Mindset Neuroscience Podcast

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” ― Albert Einstein     In a world that often values certainty and consistency, it can be hard to admit when we need to change our minds. The concept of changing... READ MORE The post Mindstuck: the science of stubbornness and how to change your mind- interview with Michael McQueen Season 4 Ep 2 appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

You were born with a growth mindset. When you were first learning to speak and walk, you fell and fumbled over and over again. But there was a part of you - an algorithm - that understood that this was... READ MORE The post New Podcast! The Science of Growth Mindset, Healing & Resilience – Season 4 Ep 1 appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

“One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.” ― Shannon L. Alder   Listen on Blubrry Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify   How we distract ourselves... READ MORE The post Season 3 Episode 8 – Warriors Heart: Courage, Connection and Healing appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

Learning is a gateway to power and freedom Learning increases our degrees of freedom by giving us new ways to move, communicate and adapt to challenges and capitalize on opportunities.   Listen on Blubrry Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple... READ MORE The post Season 3 Episode 4: Embodied Cognition and Learning: My Interview with Sheila Macrine and Jennifer Fugate appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

“too often people typically spring into action based on what first comes to mind, and thus too often mind… And thus too often, wind up seeing the world through the lens of what they already know.”   - Maggie Jackson,... READ MORE The post Uncertain: The Science and Wisdom of Being Unsure Season 4 Ep 4 appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

Our nervous systems and brain networks are powerfully shaped by experiences that are embodied, visceral, sensory-motor and social. This is the essence of Embodied Social Neuroscience. In this episode, learn about 5 concrete embodied, neuroscience-supported pillars you can use to get better at honing the incredible power of the human mind-brain-body system.  We look at several biomarkers and physiological pillars of how to combine the extraordinary, beautiful and magnificent power of the human brain with the mechanics of our body to help us achieve a state of deep fulfillment and sense of agency and alignment with our highest potential. The post Embodied Social Neuroscience: lower anxiety and improve mental wellbeing with these 5 fundamentals appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

"A problem never exists in isolation; it is surrounded by other problems in space and time. The more of the context of a problem that a scientist can comprehend, the greater are his chances of finding a truly adequate solution."... READ MORE The post Season 3 Ep 12 – Safety, Security and Systems Intelligence appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

  Because of how human brains develop, the only way for maturity to emerge is in the presence of maturity.   Listen on Blubrry Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcasts   I remember the first time I gave a... READ MORE The post Season 3 Episode 10 – Education, Maturity & Human Potential appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

  A quick episode that covers some insights gained over the course of my career in human communication and psychology, child development, teaching, and neuroscience.   Highlights include the importance of: mindset, purpose and effective teachers anti-disciplinary thinking and teams... READ MORE The post Season 3 Episode 9 – Mindset, Purpose & Neuroplasticity: Career Insights & Perspectives appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

Danger - and how it is dealt with - is the central theme of attachment - and therefore human interaction. Who we turn to and who we have around us during times of uncertainty and threat affect our abilities for information processing and preparing and responding to future events. The concept of how we regulate ourselves and with others, and how we deal with social danger, rejection, status, comparison, the need for acceptance, and how we diversify our abilities to navigate our neurochemicals are topics we cover in this Episode of the Mindset Neuroscience Podcast, where I interview Loretta Breuning of the Inner Mammal Institute. In our interview, we explore: -The neurochemicals associated with how it feels to have social support - and how this differs from social dominance -The fluctuations of neurochemicals, feelings and behaviors tied to threat, rejection, and constantly seeking external rewards and short-term gratification  -Being more realistic about the ups and downs of all of our neurochemical states, rather than believing we should feel good all the time.  -The biological purposes to the fluctuations and varieties of states we experience and why it’s helpful for us to understand this so we can get better a-t making choices that are good for our mental and physical health -The life-threatening feelings people experience when it comes to social rejection, and social comparison -How our brain and body store information about threats, and how this can significantly influence our current reactions to people -The idea of ‘dopamine droop’ and our constant urge to seek reward and avoid discomfort "We have inherited a brain that compares itself to others to promote its survival. It creates has a sense of urgency about how it measures up. If you don’t know you are creating this feeling yourself, you think the world is doing it to you. You feel bitter, resentful, and victimized. Instead, you can accept that the people around you are mammals, and you are a mammal too." -Loretta Breuning, Inner Mammal Institute The post Season 3 Episode 7 – Danger, Attachment and Navigating our Neurochemicals with Loretta Breuning appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

“Love is at once an affirmation and a transcendence of who we are.” ― Esther Perel   “And what is true for human beings is true for every living thing: all organisms require alternating periods of growth and equilibrium. Any person... READ MORE The post Season 2 Ep 6: Love, Purpose and Relational Realities appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” * ― Leo Tolstoy   Listen on Blubrry Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcasts We are in the most interconnected period that humanity has ever experienced. The... READ MORE The post Season 3 Episode 5: Why social rejection is so scary – the science of communication, maturity and purpose appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

“Once again, the world seems to be less about objects than about interactive relationships.” ― Carlo Rovelli, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics   Studying human brains while a person is immobile and alone in an mri machine can only get us so... READ MORE The post Season 3 Ep 3: The socio-biomechanics of resilience, trust and flow appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

In this episode, I explore: -the difference between our autonomic and somatic nervous systems and why knowing the difference gives us power to change -biomechanisms we use to protect or defend ourselves that are tied to our past and may not be helpful to us in our current situation (as I am learning, these can be hard habits to break) -how we can experiment with new patterns using skeletal muscles to control our breath, voice, eyes, hands and body within our social interactions -10 key mechanical adjustments we can make to move in this world in ways that optimize our functioning and sense of fulfillment -how our hyper-focus on words & devices makes us lose touch with our bodies, with our environment and with all the non-verbal aspects of life The post Season 3 Episode 1 – Biomechanics of Human Communication and Social Intelligence appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

  “What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost but the call of a potential meaning... READ MORE The post Season 3 Ep 11: Mission, Endurance and Post-Traumatic Growth – Interview with Two Wolf Foundation appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

To update our algorithms and enhance our brain functioning, there is one key thing we can do: Intentionally add experiences into our weekly routine that engage our sensory-motor systems in ways that are completely unfamiliar to us. That is the essence of my interview with Jason Knight, director of Alderleaf Wilderness College. In this interview, we discuss: -Jason’s journey to becoming a wilderness expert and his desire to connect people more deeply with nature and the types of thinking that come with those experiences; -How people’s mindsets get disrupted when they experience a learning environment that challenges what they are used to; -How our awareness expands as we spend time in nature: we begin to see allies, tools and individuated beings; -A truly embodied perspective of empathy: working with natural systems requires us to move out of our self-referential networks and expand into neural territories that recognize how another living organism can perceive the world differently than us; -High-level pattern recognition: how get the best possible solution and sustainable way of achieving a goal by expanding the space-time horizon and creating maps to see multiple systems working together across long periods of time The post Season 3 Episode 2 – Interview with Jason Knight: Natural Intelligence and Embodied Mindsets appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

What is moral injury, and how can we use it as a path to cognitive flexibility, sense of purpose and forgiveness? In this episode, we explore the following: - what is moral injury - what is morality and how it can be used to improve energy efficiency and resilience of the human species - how forgiveness and flexibility help us activate highly sophisticated and evolved neural mechanisms - that brain activations that are different in trauma compared with moral injury - how the human species is an interconnected network of nodes that requires social signaling for trust and cooperation The post Season 2 Episode 12 – Moral Injury, Forgiveness and Cognitive Flexibility appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

Attachment theory is not a 'theory'.. it's a part of our neurophysiological operating system Attachment is a way of seeking proximity to an attachment figure.  It’s a biobehavioral adaptation that helps us regulate ourselves and explore new frontiers. This in... READ MORE The post Season 2 Episode 11 – The Neuroscience of Attachment and Emotion Regulation appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

Have you ever had the experience of feeling like someone really ‘gets you’?   This can take various forms - like being able to share what’s on our mind and the other person holding space for us to explain. It... READ MORE The post Season 2 Episode 10 – The Science of Feeling Understood appeared first on Stefanie Faye.

Why do systems fall apart or become dysfunctional? A system can be a family, relationship, community, business, organization, society. The human mind-brain-body is also a system. One reason dysfunction can happen is related to hierarchy and ‘signal flow’. Hierarchies exist throughout nature and throughout human society. Hierarchies are best able to serve the system when there is efficient signal flow from subsystems to the higher levels and vice versa. We can see dysfunction happen when the highest levels of a hierarchy are -not serving the goals of the entire system -have communication channels dominated by a specific subgroup/subsystem -are blocking or suppressing efficient communication and signal flow from the subsystems Optimal functioning of a system requires a state of signal flow where all members or nodes feel ‘understood’. This experience of being understood is at the core of optimal system functioning within human systems. When we don’t feel understood, it means there is a block of signal flow. This episode covers the idea of hierarchies and signal flow - and what happens when hierarchies don’t serve the goals of the entire system. In upcoming articles, I’ll be bringing this concept back down to more personal and interpersonal levels. The post Season 2 Episode 9 – Hierarchies and Signal Flow appeared first on Stefanie Faye.