Unlock the power of your mind and transform your life with this episode's deep dive into internal dialogue. Discover how confronting anxiety, depression, and negative self-talk can lead to profound personal growth. Learn about the brain's incredible capacity for change through intentional focus on positive "why" questions that reshape our reality.

Key Takeaways:
- Harness the power of why questions to shift your mindset towards positivity.
- Explore brainwave patterns like alpha and theta for subconscious influence.
- Build a daily system of small non-negotiable habits for lasting success.

Tune in to uncover practical strategies that will empower you to rewrite your mental scripts and create a more fulfilling life!

In today's podcast, I want to share with you one of the things that I've been using with clients that has been helpful: confronting anxiety, depression, negative self-talk—something I call internal dialogue. The things that we're saying to ourselves over and over again have a tremendous impact and can keep us stuck.

Our brain is like the most amazing computing system in existence. It is always searching for understanding, and I believe that we find pretty much what we're looking for. A person's perspective is their reality. We all see things a little bit differently, but if we want to change what we're spending our attention and time on, it requires effort from the prefrontal part of the brain.

I'm going to give you an example of something called "why questions." I ask clients to list some of the things they truly desire in their life. If they're dealing with difficult relationships, not sleeping well, or feeling unhealthy in their bodies, I ask them to create what I call why questions as if those things were happening. For example, if you're having a difficult time in school, you might ask yourself, "Why is it that I learn so quickly?" or "Why is it that I remember things so clearly?" By repeating that script over and over again, your brain will search for reasons why that is true.

Another thing that can help enhance this process involves brainwave patterns. There are five different ones, but I'll focus on four: beta (the frequency happening right now as you listen), alpha (a little slower and more relaxed), theta (slower still), and delta (the slowest, associated with deep sleep). If we can get ourselves into the alpha and theta range, it has more capacity to influence the subconscious part of the brain, which drives 90 to 95% of our behavior outside of our awareness.

What we're striving to do is access this subconscious part of the brain and start rewriting some of the scripts we tell ourselves repeatedly. To illustrate, let's plug into some theta music—background music designed to relax our brainwaves—and I'll start asking a number of why questions, repeating them several times:

Why is it that I embrace challenge with courage and bravery?  
Why is it that I speak the truth boldly even if there is opposition?  
Why is it that I act on my convictions even if unpopular?  
Why is it that I approach life with such excitement and positive energy?  
Why is it that I love the adventure of life and feel fully alive to the possibilities and opportunities before me?  
Why is it that I believe in a positive future?  
Why is it that I learn so quickly?  
Why is it that I remember things so clearly?  
Why is it that I am so healthy and strong?  
Why is it that I am attracting positive and healthy people into my life?  
Why is it that I'm getting such peaceful sleep every night?  
Why is it that I'm able to slow down and focus powerfully on one thing at a time?  
Why is it that my relationships are so fulfilling and positive?

Repeating these why questions helps reinforce positive internal dialogue.

I encourage you to create your own why questions based on whatever you're struggling with—be it negative self-talk, anxiety, depression, or addiction issues. State them in positive present tense language. This approach ties back to the magic word "abracadabra," which literally means "what I speak, I create." Since the brain loves solving problems and figuring things out, if we're stuck in a cycle of negative thinking, asking empowering why questions can help break those patterns.

For example: "Why am I breaking out of this self-defeating pattern?" or "How have I found such a positive new way of living?" Keep asking yourself these transformative questions while playing background music like theta or alpha frequencies; this enhances your brain's ability to focus on different things.

The questions we ask ourselves are critical—if we ask the wrong questions, we'll get wrong answers. So ask better questions.

I've worked with clients stuck in their careers who weren't making progress or getting promotions. I've encouraged them to use why questions like: "Why is it working out?" "Why does my boss see my potential?" or "Why am I getting more callbacks for auditions?" Those who practiced consistently by recording their own voice along with music as part of their daily routine—what I call dailies—have seen tremendous results. Promotions and callbacks began flooding in because they projected positive thoughts and energy. Somehow this truly impacts others around us; people seem to pick up on those vibrations.

Dailies are small, simple non-negotiable actions we commit to every day to manage and direct our lives. Mentally strong people who find success do so because they've committed themselves to such systems. You've probably heard the saying: “We do not rise to the level of our goals; we fall to the level of our systems.” Systems are about small consistent actions done repeatedly—not relying on motivation because motivation fluctuates like weather.

Take exercise as an example: many start strong at New Year's determined to get in shape but fall off within two months. The same goes for diets—with research showing 97% who diet end up weighing more after a year than when they started. To mitigate this requires commitment beyond motivation.

Change follows stages: pre-contemplation (not aware there's a problem), contemplation (considering change), preparation (planning), action (doing), and maintenance (sustaining). Maintenance is often hardest because it's where motivation wanes but consistency matters most.

For instance, I've committed myself to exercise six days a week—even on days when motivation dips. Today was one such day: I got into the sauna with a goal of 20 minutes despite feeling unmotivated. My emotional brain wanted me out after five minutes but remembering my why questions kept me sitting through discomfort until reaching 20 minutes exactly. Afterwards, though initially reluctant, I felt accomplished and healthy.

This illustrates maintenance: doing important things even when you don't feel like it. The same applies for listening to your why questions daily—even when resistance arises—making them non-negotiable parts of your routine brings real change.

The evidence supports this practice: consistent use leads to transformation by monitoring internal dialogue proactively shaping who we become.

I love George Bernard Shaw's statement: “Life is not about finding yourself; it’s about creating yourself.” So think about creating your system—the small simple actions you consistently take—and watch your life slowly transform as long as you remain committed.

Okay! Have an amazing day. Make it so!