis Howes?

  It was a possibility.

• 1:23:11Dr. Tara Swart?

  And I've been to that house and when I went, when I walked into the house, I thought, I know what it took you to get this and that, that this was a dream that you worked so hard for.

• 1:23:20Lewis Howes?

  It's not overnight.

• 1:23:21Dr. Tara Swart?

  No. So I think that kind of thing really for people would just lead to disappointment. If, I would say you shouldn't, you know, you should start with, I'd like to own my own home. It may just be an apartment. It may not be, you know, Beverly Hills mansion, but sort of take it step by step. I mean, if I think back to the amount of money that I put on my first vision board when I had just stopped being a doctor and started up, you know, my coaching practice. It was realistic. And so when it then became true, I could like increase it over time. But if I'd put like a million dollars on it then, I would have failed.

• 1:23:58Lewis Howes?

  Right, right, right. Yeah.

• 1:24:01Lewis Howes?

  For some reason, I think you're gonna get along very well with Martha. And I gotta, you gotta go on her show sometimes. She's got one of the biggest shows.

• 1:24:07Dr. Tara Swart?

  Oh, I'd love that.

• 1:24:09Lewis Howes?

  In Latin America, but she does English as well.

• 1:24:11Dr. Tara Swart?

  Okay.

• 1:24:11Lewis Howes?

  But she would talk everything about like the spirit realm and like near death experiences.

• 1:24:17Dr. Tara Swart?

  Oh, why not?

• 1:24:18Lewis Howes?

  That's like her jam. That's all night. She's reading books and watching YouTube videos about near death experiences and what happens to the brain and things like that. So she would love to dive in with you on this.

• 1:24:28Dr. Tara Swart?

  I was actually very impressed that you knew as much as you did.

• 1:24:31Lewis Howes?

  I mean, well, when you're, you're sleeping next to someone who's watching these all day. Well, it's like, okay, I've got, you know, I'm on the, I'm, I'm, I'm able to like listen a little bit. Like, okay, I don't know about this, but I'll, I'll, I'll take it in. Yeah, yeah, I'm open to it.

• 1:24:43Dr. Tara Swart?

  I mean, I'm super grateful to you and therefore through, through her that you wanted to have this conversation with me.

• 1:24:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah, of course. She would love to have you on, I think, if she knew this about you. So I'm gonna connect you guys later.

• 1:24:54Dr. Tara Swart?

  Thanks. Has she watched Surviving Death on Netflix?

• 1:24:59Lewis Howes?

  She must have. She watches all these YouTube channels on this stuff, but all, you know, she's reading all the books. Yeah, she's like deep in this world.

• 1:25:06Dr. Tara Swart?

  I'm starting, I'm gonna start a course.

• 1:25:08Lewis Howes?

  And she's almost like media mask, you know, she's connecting with.

• 1:25:12Dr. Tara Swart?

  I would love to speak with her.

• 1:25:14Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:25:14Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah, it sounds like she could maybe really help me to understand that better because I'm just on that journey. But I'm gonna start this sacred geometry course. So maybe I could discuss that with her.

• 1:25:23Lewis Howes?

  Come on. That's cool.

• 1:25:25Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:25:25Lewis Howes?

  When are you starting that?

• 1:25:27Dr. Tara Swart?

  Well, it's on an app that I've already got because I'm so busy in LA.

• 1:25:30Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 1:25:30Dr. Tara Swart?

  I thought I would just wait till I get home.

• 1:25:32Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 1:25:32Dr. Tara Swart?

  But I might, might do one on the plane.

• 1:25:34Lewis Howes?

  No, I'm gonna connect you guys for sure. Gosh, what else do we need to know? What else do you feel like people need to know right now, at this time in the world? For someone listening or watching this right now, what do they need to know about their brain? Their mind?

• 1:25:52Lewis Howes?

  And how the universe works to support them. Is there anything else?

• 1:25:58Dr. Tara Swart?

  It's probably going to be a bit of a recap, but I think it's important to do. I, like I said, at the beginning of the pandemic, I realized very, very quickly, like within two weeks, there is going to be a horrific mental health consequence of this. And then a couple of months in, I started trying to sort of say, you know, does it have to be a mental health crisis? Or could it be a spiritual revolution? And I don't even really know where that was coming from. It was just a phrase I was using. I didn't really have much to back it up. Obviously, I've subsequently spent three years kind of, you know, delving into that personally for my own spiritual evolution. And I want to share that with people because what I'd really like to say is

• 1:26:41Dr. Tara Swart?

  if you are feeling lost and broken, if you've lost relationships, if you have actual, you know, actually lost people and are in grief, the answer actually is in your brain. And that there is so much that you can do to reconnect with yourself, to bring an amazing tribe of like angels and supporters around you, and to navigate grief in the most graceful way beyond what you could think possible. And all the things that you speak about, you know, that I speak about,

• 1:27:23Dr. Tara Swart?

  to believe that and hypothesis test it because you you will feel better. And there's no harm in trying.

• 1:27:30Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Do you ever feel worried being a neuroscientist and being in the science world, talking about spirituality and things that you, I guess essentially cannot measure? Do you ever feel worried about, oh, are people going to take me seriously or my credibility? Or, you know, are they going to laugh at me if I'm talking about spirituality?

• 1:27:49Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah. One of the things I said before, because a question that I get is like, how do you survive in a man's world? You know, how did you do a PhD in neuroscience 30 years ago? I didn't really realize that as a girl, I wasn't.

• 1:28:01Lewis Howes?

  30 years ago? Come on.

• 1:28:03Dr. Tara Swart?

  Stop it. You're not asking me about my age again.

• 1:28:05Lewis Howes?

  Come on.

• 1:28:06Dr. Tara Swart?

  Stop it.

• 1:28:07Lewis Howes?

  That was like 70 years ago. Come on.

• 1:28:10Dr. Tara Swart?

  So I I didn't, I just never thought like, oh, a girl shouldn't do that. I was like, I'm interested in everything neuro, so I'm gonna do that. And was it a risk when I gave up being a doctor and started a business from nothing?

• 1:28:23Dr. Tara Swart?

  I guess so, but the big, the bigger risk for me would have been staying stuck in something, you know, that wasn't stimulating me and, you know, intellectually and wasn't going to open up a whole new world for me. And some people made comments when I wrote the source about, do you think, you know, are you worried about how this is going to affect your career?

• 1:28:45Dr. Tara Swart?

  I'm just such a no regrets person. And like now more than ever, I am now talking about things that are properly woo woo, you know, the source, I could back up. And I genuinely believe it's going to help people and I'm going to find something. And I feel very guided and I'm like, living in trust at the moment.

• 1:29:02Lewis Howes?

  Wow, that's beautiful. I want, I want people to get your book. It's called The Source. And it's really about the secrets of the universe and the science of the brain, which I think is just such a powerful thing. And I think a confusing thing, the brain, the mind, the universe, spirituality, I think it's, you know, confusing for a lot of people to understand. But you bring modern science, ancient wisdom together in simple terms for us to understand. So I want to acknowledge you, Tara, for your consistency and being, listening to the call within you.

• 1:29:36Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:29:37Lewis Howes?

  It's what I'm hearing you say. It's like you were called to leave, you know, modern medicine, I guess, and tap into these new approaches. You've been called to put your voice out there, called to write a book, called to keep tapping into, you know, sacred geometry and all these geometry and all these different things. So I want to acknowledge you Tara for your listening to the call, no matter what people think or say. And I don't think people are criticizing you, but you're, that might be a fear or concern that you might have. So I acknowledge you and I want people to get The Source. I want them to follow you on Instagram and social media, Dr. Tara Swart, anywhere on social media. You've got a lot of things that you're working on, so they can, they can follow you there and stay

• 1:30:22Lewis Howes?

  in touch with you there. I want people, if they're watching or listening, to leave a comment of their biggest takeaway, but also on YouTube, leave a comment, but also leave a comment on your Instagram to see what. Resonated the most with them, what spoke to them the most, you know, what they want to hear more about from you. So make sure to do that on our YouTube and on Tara's Instagram as well. Is there anything else we can do to be of service to you today?

• 1:30:48Dr. Tara Swart?

  Oh, Lewis, you're you're such a kind person. You've done so much for me already. So, no, but I think I am going to need a lot of help with anecdotes for this research that I'm doing. So, yeah, that would be the best thing. You've got so many followers. If people have stories to share of experiences like that, I would love to hear them.

• 1:31:06Lewis Howes?

  Wow, okay. Where should they message you or stay in touch? Should they DM, send you a DM or email or your website?

• 1:31:14Dr. Tara Swart?

  DM is probably the best. I'm most active on Instagram.

• 1:31:18Lewis Howes?

  Okay, cool. So they should DM you stories about or anecdotes about what?

• 1:31:21Dr. Tara Swart?

  Or put comments under my, you know, posts as well.

• 1:31:23Lewis Howes?

  Okay, cool. Awesome.

• 1:31:24Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:31:27Lewis Howes?

  I think I asked you this last time. So I'm going to ask you this about the three truths because you're in a different energetic state this time than you were then. So I'm curious to see what your three truths are now. But I asked you this last time, if it was your last day, many years away, and you got to create anything you wanted to create. But for whatever reason, on this last day, you have to take all of your content with you. So no one has access to this conversation, your books, or anything you ever create. But you get to leave behind three lessons to the world from all the things you've learned, whether it be from science or just personal experiences.

• 1:31:59Lewis Howes?

  What would be those lessons or three truths for you?

• 1:32:03Dr. Tara Swart?

  So I actually, as well as doing visionables, I choose like one to four words each year that are like words that are going to guide me for that year. So I think I might as well share those with you because they'll be the most authentic. So the first one is peace.

• 1:32:23Dr. Tara Swart?

  And I don't give too much meaning to the word. I allow it to show up in my life. But I think it's definitely like inner peace, but also peace with the people around you.

• 1:32:33Dr. Tara Swart?

  And then beauty is a big one for me since I'm researching the neuro aesthetic stuff. So just, you know, seeing beautiful things, smelling the flowers.

• 1:32:44Dr. Tara Swart?

  Just like, you know, appreciating the beauty in everyone. And then freedom. And I think this is really related to the last question you asked me, which is that is not having that fear of criticism or skepticism and just really trusting myself and going with what I want to.

• 1:33:01Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:33:02Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:03Lewis Howes?

  You know, it's interesting.

• 1:33:04Dr. Tara Swart?

  And I wish that for everyone. That's, you know, that's, those are my words, but that's what I would wish for people.

• 1:33:08Lewis Howes?

  You know, it's interesting. For the last four years, I have had set intentions as well for each year. And I've had different words.

• 1:33:18Dr. Tara Swart?

  Oh.

• 1:33:18Lewis Howes?

  And four years ago, they were peace, clarity and freedom.

• 1:33:23Dr. Tara Swart?

  Wow.

• 1:33:24Lewis Howes?

  Peace, clarity and freedom.

• 1:33:25Dr. Tara Swart?

  Well, I didn't, I actually had four, but you asked for three. So I didn't say my other one, which is truth. But that's like clarity, isn't it? So they're really close. Wow.

• 1:33:33Lewis Howes?

  That was where, that was my intentions, I guess, three and a half years ago. But yeah, peace, clarity and freedom, because I didn't feel like I had them.

• 1:33:41Dr. Tara Swart?

  Wow.

• 1:33:41Lewis Howes?

  So I was like, and I was searching on the outside to, to have them as opposed to becoming that one. Becoming clear, becoming free, being free, being peace. And, um, you know, I was always searching for things on the outside as opposed to developing them from the inside.

• 1:34:01Dr. Tara Swart?

  Totally the same. I, so not to quite the same extent as you, but it was where I was feeling I was getting close to those things, but I couldn't quite, you know, and I was just thinking, I was struggling with something and thinking, I just so need peace in that area. And then I had this light bulb moment, which was like, I give myself peace. Peace does not come from the outside.

• 1:34:22Lewis Howes?

  Let's go, Tara. Yes, I am peace.

• 1:34:24Dr. Tara Swart?

  Yeah.

• 1:34:25Lewis Howes?

  That's beautiful. Um, final question. What's your definition of greatness?

• 1:34:30Dr. Tara Swart?

  So something else that's come up in the research recently that's become really important to me is about having a purpose that's greater than yourself. So doing something that doesn't benefit you directly.

• 1:34:44Dr. Tara Swart?

  So you know, something altruistic, something that's for the benefit of others. And you obviously get a benefit from doing that because it makes you feel good. But it's about kind of, you know, your life is your life. But if you want a life of greatness, I think you've got to do something bigger than that's that it something that's just about your life.

• 1:35:03Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely. Yeah, that's beautiful. It's about a life of service. Tara, thank you so much for being here. You're amazing.

• 1:35:10Dr. Tara Swart?

  You are too.

• 1:35:11Lewis Howes?

  I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our greatness plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you, if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy and you matter.

• 1:35:53Lewis Howes?

  And now it's time to go out there and do something great.