Pod Insights 10% Happier with Dan Harris The Science Of Manifestation: Can This Stanford Neuroscientist Convince A Skeptical Dan To Give It A Shot? | Dr. James R. Doty About this episode Six practical steps to harness the full power of your mind.
Our guest today is James R. Doty https://www.jamesrdotymd.com/, a neurosurgeon who has just written a whole book about the science of manifestation – although, as you'll hear him admit, there's very little 'magic' involved in his process.
James R. Doty, M. D. is a Stanford neurosurgeon, neuroscientist, compassion researcher, inventor, entrepreneur, author and philanthropist. He's the founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University.
In this episode we talk about:
Doty's six steps to manifest His very interesting backstory The art and science of intention setting and the role of our neural pathways. How caring can ignite our parasympathetic nervous system, which in turn can help us manifest better Practical tips for embedding an intention into our subconscious The keys to understanding what we want vs. what we need And how to 'alert the bloodhound' to harness the full power of your mind We originally aired this episode in July 2024.
Related Episodes:
#388. The Science of Training Your Attention | Dr. Amishi Jha https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/amishi-jha-388 The Art and Science of Compassion: Thupten Jinpa https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/thupten-jinpa-repost #425. Compassion Is the Ultimate Tool for the Truly Ambitious | Paul Gilbert https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/paul-gilbert-425 Join Dan's online community here http://www.danharris.com
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Transcript 13,253 words · 4 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:04 Dan Harris? This is the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris.
0:18 Dan Harris? Hello, my fellow suffering beings. How we doing? Anybody who's listened to this show for a minute probably knows that I've got a long-running beef with the concept of manifestation. I associate manifestation with the power of positive thinking, the law of attraction, or that book, The Secret, the idea that you can get or achieve whatever you want purely through the power of your thoughts. So like, make a vision board, and you can get a diamond necklace, or cure your cancer, or whatever, all of which is very clearly bullshit. Back when I was a news reporter, I interviewed some of the proponents of this hogwash and many of their followers, who spent tons of money trying to make this stuff real for themselves, and usually, in my experience, it didn't work out so well, except, of course, for the gurus who made a ton of money.
1:02 Dan Harris? My friends Jeff Warren and Sebene Selassie are both meditation teachers who I deeply trust and admire, and they have long tried to convince me that there's a more subtle and legit version of manifestation, and for a long time, they had minimal success at this. But then, I met today's guest, James Doty, who's a neurosurgeon, who's just written a whole book about the science of manifestation, and I've got to tell you, he definitely opened my mind. But I also have to tell you, his version of manifestation bears almost no resemblance to The Secret, or The Power of Positive Thinking, or junk like that. Dr. Doty recently put out a book called Mind Magic, although, as you will hear him admit, there's very little magic involved in this process. Let me just say a little bit about Dr. Doty.
1:45 Dan Harris? He's a Stanford neurosurgeon, neuroscientist, compassion researcher, inventor, entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist. He's the founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, which is called CCARE, and it's based at Stanford University. In this conversation, we talked about the art and science of intention setting, and the role of our neural pathways. We delve into his six-step process for manifestation. We talk about the difference between hedonic and eudaimonic happiness, how caring can ignite your parasympathetic nervous system, which in turn can help you manifest better, practical tips for embedding an intention into your subconscious, and the keys to understanding what we want versus what we need.
2:29 Dan Harris? Three things to say before we dive in here. First, paid subscribers over at danharris.com will get a custom guided meditation that accompanies this podcast. It's all about relaxation and it comes from the meditation teacher, Dan Mauricio. This is a pretty exciting time in the 10% happier universe. Starting last month, we've been producing bespoke guided meditations to go with every episode of the show, something I've wanted to do for a long time. The idea is kind of like a lecture lab model. Remember from back in school, the podcast is like a lecture and my subscription product, danharris.com is like the lab where you can pound the learnings from the show into your neurons. So every month we'll have a different teacher. Last month it was Cara Lai, this month it's Dan Mauricio.
3:14 Dan Harris? Head on over to danharris.com to become a subscriber. Second thing to say, we've got a merch sale running from July 7th through 14th. Head on over to shop.danharris.com to scoop up your Dump It Here journal, or your 10% happier crew neck, or your inner peace trucker hat. Good deals are coming your way. Check it out. Shop.danharris.com. And the third and final thing to say is, and this specifically has to do with today's episode, and it's this, we first posted this interview back in July of 2024, but it made such an impression on me and the audience that we wanted to share it again. We'll get started with Dr. James Doty right after this. If you care about supporting independent media and if you care about being a node
3:58 Dan Harris? of sanity and an insane world, there are a few quick, easy, and free ways that you can support me and my team, which I would be really grateful for. One way to do it is to sign up for my newsletter, which comes out on Monday mornings. It's a little dose of sanity in your inbox at the beginning of a busy week. The second way to do it is to follow and subscribe to the show wherever you're listening or watching right now. That really helps. Three, share your favorite episode with a friend. This is a great and low stakes way to connect with somebody in your orbit. And not for nothing, it also helps us grow. And all of these things take about 30 seconds and they really do help. You will be supporting me and my team and our mission and I, as I said, would be immensely grateful.
4:41 Dan Harris? You can find everything we do at danharris.com. It's all right there. Thank you. I mean that seriously. We'll be right back with more show. If you care about supporting independent media and if you care about being a node of sanity and an insane world, there are a few quick, easy and free ways that you can support me and my team, which I would be really grateful for. One way to do it is to sign up for my newsletter, which comes out on Monday mornings. It's a little dose of sanity in your inbox at the beginning of a busy week. The second way to do it is to follow and subscribe to the show wherever you're listening or watching right now. That really helps. Three, share your favorite episode with a friend. This is a great and low stakes way to connect with somebody in your orbit.
5:25 Dan Harris? And not for nothing, it also helps us grow. And all of these things take about 30 seconds and they really do help. You will be supporting me and my team and our mission. And I, as I said, would be immensely grateful. You can find everything we do at danharris.com. It's all right there. Thank you. I mean that seriously. We'll be right back with more show. Dr. James Doty, welcome to the show.
5:48 Speaker 01 Thanks for having me, Dan. It's a pleasure to be with you. I'm a huge fan.
5:52 Dan Harris? Oh, thank you. Thank you. I have to say, though, I was a little skeptical when I heard this book is about manifestation. Given my conditioning, that's a tricky term for me. So please disabuse me of all sorts of incorrect notions I might be harboring.
6:06 Speaker 01 No, listen, I agree with you totally. And I think that's been a problem for a lot of people because that terminology has been used to promote, if you will, woo-woo and pseudoscience while denigrating actually the power of our minds to change our situations. And so I certainly get that. And in fact, this book is in some ways the antithesis to a book you may have heard of called The Secret, which was popular several years ago, which promoted this narrative. And it was all about what I want, I, I, I. And this is, as I said, the antithesis of this. This is more about
6:48 Speaker 01 How can I be of service and by doing so actually manifest the things that I need, which is oftentimes in contrast to what we think we want?
7:00 Dan Harris? Just to be clear, I have no problem with what some people sometimes refer to as woo-woo, meaning, you know, out there, esoteric ideas. In fact, I love stuff like that. I might not believe in it, but I'm interested in talking about it. But for me, and this echoes what you just said, my problem with manifestation is not that it's, you know, unsupported by any evidence, at least the version in the secret. I mean, I do love when things are supported by evidence, but my problem with the secret and the law of attraction and other variations on this noxious theme is that it's damaging. It's not only unsupported by evidence, it's definitely not supported by evidence, but it's also harmful. You're telling people that you can get anything you want, from health outcomes to a diamond necklace, literally,
7:45 Dan Harris? through the power of positive thinking, which is definitely not true, and it's raising people's hopes in a dangerous way. It's discouraging them from, you know, getting evidence-based medical care. That's something I know you care about a lot as a neurosurgeon, and it also kind of blames the victim. You know, if something bad has happened to you, it's because your thinking isn't sufficiently pristine.
8:07 Speaker 01 No, I think that's exactly right, and that's really the negative aspect. It's the blame where, well, you didn't do enough, or you didn't want it enough. And the reality, of course, is that's completely untrue. It also doesn't take into account, I mean frankly, some things that are structural in our society that limits somebody sort of having everything they want. I think the other challenge and what has misled people is a notion that I want to be quote-unquote "successful." And unfortunately, in the Western capitalist narrative, success relates to power, position, and money, and if I get that, then I'll be
8:48 Speaker 01 happy. And I think that's also a very dangerous thing, because what happens, of course, is, and I certainly have been through that, if you will, is you climb these mountains, thinking that if I just get this, my life will be okay, I'll be happy. And you get there, and there's nothing there, and you keep believing that external affirmation...
9:10 Speaker 01 Is going to make you feel good about yourself. And again, this gets back to what I talk about in the book is that is a gift you can only give yourself, but it takes work and it takes insight. So people get misled when something is promoted that on the one hand, sounds really easy, and it promotes a belief that if I get this, it's all going to be okay and my life's going to be perfect. And of course, nothing could be further from the truth.
9:40 Dan Harris? You referenced your backstory. I do want to get to that because it's very interesting, but just staying with manifestation. So you've made abundantly clear in this young interview, in these, in the opening moments of this interview, that your version of manifestation is not the secret or the law of attraction or the power of positive thinking, all of these, what I sometimes refer to as canonical turds that have been popping up in the culture for a hundred years. So I get that and I, given your background, I totally believe that. So what is manifestation in your view? And I know you've hinted at this a little bit, but quite directly, what is manifestation per gym?
10:20 Speaker 01 Well, I'm not sure if it's per gym, but it's based on the science. But manifestation is the ability to embed an intention into your subconscious, resulting in the greatest likelihood for it to occur. And this one requires reclaiming the power of your own mind to create or lay down certain neural pathways and strengthen them. And people forget that they have immense, immense power within themselves. The problem is that in a society, oftentimes we give away our agency to others. I'm sure you've been in a situation where you have expressed a goal, a desire.
11:01 Speaker 01 And you have people, even relatives sometimes, who says, oh, that's not possible. You can't do that. And oftentimes, and so many people believe that, yeah, they're right, I can't do it. And then they give up right from the start. But what science tells us, and which has been demonstrated over and over again in a multitude of studies, is that when we understand how our brain works, when we understand how to embed our intention, then this has the ability to change our brains. And I think that's really what we're talking about. And of course, obviously, you're very interested in mindfulness. And we know from a variety of studies related to that, that your brain does change.
11:44 Speaker 01 But the thing is, it takes work, it takes practice, and you have to sort of do it, if you will, with baby steps. But the first thing you have to do is believe. And one of the challenges for so many people is that they have limited beliefs in their own power. And of course, this relates to what we see so commonly, which is people being hypo or hypercritical of themselves, or have a lack of self-compassion.
12:12 Dan Harris? So what's the difference when what you're describing and simply intention-setting, and then working on whatever obstacles might come up in the wake of having set any specific intention?
12:25 Speaker 01 Well, in some ways, it's very much the same. When you set an intention, your goal is to make that manifest, right? I mean, that's what all of us try to do. And in fact, every one of us every day is trying to, if you will, have an intention manifest. The problem for most of us is that we don't understand how to do that. It's, as an example, it's like you're saying, I want to be a marathon runner. Well, if you've never run a marathon, you don't have a coach, you don't have anybody to guide you, then the likelihood of you being successful at that decreases. And in some ways, this is a very similar situation.
13:05 Dan Harris? Just to put a fine point on this, what you're talking about here in this interview and in your new book, is the art and science of figuring out what our intention is, setting it in the right way, and then the practices that can get it into our molecules, into our subconscious, so that over time, we can manifest it in consensual reality.
13:30 Speaker 01 I think that's a good summation.
13:32 Dan Harris? You do have a six step plan that I want to go through. But first, what do we need to know about the brain as we enter into this discussion and these practices?
13:43 Speaker 01 Well, I think that the brain is very malleable, that you can learn to change your brain and lay down neural pathways, that many of the behaviors that we engage in today are ones, unfortunately, that have been laid down during childhood and which, as a result, limit our ability to manifest. As an example, I'm sure you're familiar with people who seemingly repeatedly pick the wrong partner. And they'll say, how did I get here? I've married an alcoholic three times who's abusive. I don't understand this.
14:22 Speaker 01 Well, the challenge is, or the problem is, that most people don't sit down and say, how did I end up here? What was I already manifesting? And in our development, as an example, in bonding attachment theory, certain things occur. And if during your development, you've had a situation, as an example, let's say with an abusive parent who abuses you and then tells you they love you, then you get these two things mixed up. And this is why so many people repeatedly pick the wrong partner. But the baggage you carry from childhood for so many people is the determinant of many decisions they make. And whether that relates to their job, how they interact with people, relationships, partners.
15:06 Speaker 01 So until you sit down and if you will, say, what am I or have I already manifested? And why? I think that's really the first step. And then, once you do that, you have to understand that oftentimes, we want something and we really believe we want it, under a false premise that if I get it, it will make my life better or perfect, or I'll be wealthy or in a power position. And therefore, everything will work out on its own. And so I think you have to also dismiss that narrative and understand the difference between what you want.
15:49 Speaker 01 And how that can have negative consequences versus what you need. And what almost all of us need is to connect with people, to be of service to other people. And actually, when we do those actions, that is when our physiology works its best. And that actually is the best time or the best way to manifest when you look through the lens of not what I want. Because oftentimes, that's done out of fear, or insecurity, or shame, which activates our sympathetic nervous system, or our flight, fight, or freeze response,
16:28 Speaker 01 versus activating our parasympathetic nervous system, which is our rest and digest system. It is in that situation that our cognitive brain networks function at their best. And that is when we care about others. And that is the best way to manifest.
16:46 Dan Harris? Just to say that back to you a little bit, that we evolved for at least two modes. But two of the modes that we can go into are the sympathetic nervous system activation, which is fight or flight, it's often referred to, where we're adrenalized and on alert and a bit tight, and sometimes in a state of panic. And then the other is the parasympathetic nervous system, which is, as you said, the rest and digest. And so it is often, counterintuitively, the best way to get yourself into that mode is altruism, generosity. It doesn't have to be grandiose, it's not, it doesn't require you running into a burning building.
17:24 Dan Harris? But it's as simple as holding the door open for somebody, having a life where you believe you're connected and useful. So learning how to get yourself into the latter mode, the more relaxed mode, is, based on what you just said, the sine qua non, the precondition for everything that will follow in this manifesting process.
17:47 Speaker 01 No, that's exactly right. And now, that's not to say that you cannot manifest other things. My point is, if you want to create the conditions where it's most likely to manifest, that's what you have to do. And I will tell you myself, you mentioned my backstory. I was taught a technique of manifesting, but I had no self-awareness. As a result, I asked for many of the things that the secret relates to. I want a mansion, I want to be a millionaire, I want a Porsche. And I got everything I wanted, but it led me to feel worse than I had ever felt in my life.
18:31 Speaker 01 Because there was nothing at the end of that rainbow, except loneliness and despair. Because you cannot be happy from people telling you how great you are, or look at all the toys or things that you have. And in some ways, this is the difference between hedonic happiness, which is seeking pleasure, avoiding pain, and frequently it's related to having things. And as a result, what happens with that is that it is very shallow and transitory. And I would say that is from a fear perspective oftentimes. Versus the opposite, which is utamonic happiness,
19:16 Speaker 01 where you're service to others, or you look at the world through that lens. And that is related to purpose and meaning. And those feelings, the depth of those feelings, it's much deeper and it's much longer lasting. And fundamentally, this is what people ultimately seek. Oftentimes, just by the nature of our humanity, many of us, me included, have missteps or make mistakes. And we realize that what we were chasing was the wrong thing.
19:49 Dan Harris? I find this stuff so interesting because I grew up watching, you know, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous on TV, and I have long... Wanted lots of stuff that the evidence would show is not necessarily the best route to actual happiness. And you just described the difference between hedonic happiness, or hedonism, and eudaimonic happiness, E U D A M I O N I C, which is a deeper form of contentment and connection. And the evidence from the research, from what I've seen, seems to show that the latter is way more satisfying and abiding, as opposed to the former, which
20:30 Dan Harris? relies on quick dopamine hits. And it's why you see lottery winners and rock stars, you know, flaming out, because that's just not what does it for us in a sustainable way.
20:41 Speaker 01 Well, I think that's the key in a sustainable way. On the short term, it's fine. I think the other aspect, and because people will say to me, they go, so what you're saying, Jim, is you're knocking people living a good life and having things. And nothing could be further from the truth. What I am saying is, though, that in your mind, if your purpose is wrapped around those things and being identified with those things, you're going to have a very unhappy life. Because it is non-sustainable, and there's nothing there. But the difference is, and look, I live very well. I certainly do not have anything against somebody living in a very nice house. Frankly, I drive a Porsche. I'm not ashamed
21:25 Speaker 01 of that. I've worked very hard. The difference, though, is that if my house were taken away, if the car was taken away, if all those types of things were taken away, my sense of happiness itself is in no way affected by it. Versus people who have lived for that, their life, they feel, is ruined if they don't have that. If they don't have people looking at them, admiring them, telling them how great they are. And this is part of the problem in our society, because there's a subset of people who chase those things. And what they get out of it is showing these things off to other people who tell them
22:07 Speaker 01 how great they are. Because all of us have an emptiness inside of ourselves that we want to be fulfilled. And it cannot be filled with things. But in our capitalist society, oftentimes, The average person, or even, and I'm talking about socioeconomic class, or the below average person, looks at that and has a belief, "If I could just have that, my life would be perfect." And you know, the sad part, which you sort of alluded to, was lottery winners. You look at lottery winners after they get all of this stuff, and won typically within a year, so they blow all of it. But many of them say, "That money was the biggest curse that ever happened to me in my life."
22:49 Dan Harris? Coming up, Dr. Doty talks about his very interesting personal history, the keys to understanding what we want versus what we need, how to remove the obstacles in your mind, and the practical tips for embedding an intention into your subconscious.
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24:39 Dan Harris? Let's just get back to your story for a second. I would love to hear a little bit more. So as I understand, the broad outlines are you were raised in a chaotic household, an unhappy place, managed to meet a woman named Ruth in a local magic shop, who taught you some stuff that you'll tell us about. And on some level, it may have worked in that it might have contributed to your eventual success, which you described a little bit, but that given that you wanted the wrong stuff, the success was quite hollow. So can you just elaborate upon some of those basic facts that I threw out there?
25:15 Speaker 01 Your audience may want to learn a little bit more. There's a book that I wrote, which is called Into the Magic Shop, A Neurosurgeon's Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart. And actually, that ended up being a New York Times bestseller. It's actually been a bestseller in eight countries. It's in 36 languages, I believe. And actually, strangely enough, I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Korean pop music band BTS.
25:42 Dan Harris? Yeah, of course.
25:43 Speaker 01 Well, they actually used my book as the basis for their third album.
25:48 Dan Harris? That's so cool.
25:48 Speaker 01 Called Love Yourself Tier. And there's a song in that called Magic Shop. And the South Korean publisher actually did a special edition based on their video. And you probably know BTS actually promotes self-care, being kind, being compassionate, loving others, loving yourself. And that's probably why they used it. But the story is as follows, that I grew up in poverty. My father was an alcoholic. My mother had a stroke when I was a child, was partially paralyzed, had a seizure disorder, chronically depressed, attempted suicide multiple times. We were evicted from various residences. We were on public assistance.
26:32 Speaker 01 And of course, as you know, adverse childhood experiences, when you have things like this, the likelihood of you quote, unquote, being successful ends up being very low. Typically, those individuals either abuse alcohol or drugs, or have mental health issues.
26:51 Speaker 01 I was fortunate in that what would happen when the chaos would build up at my home, I would get on my bicycle and ride as far and as fast away as I could. And in this particular instance, I ended up at a strip mall where there was a magic shop and I'd had an interest in magic. And I walked into this store and I have to tell you, I was 12 and at that age, I already had a sense of hopelessness and despair because I was reasonably intelligent, but I had no way to get out. I had no mentors, I had no financial resources, I didn't know anyone. And frankly, I didn't believe it was possible to change my situation.
27:35 Speaker 01 So I walked into this magic shop and there was a woman at the counter and it turned out she knew nothing about magic. She was the owner's mother who just happened to be there because her son was running an errand. But long story short, and I'm sure you've met people like this, she had this radiant presence about her, this smile that just made you feel comfortable. And she created for me what I would call a sense of psychological safety, which is critically important. And I felt I could trust her, I didn't feel she was judging me. And she looked me in the eye and acted as if she wanted to hear what I had to say.
28:19 Speaker 01 And we had a conversation that lasted 20 or 30 minutes and at the end of it, she said me, "I'm here for another six weeks. If you come every day, I think I can teach you something that could really help you." And I have to remember, this was before mindfulness or meditation was in the lexicon and the same with this concept of neuroplasticity. But what she did teach me, and I did show up every day, and it wasn't because I had self-awareness, it was because frankly, I had absolutely nothing else to do and she was giving me chocolate chip cookies. So I did show up and she taught me a traditional mindfulness practice on some level, which
28:58 Speaker 01 was an understanding that all of my muscles were tense and I could not focus because I never knew what was going to happen to me. So I had to always be on alert, meaning that my sympathetic nervous system was chronically engaged.
29:16 Speaker 01 And as a result, all the associated negative consequences, release of epinephrine, norepinephrine, release of cortisol, increased heart rate, etc. And it's very hard in that situation to attend and focus. So the first thing she taught me was an exercise to relax the body. Then she taught me the ability to attend or focus, which are two critically important things. But just as importantly, she made me understand that I had a negative dialogue going on in my head, which told me, it's not possible. I can't do it. I'm not worthy. I don't deserve love. In traditional practice, as you know, you just let those things float by.
29:57 Speaker 01 You don't turn to them, if you will, or hang on to them or respond to them. In this instance, though, she actually taught me to explicitly replace those comments with self-affirmations and made me understand that I was so critical of myself. But the secondary effect was that she also made me understand that everyone is suffering. And those, that training she taught me really changed everything. It made me look at the world through a different lens. Because my initial narrative beforehand was, everyone has judged me, I'm not worthy, and I deserve what I get. And also that I was the only one who was suffering.
30:40 Speaker 01 And when I changed how I looked at the world, it changed everything. As an example, even in the interaction with my parents, I used to have a lot of anger towards them. Because it wasn't that they didn't love me, they had no time for me, they didn't care for me, they didn't make those special efforts. But it wasn't because they didn't love me, it was because they did not have the tools to deal with their own issues. And so I forgave them. And what's interesting is, when I changed how I looked at the world, if you will, the world changed how it looked at me. And people would reach out when I looked at them not with suspicion or anger, but when I simply sat there and looked through the lens of compassion and the realization of
31:25 Speaker 01 my own suffering. And that really changed everything. But more importantly, and related to the manifestation discussion, is she taught me a visualization exercise and some of the classic techniques. You know, we mentioned the woo-woo and the pseudoscience side of it. There are several components that actually work.
31:45 Speaker 01 And one of these was making a list of your intention, writing the list down, reading the list silently, reading the list aloud, closing your eyes and visualizing what you want to manifest. Problem was, again, as I mentioned earlier, what I wanted to manifest was what I thought society defined as success. And that's what I put on my list and every one of those things I got. But it led to ultimate unhappiness.
32:13 Dan Harris? Thanks for telling that story. It brings us nicely to your six steps for manifestation, many of which you've covered. So I just want to list some of the ones you've covered and then get us to the place in the list where I think you've brought us already organically. The first step is to reclaim your power to focus your mind. I think you've talked about meditation and other contemplative technologies as being a way to do that. The second is to clarify what we truly want. And so I think you've said a little bit about this, but it might be worth saying a little bit more about how we can do that. How can we not have our priorities set by the larger culture or whoever we're following on Instagram or whatever messed up ideas our parents might have?
32:58 Dan Harris? How can we get clear on this?
33:01 Speaker 01 Well, as I said, one of the first things is to examine what you've been manifesting. And I think we've actually discussed that a bit. And then the other thing is, what I was saying is, how do you clarify what you want? And I think what we've just been discussing helps one do that. As you know, and you mentioned influencers, you look at what, they have done surveys on kids in high school, right? What do they want sadly? Is they want to be influencers, they want to be wealthy, they want to be celebrities, or they want to be athletes, right? I mean, that's literally the majority of kids out there, which is horrible on some level because again, they have been.
33:42 Speaker 01 Fed a narrative, unfortunately, by the nature of our consumer society or conspicuous consumption society, that if you get that, you're going to be happy. And I think that there is a irrefutable amount of science that contradicts that narrative. And you simply also have to look at what happens in society. If you look at influencers, many of them pretend, either through filters, makeup, or artificial creation of backgrounds that make them look as though they're in exotic places or doing exotic things, or
34:20 Speaker 01 are very wealthy, carrying different labels, purses, or clothes. And yet, we know that a large percentage of those people unfortunately are very unhappy, and a number of them go into depression or commit suicide. And what's worse, of course, is that there's a subset of their followers who believe the narrative and recognize that they can never be like that and go into depression. And a number of those have committed suicide. And it's clearly evident, that path, like it was for me, was a deadened path. And as we were talking about, what we do know, and in some ways, this is how we evolved as a species,
35:04 Speaker 01 unlike other species, which often are able to run off into the jungle or forest and function independently, our offspring require us to care for them for well over a decade. And we have a genetic imperative to do so. And what I mean by that is, when we care and respond to our offspring, either if they're hungry, if they're in pain, or if they're suffering in some way, what happens to us? It engages our parasympathetic nervous system. And we are rewarded. And one of the neurotransmitters is oxytocin, which I think probably all your listeners are aware of. Oxytocin is released, it stimulates your reward
35:49 Speaker 01 and pleasure centers, and it further strengthens engagement of your parasympathetic nervous system. When your parasympathetic nervous system is engaged, you're open, you're generous, you're thoughtful, and your physiology works its best. Your heart rate variability, which is a measure of health in some ways, is increased. And while that may seem paradoxical, that's good for you. Your heart rate is often lowered, your blood pressure is lowered, the expression of inflammatory proteins is diminished, the expression of stress hormones like cortisol is decreased, and also your immune system is boosted. And these are very much aligned
36:33 Speaker 01 with what happens when you meditate as well. And in some ways, we have learned that you can create that for yourself through different types of practices. And this is why this is so important, to be able to shift to that mode, because that is the mode that we were meant to live in. The stress mode was only supposed to be engaged transiently. As an example, if you were on the savanna in Africa and you saw the grass move and you knew from experience that probably represented a predator, then that system would engage, you would respond, and if you survived, you would go right back to engagement of your parasympathetic nervous system.
37:10 Dan Harris? All of that whole argument makes complete sense. I co-sign unreservedly. And when it comes to clarifying what we truly want, I guess you could hear somebody like me or you say all of these things and you could take it in. But you and I are like, we have our fingers in the dike. It's just, you know, the overwhelming message from the larger culture is achieve, achieve in individual achievement and success and conspicuous consumption, that is what is going to give you happiness. Happiness is not, in fact, a team sport. But actually, what we know is that the team sport part of that is irrefutably
37:51 Dan Harris? true in the evidence. And so I guess what I'm getting at is like, is making the case enough when it comes to helping people clarify what they want?
38:02 Speaker 01 Well, I think you can answer that probably just as well as I. I've had people say to me, "Well, Jim, I appreciate what you're saying, but I just want to be in the big house and drive the Porsche for a while, and then I'll decide if I'm happy or not." And I can understand that, especially among young people. You want to figure out things for yourself. But no, you're absolutely right. I would suggest, though, and it's interesting how there's much more attention on social media, because as you know, social media, what they do is they actually hire psychologists and neuroscientists to create addictive patterns of behavior to sell. And this is what advertising does. It's to imply to you that you have a scarcity of something,
38:47 Speaker 01 and that scarcity, or if you want to put it in the context of a hole, that hole needs to be filled. And the implication is that if you fill it with junk, that you're going to be happy. And I think what we're pushing, or the narrative we're pushing, and the narrative that is supported irrefutably by science, is that only leads the hole to get bigger, or certainly not filled at all. And the only thing that fills that is connection with others and being of service. As an example, if you look at what we see with the blue zones, and of course, as you know, these are the places in the world where people routinely live to be 100. What we know from that is, now, there of course is the narrative
39:32 Speaker 01 of a plant-based diet, moderate exercise, not smoking, et cetera, by far and away, is the reality that human connection, caring for others, that is more important than any of these other things. And this is also supported by the 85-year-old Harvard study on adult development, which is often referred to as the longevity or the happiness study. It's the exact same thing. What Causes us to be healthy or supports our health. What supports longevity is fundamentally deep relationships with others.
40:17 Speaker 01 All the other stuff, the things contribute zero, if not more, to having a shorter life and a less fulfilled life.
40:28 Dan Harris? Okay, just to reset, we're talking about your six steps to manifest. The first is to reclaim your power to focus your mind. The second is to clarify what you truly want, which we've just been talking about. The third is to remove the obstacles in your mind. What are you referring to there? Does that take us back to your repeated references to the inner critic?
40:49 Speaker 01 Yeah, absolutely. As you know, I mean, if you tell yourself, I'm not good enough, I'm not worthy, it's not possible, that becomes reality for you. And what people forget is so often they give their own agency away by believing in this external thing that's going to make them whole or make them feel better about themselves. And the reality is first, you are the only one who can give that to yourself. There is no external thing that's going to make that happen for you. And this is, of course, the falsehood of the secret and the law of attraction. And the second is that you have immense power within yourself.
41:30 Speaker 01 And until you believe that and accept that, then you cannot change. So this relates to this concept of limiting your beliefs. And what I did as a child is I would use these negative comments to build a prison for myself that limited what I could do. And each time I laid a brick down, it made the walls higher and made the cell darker. And once you reach a threshold where you're completely enclosed and surrounded and you feel you have no place to go, of course, that's where severe depression and hopelessness kick in. So you have to truly believe. And we have seen the power of belief.
42:12 Speaker 01 Now, this is not to say I'm not going to take chemotherapy for my cancer because I just believe. That's ridiculous. What it does do is it sets the stage for your own metabolic systems to work at their best. So I would say, in the context of, let's say, the cancer example, you can maximize your body's ability, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to have a cure. You can simply maximize it. And it's just like an athlete. How do you achieve? And we'll get back to achievement in a sec. You achieve by showing up every day, by believing
42:50 Speaker 01 in yourself. As an example, there's a study that shows if you believe that you can increase your muscles, let's say, through visualization, some of the techniques I talk about in the book, it has been demonstrated that your muscle mass will increase. Now, is that going to make you an Arnold Schwarzenegger? No. But the point is, though, that simply believing actually has a huge, huge impact. And we look at individuals like Wim Hof, as an example, or Tibetan monks, they can control their body temperature, they can control their heart rate. We look at individuals like David Goggins, as an example, or Charlie Engel, who were runners. You can do these things
43:33 Speaker 01 if you have control of your mind. Now, I'm not suggesting everyone become a Wim Hof or David Goggins. What I am saying is, though, these individuals have mastered certain techniques to change their physiology or their mindset. Each of us has that capability. It doesn't mean we're going to become a Wim Hof. What it does mean is that we have the ability to change our circumstances.
43:59 Dan Harris? How do we generate that belief? What are the techniques that you would recommend to help us get over the deeply entrenched view we might have that we, you know, we're worthless?
44:11 Speaker 01 One is to understand that none of us are worthless, that every one of us deserves respect, dignity, and by utilizing some of the practices, which are based on different types of meditation practices, that you can gain access to your mind and you can change your belief system. And it's just doing that. Now, of course, many people have tried different types of meditation practices, and they'll say, "Well, I can't do it." And of course, the problem for many people is they're competitive and they're trying to achieve something. It's not a race here, and it's not that if you fail, you're worthless. It's you just have to keep trying.
44:54 Speaker 01 The other aspect is you don't run a marathon in a day. One of the problems I used to have is I'd say, "I'm gonna get into shape." And then I'd immediately go out and try to run two or three miles and be highly disappointed, and then say, "Well, forget it. I can't do it." One of the key things, I think, is looking at through the lens of starting small, demonstrating yourself that it is possible. And whether that's waking up at 6:00 in the morning and going for a walk around the block, which is fairly simple for most people, and then increasing that over time, and then you can see that you can create habits. And once you see it is possible, it starts changing your belief system about what is possible for you. Because if you go out and try to run two miles
45:39 Speaker 01 or whatever it is, you sit there and go, "God, I can't do that. I can't do it." And then you go back and say, "I'm a loser." Versus if you say, "I'm gonna get up." That's the first thing. Early, you've done something, which you normally don't do. Two, I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna walk around the block. Fairly simple. "Hey, I did it." Do it another day until you're up to three blocks. Then you're up to two miles. Then you start running. This is a process, but the key things are you have to show up, you have to do it, and you have to be consistent. Those are the fundamental aspects of starting to change how you look at the world, what is possible, and if you want to say removing the obstacles that you had placed there or have been placed there unconsciously
46:24 Speaker 01 through your upbringing.
46:26 Dan Harris? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Many experts on the show have talked about one of the keys to behavior change being starting small and generating confidence based on your ability to actually meet those modest goals. You mentioned earlier visualization techniques. Are those what might also help us remove the obstacles in our mind? Or are those exercises related to further steps on the six-part manifestation plan?
46:50 Speaker 01 Well, I think they're all closely related. But yeah, as an example, when I was younger and wanted to be a doctor, I could not visualize that happening initially, where I would close my eyes and I could see myself in that position. And what I say is, you know, if you want to say the window was foggy and I couldn't see outside of it what was possible. As I did these visualizations and exercises and made the lists and read them aloud, then that window started getting clearer and clearer until I could absolutely see myself in that position. And as that clarity increases, which again, comes along with that power of habit, if
47:32 Speaker 01 you will, then that strengthens that intention until the point where you cannot imagine anything different than that becoming reality. And that's when you're really maximizing that intention. Now, one of the things I just want to get back to quickly is you talked about achievement. And it's interesting because sometimes people get so focused on a goal that actually it becomes a negative for them. And what I mean by that is, if you're so focused on the goal that you don't look at anything else, you ignore every distraction, which
48:16 Speaker 01 is of course oftentimes how you achieve the goal, and you get the goal, the question is, what did you really achieve? If you've lost your family, if your kids hate you, if your wife's divorced you, and you are standing at the top of the mountain and you've gotten the reward, what was the purpose of that at the end of the day? And this is the problem for people. Many people will sacrifice everything to achieve the goal and then have left a lot of lives destroyed, ruined, and unhappiness in their wake. And again, one of the most important things, I think, is one, and this gets actually a little bit later to one of the other lessons, is there's nothing wrong with the goal,
48:57 Speaker 01 but the reality is the most important aspect is the journey to that goal. And this relates, again, back to relationships, human connection, and you have to temper the two. How much is that goal worth if you're standing there alone and you destroyed all these lives along the way? Versus, yes, you achieved it, but also you focused on maintaining relationships and connecting with others. And in fact, interestingly, I was just away for the weekend with four college roommates who I've known for 50-plus years. And we get together every couple of years and hang out. And that, the strength of those relationships,
49:40 Speaker 01 even though none of us are perfect and we may have disparate careers, is this connection we've had for so long. And that's very, very powerful in terms of making us feel good about our lives.
49:54 Dan Harris? Coming up, Jim talks about more of his steps toward manifestation. And finally, how to alert the bloodhound to harness the full power of your mind. I really like this idea.
50:10 Dan Harris? Jim, you've brought us to number four on your list of the six steps to manifest. Again, number one is to reclaim your power to focus. Second is to clarify what you truly want. The third is to remove the obstacles in your mind. And the fourth, which you just talked about a little bit, but I'd love to get you say a little bit more, is embedding the intention into our subconscious. And so, in your view, there are a series of exercises that we can do in order to kind of get this into what my Jewish grandmother might call our kishkes, your guts, your bones. Can you say a little bit more about what we can do in order to make this happen?
50:45 Speaker 01 Sure. And this will probably be a good time to actually mention these cognitive brain networks and how they work. First, of course, you have to, to make them work their best, be engaged in your parasympathetic nervous system, which is relaxed, open, and present. What many people don't realize is that we are inundated with sensory information, about 10 million bits of information a second from our sensory organs that mostly maintain homeostasis of our bodily functions, leaving only about 50 to 100 bits of information every second that we actually have conscious thoughts about or control of, if you will.
51:25 Speaker 01 So one of the things is to recognize this and then on a conscious level, embed this into your subconscious. So that's the first part, and that's something called value tagging, where you make your intention, if you will, salient, one that grabs your attention, thereby you are tagging it, and once that happens, then other things kick in. So let's go through that. We have one part of our cognitive brain networks, and these are areas of our brain that are not discrete, but areas of different parts, but are connected during a particular activity.
52:06 Speaker 01 One of those is our default mode network, and this typically is engaged when we're daydreaming or mind wandering, or related to self-referential thought, or related to memory or planning actions. Once that is engaged, or that, if you will, intention is embedded there as something that has been thought of or laid out, then we engage two other parts, which are our salience network and our attention network. And the salience network is important from switching between the default mode network and what we call the task positive network.
52:51 Speaker 01 And the task positive network contains the salience network, the attention network, and the executive control network.
53:00 Speaker 01 And so the salience network is really important in detecting and filtering salient stimuli from the environment to allow us to allocate attentional resources. While the attention network is required to sustain attention or redirect attention to those things that are important to us. And ultimately, and I use as an example, the executive control network, which is part of the task positive network, as the part that actually is associated with, if you will, making things happen on a conscious level. And it is the interaction between all of those.
53:45 Speaker 01 In terms of the salience network, I use the analogy of a bloodhound trying to seek out what it is looking for. And the example, and I'll give two. One is, as a neurosurgeon, I see patients often times with what would many people say, "Well, these are unusual conditions." And obviously, for me, they're not, because I see them all the time. But my point being that I'll have a patient who I'll say, "You have, let's say, hydrocephalus." And they'll say, "I've never heard of that, doctor." And then, two months later, they come back, and the most amazing thing, "I've met five people who have the same thing." And the reason is because you have embedded that, and now, on an unconscious level, you're
54:29 Speaker 01 listening to possibilities. And it's like saying, "I was thinking about getting a red Mustang," and then you see five in the next couple of days, because you are attuned to that. And that is how you embed things in your unconscious or subconscious. The other aspect is that, once you are able to do that, then, of course, you focus on that. And I'll give another example. I am working on a particular project right now that's fairly unusual, and I was in a coffee shop, very noisy coffee shop. And I was sitting there drinking my coffee, thinking about this. And then literally I heard people talking about the exact same thing about three tables over. Well, normally I would
55:14 Speaker 01 never have listened to that at all. Yet that struck me. It led me to walk over and introduce myself. And now we're working on this project together. And that's how it works. And I'm sure you've been in a situation where at a noisy party, and you'll hear your name, even among the din of all the sounds, because your identity is deeply embedded with you. And it shows you how on an unconscious level, you're always turned on, you just don't know it. So you have to define the things that are important to you, and your unconscious or subconscious will seek that out.
55:51 Dan Harris? Yeah, I also think about how when you hear a new word for the first time, you then hear it a bunch afterwards.
55:57 Speaker 01 Exactly, exactly. So this is where people suddenly, when you make these analogies, they go, oh, I get it now. I understand.
56:06 Dan Harris? And just say a little bit more about what we can do to get important ideas and goals and intentions into our subconscious.
56:14 Speaker 01 Well, and this is again, value tagging, you have to make it important to you. How do you make it important to you? You use your sensory organs. And I'll tell you, when I was a kid, what I did was, I made a list of the things I wanted to have happen to me or manifest. I would read the list silently. I would read it aloud. I would visualize it and I would do it about 50 times a day. And this is similar to what's described in the typical manifestation practices. And the reality is that it's even like religion. We know experientially.
56:56 Speaker 01 That, as an example, this type of a practice, or actually religion associated with compassion, these have been learned over millennia that they work. And then we typically wrap a dogma around it. And this would explain the innumerable religious practices which are associated with different cultures around the world. And in many ways, this explains the same with the woo-woo and the pseudoscience that is wrapped around manifestation. There is validity to some of these practices. The key is how do you maximize the ability for them to have an effect? And I think that's really what we're talking about here.
57:36 Dan Harris? I don't know if you say this explicitly, but there has to be a plausibility, reasonability quotient to this. I could do all of these exercises you're describing, and I am not going to make it into the NBA.
57:47 Speaker 01 What?
57:48 Dan Harris? I know.
57:49 Speaker 01 Dan, I had great...
57:50 Dan Harris? I know, Jokic wants me, but he can't have me. A very bright young man could use these practices to get himself into medical school, right? I could imagine that this would, I don't know if it would do the whole trick, but it would help propel the narrative. And so a young person, or any person, could start visualizing things that fall within the realm of the physically possible, physically, psychologically, emotionally possible, as opposed to dreaming up like I am gonna, I don't know. Although, having said that, as I'm rambling here, I'm thinking a little bit about the Bodhisattva vow, which I know you're familiar with, which comes out of Mahayana Buddhism,
58:31 Dan Harris? which is the idea that, you know, beings are limitless, I vow to save them all. So this setting a, an over-the-top compassionate goal actually can have some salutary impacts.
58:48 Speaker 01 Yes, if you look through that lens, every action you take is to improve the life of others. And that's ultimately what a Bodhisattva's goal is. They live a life by example, who they are, and do those actions so that hopefully every interaction they have, that is contained with it. But getting back to your earlier statement, yes, I am not going to be the first person to work on Mars. And it's not that I have a limited belief system, but these things have to be in the context of plausibility. But that being said, we never know what is limiting. And I'll give you a quick example for myself.
59:32 Speaker 01 And while my statement may be a one in a million likelihood, the reality is sometimes they do occur. But when I applied to medical school, because of the situation with my family, I missed a lot of classes. I had a grade point average of 2.53. And at the time, the average grade point average to get into medical school was 3.79. And I was talking about how you share your aspirations with people. Of course, I would tell friends and classmates that I was going to be a doctor, and they laughed at me. And they said, what a joke. You have a 2.53, or you failed that class.
1:00:14 Speaker 01 And in fact, when I went, and we used to have a pre-med committee interview to even get a letter so we could apply to medical school, when I went to the secretary who made those appointments, can you imagine? She said to me, she said, I'm not giving you an appointment. I said, why? And she said, because it's a waste of everyone's time.
1:00:36 Speaker 01 And I looked at her and I said to her, I said, well, I appreciate what you're saying, but I am not leaving here to give me that appointment. And she ultimately did. And again, another aspect of this, which is very demeaning, was then I walk into a room and this professor is at the end of a long table, sort of like what Putin does, right? And he's sitting with two of his colleagues. He has my file. He takes it. He stands up. He throws it on the desk and he says, "Say what you have to say. Let's get this over with." And again, how horrible to do that to somebody. But anyway, fortunately, through my own whatever, I looked at this guy and I said, "You know nothing about me. I am not going to allow
1:01:18 Speaker 01 you to objectify me into a grade point average." And then I proceeded to lecture them for 20 minutes. At the end of it, they were all crying because they had to look at me as a human being. And then they can't look away. Long story short, when that meeting ended, the secretary gave me a brochure for a program for socio-economically disadvantaged students and minority students at Tulane University in New Orleans. And she said to me, she said, "The deadline has passed, but I don't think that's going to affect you." Long story short, I called the people. They let me into the program. Irvine gave me the highest letter of recommendation they could. I got into that program, was accepted to medical school,
1:02:00 Speaker 01 only one I applied to. And now, ultimately, during Hurricane Katrina, the university closed down. They lost their dean. I endowed the dean's chair. So the dean today is the Doty professor. I rebuilt the library. And I gave the white coat ceremony speech, which is for incoming medical students. And my point is, nobody can predict what anyone is capable of doing. But as you said earlier, and we agreed, yes, it has to be in the context of realistic. But many people would have said it was completely unrealistic and impossible for me to have gotten into medical school. So we have to temper that
1:02:44 Speaker 01 somewhat. But we do have that power to manifest and change our lives. But we have to have a absolute belief, an absolute commitment, and be willing to do the work and whatever is necessary to make that happen.
1:03:00 Dan Harris? It's incredible story. And it does bring us to the fifth of your six steps in manifesting, which is to pursue your goal passionately, which that story amply demonstrates. One of the things you talk about within this, and I think your story touches on this as well, is, and this is your phrase, "to be someone that you would like to help." Can you say more about that?
1:03:25 Speaker 01 Yeah, I mean, I think that when I was talking about how I changed how I saw the world, and you want to be the person who people can see that there is something about you, and they do want to help you. And this is what people forget sometimes is it always amuses me and disappoints me sometimes. You'll see people who end up having achieved certain things and they'll sit there and say, "I did it all on my own, nobody helped me." Well, it's just not true. Everyone, every day, needs people to support them and help them reach their goals. And anyone who says they did it by themselves is lying or delusional. I could not possibly have achieved what I have achieved without a ton of people
1:04:10 Speaker 01 reaching out and being supportive of my narrative, my dream, my aspirations. And it is those people that make it a reality. But you have to create the environment where they want to help you. And that's by being the person that you want to be and that exemplifies the goodness, the caring, the love, the compassion for other people.
1:04:31 Dan Harris? Under this fifth step of pursuing your goal passionately, I believe one of the ideas you discuss is diversifying your opportunities. What do you mean by that?
1:04:43 Speaker 01 The reality is that it doesn't always work out exactly as you plan. It may approximate it. And that's not to say that should be a disappointment. Again, there are oftentimes external circumstances that have an impact on what your goal is or what you're trying to manifest. And in fact, there are sometimes reasons that are you do not understand, you do not see that result in you not being able to manifest something. Or the other side is that it's not as if you control the timeline. There are some things that I am still very passionate about that I would like to see manifest, but they've been taking years and years and they still haven't manifested.
1:05:26 Speaker 01 It has not changed my belief, my passion, my goal. It's just an acceptance that things don't always work out in the timeline or the way we imagine. Like as an example, if you said, "I want this job because it's where I want to live, it's the type of company I want to work for." I want to be in that position in six months. Well, it may turn out that you get the job, but it's in a different city and it's not exactly the title you wanted. Well, is that a failure of manifestation? No, it may be that actually there are other reasons why you need to move to that city, or there are other reasons why it didn't happen exactly the way.
1:06:07 Speaker 01 And you have to accept that and not translate it into, I failed. Manifestation is not a perfect science by any stretch of the imagination. The whole point of the book, though, is to have you understand it, how to maximize it, but that is in no way a guarantee that it will happen. People should not somehow think that this is a magic fix for everything. All we're saying is, in some ways, this is like an exercise book. Here are the practices, here's what you have to do. If you follow these, there's a greater likelihood of this happening than not. But it is not a guarantee that this will happen.
1:06:48 Dan Harris? That sounds linked to your step number six, which is letting go of attachment to any particular outcome. Or in Buddhist speak, we often call it non-attachment to results. That you can work hard, you can set your intentions, remove your obstacles, pursue your goal passionately. But we live in an entropic universe where everything's changing all the time. And it's not necessarily the case that everything's gonna go the way you plan.
1:07:12 Speaker 01 Right, and as you know, I mean, what is the greatest cause of suffering? Attachment and craving. And if you're able to have the goal and pursue it passionately, but if you don't achieve it, that's okay too. It happens sometimes, and that's just the way it is. But it should not in any way be a reason for you to get discouraged or have some belief that it's not possible. You just have to realize that, again, it doesn't always work on our timeline, and sometimes it doesn't work at all, but that's okay. And this is one of the challenges. And this actually hits on something called equanimity, this evenness of temperament.
1:07:52 Speaker 01 Having chased a goal or having wanted to achieve something and not achieving it causes some people a lot of despair and unhappiness. But the problem is when you achieve it for a subset of people, they always want to live with that high all the time, which is not possible. Conversely, there are people who have bad things happen to them and they also translate into, this is horrible, this is going to last forever, and it doesn't. All of these things are transitory and having an understanding that with the highs, you may feel good, but oftentimes you don't learn very much. And understanding sometimes with the down times, those are the places where you learn resilience, where you learn about yourself,
1:08:37 Speaker 01 where you learn about strengths, and for many people, those are gifts. And if you ask anybody who's lived in these experiences, but the key is regardless, whichever direction things are going, to understand the transient and impermanent nature of these things and accept it and have an evenness of temperament. And that will prevent a lot of the negative aspects of frankly, living in this world.
1:09:00 Dan Harris? I totally agree. You know, the book is called Mind Magic and I'm just wondering like, as I listen to everything you're saying, it sounds like it's absolutely not magical thinking. And I say, I mean, this is a compliment. It's like advanced common sense. Set a goal, follow these exercises to get your goal into your subconscious, harness the full power of the mind that often we're unaware is even there. Work your ass off, be nice to people, be flexible and non-attached to specific results. None of that scans to me as magic. And again, I mean that as a compliment, not a critique, because I'm comparing it in my mind to the magical thinking. And I mean this in the pejorative of the secret.
1:09:43 Speaker 01 No, you're absolutely right. And I did that sort of intentionally, but also the other book is called Into the Magic Shop, right? So that makes the connection between the two. Now I'm thinking of my next book, I'm going to intertwine magic in that, and I haven't got a clue yet, but we'll see how it all goes.
1:09:59 Dan Harris? One question I should have asked you earlier, because to me, what stands out is the most interesting part of all of this is the idea of embedding intentions into our subconscious. And you made a reference to this, but I don't think I let you really expand on it. You talked about the bloodhound, the internal bloodhound, and there's an analogy you use in the book, the filing clerk and the bloodhound. Can you say more about these?
1:10:24 Speaker 01 Right. Embedding your intention is in some ways putting a file in the cabinet, but the bloodhound's responsibility is to actually find that intention or anything associated with it. And this gets back to the example I gave of your name being said at a loud party, or the example of being in the coffee shop and the bloodhound was always listening and allowed me to hear those people and related to what I had embedded in that file cabinet. And then I acted, which was the executive control network guiding me. And I think I use the analogy of the CEO. That's it. And again, all of these tools, and while you did say, there is no magic there, and there isn't. And in some ways,
1:11:07 Speaker 01 what I'm trying to do is to indicate to people that actually, the power we have within ourselves, that is the magic. And I use the analogy, and I think you avoided saying the first sentence of the book.
1:11:21 Dan Harris? No, no, no, you can say it.
1:11:22 Speaker 01 The first sentence in the book is, "The universe doesn't give a fuck about you." But the point is, one, it has no fucks to give. But at the end of the book, what I say is, what people don't appreciate fundamentally, they are the universe. And that's really the key here. You have the power, and all of us are ultimately connected. And when you look through that lens, and in some ways, we're talking about bodhisattvas, if you look at the world through that lens and understand that the other is you, you always make the right decision about how to function in this world.
1:11:59 Dan Harris? If we want to start small and try some of this, to try to get... A big intention into our subconscious. What's a beginner exercise we can do? A lot of what you recommend involves writing stuff down. But what's a beginner exercise that we could do that wouldn't take a bunch of time? That would help us toy with this idea of training our bloodhound to look for something that we really care about?
1:12:24 Speaker 01 Well, I think one is simply sitting in a quiet room and you don't have to cross your legs or you could lay down, but one is taking the time in a quiet place to think about something you want to happen to you. In the sense that it doesn't hurt other people. It's not just about what you want, but it's about doing something that has a larger purpose than yourself, but gives you what you want. And simply thinking about that, and that could be for as little as three to five minutes, thinking about that in a calm space, seeing that, and then just sitting up and writing down
1:13:05 Speaker 01 why you want it, how it will be of service, how it will benefit you. And just write that down three or four times until you start getting more and more clarity. And just doing that will have a significant effect on you.
1:13:20 Dan Harris? So I was doing something like that today where it was not preceded by meditation or anything of the sort, but I was just kind of have a huge whiteboard in my office. I like whiteboards. And I was just kind of mapping out what a successful version of the future of my business would be. Here are the seven or eight component parts. Here's what I think an awesome financial return on each of these might look like in a future state of two to five years. And so I think what I'm hearing you say is like, just get in the habit, maybe meditate for a little bit on specifically visualizing what this would look like and then get up and write it down on your whiteboard or somewhere else. And just get in the habit of doing this semi regularly.
1:14:01 Dan Harris? That can alert the bloodhound so that you're, again, it's not necessarily magical, although on some levels it is kind of magical. But you're just harnessing the full power of your mind. Most of us are just aware of what we're aware of, but there's so much beneath the surface. And this exercise would help you harness all of it.
1:14:21 Speaker 01 Yeah, and in some ways, it's like the tiny habits. If you start doing that for simple things at first, you'll be amazed at what will happen. It's not as if I just made these up out of the blue. I have been teaching this to people and they're in some ways shocked about what suddenly can happen to them. It changes the entire way they look at the world. And in fact, it more aligns them with what is possible. And also it changes their lives in a positive way because it changes their own internal narrative to switch from I to others or from the me to the we. And that is a very powerful effect, not only on your physiology, but on your mental state.
1:15:06 Dan Harris? So I'm going to update my little practice based on what you just said, which is it's not enough just to think of here the seven or eight parts of my business that I hope will be thriving and what the numbers might look like in three or five years. It's also to imagine what's the impact on other people and on my team and on my family from doing all of this work. And that, if I'm hearing you correctly, supercharges the whole thing.
1:15:36 Speaker 01 That's absolutely the key, and that's absolutely correct because it's not about you anymore. It's about the impact you're having on other people's lives to improve them. I mean, look at how powerful the message you were sending out through this podcast. It has a huge positive effect on people's lives. And sometimes you don't even realize it. And if you constantly remind yourself that is what this is all about, yes, the money is all fine, the financial goals are all fine. But at the end of the day, that's irrelevant. Your goal is to have a huge impact on other people's lives. And that is the supercharger of all of this.
1:16:18 Speaker 01 And it will get you all the other things, but that has to be front and center of every action you take.
1:16:24 Dan Harris? Duly noted and well said. In our remaining moments here, let me just ask you the two questions I traditionally ask people. Is there something you were hoping to cover that we didn't get to?
1:16:33 Speaker 01 I just wanted to mention a couple other activities that I'm involved with that some people might have an interest in. Great. One is the Center at Stanford that I run, which is called the Center for Compassion and Alterism Research and Education, ccare.stanford.edu. And that outlines a lot of the programs we have. The second thing is my website, jamesrdotymd.com, which includes some of the work that I do, as well as actually the podcast that I have. And the third is something that I have been working on, which may be of interest to your viewers, not necessarily directly connected to manifestation, but an app that I've created for people, which is a mental health coach.
1:17:17 Speaker 01 Because in some ways, we indirectly touched on this. A lot of the angst that many of us have are reactions fundamentally to the way our society works, and it creates stress, anxiety, and distraction. And this app that I created, and it can be found at happy, H A P P I dot A I, actually combines an emotion assessment tool with a conversational AI knowledge base of compassion-focused therapy and psychology, which is actually, believe it or not, connected to a human avatar which talks to you. And the great thing about that is, for many of us, especially men and adolescents,
1:17:59 Speaker 01 we would rather talk to an avatar because it's nonjudgmental, and it's compassionate and empathic, and it's also available 24 hours a day. So those are the things that I'm working on, that I'm proud of. And for any of your listeners, I hope they check those out. And also, I'd just like to leave you also with the reality that some of us forget that every day... We have the ability to improve the lives of another person. And a lot of people say, well, I don't have time. I don't have money. I don't have resources. Sometimes just saying hi to another person changes their lives.
1:18:37 Dan Harris? Absolutely. Co-sign on that. And you kind of already answered the second question I was going to ask, which is just to get you to remind everybody of all of the things you're putting out into the world. You just referenced some of them. Your first book is called Into the Magic Shop. The new book is called Mind Magic: The Neuroscience of Manifestation and How It Changes Everything. I've certainly heard of your work for many years, so it was great to finally meet you directly. Thank you for your time.
1:19:00 Speaker 01 Well, listen, I appreciate it and thank you for the work that you're doing in this world. And I hope our paths cross, so we meet in person at some point.
1:19:07 Dan Harris? Likewise.
1:19:11 Dan Harris? Thanks again to Dr. Doty. Quick reminder, if you want to get a guided meditation tailored to this episode, go on over to danharris.com. We're doing tailored guided meditations for every Monday, Wednesday episode this month from the great Dan Mauricio, a meditation teacher we all love. Also, don't forget to go over to shop.danharris.com to take advantage of our merch sale while supplies last. That sale ends on July 14. Before I let you go, I just want to thank everybody who worked so hard to make this show. Our producers are Tara Anderson, Caroline Keenan, and Eleanor Vasili. Our recording and engineering is handled by the great people over at Pod People. Lauren Smith is our managing producer. Marissa Schneiderman is our senior producer. DJ Cashmere is our executive producer. And Nick Thorburn of the band Islands wrote our theme.
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